Nurse Spotlight - Diemmai
This week is National Nurses Week! We're excited to highlight Diemmai, an infusion nurse, from our global Primary Immunodeficiency community.
My love and respect for children and their well-being inspired me to become a pediatric nurse. My career path at Texas Children's Hospital led me to infusion nursing. When I was working with Kim Holt, who was the manager in the RTA at the time, an opportunity arose to open an Infusion Center for our hospital and I jumped at the chance to help Kim and TCH with this new endeavor. Here we are, more than 20 years later, and I am still here taking care of my Infusion Center patients and their families. Caring for patients with Primary Immunodeficiency means meeting them where they're at; allowing them to guide what is comfortable and "normal" for them while practicing safe and optimal Infusion medicine. What keeps me motivated on the hard days is simple: my family and those of my patients. Since becoming a mother to twin boys, as cliche as it may sound, I have become more empathetic and better at being a human being. Especially on the hard days, I am sure my patients' days are more trying and more stressful than mine. I would try my best to lighten that load however I can, whether with a smile or a hug or both, or just offering Mom some water or a chair. I believe that these tiny gestures of kindness can go a long way.
A moment in my career at TCH that has stayed with me is when I cared for Logan. He was one of the bravest patients and his team consisting of Mom and sometimes Grandma was called #teamSuperman to encourage him to be brave and strong for his IVIG infusions when they would have to come to our Infusion Center. I have included his Mom's FB post to explain as I think that speaks for itself about my passion for caring for my pediatric patients and their families. It has been and continues to be an honor to be a part of their lives and have a small role in their health journey.
