Nursing is an emotional rollercoaster and a labor of love

As a Pediatric Critical Care nurse, I saw outcomes that were incredible medical miracles, poor outcomes, and many in between. I saw infants with a 24-week gestational period, or sepsis from Group B strep thrive, past all previously accountable odds. The moments which kept me going were when I saw previous patients in the community, such as on my sons’ baseball teams or scouting groups years down the road with incredible stories about their life from their parents. On each discharge, I would tell the parent and child. I hope you see you again one day at the Zoo or on a team, not in the hospital.

It was amazing to see the growth of medicine to help kids win life, such as the use of inhaled ECMO, Nitric Oxide, and heliox to improve breathing. Treatments that were novel at the time but now a mainstay of therapy. However, the experiences that haunt me are the kids who we could not help because the science had not caught up with their needs. The times when we were close, but not there yet in the science.

That provides fuel for me as I continue this journey through my PhD. I want to expand science and capture the novel things that are being done at the bedside everyday.