August 2023
Alicia
DiPalma
,
BSN, RN
ICU
Hunterdon Medical Center
Flemington
,
NJ
United States
Aware of my previous experience, Alicia carefully monitored and paid a significant amount of attention to me while intubated.
I am a 44-year-old father of 2 girls, 18 and 20, and a husband to an amazingly supportive wife. I unexpectedly ended up in the ICU department at Hunterdon Medical Center due to a ruptured blood vessel (caused by an ulcer) in my stomach that created an overwhelming amount of internal bleeding in a short amount of time.
In the very early morning, I woke up at 1 am feeling very nauseous and proceeded to get violently ill. With no prior symptoms of being sick the day or weeks before, I had convinced myself I got food poisoning that night while out with friends. As time went on, I continued to get more sick and started to get very dizzy and light-headed regularly. With the unfortunate situation of also being color blind, I did not notice that all the fluids I was expelling were bright red. Being in a very uncomfortable and personal process, I was not inviting my wife in beyond the closed bathroom to check on my unfortunate situation. Because of this, nobody including myself knew I was internally bleeding and actively losing blood, therefore causing me to black out.
While being checked into the emergency department, I blacked out again. The nurses and staff in the ER immediately notified the doctors and surgeons in the ICU department of the situation. Within ten minutes, I was rushed into the ICU to be prepped for a surgical procedure. Being unable to convey my concerns, my wife had spoken to the staff in the ICU department about a prior experience I had in 2011 where I had to be intubated and unfortunately woke up under sedation. That experience has since caused PTSD and a crippling fear of it ever happening again.
Aware of my previous experience, Alicia carefully monitored and paid a significant amount of attention to me while intubated. She assured me I would stay under sedation and wouldn't recollect any time while being intubated. While paying close attention to my situation she also was reassuring my wife and children that I would be okay. As my family voiced their concerns, Alicia listened and addressed them quickly and confidently.
Once out of intubation, Alicia continued the same level of care and attentiveness throughout the next 2 nights I was in ICU. Her level of professionalism and attention to detail, along with the ability to provide comfort to my family and me during this process is worthy of recognition that my words cannot describe. I would like to give great thanks to Alicia and all of her assistive ICU staff. With sincere gratitude.
In the very early morning, I woke up at 1 am feeling very nauseous and proceeded to get violently ill. With no prior symptoms of being sick the day or weeks before, I had convinced myself I got food poisoning that night while out with friends. As time went on, I continued to get more sick and started to get very dizzy and light-headed regularly. With the unfortunate situation of also being color blind, I did not notice that all the fluids I was expelling were bright red. Being in a very uncomfortable and personal process, I was not inviting my wife in beyond the closed bathroom to check on my unfortunate situation. Because of this, nobody including myself knew I was internally bleeding and actively losing blood, therefore causing me to black out.
While being checked into the emergency department, I blacked out again. The nurses and staff in the ER immediately notified the doctors and surgeons in the ICU department of the situation. Within ten minutes, I was rushed into the ICU to be prepped for a surgical procedure. Being unable to convey my concerns, my wife had spoken to the staff in the ICU department about a prior experience I had in 2011 where I had to be intubated and unfortunately woke up under sedation. That experience has since caused PTSD and a crippling fear of it ever happening again.
Aware of my previous experience, Alicia carefully monitored and paid a significant amount of attention to me while intubated. She assured me I would stay under sedation and wouldn't recollect any time while being intubated. While paying close attention to my situation she also was reassuring my wife and children that I would be okay. As my family voiced their concerns, Alicia listened and addressed them quickly and confidently.
Once out of intubation, Alicia continued the same level of care and attentiveness throughout the next 2 nights I was in ICU. Her level of professionalism and attention to detail, along with the ability to provide comfort to my family and me during this process is worthy of recognition that my words cannot describe. I would like to give great thanks to Alicia and all of her assistive ICU staff. With sincere gratitude.