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Molly Thompson

Professor Arnold

ENG1101.245

30 October 2018

The Past Affecting the Future

Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse Michele Emery was diagnosed with pediatric

cancer at the age of five. As a survivor, Michele decided to keep her

foot in medicine, and be on the other side of the hospital. When first

entering college, she was unsure of what she wanted to do with her

future. She went to Sinclair Community College for seven years and

received an Associate’s Degree in Biology and an Associate’s Degree in

Art. Michele looked up to her aunt and her grandmother as strong

female role models who experienced tough medical emergencies in their

early life as well and decided to pursue a career in nursing to help those

who experience the same.

Earning a degree in nursing is a long process, one that took Michele ten years. After

spending seven years at Sinclair Community College, she made a tough decision: to transfer to

Wright State University. At the time, Wright State offered her a scholarship to continue with her

path of knowledge in nursing, and Michele knew it was right for her.

“It was the hardest decision I made in college. I knew it would benefit me long term, but

the money and the payments really got to me. My parents helped a bit, but I had to pay for most
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of it. I worked three jobs as a full-time student and still managed to volunteer. Juggling all of that

was hands-down the hardest part to earning my degree,” Michele says.

Deciding what pathway to take in her degree in nursing was easy for Michele. She

decided to go into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Grandview Medical Center. She knew she

wanted to care for those who truly

needed it the most. Every single day

is different in the ICU. There is a

wide range of medical emergencies

that are considered to be sent to the

ICU, such as vehicle collisions,

heart attacks, organ failures, strokes, drug overdoses, suicide attempts, and many more.

Michele sits up and says, “I head into work every day not knowing what to expect. There

are many reasons for patients to be sent to the ICU, and every patient affects the way my day

goes. Some days are more calm and relaxed, meaning no one is on life support or is in immediate

danger, and more frequently, days are rushed and stressful, especially when families are present.

As a nurse, you not only care for the patient, but you care for their families. That is something I

have learned after many years now.”

One of the biggest reasons for being cared for in the ICU is “not taking care of

themselves,” Michele says. “Patients diagnosed with a medical disorder, allergy, disability, etc.

typically know in their early life. They are given medication for the most part, and if they don’t

decide to take it, they eventually end up here with major health issues, which is frightening,

especially now-a-days.”
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Four years ago, Michele was assigned to a patient she will never forget. The patient was

in her late fifties, and had a low chance of survival. This being very common in the ICU,

unfortunately, Michele treated the patient just as she would with any patient in this condition.

The patient was given a breathing tube and a feeding tube, and later was sent to a long-term

facility. It is very common for patients in this condition to be sent to a long-term facility to

slowly and carefully receive the care needed. One year ago, two familiar people came in the

hospital. One woman, who was the former patient, and the other, her daughter. “I was extremely

emotional. I recognized her immediately. She was walking, she didn’t have a breathing or

feeding tube, and she was running errands,” Michele says. “Seeing someone who was once in

such poor condition, someone who we thought was not going to make it, walking with pure joy

made us all smile. It’s not very often here that you get to see a patient who was sent to a

long-term facility, but this woman was, and still is, certainly special.”

Though Michele has her positively emotional stories, she also has her negatively

emotional stories, and in general, it is the drug epidemic. Patients are in a permanent coma, given

a breathing tube and a feeding tube, put on dialysis, and there is much

damage to the brain, especially to the younger generation, whose brains are

still developing.

“Sadly, I get a range from nineteen years old to fifty and older. It’s

disturbing, seeing how an overdose on drugs on a teenager can tear a family

apart. That’s when I see the most fighting from families. Unfortunately, it

happens all the time, but when drugs are involved in the situation it just makes everything worse.

On occasion, we will get patients on drugs whose family members are also on drugs, won’t admit
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it, and are just threatening the situation,” Michele says, “It is just so sad to have a patient and

know they aren’t going to have a future when so young.”

Michele Emery embodies a strong female role model, just like her aunt and her grandma.

She is a pediatric cancer survivor, a hard-working ICU nurse, and a caring person to her patients

and their families. She has experienced some of the toughest, heartbreaking situations while

working in the intensive care unit, but she also has some that will send her home smiling that

night. She truly showed that someone can follow their dreams of doing what they love, even if

that someone does not know what their dreams are yet.