Howie Early

If you would please take a moment and let me tell you about my sweet friend, Howie Early. He came straight to Orthopedics as a graduate nurse. He initially asked no less than a 100 questions every shift. He’s still overly cautious, I’m talking never giving a tums without checking to see what the calcium is kind of cautious. Lol. I’ll be the first to admit that I have high expectations and new nurses are often intimidated by me, but if Howie was it never showed. He immediately started talking my ears off and over the years he has never stopped. We’ve discussed everything from his butterfly house, wife and children to how big the fish are that they stock sky lake with. He loves to talk and never knows a stranger. He’s a hard worker and selfless to a point that I can never aspire to. I’m talking about a man that cleans your patient up after they’ve ice skated and finger painted in their poo while you were taking a break to scarf down some food. I have grown to love and respect Howie. I knew that if he was working no matter how rough the day was we’d face it together as a team. On 12/19 he suffered a massive seizure in front of his two youngest children. In the Er he was quickly intubated and was diagnosed with a hemorrhagic stroke. He was intubated for the next 8 days. We were devastated, completely lost, and felt powerless as this was a fight that we couldn’t help him with. He was extubated on Christmas and spent a few days off of the vent. Yes, he had deficits but he was on the mend and we got the opportunity to tell him how very deeply that we loved him. Disaster struck again with another seizure, with more damage to his already fragile brain. He is currently still on a ventilator and fighting for his life. Fighting to make it back to his wife, and four children.

    This man is the real deal. Devoted husband, loving father, and selfless co-worker. He is not perfect by any means, if I’m honest he cusses a little and he won’t stop talking even when the unit is falling apart around us but he is ours and we need to feel like we are doing something to help him.