February 2021
Robert
Thomson
,
CRNA
Intensive Care Unit
Chilton Medical Center
Robert called my nephew when my brother finally passed and then he called me as well. I cannot begin to tell you what that meant to our family.
My brother was recently a COVID patient at Chilton Medical Center. He was quite ill when he was admitted, and he went progressively downhill. He had several comorbidities including an undiagnosed, and what appeared to be inoperable brain tumor. We are a family of nurses and physicians and needless to say, it was very difficult not to be able to see my brother or interact with the medical staff as you would normally do based on COVID regulations and distance.
I wanted to let you know of the tremendous respect with which our family was treated throughout this process. My nephew was the main person interacting with the medical staff. He is a SWAT office and has a limited medical background. Your staff was very patient about explaining my brother's condition as it worsened. I was finally added to the chart so that I could call and find all the details. I had the fortunate experience of dealing with and interacting with Robert Thomson, CRNA.
He was so kind and so compassionate. I found out that when we made the decision to place my brother on a ventilator to try to get him over the hump of his respiratory distress, that it was Robert who transferred him to ICU. He spoke to my brother at great length while he was on the Bi-Pap machine prior to intubating him. My brother made his wishes abundantly clear as to his feeling toward life-support.
We did put him on the ventilator, and he proceeded to go into renal failure, hepatic failure, and then he had some Grand Mal seizures and subsequently, a brain hemorrhage. We were getting third-hand information from my nephew and it reached the point where I called to find out the location and severity of the bleed so we could make a decision about continuing his care or discontinuing the ventilator.
Robert went through everything with me (and we conferenced in my son who is also a surgeon) in great detail. He told me that with each additional CT scan his hemorrhage was increasing in size and that they discovered a brain tumor in the cerebellum on the scan. He told me they called a neurosurgery consult, and that the neurosurgeon said he was not a candidate for intervention. To make a long story short, with this information I was able to speak to my nephews and my other brother and we made the decision to take my brother off the ventilator and give him comfort care. Robert made it clear that my brother was getting worse, and he had said he didn't want extraordinary measures taken (which we all agreed on as well.) Robert made it so much easier to make the decisions by reinforcing what we knew in our hearts.
Robert gave me his cell phone, assured me that he would stay with my brother until he passed away. He delivered a message to my brother for me and texted me throughout the entire period that he stayed with him, reassuring me that he was not alone.He didn't have to do any of those things, but he went above and beyond to offer incredible compassion to our family. He called my nephew when my brother finally passed and then he called me as well. I cannot begin to tell you what that meant to our family.
I wanted to write this letter because as a former ICU nurse, I realize that sometimes you just don't have the time to do that for the patient, but he made sure that he did. People always write letters to complain, but very few write letters when they receive excellent care. I wanted to make sure that Robert was recognized for his care and compassion, and that your medical center should consider themselves extremely lucky that he is on your staff. I can only imagine how stressful this crisis had been for your medical staff, I can see with my own sons who are both surgeons what they face every day. To know that in spite of all that, he took the pains to stay with my brother and to make sure that he did not die alone was so reassuring to us.
Thank you again for the excellent care given by all his providers, but I really felt that Robert should be singled out, he is the Gold Standard of care in what a health care practitioner should be. On behalf of our family, I want to thank you and your staff for the excellent care my brother received.
I wanted to let you know of the tremendous respect with which our family was treated throughout this process. My nephew was the main person interacting with the medical staff. He is a SWAT office and has a limited medical background. Your staff was very patient about explaining my brother's condition as it worsened. I was finally added to the chart so that I could call and find all the details. I had the fortunate experience of dealing with and interacting with Robert Thomson, CRNA.
He was so kind and so compassionate. I found out that when we made the decision to place my brother on a ventilator to try to get him over the hump of his respiratory distress, that it was Robert who transferred him to ICU. He spoke to my brother at great length while he was on the Bi-Pap machine prior to intubating him. My brother made his wishes abundantly clear as to his feeling toward life-support.
We did put him on the ventilator, and he proceeded to go into renal failure, hepatic failure, and then he had some Grand Mal seizures and subsequently, a brain hemorrhage. We were getting third-hand information from my nephew and it reached the point where I called to find out the location and severity of the bleed so we could make a decision about continuing his care or discontinuing the ventilator.
Robert went through everything with me (and we conferenced in my son who is also a surgeon) in great detail. He told me that with each additional CT scan his hemorrhage was increasing in size and that they discovered a brain tumor in the cerebellum on the scan. He told me they called a neurosurgery consult, and that the neurosurgeon said he was not a candidate for intervention. To make a long story short, with this information I was able to speak to my nephews and my other brother and we made the decision to take my brother off the ventilator and give him comfort care. Robert made it clear that my brother was getting worse, and he had said he didn't want extraordinary measures taken (which we all agreed on as well.) Robert made it so much easier to make the decisions by reinforcing what we knew in our hearts.
Robert gave me his cell phone, assured me that he would stay with my brother until he passed away. He delivered a message to my brother for me and texted me throughout the entire period that he stayed with him, reassuring me that he was not alone.He didn't have to do any of those things, but he went above and beyond to offer incredible compassion to our family. He called my nephew when my brother finally passed and then he called me as well. I cannot begin to tell you what that meant to our family.
I wanted to write this letter because as a former ICU nurse, I realize that sometimes you just don't have the time to do that for the patient, but he made sure that he did. People always write letters to complain, but very few write letters when they receive excellent care. I wanted to make sure that Robert was recognized for his care and compassion, and that your medical center should consider themselves extremely lucky that he is on your staff. I can only imagine how stressful this crisis had been for your medical staff, I can see with my own sons who are both surgeons what they face every day. To know that in spite of all that, he took the pains to stay with my brother and to make sure that he did not die alone was so reassuring to us.
Thank you again for the excellent care given by all his providers, but I really felt that Robert should be singled out, he is the Gold Standard of care in what a health care practitioner should be. On behalf of our family, I want to thank you and your staff for the excellent care my brother received.