January 2022
Holly
Depew
,
BSN, RN
Women's Center Pre/Post
Tampa General Hospital
Tampa
,
FL
United States
For some reason, I just did not feel right. Holly was right there, and she was very empathic, caring, and a wonderful nurse. I remembered how she held my hand and rubbed my forehead.
I've had the good fortune to spend 90 percent of my career at TGH. In October 2021, I was a patient in Tampa General Hospital and regrettably, I had to have extensive surgery. I'm writing to tell you about Holly Depew. Holly works as a PACU nurse in this facility. She is currently employed at the 4K Women's Center. My family considers it a stroke of fate that she floated to the PACU unit that day. But I call it faith, and the higher force, the all-powerful God sent an angel to keep an eye on me. I was called in by Life Link for a kidney transplant. After my transplant, Holly was one of my nurses. In the recovery area, even though I was in extreme pain and lethargic I remember seeing Holly and asking her to help me. For some reason, I just did not feel right. Holly was right there, and she was very empathic, caring, and a wonderful nurse. I remembered how she held my hand and rubbed my forehead. She also worked furiously to get my PCA pump set up so that I could get some relief from pain. After that, I overheard one of the nurses say that they sent Holly home, but she kept calling the unit because she felt that something was not right. Shortly after someone came in from radiology to do a doppler and right after that I was told by the surgeon that I needed to go directly back to surgery. My family and I were so upset, I felt as if I was dreaming from all the anesthetics that I had on board. But this was indeed true. One of the nurses had already called the transplant floor (9F) and gave a report on me. I recall him telling me that I was going to the floor; he had already called the report. The surgeon appeared in the recovery room within 5 minutes, telling me that we were going back to surgery. I had to undergo a second major surgery. Because the transplanted kidney was not placed correctly, my husband was also present, so I knew I wasn't hallucinating. What I do know is that I would have lost that kidney if it hadn't been for Holly's involvement in my care and her being where God placed her that day. They ordered a complete doppler study because she was adamant that something wasn't right. We need more nurses at TGH like her.