Amazing Care at Hope

Here is an example of the attentiveness and exemplary bedside manner of the entire staff of Hope Hospital: On April 19, I had a scheduled visit with the speech pathologist to discuss Muriel's eating and swallowing. While there, Darlene, a physical therapist stopped in for a quick discussion on making sure Muriel is getting some upright time on my shoulder since she cannot be on her tummy due to her healing sternum. I mentioned her incision may be bothering her since being in that position bothers her and it was a tad red. She took a look and called Sara, the PSHU nurse practitioner. She found her way down to the speech room we were huddled in and upon seeing the inscision, called Dr. Nater to take a look. Dr. Nater called Dr. El Zein, one of the surgeons that operated on Muriel's heart. The conensus was that her inscision looked fine, and Dr. El Zein said she may just have sensitive skin and that was why it appeared irritated.  The doctors joked they didn't know where the speech rooms were and that it was a maze to get there. Obviously, trips they do not make every day. From the nurses to speech, to PT, to cardiologists and surgeons, they care enough about Muriel to drop what they are doing and visit her without an appointment when there was a small concern.
While they were there, we mentioned her coloring was off and just to be safe, they ordered an echocardiogram to get an inside view of her heart and blood work to ensure there was not an infection. Again, we could not ask for better care for our precious little girl.