Payton Young
April 2026
Payton
Young
,
BSN,RN
SICU
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
Cincinnati
,
OH
United States
I know this may sound like hyperbole, but God indeed sent an angel when my wife most needed one.
I have been a rehabilitation physician here at the University of Cincinnati for almost 45 years, Director as well as Vice President of Medical Affairs at Drake Center, and past chairman of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. I have also nominated several nurses for the DAISY award, including two during my rehabilitation days recently, during my wife's hospitalization on 9 CCP. In a sense, you can say that I can readily recognize excellent, compassionate nursing care.
Unfortunately, my wife was diagnosed with Stage IV Gel. adenocarcinoma with peritoneal carcinomatosis. What started as a weird ache in her C-section incision, noticed on a hike, four weeks after we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary, has turned into a nightmare Cancer journey.
This journey has included the initial 4-week hospitalization for an ileocecal bowel resection because of a complete bowel obstruction, a second admission for another bowel obstruction ( necessitating a stent in the sigmoid colon), six courses of depleting chemotherapy, another hospitalization a couple of months after that for cholecystitis and gallbladder stones necessitating another Stent placement. All of this transpired on 9 CCP, which provided amazing nursing care.
All this was necessary just to qualify for a 9-hour cytoreductive surgery, scraping out cancer cells by Dr. W, then infusing intravenous-abdominal chemotherapy and shaking her body on a special OR table to ensure the chemo infiltrates every nook and cranny of all the organs. Of course, she had to be in the SICU for close monitoring post-op.
After this procedure, my wife awoke to severe, lancinating left hip pain as the necessary retraction in the lower left quadrant to remove all of the tumor cells unfortunately bruised a nerve. By January, she was on day 10 (of an anticipated 3-day SICIJ stay). The previous day, she had failed her NG trial for the second time (it was even worse than the 1st trial), and she was awakened every hour, imploring me to push the PCA pump button for 8/10 hip pain every 6 minutes for 5x as the service dropped our booster break-through Dilaudid (that at least provided 4 hours of some relief).
At this point, at 4 in the morning, my wife asked if we could withdraw all care as she could not imagine living any kind of further life in this existence. öW1 Cancer is not for the weak of heart! Even writing this now brings tears to me. And I apologize if I am subjecting you, the reader, to this torment, but it will make the rest of the story more impactful.
A nurse by the name of Payton walks into our lives. She just happened to be called in that day, floating on SICU. Our regular nurse for the day shift was tied up with a sicker patient (perhaps medically), so she was covering for her and providing care for my wife.
I reviewed the past 24 hours with Payton, even sharing my wife's emotional distress. Payton provides the necessary medical care and then amazing emotional and spiritual care.
Payton allowed me to share this story on Caring Bridge, so I'm sure she wouldn’t mind if I shared it in the context of my wife's story. Payton proceeds to share this with her in a soft, loving, reassuring manner:
When she was 26 years old and 36+ with her first child, she was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer (no family history). She had to receive one course of chemotherapy before she delivered, then 16 courses of chemotherapy, then five weeks of daily radiation, then one surgery, then six months of daily oral chemotherapy, which caused painful skin lesions and mouth sores.
About four months into the last regimen (therefore, only two months longer to complete her final treatments), she contemplated ending her life. Her husband, also a good Christian man, supported her through all of this, and especially through this phase of the treatment. He introduced her, and she took comfort in Psalm 18:39 (she even showed us where she had it tattooed on her forearm).
She then asked if she could pray with my wife. I wish I could recall all of the prayer, but the main gist of it was that Payton's husband prayed over her that God strengthen her "with the armor for battle" so that she could be a mother for her baby daughter.
Payton told us that she was cured of her cancer. In fact, she had a second child three years later. And Payton held my wife's hands and prayed that God strengthen my wife with the armor to win this battle and be around for many years so that she could love her grandchildren (God blessed us with 11).
My wife's spirits were immediately lifted. Shortly afterward, the Pain team placed an indwelling catheter to anesthetize the nerve pain; she passed the NG test with flying colors and was able to begin eating that day; she moved back onto our beloved 9CCP floor the next day.
The daisy, as a flower pertaining to healthcare, symbolizes kindness and compassion. I also have to believe it is the favorite flower of angels. I know this may sound like hyperbole, but God indeed sent an angel when my wife most needed one.
And I must also share my depiction of how this compassionate care had an amazing ripple effect on the 180 people following my wife's Caring Bridge and sharing similar stories.
Unfortunately, my wife was diagnosed with Stage IV Gel. adenocarcinoma with peritoneal carcinomatosis. What started as a weird ache in her C-section incision, noticed on a hike, four weeks after we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary, has turned into a nightmare Cancer journey.
This journey has included the initial 4-week hospitalization for an ileocecal bowel resection because of a complete bowel obstruction, a second admission for another bowel obstruction ( necessitating a stent in the sigmoid colon), six courses of depleting chemotherapy, another hospitalization a couple of months after that for cholecystitis and gallbladder stones necessitating another Stent placement. All of this transpired on 9 CCP, which provided amazing nursing care.
All this was necessary just to qualify for a 9-hour cytoreductive surgery, scraping out cancer cells by Dr. W, then infusing intravenous-abdominal chemotherapy and shaking her body on a special OR table to ensure the chemo infiltrates every nook and cranny of all the organs. Of course, she had to be in the SICU for close monitoring post-op.
After this procedure, my wife awoke to severe, lancinating left hip pain as the necessary retraction in the lower left quadrant to remove all of the tumor cells unfortunately bruised a nerve. By January, she was on day 10 (of an anticipated 3-day SICIJ stay). The previous day, she had failed her NG trial for the second time (it was even worse than the 1st trial), and she was awakened every hour, imploring me to push the PCA pump button for 8/10 hip pain every 6 minutes for 5x as the service dropped our booster break-through Dilaudid (that at least provided 4 hours of some relief).
At this point, at 4 in the morning, my wife asked if we could withdraw all care as she could not imagine living any kind of further life in this existence. öW1 Cancer is not for the weak of heart! Even writing this now brings tears to me. And I apologize if I am subjecting you, the reader, to this torment, but it will make the rest of the story more impactful.
A nurse by the name of Payton walks into our lives. She just happened to be called in that day, floating on SICU. Our regular nurse for the day shift was tied up with a sicker patient (perhaps medically), so she was covering for her and providing care for my wife.
I reviewed the past 24 hours with Payton, even sharing my wife's emotional distress. Payton provides the necessary medical care and then amazing emotional and spiritual care.
Payton allowed me to share this story on Caring Bridge, so I'm sure she wouldn’t mind if I shared it in the context of my wife's story. Payton proceeds to share this with her in a soft, loving, reassuring manner:
When she was 26 years old and 36+ with her first child, she was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer (no family history). She had to receive one course of chemotherapy before she delivered, then 16 courses of chemotherapy, then five weeks of daily radiation, then one surgery, then six months of daily oral chemotherapy, which caused painful skin lesions and mouth sores.
About four months into the last regimen (therefore, only two months longer to complete her final treatments), she contemplated ending her life. Her husband, also a good Christian man, supported her through all of this, and especially through this phase of the treatment. He introduced her, and she took comfort in Psalm 18:39 (she even showed us where she had it tattooed on her forearm).
She then asked if she could pray with my wife. I wish I could recall all of the prayer, but the main gist of it was that Payton's husband prayed over her that God strengthen her "with the armor for battle" so that she could be a mother for her baby daughter.
Payton told us that she was cured of her cancer. In fact, she had a second child three years later. And Payton held my wife's hands and prayed that God strengthen my wife with the armor to win this battle and be around for many years so that she could love her grandchildren (God blessed us with 11).
My wife's spirits were immediately lifted. Shortly afterward, the Pain team placed an indwelling catheter to anesthetize the nerve pain; she passed the NG test with flying colors and was able to begin eating that day; she moved back onto our beloved 9CCP floor the next day.
The daisy, as a flower pertaining to healthcare, symbolizes kindness and compassion. I also have to believe it is the favorite flower of angels. I know this may sound like hyperbole, but God indeed sent an angel when my wife most needed one.
And I must also share my depiction of how this compassionate care had an amazing ripple effect on the 180 people following my wife's Caring Bridge and sharing similar stories.