I had a robot-assisted surgery yesterday and woke up with pain that was atypically sharp and acute and not in the expected location. I typically receive rapid and complete relief with post op injections, but the meds were not relieving the pain. Raquel was not only compassionate but also proactive in reaching out to the surgical team for additional options.

Unfortunately, there was a resident on the surgical team who wanted to stick to standard protocol and didn't want to listen to me or interact with my pain management team. Raquel advocated for me. She reassured me that she wouldn't let them discharge me without adequate pain control and until my husband and I felt safe for me to go home with only him to care for me. She facilitated conversations between the doctors and really pushed the surgical team to follow the recommendations from pain management.

I ended up staying overnight, and they implemented the multimodal pain management protocol that was recommended. By the morning, I was still sore but functional with no further breakthrough pain. I came home this afternoon with enough medication options to stay comfortable. If Raquel hadn't been there to advocate for me, I would have been sent home with the options of "just deal with it " or go back to the ER in the middle of the night. She went above and beyond to make sure I was physically and emotionally comfortable.

Many nurses are skilled at managing and monitoring, but not everyone is willing or able to truly listen to the patient and intervene when things aren't working as expected. It seems very simple, but the fact that she listened to and validated what I was feeling turned a scary experience into a positive outcome. I will always be grateful that I had the right nurse at the right time.