Jean Stroud, RN, BSN, MBA, is the manager of same day surgery and the post- anesthesia care unit at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She has spent the majority of her nursing career at the hospital caring for children. She shares her story with the From the Bedside staff of an ongoing relationship she has had with Jack, 13, who has a little-known type of Congenital Muscular Dystrophy.
My first meeting with Jack was when I was working for a home health company at nights at the same time I was working at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. I did home care for Jack for many years and spent nights in his home caring for him. I grew to love Jack and his family. He’s a very sweet boy who needs very complex care.
The strength of his mom, Ann, and his family is remarkable. They came to St. Louis because they had a hearing-impaired daughter, and after they arrived, they had Jack.
Jack and his mom, Ann, pose in the lobby of St. Louis Children's Hospital.
He was born at Missouri Baptist Medical Center and spent many months at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Jack is in a wheelchair. He is trached, ventilator-dependent and has a G-tube for nutrition and hydration. This means that wherever Jack is, a lot of equipment and supplies are with him, including a ventilator, pulse oximeter, suction machine and suction catheters and syringes for feeding, just to mention a few.
As a child, I grew up with a cleft lip and palate and spent many days in and out of the hospital. I feel a special connection to the children here who visit the hospital regularly, and it’s why I’m a nurse today.
I have learned so much from Jack’s family. They have taught me that to have a child who requires your every attention takes a special family.
It’s hard enough for anyone with a family, but when you have a child who needs around-the-clock care, just the simple things like going to the grocery store become a challenge. You can’t leave your child with just anyone. There have been times when Jack’s condition was so tenuous that the only other person Ann felt she could leave Jack with was a nurse.
Jack’s family now lives in Phoenix, but they still make an annual trip to St. Louis so Jack can see his doctors and other caregivers. His mom believes you get the best at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
When Jack turned 10, his mom wrote a letter celebrating Jack, and despite all of the challenges and difficult times they have faced, their family is OK. I keep this on my computer, and I read it a few times a year because it helps me keep things in perspective. It makes me aware of my own four children, and I give thanks for what I have.
I see Jack every year when he is here, and I feel like he remembers me. It makes me feel good to see him smile and know right now he’s healthy, he’s stable, and he just seems stronger. I wish he could speak so I knew what he was thinking. In my mind, if he could verbalize, it would mean so much to those who love him and care for him.
I am privileged to work at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Everyone who comes here to work wants to provide the best care possible not just for the child but also for the family.
