Karen Breznak
October 2024
Karen
Breznak
,
RN, BSN
General Internal Medicine
Mayo Clinic Arizona
Scottsdale
,
AZ
United States
My illness is rare and complicated to the public and medical community, but not to Mayo and not to Nurse Karen. Each step of the way, she has always been "right there" and never once gave up on me.
Nurse Karen is "one in a million." I first met her 1.5 years ago, when I entered the clinic with declining health. I am an active adult and marathoner and was not accustomed to "being sick." Those who can run 4+ hours continuously must be healthy, right? I knew the day I met her and the doctor that I had reached the very end of my threshold and needed help. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew I was in a continuous cycle of "getting sick" with serious infections, chronic diarrhea, and musculoskeletal injuries. I was crashing after exercise and just could not function without 4-hr naps. I couldn’t run without shortness of breath and an intense burning in my calves. With my career, I am required to speak on video and teleconferences globally, but I found my tone was quietening, the cadence slowed, and I needed to take many breaths between words/phrases. This illness no longer had anything to do with my recreational passion (endurance training), but it was my functional everyday life that was now compromised.
The day I met Nurse Karen, I knew I had finally arrived at "the right place." She just "understood" each of my responses - this comes from a voice of experience. I will never forget the day I met Nurse Karen because I was so ill I did not know if I could "make it" to our first 2-week follow-up call. I remember telling myself, “You just need to make it 2 weeks to your first visit with Nurse Karen. You can do this." My illness is rare and complicated to the public and medical community, but not to Mayo and not to Nurse Karen. Each step of the way, she has always been "right there" and never once gave up on me. When an active person suddenly finds themselves very sick, they don't always appreciate that they can no longer engage in activity the way they used to. She assured me it would be okay every time I needed to cancel hiking trips, races, traveling, and simple ordinary things like taking a pottery class because the effort to push the clay together was simply too physically taxing.
My only daughter was getting married in eleven weeks after I met Nurse Karen, and she helped quickly onboard me to my personalized medication and supportive tools (like bottle breathing). While my voice sounded different and I took many breaths, with her support, I was able to attend and give a Mother of the Bride speech at my daughter’s wedding. Thank you is too simple for this kind of appreciation.
When all cardiovascular activity was stopped, or I had unexpected setbacks (like a kidney stone), she sat with me while I cried, and we talked about what I could do. This is exceptional and the next level of care. I'm so impressed because Nurse Karen always brings a "bag of ideas" for any of my questions or new hurdles we have to overcome. Being a person who only drinks water or coffee, she helped me create new ways to increase hydration and water intake that were outside of my box. She helped me start a pill box, and we talked about setting phone alarms because the brain fog would make simple tasks difficult. She shared stories and related to my illness, which created trust between us. She understood I really wanted to move my body and helped reset my mindset that 'rest' is not just ok but still months later clinically needed. She 'breathed' with me during our visits, in her quiet/calm voice and helped slow my cadence. When I wanted the healing to happen quicker than it was, she helped 'ground' me and reminded me that other things in life also don't happen as quickly as we want them to.
She is so very wise. I know that Nurse Karen is not a marathoner herself, but she 'talked' running with me, re-educated me on a different kind of "pacing" myself and we talked about how to slowly re-integrate activity through my recovery. Nurse Karen grew to know me and picked up on cues when I was especially fatigued, and she became my Team Nurse and ordered more rest. While my Run Team have never met Nurse Karen, they all know of her and respect her clinical judgement. She shows up to every visit with a smile. Nurse Karen is the 'glue' in my care team, and I am so very grateful. Some literature said I would never run again. Nurse Karen always believed I would, and I am working on it. The world needs more Nurse Karens in it.
Note: This is Karen's 2nd DAISY Award!
The day I met Nurse Karen, I knew I had finally arrived at "the right place." She just "understood" each of my responses - this comes from a voice of experience. I will never forget the day I met Nurse Karen because I was so ill I did not know if I could "make it" to our first 2-week follow-up call. I remember telling myself, “You just need to make it 2 weeks to your first visit with Nurse Karen. You can do this." My illness is rare and complicated to the public and medical community, but not to Mayo and not to Nurse Karen. Each step of the way, she has always been "right there" and never once gave up on me. When an active person suddenly finds themselves very sick, they don't always appreciate that they can no longer engage in activity the way they used to. She assured me it would be okay every time I needed to cancel hiking trips, races, traveling, and simple ordinary things like taking a pottery class because the effort to push the clay together was simply too physically taxing.
My only daughter was getting married in eleven weeks after I met Nurse Karen, and she helped quickly onboard me to my personalized medication and supportive tools (like bottle breathing). While my voice sounded different and I took many breaths, with her support, I was able to attend and give a Mother of the Bride speech at my daughter’s wedding. Thank you is too simple for this kind of appreciation.
When all cardiovascular activity was stopped, or I had unexpected setbacks (like a kidney stone), she sat with me while I cried, and we talked about what I could do. This is exceptional and the next level of care. I'm so impressed because Nurse Karen always brings a "bag of ideas" for any of my questions or new hurdles we have to overcome. Being a person who only drinks water or coffee, she helped me create new ways to increase hydration and water intake that were outside of my box. She helped me start a pill box, and we talked about setting phone alarms because the brain fog would make simple tasks difficult. She shared stories and related to my illness, which created trust between us. She understood I really wanted to move my body and helped reset my mindset that 'rest' is not just ok but still months later clinically needed. She 'breathed' with me during our visits, in her quiet/calm voice and helped slow my cadence. When I wanted the healing to happen quicker than it was, she helped 'ground' me and reminded me that other things in life also don't happen as quickly as we want them to.
She is so very wise. I know that Nurse Karen is not a marathoner herself, but she 'talked' running with me, re-educated me on a different kind of "pacing" myself and we talked about how to slowly re-integrate activity through my recovery. Nurse Karen grew to know me and picked up on cues when I was especially fatigued, and she became my Team Nurse and ordered more rest. While my Run Team have never met Nurse Karen, they all know of her and respect her clinical judgement. She shows up to every visit with a smile. Nurse Karen is the 'glue' in my care team, and I am so very grateful. Some literature said I would never run again. Nurse Karen always believed I would, and I am working on it. The world needs more Nurse Karens in it.
Note: This is Karen's 2nd DAISY Award!