I came to the ER at 11:30 last night. The next morning, I was transferred to 4 South. Charmaine Carter was one of my nurses and she is what every nurse should strive to be. I was in the hospital for several days. I had an NG tube in my nose and because of that, I was confined to the bed.

After several days, I wanted a shower and wanted to wash my hair. Except for having an NG tube and an IV line attached to me, I was ambulatory. Charmaine and her nurse extern came up with the idea of unhooking me from the NG output and IV, wrapping the NG tube so that no water could get in it, putting my hand into a bag covering my IV port, and taping the open end of the bag closed so no water could get on it. I got my shower!

You would not believe how much a shower improved my spirits. Charmaine was always coming by and checking on me and was in my room immediately if I pushed the call button or if the IV monitor sounded an alarm. Above all, she had empathy, was competent, and compassionate. I always felt relief when she would come in the room during shift change and I knew she was going to be taking care of me.