My wife is a Type 1 diabetic. All the words of explanation written in all the brochures and books on this planet cannot prepare a patient for the actual experience of a leg amputation. My wife was faced with a decision to keep her limb and die from sepsis or amputate her leg and live. She had been moved from the Emergency Room to the 4th floor D Tower PCU Unit because there were no beds in Med/Surg. She was there by lottery. As it turned out, I think she won.
Kelly Shaul was my wife's assigned nurse the day my wife made the decision to agree to her surgery - a mid-thigh leg amputation. Kelly sat with my wife after her decision and compassionately explained what she would encounter with her decision, how it would change her life, and how the debilitating pain from the gangrenous foot would go away. Kelly also explained the different pains my wife would experience after her operation and that she would be waiting for her when she returned from surgery. For whatever unexplained reason, Kelly remained after her shift changed and met my wife when she returned from surgery.
Kelly was able to soothe my wife's post-surgical agitation and reminded my wife what she experienced. Her leg was gone. My wife had a hundred questions fueled by her post-operative fog, for which Kelly was prepared. Every question was answered with the compassion that only an experienced nurse can deliver. Soon, my wife was in and out of post-operative sleep. Each time my wife wakened, Kelly was there with a reassuring voice, a gentle touch, and the compassion of an experienced nurse.
So, how does this situation become a positive experience for the patient? For me I think it was the bond established between my wife and Kelly that was just long enough to create a sense of well-being and calm. I guess that's the best that can be expected from this type of patient experience and I'm truly glad that Kelly Shaul was the nurse my wife and I needed.