Over the last couple of months, our mother has had to be hospitalized on multiple occasions due to complications from her liver disease. During these stays, we have been blessed with good nurses, but one particular nurse, Michaela, stood out above them all. From the first time she entered mom’s room at shift change and introduced herself, it was her infectious smile, bubbly personality, and attention to detail that instantly let us know we were in good hands.

This has proved to be the case every time Mom has had the pleasure of having Michaela as her nurse. She was very attentive to mom in every aspect of care and acknowledged what she needed before we would even have to ask, not only to our mother but to my father and myself, who are her main caretakers. She showed compassion and empathy in her care with a very trusting and confident approach. On one particular stay, where mom's ammonia levels were critically high and she had been verbally and physically unresponsive, she began showing noticeable signs of severe discomfort and possible withdrawals. Her daily pain medication, which she has been on for years, had been stopped per doctor's orders in hopes to not suppress the condition of alertness anymore while trying to get her ammonia levels back down from such a critical level.

Along with her signs of severe discomfort as well as starting to show signs of withdrawal from not having it over such a period of time, we became concerned, and Michaela did too. She reached out to the doctor to see if her pain medication could be given but was denied. Michaela continued to advocate for my mom to find an alternate medication that would help reduce the pain but without the harsh side effects of altering her alertness. Finally, after constant communication with the doctor, she came in the room with the solution of administering the medication suboxone. It wasn't long after it was given that we began to see a huge difference in mom's status. The pain and discomfort subsided, and she also became alert. We know without a doubt that if it had not been for this nurse's constant dedication and compassion to advocate for our mother's health and for an alternate solution, the situation would have taken a turn for the worse.


All the while she was researching a solution and going over and beyond, she never lost her attentiveness to detail and care for mom's other medical needs nor the patients she was carrying for too. As a family, it is reassuring to know that there are nurses like Michaela who will go over and beyond to make an already hard situation more comforting, all while showing true compassion and confidence in the quality of care they are giving. She is a true model and the definition of what a nurse should be.