I was a patient at the Ortho Hospital for an L5-S1 Alif Spinal fusion. This was not my 1st surgery, but my 1st back surgery, so I was very scared. The team at the hospital was great, very caring and compassionate. I would like to give a special thanks to one RN in particular who took care of me post-op and discharge in the PACU, RN Brandy.

Now, when I was coming to after surgery, I was pretty out of it still, so it took me a while to come to. After another nurse got me all settled with pain meds and ready for discharge, Brandy took over to give my boyfriend and me all the directions. She was very informative and answered all our questions, even my silly ones, since I was still kind of loopy. Haha. Now, this is where how kind and wonderful and calm and collective she is comes into play.

I was told to bring a walker with me to the hospital so I could have them check and make sure I could leave safely with a working walker I would need. Well, the walker I brought was my mother's. My mother recently passed away. So, this is still very recent for me, and this holds a lot of value to me as I felt this is a way for my mother to still be here with me, helping me through this recovery, which is proving to be one of the most physically hardest times in my life. Upon discharge, I asked where the walker was. She wasn't told I had one. So, I broke down thinking it was gone, and that hurt so much. I know it's just a material thing, but to me, it's my mom being here to help. I told Brandy that it had my name on a pink Post-it note taped to it, the price tag my mom left on it, LOL, was still there, and the sticker from where it was purchased as well. Brandy was so kind and understanding and did everything she could do to find it. She looked everywhere I would have been in my pre-op room, rooms where patient’s belongings are taken everywhere. She even called her boss personally to make him aware of the situation and was told to send me home with a walker, and they would find my mother's walker.

They would look all over and check everywhere, but at this time, close to 7:30 pm, most employees were gone for the night. She assured me they would do all they could, and she would call me the next day when she came to work, and she would look for it as well. So, Brandy calls me the next day and tells me that they found my mother's walker. It accidentally got taken to another patient’s room when they were taken to recovery, and I understand that things happen. Brandy told me that when she got off work, she would personally bring my mom's walker to my house. This meant the world to me. I don't know how many nurses would take time after working a hard day’s work to do something like this. I can't thank her enough for being so thoughtful and kind to me. Going above and beyond anything she had to do. Thank you so much! The world needs more nurses like you!