The day our 2-year-old was put on a ventilator to date is the scariest time I have had as a grown woman and as a mother. The first night was spent in a chair and trying to let family members know what was happening this was the first day of my spring break. Tuesday morning, I hear shoes making their way down the hallway. I had already been up -- with 4 cups of coffee and butterflies in my tummy. In comes this short brown-haired cheerful nurse Millie (Nurse Mil). The care that she provided for my daughter that day gave me a sense of calmness. How she calmed my daughter when she woke out of sedation how she joked with my daughter and encouraged her fighter spirit she was meant to be our nurse. However, to my dismay, she was off the next day. But before Millie left she said she would be back on Thursday. And sure enough Thursday morning the shoes made their way down the hallway.

Because Nurse Mil was on duty my husband and I felt like we could leave for the day and go and spend the day with our 4-year daughter. Little did we know (Nurse Mil did call us!!) but coming out of sedation G pulled her tube to the point that they had to bag her until they could get it replaced. With the time that Millie spent and the attention to detail, she knew the ins and outs of how my daughter reacted to the sedation that she was not far when G was in need.

This wasn't the only time that Nurse Millie came to the rescue. I feel like in the 6 days my daughter spent on the ventilator she got to know her better than I did. When G was taken off the ventilator she was put on Vapotherm and made it through Sunday night. At 6:45 am on Monday morning the sound of the shoes was making its way down the hallway. Within 15 minutes of seeing G she knew that my girl needed more help. She didn't like the oxygen level number or how hard she was working to breathe. Nurse Millie acted fast, increased the numbers on the Vapotherm and called Respiratory. And sure enough, the BiPAP mask was put on. My daughter needed extra support to breathe so her lungs could heal and more time to come down from the sedation.

During the week stay at the PICU Nurse Millie and the sound of her shoes became the bright spot that I needed to make it through each day. The care and attention that she gives to her patients. How she would talk encourage and motivate my 2-year-old to keep fighting... was what I needed in one of the scariest moments of my life. Nurse Millie is famous in our family.