In October 2018, I found out at the age of 41 years old that I was going to have open-heart surgery the following week to repair my aorta above my heart. As you can imagine it wasn't the news a 41-year-old man was expecting to hear. I came to the Heart Hospital on a Tuesday to have a procedure done to expand my esophagus so that on Thursday, the day of my surgery, they could put a breathing tube down my throat. I met a nurse named Jamie. I was very nervous and decided to try and deal with that with humor. Jamie came in and introduced herself and I teased with her a little. She didn't seem to pay attention to me and came back in a few minutes later and said that she had to give me an IV. I asked if she was good at this and her response was it was her first day, she has just been promoted from being a janitor. At that point, I knew we were going to be friends.
I arrived Thursday at 5:00 am for my surgery and was even more nervous but was trying to hide it. Jamie came in smiling and we started teasing each other and I almost forgot what was getting ready to take place. As they started wheeling me down the hallway, my wife was holding my hand, they stopped and let her and my kids say bye and then we started down the hallway again. All of a sudden, I felt Jamie grab my hand and she held it until I fell asleep for my surgery. During my recovery, she visited me almost every day. I have had a few complications over the last year and have been back in the hospital three times, each time Jamie has come to visit me.
This is above and beyond amazing service. She deserves more than I can ever give her. There is so much more to this story but it doesn't give me enough room. She is a great nurse but an amazing person. Jamie is a true DAISY Nurse.