Our journey started in March 2015 on Progressive Care, my mom was waiting for Triple Bypass Surgery. She had a kidney disease and her kidneys were only working at 14% and they wanted to start dialysis before the surgery. It was a very scary time for all of us. When it was a dialysis day, they could only bring her a hard-boiled egg and cold cereal because she would get an early tray. She didn't like cold cereal and breakfast was usually her favorite meal. We had Ryan from day one and every day he worked he made sure she had oatmeal in the morning. He would get off work at 7 and then go down and get her oatmeal and leave it for her with a smiley face. She was there for 3 weeks and he made sure that her care was above and beyond. He worked hard to make sure she was calm and happy.
One example was on her birthday. My mom had two dogs and she missed them so much. Ryan requested that we bring the dogs in on her birthday as a surprise. With the proper paperwork, we were able to do this and it made her whole day. Even in her hospital room, Ryan made her feel special on her birthday. He always answered all our questions and kept Mom and all of us informed. He had a great balance of doing his nurse duties and being very friendly and meeting all our needs. So that is the beginning.
Throughout the years Mom became very ill with a lot of complications from dialysis, CHF, COPD and many other things. We were in and out of the hospital a lot. He always made a point if he saw me in the hall to ask how Mom was and if she was in the hospital he would go visit with her. He continued this for 4 years. We all became very close and he was like family to us.
My mom had a couple of procedures and her heart was only working 15%. She made it through the procedures but the last one they couldn't get her BP to come up. She coded in IR and they rushed her to ICU and we had to stay out of the room. I was a mess, and then I saw Ryan. I hugged him and cried and told him I was scared. He told me we had one of the best nurses and that he would take great care of her and that he would make sure to check on us, he was assigned to ICU that evening.
Our nurse did a great job and got Mom's BP up and she was feeling much better. So we all went in and talked to her and Ryan told her that he needed a haircut (Mom was a hairdresser) and that he was going to lay the scissors up on the paper towel holder and she could cut his hair in the morning (he was trying to give her something to push for). He stood and talked to Mom and she told him how she still wanted to drive but that I had taken her car away (she had a stroke back in 2017). She wanted to go to sleep and they had done a shift change and our nurse left and we had a new nurse. I sent everyone home from my family and said I would stay with her and we lied down. About an hour later, she jumped up and tried to get out bed and that was when things went really bad. Her BP had dropped and she felt dizzy. I called for her nurse and the nurse and Ryan came in and called the doctor on call. He came in and said we needed to get the family called in and Ryan walked out into the hall. I knew he was taking it hard also, he had been with us for 4 years!!! I called my family to come back up and I was so scared. I went out into the hall and we cried and then he said let's get back in there and take care of Mom.
He told the charge nurse that he was going to be with us for a while and could someone take care of his patients. He didn't leave my side! We kept Mom awake by talking to her and rubbing her until my husband and son got there (my son was the apple of her eye). He stayed with us the whole time. I told him he was like family and we wanted him here with us. He was there until she passed and then he made sure that her hair looked good because he knew that was so important to her.
He was a rock for us for 4 years! I am so glad that he was always there for us. He went above and beyond so many times. I am sure that I have not even touched all the things he did for my mom and our family. I want to give him the highest honor that I can give as a thank you for being such an amazing and caring nurse. There are not many patients and families who can say that they had the same nurse for 4 years who cared for their loved one. I was so honored to have him in our lives. He is very special and caring.
It was a blessing to have him full circle! From start to end he was there for us doing whatever needed to be done.
(This was so hard to write and took me so long to be able to type this out. I am still not doing well and tears roll down my cheek as I type this.)