Saturday December 9 is a date that is branded into my mind forever. My husband and I had date night. We went to the annual CV Holiday party at Woodford Reserve and had dinner at Tony’s downtown. We had a great night….until we got home. Our adventurous, loving, and very lively 5 year old girl had fallen doing flips off the couch while we were out. My sister in law Morgan had told Emma to not do this again because we did not need a broken arm. When we arrived home, Emma had been crying for two hours, not normal. When Emma gets hurt she’s over it within minutes. I checked her out and neurologically she was intact. Perhaps she was over tired? I gave her some Motrin and lay with her for about 2 hours. In those 2 hours she would drift to sleep for a few minutes and begin crying again because her head hurt. I brought her to the ED at UK. As I was parking the car, she threw up. “Don’t panic” I told myself but I began to. Once she threw up, the crying stopped. She was monitored for a few hours and released at 6am. We were told to come back if she threw up again or if she would not eat or drink. Hours passed with more crying due to head ache, Emma refused to drink or eat, and she threw up again. I brought her back to the ED. This time a CT of the head was done—she had an epidural hemorrhage. Emma was admitted to KCH. Neurosurgery had decided due to being over 24 hours since the accident and her condition had not worsened, we would wait to see if her body would begin reabsorbing the blood rather than go straight to surgery. On December 11 she was still somnolent and in pain. She had another CT. The bleed was still the same size, not any bigger but not any smaller either. Emma had been started on Keppra prophylactically to prevent any seizure activity. I asked if perhaps the Keppra was partly responsible for her somnolence. Dr Miller agreed to skip the night dose and see if she was more awake the next morning. Otherwise Dr. Miller strongly advised that a craniotomy be done to evacuate the blood if she was not more alert and interactive in the morning. In the midst of this tragic event, my husband and I were a mess. We feared for our precious 5 year old girl, feared for the unknown….feared for everything. We had an amazing outpouring of support from family, friends, our church, coworkers, complete strangers, and the nursing staff. We clung to our faith and knew that God was still in control but fear began to consume us. That night as I lay in bed with my sweet girl and as my husband sat next to the bed, we broke down around 2 am. Neither one of us wanted her to undergo this dangerous invasive procedure. We prayed over our beautiful girl and begged God to resolve the bleeding without the need for surgery. The next morning came, Tuesday December 12. The morning we would know for certain if she would undergo a craniotomy. A craniotomy at five years old! We had been awake for days. We were exhausted and emotionally spent. There was no change in Emma; I knew she was going to have surgery. We had received good care from the nursing staff. But the next morning, Tuesday, 12/12-decision morning, we met Christine Short RN, our nurse for 7A. Christine is different. She sat down to introduce her to Emma, my husband, and me…..and she talked to us. Not because she had to as part of her role but on a level of human caring. She spoke softly, yet directly and maintained eye contact. One could see the compassion and concern in her eyes. There is a Shakespearian quote that says “Eyes are a window to the soul”. I can think of nothing that more directly explains the beautiful nature of Christine Short. In addition, Christine had an excellent knowledge base and her nursing care was outstanding. She provided detailed explanations of pathophysiology and made sure to be present when the neurology team rounded. She advocated for Emma and made sure questions we had were answered. Dr. Miller came in to explain Emma would undergo a craniotomy this day. The turnaround was so fast to move Emma to pre-op we did not have time to think about packing. Everything was such a blur, but I do remember Christine giving me a huge hug as we were leaving. A meaningful hug. It provided comfort and strength. After several excruciating hours, Emma was successfully out of surgery and in PICU. When we arrived, all of her belongings were there and attached to her favorite stuffed animal was a hand written note on a sticky from Christine. It read: “Sending love and prayers for a great night & Speedy recovery-