December 2023
Roddy
Babin
,
BSN, RN
NSCCU
Ochsner Medical Center-New Orleans
New Orleans
,
LA
United States
Roddy will always be thought of as an angel sent to us to help us navigate this very hard time in our lives. He is extremely special and I just want everyone to know it!
Roddy Babin was with my son for his entire stay in the ICU except the last day and I must admit I felt great anxiety when I found out that he would be off that day. Roddy never left my son’s side, and when I tell you he watched him like a hawk, now I know where the expression comes from; any movement, he was there. Any little change… he was there. One day my son spiked a fever that was too high to be able to get a necessary CAT scan done and we watched Roddy ice my son down and rub him with cold rags for two hours with no breaks and no lunch…keeping it up until his fever broke. He put ice packs under his legs, his neck, and his arms and put bags of ice around his IV bags. He was constantly checking on him going the extra mile and always being aware of everything that was going on so I felt like I could finally breathe! He treated my son as if he were his own son with no judgment just compassion and the utmost care. I can imagine it could be easy to be sort of complacent when it’s a job you do day in and day out. But when it’s a loved one lying there on the verge of death someone giving you kind words and true compassion really means everything to that family. Roddy would take time out to explain things to us when he could’ve just gone out about doing what needed to be done. But he saw how concerned we were, so he would stop and explain it letting us process what was going on much better. Roddy truly cared and it definitely showed. Myself, my husband and my daughter were able to be there by our son’s side except after visiting hours when they had to reluctantly leave. My husband is a pretty big guy who doesn’t show much emotion but when he walked in and saw my son was off of the ventilator he didn’t say a word to us. He walked straight up to Roddy, who we could see through the window, and hugged him, picking him up off the ground while bawling his eyes out; needless to say, so were we. I don’t think he was expecting such a response but my husband was just so grateful he had to do it. Roddy will always be thought of as an angel sent to us to help us navigate this very hard time in our lives. He is extremely special and I just want everyone to know it! Anyone who knew about what was happening in our family and knows how sick our son was I always tell them about how much love Roddy showed our family in our greatest time of need. We are forever grateful!