Myung Oh
January 2019
Myung
Oh
,
RN
Medical ICU
North Shore University Hospital
Manhasset
,
NY
United States

 

 

 

When my father was rushed to the NSUH ER we did not expect him to end up in the MICU and pass 2 days later. Our bags were packed for us to leave for Boston where he was supposed to enter into a CAR-T cell drug trial for treatment of his large B cell lymphoma. We weren't strangers to hospitals as it had been 21 months since his cancer diagnosis, and he had gone through multiple treatments and a failed bone marrow transplant. Yet we were all still unprepared for the MICU.
This is where Myung made all the difference. She was calm, compassionate, and highly attentive to my father and my family during the hardest and saddest time in our lives. The MICU is a scary place- a world of loud monitors beeping at all hours, endless rounds of doctors speaking an unfamiliar language, and filled with very sick patients. Myung served to make the MICU humane. She patiently cared for my dad during times when his pain made him short-tempered. She made sure his complaints did not fall on deaf ears, all his requests were met, and she anticipated the need for the little things, like chapstick and tissues. And when we realized the end was imminent, Myung was there to provide guidance and then counseled us in our grief. She gave me the gift of peace when I left my deceased father's side because I knew he would be cared for with dignity in her good hands.