I am writing to you today on behalf of a wonderful Nurse on your staff by the name of Michelle Sanchez. I came in scared to death. I do not like hospitals, needles, anything having to do with being in the hospital! I am very easily embarrassed. I came in for a cardiac catheterization. Heart disease runs rampant on both sides of my family. And what I thought was just anxiety, was an 80% block in one of the arteries in my heart. The paperwork that I was sent home with prior, tells you nothing about what goes on while you are there. I came home after the fact, with that paperwork.
I was fortunate enough to have Michelle Sanchez as my primary nurse. She told me that I needed to be shaved in my pubic area, something I would have done, had I known ahead of time. Being as shy as I am, I must have turned beet red. Michelle was able to calm me down in about 2 minutes. I initially told her to give me the razor and I would do it myself. But she explained that it was her job to take care of me. Knowing I was very uncomfortable with this, she got it done as quickly as possible, to spare me any embarrassment. She was very warm and very empathetic, something you don't find too often today.
Before the procedure, I had gone to the bathroom to empty my bladder a few times. So, I thought nothing of it when I asked to go after the cardiac catheterization was done. She very gently explained to me that if they try to move me on and off a bedpan, I may start bleeding from that incision. And that my "start-time" goes back to zero, As far as the bleeding goes. She suggested a urinary catheterization, and all of the reasons why it would be to my benefit. As a child, I had a bladder and kidney issues and spent many years as a small child being held down for this procedure. Once again, the color must have drained out of my face. My sister was sitting in the chair by me in recovery. She (also being a retired nurse said to me,) "Michelle hasn't been wrong yet has she??" My answer to that had to be a NO, she was right about all of it. So, I let her catheterize my bladder, which took all of 3 minutes.
As I lay there I was freezing, Michelle must have put warm blankets on me every half hour because I was so cold my back and neck were going into spasm. She then said, "wait I have something that might help you." She disappeared for all of a minute to hand me what looked like 2 tea bags. They were her own personal pair of "hot hands". They are made for hunters, skiers, people who spend a lot of time in the cold. These were her own personal property. She was kind enough to give me these to packets that helped the cold I was feeling. I also Have CRPS or RSD. And the cold for this neurological disorder goes something like this...avoid the cold at all costs! So, again I was so grateful to her for going beyond what she had to do.
I started to get chest pain after a while of lying there freezing. She must have been watching me like a hawk from the nurses' station and came flying in. She informed my cardiologist that I was in pain, and that "nothing was going to happen to me on her watch!" Her words, not mine. So another EKG later...my heart was fine but I started bleeding from the sheath that was in my groin. She lifted up the covers after the EKG and said, "We are going to have to apply pressure until the bleeding stops. I don't like the way this looks!" It took 3 people to stop the bleeding. Had she not been so attentive, I would not have realized I was bleeding until I needed a transfusion. She then took all of the old gauze and packing out, replaced it with new packing and told me (kiddingly of course!) that she was going to tape my head to the bed. Any time someone came into the room I picked my head up, and that is what may have made me start to bleed in the first place.
Michelle is a diamond! She looks like she is maybe 22 or 23, but has the compassion and the empathy of someone well beyond her years! Very rarely would I take time out of my day to write you a letter about one of your staff, but this young lady is one dynamite nurse and you are fortunate to have her on staff there. And anyone who is lucky enough to be a patient of hers will never forget the kindness that she shows her patients! I want to thank you for your time in reading this, I believe in giving credit where it is due and Michelle Sanchez is a million in one!