I have been a nurse for many years and have been fortunate enough to work alongside wonderful nurses. With that said, I want to commend Wendy Yang, RN whose skills, compassion, integrity, and inclusiveness make her a joy to work with. She is a trailblazer, creative, artistic (as apparent with the various works of art on our unit), who has a good relationship with everyone, and is a compassionate nurse. On night shift, she is also known as our unit IT tech. Recently, during the night shift, I had a patient whose discharge had been held for a few days because of a leaking G-tube.  It was this same G-tube leakage that the patient was admitted for. The nurses had been cleaning and changing the dressing 3-5x per shift, and because of the leakage, the patient's abdomen and breasts had become so excoriated that the bile from around the G-tube burned her skin each time it leaked. Triad cream, and various dressings did not prevent the burning sensations and pain the patient felt, to the point of crying each time it occurred. She was on a PCA pump and still had pain from the affected areas. Despite the first wound care specialist consult and dressing order, the G-tube still leaked at the insertion site. The previous two nights that I had the patient, my charge and I had attempted to place different ostomy bags to no avail. The main issue was that the venting G-tube would not fit into the bags, even when we cut out holes to fit. After two nights of having this patient and seeing her anguish, especially as she wanted to be home for Christmas with her family, I asked my co-workers if anyone had any other suggestions. 

The doctors placed another consult for a wound care nurse, who would not be able to see the patient until Monday morning. When I mentioned the issue to Wendy, she said, "The next time you are going to change it, call me, and I will see if I can do something, but no promises."  Around 5 am Monday morning, I called Wendy when I was going in to change the dressing. She did not hesitate, even though she had her own patients to care for, and as it was towards the end of her shift, it was crunch time to wrap everything up. She stopped her charting and followed me into the patient's room. She attempted to place 2 different ostomy bags but faced the same problems we previously faced. Then, she produced a solution. She took a Colostomy bag, a two piece, placed a ring around the opening, and cut the bottom portion of the colostomy apart to fit around the G-tube. To prevent the leaking from the cut, I watched with amazement as she took half moons, cut, stretched, and folded them like origami to seal the colostomy. To me, it felt like an hour had gone by (Wendy says it was only about 30 minutes), watching as she took the time and care to place the ostomy bag with no leakage. It was like watching a surgeon create a masterpiece. And it worked!!! With no leakage! I am happy to say that the patient was discharged home on Christmas Eve, just in time to be with her family. Thank you, Wendy, for all that you do.