Recently, our lives were turned upside down. My husband had a cardiac procedure at another Northside campus that revealed he had at least 4 major blockages requiring open heart surgery within days. We moved to the Gwinnett campus for surgery, but we had to stay our first day and a half in the ER Observation, waiting for a room. It was well worth our wait! We met our nurse. God planned for him to be our nurse; it was no coincidence!

The first afternoon, we didn’t spend lots of time together—he got us checked in, gave us some detailed literature about the procedure and the hospital, and told us about what was to happen in the next few days. He left his shift, but said that he’d be back the next day. He was back, just as nice and pleasant, always professional as the day before, checking on us frequently, even though we were just waiting for a surgery time. When that time came, it wasn’t the info we had hoped for—the surgeon who would be doing the procedure was not the surgeon who everybody told us we had to use. We were shaken, me more than my husband. This nurse knew my world had been rocked for that one moment. We had shared with him that we were high school sweethearts, married for 42 years, and I only wanted the best doctor. This nurse sat down and talked with us, sharing some info about my husband’s surgeon. He pointed out that this surgeon would not be in their practice if the surgeon I had wanted didn’t have every confidence in his skills. He pointed out that this surgeon was younger and might have some skills that others didn’t. Given a few years, people would be begging for him to do their surgery, too. He ended by saying that patients really liked this surgeon’s personality too, and he truly felt we were in the very best of hands. His words were soothing and kind, and almost like I’d known him forever and trusted his advice. My husband and I both felt a peace come over us that all would be okay…and it was! We loved our surgeon!

The morning of my husband’s surgery, even though this nurse wasn’t our assigned nurse, he stuck his head in the door, saying he was praying for us! ONE SPECIAL NURSE! We lucked out, and after surgery on our discharge day, he was our nurse again! He’s a treasure. Fast forward to May, and my husband’s heart stopped. Back to hospital, stayed in ER Obs for several days, then back to this floor. This nurse found out what happened and came to our room to check on my husband. He wished him well for the next procedure and gave me a hug for being so petrified. He came back several times that day to check on us. This nurse is one extraordinary human! We will always remember him! I’ve already sung his praises to his supervisors!