Michaela Traitz, BSN, RN

Watching my 7-year-old undergo intensive open-heart surgery while completely helpless was one of the hardest things I have ever gone through in my 36 years. Each day while we were in recovery brought challenges and, oftentimes, regression, but the three days we had with Michaela brought hope and happiness for my daughter, which didn’t feel possible in that environment under the circumstances.

Upon our arrival to the step-down unit from the ICU, she greeted us, got us settled, and immediately made us feel comfortable. I was apprehensive moving to a 3:1 patient-to-nurse ratio, but Michaela somehow made the load look easy, immediately responding to any alarms or notifications from the numerous items my daughter was connected to, keeping the environment calm and anxiety-free, which was huge for us since we oftentimes were left in alarms for extended periods of time due to the nurse not being available or busy with another patient (which we understand typically happens).

Up until that point, my daughter had been a shell of her former self. Michaela brought her back to life, encouraging her to get involved and develop an interest in her own medication management. She got her up and moving and helped her re-learn her independence, to include encouraging numerous visits to the playroom, where we ultimately experienced some of our best laughs and smiles and, most importantly, normalcy.

By day six post-surgery, my daughter’s hair looked like a nest. Michaela took it upon herself to spend almost 2 hours washing it, combing it, french braiding it, and adding a bow. This was a massive undertaking and had to all be done in the bed. My daughter was beyond happy with her hair when it was finished, and I felt so grateful that she had made that time and put in that effort.

While under Michaela's care, everything was smooth, timely, and whenever I needed something, she would appear, or I was able to easily find her. We had a lot of nurses while in recovery, and I truly don’t know how she made her job appear so effortless.

At one point, my daughter began having trouble keeping her oxygen saturation up, and Michaela was immediately on it, getting her on the right settings with the wall unit and getting her back in the upper 90s. When my daughter’s heart rate was at a concerning level, she immediately got a provider in the room.

Earlier in the week, it wasn’t uncommon to have scary moments but be told shift change was happening, so we had to wait, or that the nurse was busy preparing for rounds, so they couldn’t assist my daughter at that time. We oftentimes had to advocate strongly for our care and getting medications on time or pain medications that were due actually administered.

So when we came to Michaela, extremely on edge already, to then have those fears and panics waylaid by her capabilities, it was the most relaxed I had felt up until that point (as relaxed as I could be).

If a poop happened at 7:15 p.m., right during shift change, which of course it did, she was right in there and never showed an ounce of inconvenience. Shift change and prep for rounds was obviously done, but the care was consistent, and she was somehow still available throughout those time periods.

We are beyond thankful for her and her kindness, and I believe her efforts were crucial in my daughter’s recovery and getting her closer to discharge. Michaela was an absolute standout for our family, and we cannot thank her enough.