Laura Goudreau
September 2018
Laura
Goudreau
,
RN
Medical Surgical
Manatee Memorial Hospital
Bradenton
,
FL
United States
Laura showed nothing but grace, compassion, and empathy during our stay. My brother's journey started with a routine physical for work. Labs were drawn and questions started to arise. His hemoglobin was extremely low and not sure why. He was then referred to a GI specialist due to his past medical/surgical history. There, more questions arose. He is young, healthy, fit, and has no significant medical problems and once again stumped the medical team. The plan was the start iron supplements and schedule a colonoscopy to make sure his past surgery (a bowel resection) wasn't causing trouble. So a few weeks passed and his colonoscopy was done.
From there the bad news started. A golf ball size tumor was found and more questions were unanswered. Biopsies were sent and my brother and our family and friends were left to wait. That night, more issues arose. He awoke with numerous bathroom trips full of blood. My brother and his girlfriend went to the ER and waited for answers but were left with few.
Speeding forward, the doctor made the executive decision to take him to the OR Saturday morning to remove the mass. The OR went better than expected and my brother was allowed to return to his room post-operatively. That's when we met Laura. She was kind, patient, and attentive to every single request made my brother, myself, his girlfriend, and his village of paramedics. I say that because I myself am a nurse and my brother and his entourage are all in the medical field. We are all difficult and hard to please at times and can make the hardest patients and families. Laura never hesitated to help, call the providers, or help advocate for my brother. She was graceful, empathetic, and my brother's voice to the provider team. Laura is what a nurse role model looks like. She had a huge patient load (6 patients) both days. We always felt that my brother (and us) were attended to and taken care of to the fullest. She was never too busy to chat for a few minutes to help ease our worries and listened to the many suggestions and requests we made.
Thank you, Laura, for consistently being pleasant, kind, attentive, and caring to my brother.
From there the bad news started. A golf ball size tumor was found and more questions were unanswered. Biopsies were sent and my brother and our family and friends were left to wait. That night, more issues arose. He awoke with numerous bathroom trips full of blood. My brother and his girlfriend went to the ER and waited for answers but were left with few.
Speeding forward, the doctor made the executive decision to take him to the OR Saturday morning to remove the mass. The OR went better than expected and my brother was allowed to return to his room post-operatively. That's when we met Laura. She was kind, patient, and attentive to every single request made my brother, myself, his girlfriend, and his village of paramedics. I say that because I myself am a nurse and my brother and his entourage are all in the medical field. We are all difficult and hard to please at times and can make the hardest patients and families. Laura never hesitated to help, call the providers, or help advocate for my brother. She was graceful, empathetic, and my brother's voice to the provider team. Laura is what a nurse role model looks like. She had a huge patient load (6 patients) both days. We always felt that my brother (and us) were attended to and taken care of to the fullest. She was never too busy to chat for a few minutes to help ease our worries and listened to the many suggestions and requests we made.
Thank you, Laura, for consistently being pleasant, kind, attentive, and caring to my brother.