Sara Gonzales
April 2019
Sara
Gonzales
,
RN
Transplant Progressive Care Unit
Banner University Medical Center Phoenix Campus
Phoenix
,
AZ
United States

 

 

 

My husband is a patient in the liver unit. He had a liver transplant on Easter Sunday and was doing well. We then transferred to the 17th floor out of ICU. Things were still looking good. Then suddenly my husband started to have terrible pain in his abdomen, out of control pain. His nurse was trying very hard to get pain meds and help.
Sara was on the floor that day. At first, they thought his pain was due to the liver transplant. They began to call the doctors from the surgery to figure out what was wrong. Sara was very persistent and continued to tell the doctors there was a serious problem. Sara went above and beyond to get him an IV and get him to CAT scan. I know she called numerous times and convinced the doctor that something was very wrong. She even offered to transport him to a CAT scan to see what was wrong. During this time my husband was in terrible, screaming pain. He was then taken to surgery where they discovered he had a perforated stomach and was truly in a life-threatening situation. I can say that all the nurses including his nurse were great, but Sara took the extra step. We feel she saved my husband's life.