As a healthcare professional, it is never a good day when you are required to come to the hospital for an emergency. As the nurse in the family, you are the one who explains things in layman's terms, calms everyone down, and reassures them that everything will be all right. However, when you are the one who is ill, this proves to be challenging. There are many moving parts to Shore Health System from being seen in a satellite ER, decision to be admitted, assigned a bed at main campus, transportation arranged and set up for transport, transported to main campus, admitted by hospitalist, seen by specialist, decision to add on to OR schedule etc. Despite being terribly ill, I was still able to communicate enough to keep my family in the understanding of what was going to happen until it was determined I was going to need surgery that would require me to be placed under general anesthesia. Despite understanding everything that needed to be done I started to get anxious and worried about what could happen as I could no longer speak for myself. I was concerned that my husband would get lost in conversation and he had no one who would make sure he was OK.

It was determined that they would add me to the schedule that afternoon. I immediately started to worry about what could happen in case of an emergency, who would make sure my husband got to where he needed to go, answered any questions that he had, explained things so he understood them .... just flights of thoughts started to run thru my mind. I could also tell by the sweat on his brow and how he was shifting in his seat he too was uncomfortable with what was about to happen. I was attempting to explain everything again to him when I received a text .... it was from a former coworker who was now working in the PACU. She first acknowledged that I was on her list and that she was sorry this was happening. I immediately felt some relief knowing that she was working and made her aware. She asked if I minded if she recovered me, which made me even more comfortable. When relaying this information to my husband, you could see the relief on his face.

Things progressed fast after that and the next thing I remember I was waking up in the PACU with Christy as my nurse. At first, I panicked, but then I immediately saw my husband sitting in the chair in front of me, smiling. He assured me that Christy had explained everything well to him. Made sure he had gotten something to eat & drink. She was then able to assure me that everything went well and addressed my post-operative needs. She returned me to my room and checked to see if my husband needed anything else. With everything being managed well, I was able to rest quietly the rest of the day. Christy again checked later in the day to see if we needed anything. Knowing that gave my husband and I a sense of peace, that there was someone he could call on if he needed. The way she was able to relate to my family and calm a (knows too much) medical professional down. Her calming presence, caring attitude, and broad knowledge base go above and beyond her job description. I am thankful and grateful for the care that I received here and on the mend due to it.