Tess Troy, BSN, RN, CMSRN

My mother came to Northwestern Memorial Hospital due to needing complete reconstruction of her orbital bone and a flap placed. She was in the ICU prior to surgery and then on the general surgery unit for a week after her second surgery where she met Tess, her nurse.Our family lives in Central Illinois and there would be breaks in between times when family members were able to come see my mom. Tess was good about updating family members on my mom’s condition, getting my mom to take medications, and convincing her to take a shower to get cleaned up. Tess asked to pick up an extra shift just so she would be the one to assist my mom in the shower for the first time after surgery. Tess spent about an hour and a half just making sure my mom was showered, dressed in fresh clothes (since she was going home the next day), and spent time carefully combing her hair and getting the dried blood out of her ears and hairline. Tess knew my mom loved dogs, so she shared pictures of her own dog and even some wedding pictures to brighten my mom’s day. The extra personal time and attention Tess gave to my mom meant the world to her and to all of our family.