Kristin Erickson
February 2021
Kristin
Erickson
,
RN
Family Birthplace
Mayo Clinic Health System: Franciscan Healthcare - LaCrosse
La Crosse
,
WI
United States
T remembers hardly anything for 3 days, but she remembers Kristin being up there and helping her pump.
My wife’s water broke, and we were off downtown to meet our little one. We checked in and were there approximately 10 minutes when a blonde nurse begins to take T’s vitals and asks some standard questions. Her name was Kristin Erickson. Next, T had the baby after only 2 short hours in labor and then chaos ensued. She was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, and she was literally bleeding to death. Her blood pressure dropped dangerously low, and she asked me to call the nurse because she felt as if she was dying. I called and Kristin came in. She took a look at T and her vitals and literally had 16 people (I counted multiple times…) in that delivery room in 10 minutes or less. She was scared…I was scared…it was a nightmare.
They immediately got meds to save her life and rushed her to emergency surgery about midnight where Dr. W (another guardian angel) saved her life again by performing an emergency hysterectomy. After 3 long days and another surgery, T was back down to me and the baby. Some rehab time throughout that week and after 8 days total, we were allowed to go home. We never imagined this would ever happen and it seems like a bad dream we have just woken up from. There are so many things that had to go right in order for this story to have a happy ending…and so many amazing people to make it come true.
First off, there is absolutely nothing I can write to express T and I’s gratitude for the care that Kristin gave us. We never once felt like a number and these professionals saw beyond the charts on a personal level. Kristin never gave up on us or passed us off to the next nurse and constantly gave me (who was locked in a Covid room and couldn’t leave) updates and pep talks. She came in on her days off to check on both of us. She helped T pump in the ICU. T remembers hardly anything for 3 days, but she remembers Kristin being up there and helping her pump. I can’t even begin to tell you how lucky you are to have her on staff. There aren’t many people like this left in the world. It wasn’t just being nice…all the nurses were nice. It was above and beyond kindness and empathy.
In any case, I’m not the type to write reviews (good or bad) nor do I seldom “talk to the manager” about experiences. However, I’ve written 3 rough drafts of this thank you note and I’m at the point of just sending it because I can’t get on paper the gravity of how lucky we were/are. We will never forget the staff there, and I pray this doesn’t happen to anyone at your hospital ever again; but if it does, the patient would be as lucky as we were to be under your care. Please let anyone on your team that is interested know that mom and baby are doing great!
They immediately got meds to save her life and rushed her to emergency surgery about midnight where Dr. W (another guardian angel) saved her life again by performing an emergency hysterectomy. After 3 long days and another surgery, T was back down to me and the baby. Some rehab time throughout that week and after 8 days total, we were allowed to go home. We never imagined this would ever happen and it seems like a bad dream we have just woken up from. There are so many things that had to go right in order for this story to have a happy ending…and so many amazing people to make it come true.
First off, there is absolutely nothing I can write to express T and I’s gratitude for the care that Kristin gave us. We never once felt like a number and these professionals saw beyond the charts on a personal level. Kristin never gave up on us or passed us off to the next nurse and constantly gave me (who was locked in a Covid room and couldn’t leave) updates and pep talks. She came in on her days off to check on both of us. She helped T pump in the ICU. T remembers hardly anything for 3 days, but she remembers Kristin being up there and helping her pump. I can’t even begin to tell you how lucky you are to have her on staff. There aren’t many people like this left in the world. It wasn’t just being nice…all the nurses were nice. It was above and beyond kindness and empathy.
In any case, I’m not the type to write reviews (good or bad) nor do I seldom “talk to the manager” about experiences. However, I’ve written 3 rough drafts of this thank you note and I’m at the point of just sending it because I can’t get on paper the gravity of how lucky we were/are. We will never forget the staff there, and I pray this doesn’t happen to anyone at your hospital ever again; but if it does, the patient would be as lucky as we were to be under your care. Please let anyone on your team that is interested know that mom and baby are doing great!