Timothy Gray
October 2019
Timothy
Gray
,
RN, BSN
MICU
Vanderbilt University Medical Center & The Vanderbilt Clinics
Nashville
,
TN
United States

 

 

 

My mother, L, was admitted to the MICU s/p respiratory arrest caused by disseminated histoplasmosis. She stayed there until she passed away, twenty days later. We had several wonderful nurses during her stay but Timothy stands out as being the best. He would spend hours by mother's bedside treating her for her rapid atrial fibrillation, pain and different medical problems that arose during her stay. He was always readily available to give the needed medicine for her heart rate or make a warm compress and/or ice pack to help with her pain. He would help to reposition her as often as she asked and sometimes this would be every few minutes. He would provide warm blankets and a listening ear. He was attentive to her needs as well as my needs and my dad's needs. We lived several hours away, and he allowed us to stay in the room with her and spend her last precious days holding her hands and reminiscing. We were told that my sweet mother was not going to recover from the disseminated histoplasmosis. It had caused too much damage. We were beyond overwhelmed with sadness. Then at 7 pm, as the nurses were changing shifts, our favorite nurse, Timothy, came in. We felt so much relief knowing that Mom would have the best nurse in the hospital taking care of her. Timothy did not let us down. He provided her with every comfort measure that he could think of. He also made sure that my dad and I were able to make the most of our last hours with her. She died at 6:38 am the following morning. I know that was the ending of his shift and probably caused him extra work to do before getting to clock out. But if this bothered him, he did not let it show. I think about Timothy often. I want him to know what a difference that he made for our family. Please let him know that we feel that God sent him to help us get through the worse days of our life. He was a huge blessing.