Gloria Kustes
July 2014
Gloria
Kustes
,
RN
Medical-Surgical
Baptist Health Louisville
Louisville
,
KY
United States
On Friday my husband had surgery, laparoscopic right colectomy. That night and the next morning he was doing very well but late Saturday during a breathing treatment he started complaining that something had happened inside the right side of his abdomen. He said something had popped and it felt like a hot poker was inside of him. He started having chills and fever. His blood pressure and oxygen levels were not good. He seemed to go downhill all night but everybody kept insisting it was just because of the surgery recovery.
On Sunday, nurse Gloria came on duty. She listened to everything he told her and checked his records. Gloria believed that there was something else wrong and immediately called his doctor. We heard her talking on the phone and she told the doctor that she believed that there was a problem and would he come ASAP to check. When the doctor came he immediately ordered a CT scan and chest x-rays. Those tests showed pneumonia in both lungs and something in the right abdomen. He was then taken to surgery again for exploratory surgery. The problem was taken care of during surgery but he was so bad now that he went immediately to ICU. He was put on a ventilator and a central venous line port was put in his neck. He was in ICU for 4 days and then went to the floor. He was there for 5 more days before he was able to come home.
Nurse Gloria came to ICU waiting room after her shift to see how he and his family were doing. She also came again the next day (her day off) with her 2 small children and brought some homemade banana bread for our family. Gloria continued to check on us even after this.
I believe if nurse Gloria had not taken action when she did my husband would have possibly died. She told us that before coming to work that day, she prayed to God if a patient needed her help to guide her in the right direction that she could help them. My family truly believes that she was a God sent angel that day. Gloria Kustes is the most compassionate nurse and most caring of patients and their families that I have ever met in my 72 years.
On Sunday, nurse Gloria came on duty. She listened to everything he told her and checked his records. Gloria believed that there was something else wrong and immediately called his doctor. We heard her talking on the phone and she told the doctor that she believed that there was a problem and would he come ASAP to check. When the doctor came he immediately ordered a CT scan and chest x-rays. Those tests showed pneumonia in both lungs and something in the right abdomen. He was then taken to surgery again for exploratory surgery. The problem was taken care of during surgery but he was so bad now that he went immediately to ICU. He was put on a ventilator and a central venous line port was put in his neck. He was in ICU for 4 days and then went to the floor. He was there for 5 more days before he was able to come home.
Nurse Gloria came to ICU waiting room after her shift to see how he and his family were doing. She also came again the next day (her day off) with her 2 small children and brought some homemade banana bread for our family. Gloria continued to check on us even after this.
I believe if nurse Gloria had not taken action when she did my husband would have possibly died. She told us that before coming to work that day, she prayed to God if a patient needed her help to guide her in the right direction that she could help them. My family truly believes that she was a God sent angel that day. Gloria Kustes is the most compassionate nurse and most caring of patients and their families that I have ever met in my 72 years.