On Friday, my Dad came in for a "routine" lithotripsy procedure. During his recovery time in Same Day Surgery, he was having a very difficult time. He had both nausea and a headache which would not go away despite being administered several medications to counteract them. His nurse, Patrick Wilcox, was attentive, compassionate and showed genuine concern for his discomfort.
After a few hours, there was no improvement. During this time Patrick was reaching out multiple times to various doctors to keep him in observation. Thankfully due to his urging, my Dad was placed in the CDA for a 23-hour hold. At around 2 AM he became a rapid response. His blood pressure had tanked to 60/40 and he was admitted to the MICU. As it turned out, he had an internal bleed in his kidney because of the procedure. He was in the hospital for a total of almost 5 days and received 3 blood transfusions during his stay.
Had it not been for Patrick's intuition in knowing that something was off and advocating for my Dad's care, I'm positive he would no longer be with us. I'm so eternally grateful that Patrick provided my Dad with such great care in the recovery room, and that he pushed to keep him under observation rather than simply send him home.