May 2023
Daisy D
Du Preez
,
BSN, RN
4N - MICU
Mayo Clinic in Florida
Jacksonville
,
FL
United States
Daisy came in, held her hand, stroked her forehead, and talked to her in a loving, calming way that helped her relax and go back to sleep.
Daisy was one of the many amazing nurses who helped care for my mother during her 2.5 weeks spent at the hospital following her emergency splenectomy. What made Daisy stand apart from the rest was her next level compassion and knowledge. Daisy was the ICU nurse with my mother during the day shift when she was at her worst. She had internal bleeding from her esophagus and had to be intubated because of this. Daisy did a great job keeping our family updated during the procedure to stop the bleeding. Once our mother was out of the procedure, they still needed to keep her intubated into the next morning to make sure the problem had been fixed. My mom would slip in and out of consciousness during this time and was terrified every time she realized she had a tube down her throat and her arms were tied down. My sister and I did our best to try and calm her down, but we were terrified and emotional ourselves seeing her like that. At one point, when she was having a hard time calming down, Daisy came in, held her hand, stroked her forehead, and talked to her in a loving, calming way that helped her relax and go back to sleep. I was so touched by this and was so appreciative of her taking that extra step. The next morning when my mom was still intubated but was being weaned off the sedation so that she could be extubated, she kept signaling that she wanted to write. Daisy found a Sharpie and a clipboard and one of the first things my mom wrote was “How much longer are you staying?” and pointed to Daisy. She told her that she would be there the rest of the day, until 7pm and she wrote “YAY!” I think that shows just how much comfort Daisy brought her during such a terrifying time. After my mom was transitioned out of the ICU and to PCU, Daisy came and visited a few days later to check in. It’s people like her who make such horrible experiences like having medical emergencies, as comfortable as possible, both on the patient AND caregiver side.