V has sensory issues and is scared of sounds and new people. She refuses to let people touch her and she’s scared of pain. I was extremely worried about how she would react when they tried to give her an IV or any interaction. I talked to her for days about what was going to happen, but without the calmness of nurse Laura, I don’t think it would gone as smoothly.

She kept us parents informed of everything, and she was super tender with my daughter. When I came back into the room after V had her tooth removed, Laura was not just tending to V but soothing her as well. She could’ve easily just been holding the gauze in her mouth and been just standing there or looking around or having a conversation with others, but she was calmingly stroking V's hair while containing her bleeding and monitoring how much light was bothering V's eyes and quietly talking to V as she came out of sedation, letting her know she was ok and where she was. She talked V through everything and praised her for her efforts. V does great with praise. She answered all my questions about once we got V home and made sure we were ready before we took her home. She was kind enough to walk to the parking deck with us.

The experience that I thought might possibly traumatize V ended up completely different. As we approached our car, V lifted her head up from her dad and asked where the "girl doctor" was. I told her that it wasn’t her doctor; it was her nurse. She said, “Oh, can she come with us?” I told her no that she had to help other kids. V was quiet for a couple of minutes and then asked, “Mom, Dad, can I do this again?” We both looked at each other kind of like ‘what the heck’ and told her that her tooth was already out and asked why, and she said, “It was fun, and I miss my nurse.”

So, from the bottom of all our hearts, Thank You, Laura, for being our ray of sunshine on a day that was a little uncertain for us! And Laura, if you’re wondering, yes, she told her classmate ALLL about you and the Moana head you gave her.