Crystal Dunaway
April 2021
Crystal
Dunaway
,
RN
Inpatient Rehab Unit (IRU)
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston
,
TX
United States
What Crystal did for me, was affirm me as a mother and truly made me feel like I was not alone there in the IRU caring for C. That as a mother, I was doing a good job and that it was okay to still need help.
Crystal was in the unit the afternoon we checked in and welcomed us with a smiling face and helped put my anxiety at ease about being there. She was our nurse the second morning in the unit. The day before the pharmacy had neglected to send my daughter’s seizure medication. This led to a very rough first day in the IRU as C had multiple seizures. I think the whole unit knew how upset I was. However, the 2nd morning when the pharmacy again did not send C’s seizure medication, I told Crystal I would administer her medicine from our personal prescription. She was completely understanding and witnessed me giving the seizure medicine to my daughter and then filed a “safety report” regarding the incident. Later in our stay, and why it is important to me to say how much I appreciated and depended on Crystal, C had a bad day. My daughter is usually “sunshine and roses”; but roses have thorns. Rarely do other people get to witness C’s outbursts or anger towards me, but Crystal intervened on one such occasion. I was changing C and she was being extremely combative. Crystal came in and witnessed the interaction and took the lead and redirected C. But what she did for me, was affirm me as a mother and truly made me feel like I was not alone there in the IRU caring for C. That as a mother, I was doing a good job and that it was okay to still need help. From beginning to end, Crystal played a key role in our stay in the IRU. The day before we were checking out, C had 5 seizures. Though she was not our nurse that day, Crystal had to do a urinary catheterization on C. She was calm, funny, and professional. She helped keep C calm and still. She made the whole experience a lot less dramatic and uncomfortable for everyone, including me. She even came by after her shift ended to make sure C was doing okay and not having additional seizures. In total, Crystal is awesome. She is caring and sensitive and relates to kids well and is professional at the same time. Being a nurse for Crystal is her “calling” and we are so grateful to have had her on our team!