In late October my father had cardiac surgery to repair his thoracic aortic aneurysm. Since then he has been in an out of a.fib, and in and out of both MMC and OMC. He has had excellent care throughout his stays, but one nurse really made a difference to my dad, my mother, and to me. After countless unsuccessful cardioversions, and a failed attempt to use Tykosen to medically control the a.fib, my father had an ablation. After the procedure, the doctor came out and told my mom and me that my father woke up angry. This is the first time we had been told anything like this, each prior experience with anesthesia had been uneventful. Marilyn Tarrant was his nurse in the PACU and by the time we were brought in she had developed a rapport with my father that displayed not only nursing excellence but kindness, compassion and caring. She had my father calm and as comfortable as he could be. When my father woke up he was disoriented and thought that he had died. Marilyn very confidently made sure that he was aware that he had not died and was in the PACU. She brought my mom and me in to see him in a very timely manner, which was comforting to us and to him. She really kept on top of his vitals and labs. His ACT had to be at a certain level in order to remove his A-Line, the last step before discharging him from the floor. Marilyn rechecked this level at almost precisely 30-minute intervals, and as soon as it was ready she got the A-line out and called report so that he could get to the floor where he would be less restricted and more comfortable. Even when Marilyn went to lunch she made sure that we knew who was covering for her and that we would be comfortable with the care we received in her absence. Throughout our time in the PACU Marilyn very kindly and patiently answered allour questions about what was going on. It was evident that Marilyn takes into account the personality of the patient she is dealing with and adjusts her communication to meet their individual needs. Additionally, we saw Marilyn interact with her coworkers in a way that showed her expertise as well as how respected she is by them. She really stood out, even among a group of truly excellent nurses. You really have a gem. Thank you.