I am a mother of five adult children. When your child is sick; it is heart breaking to a mother. Any pain your child experiences whether physical or mental is a mother's pain as well. It doesn't matter what the age of your child is, you will always be their mother and their caregiver.
My daughter, who is the youngest of the five, lives in New York City and is 23. After some terrible experiences in hospitals there, I took her to the ER at Good Shepherd where the doctor told me that he was definitely admitting her and that there were a number of possible diagnoses. She was tested, cultured, scanned for all the same diseases (as in NY) and more at Good Shepherd, all came back negative again. An infectious disease doctor was called in as well as an autoimmune disease specialist, and no one could find what had caused all of the symptoms she suffered. She was on continual antibiotics, antiviral, and antifungal medications. She immediately began to improve yet no one knew which medication or what combination of medications was doing the healing.
We were able to leave the hospital today, Friday after going to the ER on Monday and being admitted. She is now able to swallow oral/liquid medications and her heart rate and hydration is normal so she is going to be fine. My daughter was really sick, in pain, and scared. The medical individuals in New York made her feel ashamed and embarrassed, yet she did nothing wrong, and they didn't know her. They judged her.
My daughter was so fortunate to be placed on the third floor and have a young woman, Hannah Couch, care for her for three days. We feel that she could not have been luckier to have Hannah come into our lives. Hannah cared for my daughter like she was her own sister. She did her job and her personality was so genuine and caring. Hannah treated her with respect and dignity and was so sympathetic to her pain and discomfort. She was truly a sweetheart. I have never met a nurse who had such a caring personality and was so professional. She addressed every detail of care and made us feel like we were at home with family. When her shift ended, we really missed her.
I spoke to Anita on the third floor about Hannah when we were being discharged today and to let her know we missed her. She gave me this DAISY nomination form. It is our hope that you will give this very special award to this young woman who is so compassionate and dedicated to her patients. She definitely found her calling as a nurse because for Hannah it is clearly more than just a job. She genuinely cares and works hard to care for the whole patient, mentally and physically.