After a full morning of surgery (attaching a permacath and a fistula) my husband was able to recieved his first hemodialysis treatment. He was returned to his hospital bed by nightfall and met the night nurse who was in charge of him, as well as others on the PCU. Her name was Diane Franecki, and she was resourceful and kind. Diane noticed that the catheter area was bleeding profusely. She cleaned up the area and covered it with an ice pack. This didn't help as the ice pack kept slipping off. Diane solved the dilemma by searching and finding a small sandbag that was heavy enough not to slip off the wound. All the while my husband who was in great pain ( despite pain killers ) was not a happy camper. Diane was calm, and explained what she was doing, cleaning the wound, calling the surgeon via telephone, as the surgeons had left the building. This dutiful nurse checked on my husband about every 20 minutes. All the while she took care of other patients. About four hours after caring for my husband things were looking better. The bleeding was now minimal, and our surgeon returned to the hospital to check the patient. He was pleased with the results of Diane's care and was able to go home.

My husband did not want me to go home that night,so Diane arranged for me to stay overnight and found a place for me to rest. In addition, this Angel Of Mercy continued to check on my husband through the night. I feel very fortunate that my husband was under her care.