June 2024
Katie
Verbesey
,
BSN, RN
Cohen 17
New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Manhattan
,
NY
United States
I feel like she went above and beyond to provide excellent care to me, and was the only one who really advocated for me. Without her, I honestly don't know how I would have made it through a very difficult recovery.
I am writing to tell you about the exceptional care I received from my postpartum nurse Katie Verbesey, both after I delivered my first baby and stayed on 7North in December 2019, and then again after I delivered my second baby and stayed on the 17th floor here this past December 2023.
To make a long story short, I had a pretty traumatizing delivery the first time, after being in labor with a very poorly functioning epidural I ended up needing a C-section during which I was in agony, could feel knives cutting me. Then, when I got to PACU and they started doing fundal checks, the pain became unbearable, and I was literally screaming in pain, unable to even hold my baby due to the pain. Anesthesia came back and told me that I could not have a PCA or else I could not breastfeed, which is not true. The pain really spiraled. The next day, I had Katie as my nurse, and she strongly advocated for me and escalated to the right people, and finally got me a PCA. She took exceptional care of me. She was so compassionate, so patient, so understanding, so knowledgeable, and so skilled. She was also my nurse on my discharge day, and again took excellent care of me, and took the time to write out an organized medication schedule that was very easy to understand because I was going home on lots of different confusing medications. I feel like she went above and beyond to provide excellent care to me, and was the only one who really advocated for me. Without her, I honestly don't know how I would have made it through a very difficult recovery.
Fast forward 4 years, when she found out I was going to be having a scheduled repeat C-section with my second baby, she said she wanted to make sure she was my nurse again for the hardest day, the day after surgery, and she actually switched her work schedule to make sure she was working that day and made her husband take the day off work to watch their daughter. And she again provided such exceptional care to me, just above and beyond. When she found out that we would be celebrating my older daughter's birthday in the hospital, she found out what kind of cake she liked, baked her a birthday cake from scratch, and brought it to my room.
I feel so lucky to have had Katie as my nurse both times. She truly made such a difference in my life and had a lasting impact on me.
To make a long story short, I had a pretty traumatizing delivery the first time, after being in labor with a very poorly functioning epidural I ended up needing a C-section during which I was in agony, could feel knives cutting me. Then, when I got to PACU and they started doing fundal checks, the pain became unbearable, and I was literally screaming in pain, unable to even hold my baby due to the pain. Anesthesia came back and told me that I could not have a PCA or else I could not breastfeed, which is not true. The pain really spiraled. The next day, I had Katie as my nurse, and she strongly advocated for me and escalated to the right people, and finally got me a PCA. She took exceptional care of me. She was so compassionate, so patient, so understanding, so knowledgeable, and so skilled. She was also my nurse on my discharge day, and again took excellent care of me, and took the time to write out an organized medication schedule that was very easy to understand because I was going home on lots of different confusing medications. I feel like she went above and beyond to provide excellent care to me, and was the only one who really advocated for me. Without her, I honestly don't know how I would have made it through a very difficult recovery.
Fast forward 4 years, when she found out I was going to be having a scheduled repeat C-section with my second baby, she said she wanted to make sure she was my nurse again for the hardest day, the day after surgery, and she actually switched her work schedule to make sure she was working that day and made her husband take the day off work to watch their daughter. And she again provided such exceptional care to me, just above and beyond. When she found out that we would be celebrating my older daughter's birthday in the hospital, she found out what kind of cake she liked, baked her a birthday cake from scratch, and brought it to my room.
I feel so lucky to have had Katie as my nurse both times. She truly made such a difference in my life and had a lasting impact on me.