March 2023
Aaron
Lemelle
,
RN
2 South
Central Vermont Medical Center
Berlin
,
VT
United States
It was truly his persistent and calm stories that convinced me to have the surgery immediately.
I have had Ulcerative Colitis since 2014. It took me about 1-1/2 years to get it under control to the point where I understood it and was comfortable living with it. I then went the next 6.5 years basically living a normal life with little to no troubles or concerns. In the middle of October 2022, I began to experience a flare. It started so slow that I honestly thought that with a bit of stress reduction, rest, and some diet restrictions I would recover on my own. To start a regimen of prednisone, a drug that I know is terrible for the body, was something I was hoping to avoid.
Fast forward to the middle of November, and I realized that it was getting worse. I contacted my GI doctor and was put on prednisone. I was aware that it can take a while for the drug to kick in, but it had been so long since the last flare that I underestimated its timeframe. By Thanksgiving weekend, it was still getting worse, and I reached back out to my GI who increased my dosage of Prednisone. I had no reason to believe that it would not start to work because it had in the past for the earlier three flares I had experienced. It wasn't long before it became clear to me that it wasn't working and I went to the ED to get some immediate help. They began with an injection of steroids, but they quickly realized it wasn't being absorbed into my system. I was given a CAT scan and while waiting for the results was put in a hospital room. The most unusual part of this flare was that I was not in the type of pain that a person in my condition should have been in.
After a short while the hospital doctor came in and I could see the seriousness on his face. I was there with my wife and kids who came to visit me and was told how shocked he was to see me sitting up playing cards on the bed with my kids. He told me I would need surgery. The surgeon on call came in a short while later to explain the severity of my situation but did so in a way that made me feel as though it was up to me to do the surgery and I still had a choice. As I discussed the situation with my wife, trying to decide whether or not this was the hospital I wanted the surgery done in, and the time, because it was almost 11:00 in the evening at this point, an RN named Aaron came into the room to check on me. I believe he was aware of my condition, or if not, I explained to him what was going on. I had a lot of doubt in my mind after the conversation with the doctor, but after speaking with Aaron who had a tremendously more cool and calm demeanor, he began to tell me that he had seen this before and how serious it could be if I didn't have the surgery.
As I continued to discuss my path forward with my wife, he left and came back two more times within a half hour with the same very relaxed attitude, but with the same stories of what he had seen. He was never anxious as the doctors were or never put it in my head that "it was up to me". He just calmly explained his experience with the situation each time he came to check in on me. It was truly his persistent and calm stories that convinced me to have the surgery immediately. The doctors had explained that my colon was just over twice its size and that there was a small perforation in it, but the science behind my condition was not something that was registering because I felt pretty good. His stories of what he had seen and how bad things would be if my colon had burst inside me were the sole factor.
I chose to have the surgery that evening. It wasn't until later did I realize just how close I came to being a true medical mess. That is why I am nominating Aaron. As I found out in the ICU and then later in the general hospital when I returned for a week due to complications from a small blockage that all the staff, every single person, had the same cool and calm demeanor. But it was due to Aaron's experience and persistence that first evening that I truly believe that I am able to sit here only 20 days after the surgery and complications writing this story versus what may have been.
Fast forward to the middle of November, and I realized that it was getting worse. I contacted my GI doctor and was put on prednisone. I was aware that it can take a while for the drug to kick in, but it had been so long since the last flare that I underestimated its timeframe. By Thanksgiving weekend, it was still getting worse, and I reached back out to my GI who increased my dosage of Prednisone. I had no reason to believe that it would not start to work because it had in the past for the earlier three flares I had experienced. It wasn't long before it became clear to me that it wasn't working and I went to the ED to get some immediate help. They began with an injection of steroids, but they quickly realized it wasn't being absorbed into my system. I was given a CAT scan and while waiting for the results was put in a hospital room. The most unusual part of this flare was that I was not in the type of pain that a person in my condition should have been in.
After a short while the hospital doctor came in and I could see the seriousness on his face. I was there with my wife and kids who came to visit me and was told how shocked he was to see me sitting up playing cards on the bed with my kids. He told me I would need surgery. The surgeon on call came in a short while later to explain the severity of my situation but did so in a way that made me feel as though it was up to me to do the surgery and I still had a choice. As I discussed the situation with my wife, trying to decide whether or not this was the hospital I wanted the surgery done in, and the time, because it was almost 11:00 in the evening at this point, an RN named Aaron came into the room to check on me. I believe he was aware of my condition, or if not, I explained to him what was going on. I had a lot of doubt in my mind after the conversation with the doctor, but after speaking with Aaron who had a tremendously more cool and calm demeanor, he began to tell me that he had seen this before and how serious it could be if I didn't have the surgery.
As I continued to discuss my path forward with my wife, he left and came back two more times within a half hour with the same very relaxed attitude, but with the same stories of what he had seen. He was never anxious as the doctors were or never put it in my head that "it was up to me". He just calmly explained his experience with the situation each time he came to check in on me. It was truly his persistent and calm stories that convinced me to have the surgery immediately. The doctors had explained that my colon was just over twice its size and that there was a small perforation in it, but the science behind my condition was not something that was registering because I felt pretty good. His stories of what he had seen and how bad things would be if my colon had burst inside me were the sole factor.
I chose to have the surgery that evening. It wasn't until later did I realize just how close I came to being a true medical mess. That is why I am nominating Aaron. As I found out in the ICU and then later in the general hospital when I returned for a week due to complications from a small blockage that all the staff, every single person, had the same cool and calm demeanor. But it was due to Aaron's experience and persistence that first evening that I truly believe that I am able to sit here only 20 days after the surgery and complications writing this story versus what may have been.