April 2024
Sarah
Lippold
,
BScN, RN
Surgical Specialty
Henry Ford Hospital
Detroit
,
MI
United States
My nurse, Sarah, treated me like her little sister with so much compassion and dignity while still maintaining her professional duties.
After my cancer surgery, I was supposed to go home, but literally an hour before my discharge, I had severe stomach pain and my belly swelled up making me look like I was 5 months pregnant! I was terrified and I had no idea what was going on or what to do. The pain medicine wasn’t working and I was throwing up bile rapidly. In pain, scared, alone because I had no one to visit me. I just lost my mommy. I thought I was dying. My nurse, Sarah, treated me like her little sister with so much compassion and dignity while still maintaining her professional duties. She kept me calm and at ease. I was so scared when I learned I had an ileus and I had to have the tube put down my throat. I literally freaked out! I think I cried for about 10 minutes. And only Sarah could calm me down with her honest and genuine knowledge of what she was about to do. I trusted her completely. It hurt, but everything she said was true. I trusted and leaned on Sarah’s guidance so much that anytime a doctor or a nurse wanted to do something else, I literally had to have Sarah in the room with me. Holding my hand and telling me that it will be okay. Sarah not only goes above and beyond for her patients, she genuinely has a love for her profession. And it shows in her work ethic. Thank you for making me feel safe and cared for.