I arrived at the Emergency Room at Porter Hospital in the afternoon with an extremely high fever (almost 106) and the most excruciating body pain that I ever had experienced (15 on a scale of 0-10). The decision was made to admit me at midnight, and for the next 5 days. I was totally unaware of anything going on around me and felt very near death. Happily, thirteen days after being admitted, I was released from the hospital, thanks, in no small part to the "above and beyond" efforts of Porter's nurses and other caregivers, among them nurse Roman.
Roman was attending to my fourth night when my husband said I was on a slippery slope downhill. I was being treated for a viral infection that all the doctors said would have to run its course, but by the fourth night, I hadn't been getting any better and my husband- who spent every night with me while I was hospitalized - noticed in the wee hours of Saturday morning, that I seemed to be slipping and he summoned Roman to the room. Roman, too, had been monitoring me, and he said he had a "gut" feeling that I was slipping away and made the brave decision to notify the Rapid Response Team. When he told the Team what was happening, they decided that it might be more than just a viral infection, and that's when the diagnosis of a very nasty bacterial pneumonia was made, and antibiotics started to be administered. Apparently, the bacterial pneumonia had developed while I was in the hospital, and upon receiving the antibiotics, I truly turned the corner. I believe Roman was instrumental in saving my life, for which I will be eternally grateful.