I feel Jen Gray deserves the DAISY Award because she is an exceptional, compassionate, and highly caring person who exhibits the qualities of what a nurse should be. Nothing was too much for her at any time. All the nurses were encouraging me to walk to get my gut to start working, and literally, when my gut started gurgling, she listened with her stethoscope with high hope on her face to hear something. When she did, she gave a huge smile and thumbs up at the noise. Then later, when I finally had production, she went into the bathroom, looked in the toilet, and came out dancing!!! Yes, dancing. She was as happy as I was to see improvement.

Then, as time progressed, I was really stressed about getting my NG tube out, and she made me feel so confident that it would be quick and not nearly as bad as I thought. I even asked her to pull opposite of the side of my nose bone cause it was so sore, she said absolutely and allowed me to hold my finger there as she extracted the NG tube with so much care, I cried and asked to hug her in relief and she did! I knew at the end of the day she would be leaving, and I wouldn't get to see her as her shift ended and she was off a couple of days. She said she would look for me on the beach someday rather than in the hospital. I took that to mean that I was going to be fine and maybe we would meet again.

I must say that all the nurses on my unit were exceptional, but Jen Gray, I feel, went above and beyond her call of duty. I even had a question about my yogurt having active cultures to help my bowels because the container didn't say so. She said let's Google it and found me an answer, even being so busy. She said it was challenging for her to find answers to questions she didn't know the answer to, and she informed me right away. She didn't have to do that but happily obliged just to comfort me, knowing I had a question about it, and she wasn't sure. The love, care, and great compassion she has for her patients is outstanding!!!