Joanne Karanja
July 2022
Joanne
Karanja
,
RN
Lunder 6 Neurological ICU
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston
,
MA
United States

 

 

 

I truly believe that Jo was an instrumental part of my father's care team in bringing him back to us.
My father was admitted to Lunder 6 after falling ill with COVID/PNA. He was intubated after not responding well to high flow oxygen and remained on a ventilator. As an ER nurse myself, I found it very difficult to be on the other side, unable to do anything as a patient's family member. I sat in Lunder 6 every day for those 18 days, and that's when I met Jo. She was his night shift nurse for at least 10 of the days he was intubated, and she was a Godsend. She made it a point to learn about my father and his family. She knew his faith was important to him and would spend hours each night in his room caring for him, singing to him, talking to him about all the pictures on his door, and praying with him, all while he was asleep. My father was weaned off sedation and awake approx. 1 week after being placed on the vent, and it was Jo that he saw and communicated with. Unfortunately, he aspirated that night and had to be put back under sedation for another week and a half. The second time he was woken up, it was Jo that was his nurse again. Over the next few days and weeks, as he started to heal and become more oriented, he started to remember things. He said that he thought he was dreaming and that people were blinding him with lights telling him to wake up. In his head, he thought, "I don't know you, go away, leave me alone." When I told him later that it was Jo trying to wake him up, he started laughing and said, "well if I knew it was Jo, I would have woken up a lot sooner!" As he started to clear, even more, he said he remembered Jo's voice, remembered her singing, and remembered her praying. I truly believe that Jo was an instrumental part of my father's care team in bringing him back to us. We will never forget her care and compassion not only to my father but to me as well. I'm sure I must have driven all the nurses crazy with my questions and OCD tendencies. I wish I could nominate every single person that cared for my father because they were all amazing. I started as a nursing student at MGH, got my first job there out of school, and now work for their sister hospital. I will be forever grateful for my MGH family and for Jo. My 2 sisters and I are happy to say that our father has 100% recovered and is back to his normal self, telling his bad dad jokes and making his famous blueberry muffins and iced tea. Thank you all, and especially Jo, for bringing our father back to us.