In September, my husband J, a normally healthy and fit 64-year-old man, suddenly became ill with what initially seemed like flu symptoms. He was subsequently diagnosed with a liver abscess, a life-threatening illness unless detected in a timely manner and treated aggressively with long-term intravenous antibiotics and drainage of the abscess via a catheter inserted through the skin into the liver, which he would need for several weeks. He was hospitalized for seven days, during which time, he endured a multitude of tests, consults and treatments. Throughout his stay, the nursing care was outstanding, but I wanted to recognize one nurse for her great compassion and tenderness. That nurse is Becky Staudt, one of the Med-Surg nurses on the PM shift.
On the 5th day of his hospitalization, the strain of his treatments, as well as the fear his diagnosis created in him overwhelmed my husband emotionally. Now he broke down, I was not at the hospital. He started crying alone in his room when Becky came in for her regular assessment. She saw him and immediately came over to sit next to him, put her arm around him and soothed him with words of comfort and assurance. He told me later that her action felt to him like divine intervention to uplift his spirit and give him a foothold of hope in place of despair. By the time I arrived at the hospital, he once again felt he had the strength to continue his battle.
I had been a hospitalist physician at Holy Family Hospital and worked with many of the nurses who took care of J. I know firsthand how difficult it is for them to stop in the middle of a busy shift and take whatever time was needed to provide the kind of care that can't be measured in outcomes and statistics. I believe, however, that these actions can help patients turn the corner for recovery in a way a doctor's intervention cannot. This is what Becky did for my husband that day, and I am so grateful.