Our daughter, A, came in to have gallbladder surgery but ended up not having it due to not keeping anything down that morning. She was admitted to 3 South for fluids and to get her to the point of having surgery. Elizabeth was her nurse when she was admitted and then we had her a couple days later for 3 days straight. We had Elizabeth the day surgery finally happened and the couple of days following. Elizabeth was a wonderful advocate, always asked us what we were thinking, and was never afraid to ask the team questions of us. The team was trying to figure out A’s feedings (she is G Tube dependent) and kept just giving her pedialyte. She threw up again 2 days after surgery with just pedialyte. The team wanted to give her bowel rest and go to strictly IV fluids yet again. Elizabeth came in and said let’s have a “think tank.” So, she, the resident from the team and the two of us just started thinking out loud. We discussed some things, and after the resident left, the three of us continued the “think tank.” I finally suggested doing a continuous feed very very slowly just to get a little food in her tummy. Elizabeth loved that idea and called the doctor team again. Elizabeth also wanted to know what would happen if A got a little food in her stomach. She thought that would probably help things. She said that any other kid who would have had this surgery they would want them to eat, and she didn’t see A as any different. A was able to tolerate these continuous feeds and they just slowly increased her rate.

Two days later and we are attempting her bolus feeds again and talking about discharge soon. We REALLY appreciated Elizabeth advocating on A’s behalf and our behalf. When you have a child that is nonverbal, it’s so hard to know what they need or want. Elizabeth listened to us as A’s parents and helped us get the answers we needed and wanted. It was definitely a blessing to us to have such a wonderful nurse and someone who was willing to do whatever she needed to do for our daughter AND for us! THANK YOU!