How do you thank someone for saving the life of a loved one?
The following letter was sent in by a patient’s wife . . .
To the ER Staff, Dr. Gordon Houston and his OR Team, and the entire Staff of the lCU at Richmond Hospital:
How do you thank someone for saving a loved one’s life? What words could possibly even come close to saying how grateful I am for the life-saving efforts and compassionate care my husband has received at Richmond Hospital?
To the ER Team:
My husband arrived by ambulance at Richmond Hospital earlier this year. He had a ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (a Triple “A”). Everyone working in the ER that night immediately rushed into the room where he lay bleeding out, and they began their heroic efforts to keep him alive long enough to reach the OR. So many people-so many trained individuals working as a team-frantically working to save my husband. And you did.
You helped him to hang on long enough for the next team-the surgical team-to do their work. Thank you for being there when he so desperately needed your help. I wish I knew all of your names so I could personally thank each and every one of you who was there that night, and helped to save his life. But, I don’t have all your names, so I hope you will accept the heartfelt gratitude that I am expressing here as the face-to-face “Thank You” you so richly deserve.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
To Dr. Gordon Houston and the Surgical Team:
I can’t even imagine what the scene must have been like that night in the OR or what was entailed in the actual surgery to repair the rupture. I know it must have been complicated and I know that time was of the essence in order to save Don. After enduring a 5 hour long wait outside the OR, Dr. Houston finally emerged saying that they managed to stop the bleeding and the aneurysm was repaired. Dr. Houston, you saved my husband’s life. You saved his life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! Words seem so inadequate to express my gratitude to you and your skill as a surgeon. I now know, after learning more about a ruptured “Triple A” how very few people even make it to the OR, let alone survive the surgery. The entire team in the OR that night worked together like a well-oiled machine to save my husband. And you did.
I don’t know all of your names, but please know that I am so very grateful to all of you and I am in awe of your incredible skills that kept him alive long enough to stop the bleeding and get the hole in his aorta repaired. I managed to give Dr. Houston a hug (much to his chagrin), and if I could reach out to every single person present in the OR the night you saved my husband’s life, I would give each of you a huge hug filled with my appreciation and gratitude for your efforts.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
And now on to the Staff of the lCU, South Tower, Second Floor.
My husband was in his room for 19 long nights. Some of those days and nights I spent by his bedside not knowing if he was going to live or die. I know that all of you who work in the ICU see the frantic families, the tears, the raw emotions and the stamp of fatigue and despair on the faces of those who sit in ICU and wait. And pray. And weep. And sometimes we laugh and rejoice. We learn new words, and terminology and we become – for a short time, part of the family that works together in the ICU. This is an incredible world you work in – this world of ventilators and breathing tubes. This world of complicated puzzles of IV lines, and ports and stents and bags and bags of the drugs and fluids that keep your patients alive. To a family member, it is a frightening world. A scary world where so many tubes and lines are going in and out of your loved one’s body, you don’t even know where to touch them, or hold their hand for fear of moving a line or dislodging something that is sustaining their precious life. And what incredible people you are that inhabit this world of the ICU. Dedicated. Compassionate. And so very skilled at what you do during your long 12 hour shifts, day and night, shift after shift. For those 19 days and nights, you cared for my husband like he was one of your own. How can I ever thank you? What words could possibly convey my appreciation and overwhelming gratitude?
You monitored him constantly-changing his IVs and medications as quickly as his condition changed, making sure you were giving him all the support you could possibly provide while he was fighting for his life. You bathed him. You changed his diaper. You moved him so he wouldn’t get bedsores. You shaved him and you washed his hair. He was fragile, unconscious and helpless, and you treated him with gentle hands and dignified respect. How can I possibly thank you for everything you did for him while he was in the ICU?
And how can I thank you for your patience with my endless questions, and my panicked calls in the middle of the night, just so I could hear a voice on the phone telling me, “Don is okay. He is holding his own. Get some sleep.” How many times did I call? I don’t know.
I only know that when I called, the nurse on the other end of the phone was always patient, kind and reassuring. How lovely and compassionate you all were to me. The care that my husband received while in the ICU was nothing short of extraordinary. My gratitude to all of you who cared for himi during this critical time is beyond measure, beyond words. My heart is overflowing with emotion.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
To all of the Staff who are part of this incredible Team:
By all accounts, my husband should have died that night. All of you at Richmond Hospital came together as one team, and you saved him. You saved him.
I know that all of you will go on to care for other patients, and you will save many more lives, and there will be many more families who will express their gratitude to you for your phenomenal care. In your world, my husband will become a faded memory for you, and that is as it should be. The patients you care for will come into your world, and then they will leave. That is your job. I know that some families won’t be as lucky as we were. I know that you can’t save every patient that comes through your doors. That is the world that you work in-life and death.
But, for me and my family, we will never forget that is was through your collective efforts and care that you saved my husband’s life. A life saved. He is so loved and treasured by all of us, and you gave him back to us! We will never forget any of you, and that is as it should be. We prayed and believed that you could save him. And you did.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!