May 2018
Holly
Napravnik
,
RN
Post-Surgical Unit
Oasis Hospital
Phoenix
,
AZ
United States
Recently, I had hip replacement surgery. Late that night as I tried to sleep, restless leg syndrome took charge and I began to move quickly and often, tangling myself in the bedclothes and managing to pull the IV from my left arm. Lots of that red stuff seemed to invade my bed. I finally managed to wrap enough of my hospital gown around my arm to hide the bleeding. It did not occur to me to press the call button for help. Instead, I slid out of bed and commenced my walk to the nurses' station having to work my way through the hallucinations I was seeing, while they seemed to move aside. Fortunately, Nurse Holly Napravnik was close by and headed toward me. I figured I was in trouble, but that was not to be. I started apologizing profusely, but she would not hear of it. She quickly stemmed the flow of blood and walked me around while her team went to work recovering my room. Holly took charge and somehow convinced me I was not at fault. I was probably a lot more out of it than I realized but Holly kept me focused and finally cleaned. I was returned to my bed and appropriately wired. If there are truly angels out there, Holly is one of them and I thank her for being there for me at my less-than-finest hour. She kept me focused on getting me under control and back to bed. I thank Holly and her team for their actions that night. She never made me feel that I was the problem, only part of the solution.