One day, while shopping with my two and half-year-old granddaughter, I suffered a cardiac arrest and ultimately wound up in the cardiac intensive care unit at Maine Medical Center. When I regained consciousness, I had no idea where I was or what had happened. This is where my story starts. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by one of the nurses in my ICU room, she told me I had suffered a cardiac arrest; my mind instantly went to - where is my granddaughter? I tried to speak but couldn't because of the breathing tube, so I made a motion with my hand to write on something; the nurse gave me a whiteboard to write on. Weak, scared, confused and panicking on the inside; I wrote two words, "X, OK". The nurse asked, "who is that? Is that your brother?" I took my left hand and moved it up and down and she said, "is that no?", I then took the same hand and moved it up and down for yes again and with that, we had just established my version of sign language. This might sound simple but when you have a breathing tube and are on a ventilator this was a big deal to me. She continued to try to figure out who the mystery person was. She said, hold on. She grabbed the phone and called my wife and asked her who this person was. My wife explained it was my granddaughter who was with me when I collapsed and to tell me that she is okay and with her mother. When she gave me the news it had a soothing effect. I then proceeded to make hand signals for water, she said to me, "oh you can't have water with the breathing tube in." I continued to ask for water and she said, "wait, I have an idea." She went and got a pitcher of ice water and took a sponge stick and started to swab the inside of my mouth. She would do this every time without me having to ask again whenever she left my room.
Over the next couple of days, the care my family and I received from this nurse cannot be expressed enough; she was caring, sympathetic, compassionate, considerate, empathetic, witty and sincere. Because of these good qualities, you can tell she is passionate about the patients and families in her care. When she left the room, she would always give me a big smile and a thumbs up. The positive energy she gives off is infectious and could only make anyone feel better. A few days after I started to gain my strength, and I said to my wife, "I had the best nurse you could ever ask for." She said, "it must have been Miranda." I said, "How did you know?" My wife stated that she took such good care of keeping the family updated throughout the first couple of days when there was a lot of questions of how or if I would recover.
That day, God put a set of angel wings on one of your nurses who took care of me and my family, and that nurse is Miranda Chadbourne. Miranda should be used as an example of how to take care of people, but her qualities are not something you can teach, they are personality traits you are born with and I am glad for her life and the second chance at mine. She is a true DAISY Nurse.