I am a critical care nurse, but most recently I had a scary emergent medical situation myself, with me as the patient. I had an esophageal impaction that required multiple scopes, an overnight stay, and a hospital transfer. Upon being transferred to University of Minnesota Medical Center for further work up, a lot happened very quickly. Once transferred to her care, Jody stood by and helped me manage everything. She went above and beyond to ensure both my emotional and physical needs were met. Introductions to the ER team, anesthesia, the GI doc, the internal med resident, and then internal med attending all occurred in under 20 minutes and left me frazzled and emotionally overwhelmed.

After a consult that left me thinking thoracic surgery was a big possibility if things didn’t go well, I lost it. Jody immediately rushed to get tissues for me as I sobbed. She comforted me, cracked a few light jokes, and helped me relax. She was so confident in her role that not only could she manage all the charting, med admin, vitals, and OR prep at the same time, she easily made sure that I was comfortable while doing everything else. She went out of her way to call and track down a urine specimen that got lost in the ER. She helped get me in the OR quickly and smoothly.

In the recovery phase, I woke up with searing throat pain, and not totally lucid as I was coming out of anesthesia and I immediately started crying. She immediately got me pain medication, and brought anti-emetics with her as she had remembered that I said I got nauseous with pain med administration. After that point, and thanks to her diligence in checking and rechecking my symptoms, I had a smooth recovery with little to no discomfort. The internal med team had admitted me out of precaution that my procedure wouldn’t go smoothly, but when the second scope led to my impaction being cleared, I no longer needed admission.

I had major worries about the cost of admission, and I had a driver to take me home and supervise me. Plus, being a critical care nurse myself, I felt comfortable that I didn’t need obs. It would have been really, really easy for her to have said that the orders were in so she had to admit me. However, she went out of her way to figure out who was on call, message and then call them when they didn’t respond and get me discharge orders. She spent a good chunk of time reviewing all of my discharge education with me and sent me home with a few supplies to help combat my post-procedure nausea- a wristband and some scent packets- in case it persisted at home. I had mentioned I hope to go to CRNA school some day, and she went out of her way to help me get contact info from the anesthesia team so I could potentially set up a shadow opportunity.

Once I was ready to go, she wheeled me down to the lobby herself while my ride went to get the car. The entire time, she made pleasant conversation with me and made the experience as great as it possibly could have been. From start to finish, she was thoughtful, resourceful, empathetic, efficient, and excellent. It’s the type of care we all wish we could give as nurses, and I felt honored to have been cared for by her. She deserves recognition for her excellent standard of care. Thank you, Jody, for all you did for me. I hope to demonstrate the level of care that you exemplified to me that day to all of my patients. It makes such a difference.