Healthlinks Charleston March/April 2022

96 | www. Char l es tonPhys i c i ans . com | www.Hea l thL i nksChar l es ton . com T H E P U L S E O N CHARLESTON NURSES HealthLinks Charleston wants to recognize nurses as the backbone of our medical community and thank them for all their efforts! LINDSEY J. DARBY, RN What brought Lindsey J. Darby into nursing was her experience as a child: “At 12, I had gallstones that caused pancreatitis, and that developed into gastroparesis and diverticulitis. I have had 14 pro - cedures and 23 hospitalizations throughout my teens and young adulthood. Throughout my most impressionable years, I was surrounded by nurses. They were so good to me. That is my ‘why.’ They definitely made an impact on my life. I wanted to do that for someone else.” Darby shared that nothing could have prepared her for what the past two years have been like. “We got a call on a Friday night that starting the next morning we would be a COVID unit. It was a novel virus, and we would learn as we go. In the beginning, it was an eagerness to learn about COVID and how to care for patients. Then it became very overwhelming. The patients started to deteriorate quickly, pass away alone with only hospital staff and this became my everyday life.” Darby has two small children, and she said that sometimes being a caretaker at home and at work was almost too much to handle. “It got to the point where you could almost put a finger on how well a patient was going to do. Some patients were compliant and some were stubborn. Some that were compliant just didn’t have luck on their side.” Darby said that over the past two years she has prayed with many patients because she felt she had done everything she could and that was all that was left. She recalled a success story of a patient who recovered. “He had a baby girl on the way, but he was isolated and he had gotten depressed. He was so excited about his baby, but he was tired and weak. I told him he had to hold himself together for his family and get stronger. Every day we would do breathing exercises together. I was able to move him to a private room so his wife could visit him.” She said that he now has a beautiful baby girl, and he has made almost a full recovery. “We have a true friendship. He fought so hard,” she said. Darby’s advice to aspiring nurses: “Respect the profession. Keep your hunger for learning and never forget your ‘why.’” CARRIE ANN WILCOX, RN, BSN, OCN, BMTCN A lthough Carrie Ann Wilcox wanted to be a nurse as a child, it wasn’t her first thought when she entered college at Marshall University. “They wouldn’t let you put ‘undecided’ as your major, so I had to choose something,” she said. Wilcox said she knew she loved people and science, and she knew she didn’t want a desk job. “It was between nursing and physical education teaching,” she recalled. “I chose nursing and the rest is history.” Wilcox began her career in oncology: “When I came for the interview at MUSC, I was interested in the clinical trials they offered and the blood and marrow transplant program. I spent over 15 years in the specialty, and it still has my heart. I often hear the comment that working in oncology must be so hard. In fact, it could not have been more rewarding. Those patients are so resilient. When they are faced with death, they have the most amazing perspective on life. It really changes your perspective and makes you appreciate what truly is important. That patient population was the most gracious group of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Even at the hardest time in their lives, they were always so grateful for every moment given to them.” After growing her family, Wilcox decided to enter a different field. She now works in rheumatology: “It is rewarding to witness how much infusion therapy benefits this patient population.” Her advice to new nurses: “Be prepared for a challenging but rewarding career. It will challenge you physically, emotionally and mentally. The benefit is so worth the risk.” Wilcox is married and has two sons – Max and Jack – and two dogs – Halo and Bozzie.