My son recently had Orthognathic surgery. The surgery went well. He was in the recovery area for about an hour to an hour and a half. He came out of anesthesia quickly and seemed to tolerate everything well so they moved him up to an Intermediate Care Unit room where he would spend the night and if he was feeling well the next day, released to go home and recover. We (his parents), were able to go up to the room to sit and visit with him. He seemed very alert and said he felt little pain. His nurses were extremely nice to him and us and made sure that not only was he comfortable, but us as well.

He was hungry and asked if he could have something to eat. Seeing as he was very alert, the nurse and doctor saw no reason why he couldn't have lunch. His lunch consisted of puréed turkey, gravy, and potatoes. Starting with the turkey, my son, whose jaw was rubber-banded shut, was able to drink it from the cup without using a straw or syringe. Next he started to drink the potatoes when he told us he wasn't feeling well. He said he felt like he was going to pass out. He pushed the tray away. It happened so fast. He turned white, fell against his pillow, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. His heart monitor flatlined. He had no heartbeat! His heart stopped beating. As my husband was running out to the hallway to yell for someone, one of his nurses was coming into the room. Audrey told me to hit the Code Blue button as she started lowering the bed. As I was pushing the button, another nurse came into the room and immediately jumped onto the bed and started doing chest compressions. Frantically crying, my husband and I moved out into the hallway so that all the nurses and doctors responding to the Code Blue call could have room to help my son. As you can imagine, I was beside myself. Uncontrollably crying, praying, begging he come back to life. He did! The nurse's chest compressions started his heart again.

Once she knew my son was alive and the other medical staff in the room took over to assess him, Audrey immediately came out into the hall where my husband and I were standing crying and still in shock from the whole ordeal. She looked me in the eyes and told me he was okay. That he would be okay, she reassured me that she would not have stopped until he was okay. She gave my husband and me a big hug and didn't let go for a while. She stayed with us out in the hallway, continuously reassuring us that he was going to be okay. She held my hand to try to calm me down. While I was still shocked and shaken up, she did calm me down enough to put myself together so that I could go back into my son's room and be strong for him. Audrey continued to check in on us, his parents, to make sure WE were going to be okay (as well as my son, of course.) That was a very scary experience, as you can imagine, and I owe my son's life to the nurses’ very quick reaction and response in doing chest compressions. I also cannot thank her enough for coming out into the hallway to talk to me, to hug me, to be there for me when I was stressed out the most. I hope she understands how grateful I am to her and that her caring, compassionate words and actions will be with me for the rest of my life. My son is alive and well. He was moved into the ICU unit while they ran several tests. He was cleared and discharged two days later. Thank you, Audrey!