Imagine living with a diagnosis of acute leukemia, undergoing multiple chemotherapy treatments, and then facing the reality that leukemia would more than likely end your life soon. A few months ago a patient with acute leukemia made a difficult decision to stop chemotherapy treatment. Her leukemia had relapsed and she had exhausted all treatments available to her here. Plus, the chemotherapy had left her so weak, that offering her more treatment was not a good option. She proceeded with supportive care, which consisted of blood and/or platelet transfusions 2-3 times per week at the infusion center. Weeks passed and the patient gradually gained strength. She went from arriving in a wheelchair to walking in with her hair done and make-up on! Over the past month she has felt so good that she has resumed some normalcy in her life, except the constant fact that she was living with AML and at some point it would win.
Despite her rising blast count, she continued to feel well, which surprised us all. Missy cared for this patient numerous times and established a close relationship with her. Some days the patient would come for transfusions and would be tearful, as any of us would be in this situation. Questioning, "when am I going to die, what will it be like?" It is hard to put in words the amount of emotional support Missy offered her during the hard days. Any nurse can learn and excel at various tasks, but there is an art to offering emotional support to a patient. Missy has a unique quality of listening and comforting patients.
On the good days and the bad days, Missy offered conversation and laughter and a truly caring approach. I don't think anyone would wish to come to the infusion center 2-3 times per week for transfusions. However, for this patient, I would have to say that she finds some comfort in coming here because she knows that she has a supportive nurse to turn to. As the weeks passed the patient continued to feel better, Missy continuously encouraged her to get out and enjoy life. The patient did just that. Last week, the patient asked Missy another difficult question. "Now that I am feeling better, should I pursue more treatment?" Knowing how treatment knocked her down in the past, Missy knew this was a very tough question to answer. They talked about quality versus quantity of life. Missy did not want to offer any false hope. However, Missy understood the patient's internal struggle of whether or not pursing any more treatment was the right thing to do now that she was feeling much better.
The situation changed in comparison to what it was a few months ago when the patient was so week and deconditioned. Missy was a true patient advocate and went on to ask providers if there was really nothing else out there for this patient, such as clinical trials. She knew the patient would accept her decision of no further treatment if she could hear and explore any other options. Because Missy pursed this, the patient's provider looked into clinical trials for her. There was one at MD Anderson that would be a good fit. Now that patient is at MD Anderson potentially enrolling in the trial. We don't know how things will go or how much more time she will get, but what we do know is the patient has piece of mind knowing that she gave it her all.
This is just one example of Missy's compassionate patient care. She would do this for any patient. Missy is a skilled, intelligent, experienced nurse; but it's her holistic, compassionate approach to patient care that makes her one of a kind. She truly exemplifies extraordinary care.