Yesterday we were assigned a nurse who was overwhelmed, so Shirley stepped in to help her with her patients, one being my son. She went above and beyond yesterday. When she was in our room she acted as if we were her only patient. She made sure we knew everything going on and she explained everything to us. There was a moment when she was in the room taking blood from my son’s IV, and he was in tremendous pain and began crying. Shirley immediately picked up her phone and made calls to get my son stronger pain medicine. She would not leave the room until she made sure he was going to get the appropriate meds. She went and got him a Popsicle in the meantime while waiting, he then had to go down for an ultrasound and she promised him another Popsicle when he got back. I expected her to get busy and either forget or it would be later that he got the Popsicle. This was not the case. As soon as he entered the room, she had the Popsicle ready.

We also had an issue last night with trying to order dinner. The doctor had changed his diet from clear liquids to a normal diet. The kitchen was fixing to close, so we hurried to order his food. His diet had not been changed in the system. We went and asked Mrs. Shirley. She once again came into our room and would not leave until she made the appropriate calls, and she made sure we could order his food. We even told her we would just get outside food, but once again, she went above and beyond to be sure L was taken care of. While we were ordering the food, she heard my husband try to order a Coke and a Diet Coke for me and him on the parent tray. He was told we could not order those and was given the drink choices that we could order. Shirley heard this going on and went out of our room and returned shortly later with a Coke and Diet Coke for us.

We have been to Texas Children's Hospital before with this child, and one of our other kids, and we have never experienced a nurse that goes above and beyond like Shirley. She does not just care about the physical well-being of her patients, but she cares about their mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. My husband has been a nurse for 18 years, and he even said that there are very few nurses, such as Shirley, who are nurses because they truly desire to care for people. This is extremely evident with Shirley. This morning, she is not our nurse, but she stopped by to tell my son hi and to see how he is doing. If I could carry Shirley with me for all of our future hospital stays, I would. She is one-of-a-kind and truly made our hospital stay, for our son and us, as pleasant as possible. Nurses like Shirley are rare. Make sure to keep her!