I was admitted to Grandview to repair an ascending aortic aneurysm. When I regained consciousness after my surgery, I was in a tremendous amount of pain that lasted throughout the afternoon and early evening. The pain was so severe that there were times I thought to myself “I’m not going to make it through the night if my pain is this severe.” Doubt began to overtake my thoughts and I knew from my military and law enforcement training I was on a slippery, downhill slope that needed to be reversed if I was going to survive the night.

I first met Douglas when his shift began around 7 pm. I remember Douglas professionally introducing himself and stating “I know you are in a lot of pain, but we are going to get through this night together.” A spark of hope was lit. He began asking me detailed questions as he immediately went to work trying to correct and resolve my many post-operative issues. I could tell he was using all the knowledge and experience he had acquired during his years as a nurse. During the next couple of hours, he made numerous calls to physicians and other experts on my behalf. We tried several different medications, changed the frequency of my pain medication, began administering medications to relieve my abdominal spasms so I could breathe easier, and made other changes to make me more comfortable. These changes not only improved my physical condition but gave me the mental confidence I was going to survive the night and eventually recover from surgery.

After eight hours of intensive help and constant care, around 4 am Douglas and I had finally beaten back my pain to a level I could tolerate. The relentless coordination made by Douglas to change medications and the frequency medications were administered was so successful they were not changed for the duration of my stay. The expert nursing care I received from Douglas during those first eight hours gave me the mental fortitude to reverse my earlier thoughts of doubt and gave me HOPE and confidence I would survive my open heart surgery.

My physical and mental condition continued to improve during the remainder of Douglas’ first shift as my critical care nurse. I was extremely pleased when I found out Douglas would be caring for me the following evening. I was a completely different patient when Douglas began his second night shift. My pain level was manageable, I could breathe normally, and I had much more mobility. However, Douglas continued to refine my care and medications to make me more comfortable. I was able to get some much-needed rest. The morning nurses were amazed when I went for my first walk of the day with no oxygen, no walker, no one holding on to me, and able to make five laps around the entire unit. NONE of this would have been possible without the expert care I received from Douglas. I began to make amazing progress after my second night with Douglas according to the physicians and nurses. It was as though they never had a patient undergo major surgery and recover so rapidly. I gave all the credit to Douglas.

Whenever I mentioned Douglas’ name to a fellow coworker, every single person responded positively. Comments like, “I love to work with Douglas”, or “Douglas is one of the best nurses I have ever worked with” and Douglas takes such good care of his patients.” As a former USAF fighter pilot, reputation is everything in the fighter community which is small and everyone either knows you or knows about you. Fighter pilots are also notoriously picky about professionals’ performance and do not hand out accolades unless they are earned. I found the professionalism from the nurses in the CICU to be the best I have ever had the good fortune to be cared for and I have been hospitalized with surgical procedures, injuries, or illnesses over 20 times. Based on my experiences as a patient at Grandview, I was not surprised by the glowing comments made by Douglas’ direct coworkers. I was, however, surprised by the number of physicians, nurses, and other workers who either knew of Douglas directly or had heard of the outstanding care provided by Douglas every time he came to work. Not one single person said Douglas did a good job – everyone said he was a great nurse who did an outstanding job caring for his patients. As good as all the nurses in the CICU were, in my opinion, Douglas was the best of them all and certainly is a DAISY Nurse based on the level of care he provided me. Douglas, thank you for everything you did. I could not have asked for a better wingman during my stay.