My mom suffered a hemorrhagic stroke this summer. She was transported to Green Bay and was placed in the ICU at Aurora BayCare Medical Center. When she arrived to the floor, she was wearing a hat which was her signature look.
Pam was assigned to care for my mom Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While Pam had off on Monday, she called in Monday night to request to be assigned to my mom for her next scheduled shift. Pam was with us again Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. To have Pam with us every day was a godsend. While she had other patients to care for, she always made our family feel like we were her priority and focus. She spent hours of every day gently caring for Mom, holding her hand, talking to her and making sure she was comfortable. Had she survived, I am confident that Mom would have considered Pam to be one of the nicest and most caring people she had ever met.
Pam's compassion filled our hearts. Prior to placing my mom into a medically induced coma, we discussed with the doctor that she would be intubated and heavily medicated. Pam asked my mom if she understood what was going to happen. My mom said "Yes. I want to be cremated and I don't want to be shown at the funeral." Without missing a beat, Pam said, "Well it is important to make sure everyone knows what you want." Pam spoke openly about death and dying and her personal experiences including having her grandma's ashes in the kitchen. She laughed with us that week and cried with us. She hugged us tight.
On Thursday, the time came to remove life support. We left the room to meet with hospice. When we came back, Pam had put my mom's hat back on her. After several days of being intubated and restrained, it was so refreshing to see Mom looking like Mom again in her hat. She died later that night, with her hat on.
Pam was an angel to our family at an extraordinarily difficult time in our lives. She has a remarkable gift in caring not only for her patients but also their families.