Recently, I spent 30 days in the hospital. My nurse, Tanya, went above and beyond to comfort and advocate for me. Tanya worked hard to translate the doctors' visits into comprehensive language. She asked me questions to get to know me beyond my illness, helping me remember that I was more than my sick self and had a rich life outside the hospital. She was amazing at managing multiple visitors, offering to be the person who dismissed them, taking the heat for me and keeping me from losing too much energy. She challenged me appropriately while displaying amazing empathy for all I had faced. In many ways, I give all the credit to Tanya for my emotional health during an extremely trying experience. In short, Tanya was an absolute all-star and the highlight of my time at Iowa Methodist. She has the perfect mix of cheerfulness and "you are going to get better" firmness. She was so real with me at a time when everyone else wanted to tell me the worst-case scenario or hide the truth. For that, I will always be grateful.