- Xavier, alias the Star Man, has been publishing his drawings on Instagram since 2017 that evoke his daily life as a palliative care nurse.
- He decided to continue on this path by publishing this Wednesday a comic book, which he wrote and designed alone, to pay tribute to certain patients who have marked his career.
- Far from prejudice and not without humor, this nurse who works in Metz shows the gestures, music, small pleasures that help patients and their loved ones.
Many spend the month of January repeating "Happy New Year", "And health especially!" Xavier chose a festive title for his comic strip on his daily life as a palliative care nurse, as if to toast not to 2020 but ... To life! * Some people already know him. Xavier is the nurse who has published his drawings on Instagram since 2017 under the pseudonym L'Homme Michelin-starred (followed by 100,000 internet users). Others will discover his pencil stroke, his humor and his kindness. But also Roger, Marie, Edmond and the others, these men and women who taught him how to give a hand before the last big jump.
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Today I am happy to present you the faces of the 7 heroes of "À la vie!", My first graphic novel which will be available in bookstores and on the usual sales platforms on January 8th. They are called Roger, Mathilde, Marie, Nanie, Edmond, Christine and Blanche. Some are familiar to you, others less so. For this comic I produced 2 new stories (those of Roger and Edmond) and I completely reworked the stories of Blanche and Mathilde (new drawings, new texts) that the most faithful of you had the opportunity to discover on my page at its very beginnings. The stories of Nanie, Christine and Marie have also undergone some facelifts. On the program: rock'n'roll, kidding, sweetness, a little pain but a lot of love, Swedish, a little gastronomy and the origin of my nickname finally revealed :) The 7 stories will be punctuated by 7 parentheses between humor and poetry. 7 parentheses revealing other characters as touching. I look forward to knowing it in your hands friends !! So excited !!! ☆☆☆ @ calmann.levy # 8janvier #lhommeetoile #calmannlevy #alavie #bd #bandedessinee #romangraphique #infirmier #nfirmieres #hopital #soinspalliatifs
A post shared by ☆☆☆ The Starry Man ☆☆☆ (@ l.homme.etoile) on Nov 21, 2019 at 1:12 am PST
This strong guy, long hair, tattoos (especially stars on the left elbow ...) and long goatee, lover of rock and drawing, does not evoke diseases and drugs, but these words, these desserts, these music, these smiles that can soften the big start. And make him want to go back there every morning.
Why did you choose to become a palliative care nurse?
Honestly, I didn't dream of it at all, neither of becoming a nurse, nor of palliative care… As a child, I wanted to be a garbage collector. I don't know what led me. An admiration for this job and instinct I think. Palliative care has met many expectations. First, things that I had experienced and not repaired. My mother has been sick since I was very young, this feeling of helplessness was not easy. Then I found a fair compromise between medicine and psychology. I had started a faculty of psycho, but I did not see myself as a shrink. Today I do not regret, I am in my place in palliative care.
"A marshmallow stuck in a mirror cabinet", that suits you as description?
Yes, it was a psychologist who told me that after the death of a patient. I am 1.93 tall and wide, I am tattooed everywhere. But basically, I am a Care Bears. This dichotomy between my appearance and my personality is rather an advantage. When they see that I am nice, apprehension gives way to curiosity. You get to know yourself through my tattoos, because I put things there that tell me.
What is palliative care for you?
Palliative care is scary because the general public is poorly informed. It is only associated with death. Before working on it, I made the same representation of myself, "in which sinister dying place am I going to land?" But many patients stay there to balance a treatment and return home. On the other hand, in the expression end of life, there is "life" and people tend to forget it. Our service is focused on people, comfort, pleasure. The teams are united, funny too. I firmly believe in a medicine in which one can do something other than give medicines. Attention, it is important to balance the treatment of a patient, as long as he suffers he is not available for anything else.
What made you want to draw your daily life first on Instagram, and now in this comic?
I was fed up with gray mines, limit of condolences when I say that I work in palliative care. It is not the way I look at my job. On the contrary, comfort care, the typical humanity of this service, should be found on all floors of the hospital. Having worked in many services, I find that the pain is often overlooked. Relational too. I happen to spend 1:30 in the room of a patient who does not have a visit. A surgeon once told me that palliative care was for hospital wankers ...
How to tell the story of your patients while respecting their privacy, their modesty?
Out of respect, their first names have been changed and I do not specify their pathology. This is not the gist of the story. But these human encounters, these beautiful links that we create very quickly. The wonderful thing about palliative care is that patients have no time to waste, so we create a bonding relationship quickly. This is good, I am not very good at talking about the rain and the good weather! We're kind of their surrogate family.
"We do not have the right to let our feelings interfere with care", there are also patients with whom you find it difficult to create contact ...
In this comic, I tell isolated moments, but I don't have such accomplices sharing every day! As in all human relationships, there are love at first sight, great stories and patients with whom nothing is happening. It is important when the current goes badly to identify our emotions. We have this duty to stay tuned, to hand over when it becomes too difficult.
The most beautiful meeting you have had?
It is a set. Each story I tell has taught me something different and has conditioned the caregiver I have become. Roger showed me that you could put hard rock in the hospital room. Marie, that I was able to grow as a caregiver. Mathilde, to translate my emotions with loved ones.
What do caregivers like you or Charline, very present on social networks change in the relationship with patients?
Nothing. Most patients don't know us. At the caregiver level, however, we can bring a voice. Charline on the writing side, and me with the drawing. I also receive a lot of messages from caregivers who thank me for telling another side of our business. There are still people who do their jobs with heart, without counting their hours.
Precisely, the difficulties of public hospitals have been making the headlines since March, what do you think of the social movement?
The hospital has clearly become a steamroller. No one is spared, not even palliative care, by this quantitative rather than qualitative logic. This results in fatigue for caregivers, more and more resignants, it does not benefit anyone. I am satisfied with my scale of maintaining good quality of care, but I am worried about the rest.
* To the life ! Calmann-Lévy, January 8, 2020, € 16.50
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