SERVICE DOG IN ROOM!

The picture above was taken this past Tuesday in the Critical Care Unit of Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois. I spent the past week in that hospital as a result of a bleed in my brain...again. I started out in the Emergency Department, then I was moved to the CCU and finally to the Ortho-Neuro Unit where I spent most of the week. I was discharged Saturday night after waiting for the "bad" nurse...whom I never did meet.

I've spent 30 years in the nursing field and what seems like that much time as a patient in one hospital after another. In all of that time, I've met numerous good nurses and many not so good nurses. But I've never experienced a hospital that had nothing but good nurses, much less excellent nurses. Never, that is, until I spent time at Sherman Hospital.

Imagine my surprise as I waited to meet a nurse who made me feel afraid to ask for help, compassion or attention to my discomfort only to be cared for by one wonderful nurse after another. From the Emergency Department to the CCU to the floor, my experience at Sherman was one that was filled with one excellent nurse, Patient Care Tech or technician of some other sort after another and never have I been so surprised, pleased or satisfied as I was this past week.

I've been a patient at some of the best hospitals in the world, from one coast to the other including Emory University Hospital and UCLA, yet never have I been treated as well as I was treated by the nursing staff at Sherman. The Emergency Department nurses made me feel at ease and less frightened as I learned that I had suffered another CVA. From there I was sent to the CCU where I was cared for by one great nurse after another, including a mother and daughter team who not only made me feel comfortable, but also made me laugh and feel as though I had made 2 new friends after less than 2 days. One of them took the picture posted at the top of this post.

You might wonder why my dog is in the picture. I have a service dog who alerts me to seizures. I've been in quite a few other hospitals but never have I been allowed to bring him with me without jumping through one hoop after another. By allowing him to stay with me during my hospitalization, the staff at Sherman allayed my fear of going into a seizure and therefore, they kept my blood pressure down. It was my blood pressure that was blamed for the bleed in my brain so I'll never know if they kept me from seizing again while I was there.

Not only did the staff allow my dog to stay with me, they readily and enthusiastically took turns walking him so that I could rest easily knowing he was taken care of, further keeping my blood pressure down. The daughter of the mother/daughter team in the CCU created the sign warning other staff that the room they were about to enter contained a dog and except for the occasional employee who was startled by the presence of a such a large dog, the sign made it possible for the staff members to come into my room forewarned of the large mammal in the room they were about to enter.

Had I met one less than extremely talented nurse, I surely would have sought out a member of the administration and complained. Therefore, when I realized that I was being cared for by one wonderful nurse after another, I felt it only fair to report that fact to the nurse in charge of the staff. When I did, I told her that I would be writing about the superb employees with whom I had come into contact. She told me that she would appreciate it and that she would use what I would be writing to let her staff know what a difference they made. Well, that's a no-brainer.


My main problem as a patient was a hideous headache for which I required pain medicine. In the past, when requesting pain medicine, I've been made to feel as though I was tapping the nurse's own personal stash or that I was perceived as a drug addict At Sherman, the nurses were only too happy to bring me my medication when I asked for it. That made me feel quite comfortable requesting the medicine. Their reaction to my requests further kept my blood pressure in check.

At the risk of leaving out some of the staff who cared for me and made my experience much more pleasant than any other course of inpatient care, I'll try to mention some of them. In the CCU, Amy and Cheryl saw to it that I didn't even have to ask for my medications, they asked me how I was feeling so often that I didn't have to ask them for anything. They were the mother/daughter team who made me feel as though I had 2 new friends after my short stay in their unit. The CCU also had a great nurse named Cathy who continued the great care that Amy and Cheryl offered. I don't remember the names of the nurses in the Emergency Department, but their wonderful compassion made a frightening experience much less so. I'm not sure where they worked but Emily and Marcia were amongst the group who made me feel so comfortable along with Elaine, Jhovanny, Kathy, 3 Jens, Dan, Natalie, Gina, Cathy, Sharon and Ryan. Right now, those are all of the names that I remember but don't let that make you think that any of the others were anything less than caring, helpful and skilled. It's just that my brain was the problem so if I didn't think to write their name down before they erased it off of the board in front of me, I didn't remember it. As I do remember their names, I'll come back and add them to the list.

One thing is for sure...if I had met even one Nurse Ratchet, that nurse would have ruined the pleasant memories that I have of ALL of them. It wasn't the fact that I came into contact with a few good nurses, it was the fact that ALL of them were so good that caught my attention and impressed me so.

I can't leave out the ancillary staff who assisted the nurses, walked my dog and treated me so well with ever present smiles on their faces. There was a guy from Transportation who would come to my room to let me know when he was working so that I could call him if Payton needed to be walked, numerous Patient Care techs who saw to my needs so well that I figured they were underpaid (whatever they were paid...they were just THAT good) and Alicia...the chick from Dietary who would go out of her way to bring Payton an occasional roast beef sandwich. The nurse who told me that she considered Payton their patient too made me smile long after she left the room.

When my friend came to pick me up to take me home, I was watching the end of The Pride of the Yankees. I was explaining to her the gist of the story and I said, "I can't remember the name of the disease that killed Lou Gehrig." She responded, "Lou Gehrig's disease?" After a bit of a laugh it occurred to me that perhaps I was being released a tad early. I remember a time when my brain worked better than that. But, should I feel like I need to go into the hospital again, I'll be sure to go to Sherman.

Judy Balcitis wanted me to write about how the great care that I received made a difference to me. Well Judy, I'll never know. Your staff was so very good that they may have kept my blood pressure down enough to allow the bleed to be absorbed before any damage could be done. Thanks to them, I was able to recover quickly and without further incident. Let's just say that they have blood pressure lowering hands and life-saving smiles...all of them.