Sometimes it gets hard

Yesterday was probably one of the worst days that I have had in a long, long time. But, I am a strong woman of faith and believe that my faith is what carries me forward in life. The day began as I walked into the hospital to Dr. Blue being called to our remote Pediatric Epilepsy Unit. Since I park my car and have to walk through United to Children's, I heard the over head page. The Peds Epilepsy unit is indeed a remote unit from the main Children's structure, located on the 7th floor at United Hospital. I decided that I should respond to the code and took the elevator along with the responding code staff to the unit. Upon our arrival, it became very apparent to me that we were dealing with a full cardio-pulmonary arrest and that my expertise in these situations from the past as well as my current vascular access experience would be needed. Sad to say, heaven has one more angel and as I learned who the patient was, I prayed for her and her family. I had taken care of this angel during her short lifetime in various capacities.
After taking a few moments to decompress, and to continue my journey to my desk, I was then able to re-group and work in earnest in planning an education day for upcoming equipment that will be introduced to the nursing units. I was contacted about scheduling a procedure for an inpatient and my day was very productive in assisting the clinic staff in starting an IV for a patient as well.
I was not prepared for Tom's phone call. Tom, our clinical lead for vascular access, decided not to return from Savannah. The priority of having a healthy life, marriage and family weighed against his position at Childrens and admirably, he made the right choice. Unfortunately, it will leave us working harder to achieve our goal of providing safe vascular access for our patients at Children's. I am overwhelmed but determined to rise above this unexpected bump. The children deserve only the best care we can offer. I want to be a part of this process and am determined to work with our team to make it happen. I hope it does. I am passionate about kids....and it shows...