For those of you who don’t know our family situation here is a little background: On February 21st, I took our daughter to a normal 9 month checkup. We were told that she possibly had sagittal synostosis and that they wanted to do a X-ray and a CT Scan to check to see if her sagittal suture was really closed. Well it was. On March 7th, we got the call that there was a cancellation for the surgery on March 8. We’d be in the hospital with our baby for 7 days, 5 of them in the ICU at Vanderbilt Children’s. We were warned about all of the things that she’d go through, swelling pain etc, but honestly we could’ve never been prepared for what we were about to face.
Coming out of surgery Aubrey decided she didn’t want to breathe and almost was re-intubated (her surgery only lasted 3 hours she was in recovery for 7 more trying to get stabilized), her eyes were swollen shut, her pain medication wasn’t working, she caught a staph infection and got a bacterial infection Pseudomonas in her urinary tract. Good news was the surgery was a success the peripheral issues were the hard part.
Through all of this we weren’t sleeping we stayed by her side 24/7…what made it easier? An incredible nursing staff. Every nurse that we came in contact with was absolutely in tune with Aubrey’s needs. One in particular was Kerri. On Wednesday after surgery, Aubrey was crying and uncomfortable for hours. Kerri fought for Aubrey to get better pain medication….she called in doctor after doctor. If it wasn’t for her I’m not sure what we would’ve done. Aubrey ended up crying in pain for 30 hours straight and her only advocate besides us was Kerri. Every nurse we came in contact with was knowledgeable, honest and prepared. If they didn’t know they found out. They were a shoulder to cry on at 2 in the morning when I was walking the halls to get coffee when I had to be awake for my shift with Aubrey, they were an ear to listen when I needed to vent or pray for that matter. One of our nurses actually prayed over our baby with me. I never felt more thankful as I did then.
If I never believed in what I do for a living I sure do now. Our software helps staffing agencies find the very nurses that are helping families go through what my family just went through. How can I not feel good about that??? If anyone in our industry ever questions what they do they should stop and think about what if this was your baby, your mom, your husband that went through what my child went through. Nurses, Nurse Techs, and all the support staff in the hospital help families go through hard times. We are one of the lucky ones, our baby girl is doing great and there is a 98% chance that she’ll never have to have surgery again. Our ICU neighbor is still in the hospital over a month later and is relying on the staff to get him through. I credit everyone that helped us their knowledge and bed side manor was incredible.
If you’d like to hear more about our story and what we went through you can check out our Caring Bridge Site www.caringbridge.org/visit/aubreysevers. The people that you place aren’t just a dollar sign they are affecting someones life. What you do matters and it matters to families like mine.
