Last September my 9-day old son, C, was admitted to Winchester Medical Center after spiking a temperature of 103. Since he was so young and breastfed, I stayed with him during the 4-night admission to the Pediatric floor. Just four days before our admission my mother lost her battle with colon cancer.
Although Winchester is where I was born and raised, we had traveled from my current home in Las Vegas to be by my mother's side. Having just given birth, traveling with a newborn across the country, and losing my mother all within the span of 15 days, I was a shell of my normal self. It was during this extremely difficult and stressful time that God put Katie in my life. Katie was the night nurse assigned to C and me during our stay at WMC. She cared for C like he was her own and bent over backward to make sure I was taken care of and comfortable.
Due to not knowing what exactly caused the 103? temperature, C was prescribed numerous IV medications. Being so small, getting an IV successfully inserted was a tremendous challenge for even the best "stick" to accomplish and stressful for a mother to watch. After four attempts and watching my son squirm and scream in pain, I was ready to call it quits with the IV attempts. Katie was so good at talking me off my IV cliff and explaining the benefits of keeping my son on the IV medications, and to give her a chance to start the IV. She was successful!
Without Katie's compassion and care during this pivotal time in my life, I don't think I would have kept my wits together. Because of her, I had the strength to care for my son while making funeral arrangements and mourning my mother.
My tremendous thanks and gratitude to Katie!