I wanted to share this great story with you. The CVIOR had taken care of a very sick patient for over a month.  He is 51 yr old and his name is Mr. K. He was in the CVIOR for 1 month, where he underwent a huge STEMI, emergent IABP placed, then to OHS.  He was in cardiogenic shock, requiring a lot of support intra and post-op. He then was extubated, only to have to re-intubate and require a feeding tube.  Failed swallowing study multiple times after being re-extubated.  The team took amazing care of him.  Everyone wanted to take care of Mr. K. We all fought for him and encouraged him daily to keep fighting.  His wife, K, came every day, and the staff provided her with care, compassion, and emotional support.  To see your husband in this condition is very hard.  We helped support her, as well.  The team decided to set a date in mind, to have a luau with Hawaiian lei and flowers and fruit sorbet.  One RN organized this with the team and the patient.  It gave K and Mr. K something to look forward to and for Mr. K to fight to get strong.  For days, they would talk to Mr. K about pushing himself to do his exercises and get OOB.  He did it with their encouragement.  He was extubated in time for the Luau. He loved it.  It was the biggest smile we have seen on him.  He couldn’t have the fruit sorbet, as he didn’t pass his swallow study.  But that was Ok, Mr. K said, “It’s alright, save me the coconut one for when I do pass it.”  We sure did save it for him.  The care he received and encouragement from the entire team, such as RNs, US, CNAs, MDs, Intensivists, APP, and Surgeons, helped get Mr. K on his journey to get better.  He is now at GSH rehab.  Recently, we FaceTimed him to see how he was doing in rehab.  He is getting stronger every day.  We are so happy to see the great success of teamwork, compassion, engagement, and so many hearts of love for this patient.  We can’t wait for him to visit once he makes it out of rehab.

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We recently had a very ill 77-year-old patient who presented for emergency open-heart surgery due to an aortic dissection. At baseline, this patient had serious medical conditions that limited his function, but he was cared for by his family at home and had a reasonable quality of life. Upon admission to the hospital, it was explained that surgery would be very high risk and his chances of meaningful survival were low. Both the patient and his family expressed their strong desire to undergo surgery in an attempt to save his life. The patient had an emergent open heart operation and returned to the CVIOR in very critical condition. During the course of his hospital stay his nurse staff played a tremendous role in caring for both the patient and his family. The family members were extremely grateful not only for the diligent care that was provided but also for the explanations that were reported by the nursing staff to help them understand what was happening to their family member. They were also thankful for the prompt assessment and intervention afforded to the patient's wife, who also suffered a medical emergency while visiting him one day. The nursing staff quickly assessed, stabilized, and transported the patient's wife to the emergency department for advanced medical attention. Due to timely care, she made a full recovery after several days in the hospital. The patient himself had a prolonged hospitalization but did make a full recovery and was eventually discharged. The family members, knowing how sick this patient was coming in, continued to express their gratitude and thankfulness for the attention, diligent care, and warm regard that was demonstrated by the entire nursing team. They were very impressed not only by the professionalism and skill of the nursing staff but also by their warm and friendly personalities that comforted them and took care of both of their loved ones during difficult times.