Satomi Seki
March 2018
Satomi
Seki
,
RN
CVICU
Carle Foundation Hospital
Urbana
,
IL
United States

 

 

 

I was blown away by Satomi's compassion when she took care of my dad for a few nights. The night my dad told me it felt like it was his time to go and that he was ready, Satomi was his nurse. I started making calls to family and friends, sending messages via social media, and texts to let them know what was going on. A few minutes later after my dad decided he wanted to be on comfort care and hospice had been paged, Satomi told my dad he could have anything to eat or drink that he wanted. She also offered music or anything else. My dad was so weak that he declined food and drink, but after a couple of minutes said he wouldn't mind listening to music if it were Elvis. Knowing that I would be getting calls, texts, etc., Satomi was fantastic and let us use her phone so my dad could listen to Elvis. We found a video on YouTube with two hours of Elvis music. During his time as comfort care, she made sure my dad was comfortable with repositioning as needed, as well as giving him morphine to keep him pain-free. She was also fantastic and getting down to my dad's level and asking him questions closely rather than yelling.
Shortly after the monitor showed no breath and a very erratic heartbeat, but no actual pulse, Satomi came in and kneeled beside me. I was already crying and she too showed emotion and understood how hard it was for me. She told me that she had to place a device over my dad's defibrillator to deactivate it. Even though my dad was gone she told my dad that she needed to do this and that he would be comfortable and in no pain at all. She treated my dad with so much respect before and after he was gone. I've been with my dad during numerous stays and Satomi is one of the absolute best nurses I've encountered. I'm so glad that she was there to comfort both my father and me during this hard transition and I will forever be grateful to her for her compassion and selflessness.