Two twin babies were born at 25 weeks gestation and spent 103 and 167 days in the NICU respectively. Like all premature infants, the twins struggled with lungs that had not been fully developed and evolved to a condition called bronchopulmonary dysplasia. In addition, one of the twins had a problem with his eyes, a bone infection (osteomyelitis) and had a surgical ligation of the Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). After spending 103 days in the NICU, the baby was off oxygen and went home.
The other twin, however, ran into even more serious problems. Following surgical ligation of the PDA, a chylothorax developed that drained copious secretions (up to half a liter per day). Because the fluid was thick it clogged the chest tube often. As a result, 19 chest tubes were required and the twin was placed on octreotide which had limited success. The baby had surgical ligation of the thoracic duct which also had limited success. After a couple of months, the leak spontaneously healed over.
It was the meticulous love and care from the nurses and the medical care from the physician team that got our baby through this very challenging time. They provided love and attention to the babies and his parents 24/7. Once the leak stopped, the twin still had issues with breathing and feeding requiring prolonged intravenous nutrition. Eventually, a g-tube was required to facilitate nutrition. The baby went home after 167 days in the NICU.
The parents had one word to describe our NICU nurses: "Heroes." I have received many praises regarding the NICU nurses from these parents. To quote one paragraph from many emails and letters: "Often times throughout our stay I wondered if they even realized the power of the work that they do. Because the truth is the impact that they have had on our lives is truly immeasurable. It would take me hours to list out every single amazing thing they did for my family over the past couple of months. Random acts of kindness that I will treasure for the rest of my life that they probably didn't think twice about before doing."
These are the Honorees of this DAISY TEAM Award:
Cynthia M. Abana-Dejesus, RN
Corinne Adams, LPN
Hashina Ahmed, RN
Christy Marie Aquilina, RN
Belen S. Babia, RN
Trevene B. Bacchus-Gillis, RN
Imee G. Bandong, RN
Shari L. Beatty, RN
Joyce L. Bernard, RN
Michaela Berroya, RN
Aneicka Bookal, RN
Lisa A. Bridge, RN
Tricia Budway, RN
Meghan Burns, RN
Maricar F. Castillo, RN
Nancy Chen, RN
Tanya Couvillion, RN
Bridgette Cowan
Roslyn Cusack, RN
Christie Czarnecki, RN
Iliana DelOrbe, RN
Victoria J. Delbrocco, RN
Frankie Dennison
Carmen P. Diaz, RN
Maribel Diaz, RN
Patricia Donohue, RN
Rachel Encarnacion, RN
Wilhelmina V. Fajardo, RN
Maricar Galang, RN
Beth D. Golden, RN
Emma C. Gomez, RN
Debra A. Greene, RN
Tanya A. Gudger, RN
Elizabeth Tyler Haertlein, RN
Suzanne Handrinos, RN
Amber M. Healy, RN
Rae-Jean Hemway, RN
Fabienne Hickland, RN
Katherine Hill, RN
Maria L. Ibe
Deborah J. Jackson Adams
Gina M. Jazmines, RN
Belen B. Juario, RN
Jung S. Kim, RN
Michelle A. Kolich, RN
Carroll Kruger, RN
Alyssa K. Laterza, RN
Elizabeth M. Lewandowski, RN
Paola A. Londono, RN
Vivian Lopez, RN
Alison Lyle-Bonaparte, RN
Daphne Lysius, RN
Lorina M. Martinez, RN
Yasmin M. McKenzie, RN
Tracy Mckinney, RN
Ilania Mignatti, RN
Mary Miller, RN
Kerry-Ann Mohrman, RN
Elizabeth Munson, RN
Kimberly Nguyen, RN
Makhosazane E. Ntshangase, RN
Laura A. O'Connor-Nee, RN
Sharon N. Odle-Lestage, RN
Eufrosine Ola, RN
Brenda Orlando, RN
Cristal G. Orpilla Tope, RN
Denise O'Sullivan
Mayra Penalo, RN
Nicole Poppas, RN
Nusrat J. Qadir, RN
Lauren Jean Raggio, RN
Carina C. Roallos-Vierneza, RN
Sheila C. Robinson, RN
JahShiRah Rossi, RN
Ivana Santiago, RN
Gwendolyn L. Smith, RN
Nishka M. Smith, RN
Shelley Marianne Solheim, RN
Coleigne Solomon, RN
Jaclyn Amanda Sperling, RN
Blair Sudderth, RN
Rosa Sullivan, RN
Acila T. Tamir, RN
Claudette Theuriere, RN
Nicole Timi, RN
Kerry Toal, RN
Maribel A. Vallarta, RN
Monina D. Velasco, RN
Mary E. Veltri-Lariviere, RN
Veronica Y. Ward, RN
Ashley Winn, RN