I was a patient at Winchester Medical Center for almost one month. I cannot tell you anything about most of that time as I was more or less out of my mind. My husband, N, who slept in a chair by my bedside for the entire period, reports the extraordinary expertise, kindness, and compassion of every single nurse and CNA who took care of me. I do remember the last 5 or 6 days I was there, and I also found the nursing staff in every room I stayed in to be absolutely wonderful. I came from the ICU to the Medical Telemetry unit on 3East. I cannot remember the various rooms I was in.

Of all the amazing, wonderful nurses who cared for me, one stands out vividly in my memory: Theresa Needy. When I awoke from my stupor, I found myself in pretty terrible shape: my near-death and recovery over some three weeks had left me flattened. I was more depressed and sadder than I had ever felt, and a hopelessness about my future life hung over me. I tried to keep a relatively upbeat tone with everyone but felt inside a profound despair. Enter Theresa Needy, RN.

Theresa gave me the same excellent nursing care as the others, but she did something more. I thought I heard her quietly humming as she dealt with my PICC line. She was very quiet, but I thought I recognized an operatic tune I knew well. I began to hum ·with her, and we both laughed. After much inquiry I found she was a trained opera singer as well as a wonderful nurse. She looked at me and could somehow see my despair. I asked her if she would sing just a little bit, very quietly. From then on, over the several days she was assigned to me, Theresa would sing to me. Once, towards the end of my stay, I was able to join her. I found myself looking forward to seeing which nurse would be assigned to me each day, hoping my kind, singing nurse would come.

This may sound odd, but it is absolutely true: I love opera very much and Theresa's gift of song reminded me sharply of the beauties of life. It lifted my despair in a way no spoken words could do. My husband said my turnaround was pretty dramatic after Theresa's intervention.

I am still recovering but doing well. I don't think I could have "come back" this much in the depressed and hopeless state I was in, and Theresa's gift of song made this possible; medicine healed my body, and Theresa healed my soul.