Karlee always goes above and beyond for my son. He has gone through two stem cell transplants. The high dose chemotherapy really wore his body down both times but Karlee was always there, suggesting things that we could do to help ease his time. Not only does Karlee always try to make G feel better, but she also does so well with him! He is a three-year-old undergoing intense treatment so he is not always willing to cooperate with the nurses. Karlee is patient and takes her time with him, making sure he is comfortable. She always brings a positive attitude into the room and the energy is felt by G. She talks to him and takes a genuine interest in his likes/dislikes. She is truly an outstanding nurse and human being! She made a big difference in his life by taking such great care of him.
Karlee is very patient with my son. He is three years old and does not always cooperate with the nurses. She never seems upset by how he acts and always gives him time to calm down. I know that he appreciates her patience and kindness because he has talked about her! Karlee also makes sure that his dad and I always know what is going on. She explains things so that we understand what's going on with our son's treatment and she never makes us feel bad for asking a lot of questions. She found out that he has a love for dogs (because she asked) so she showed him pictures of her two puppies. She does all she can to make him open up to her and it works! He loves her! As a parent, seeing someone take care of your child the way you would is unmatched. We normally have Karlee at night and it helps me sleep knowing that she's the one taking care of him.
I remember that we had Karlee during our first transplant when I was a newbie to the BMT world. We had her as our nurse one of the first times that he was getting all sorts of different IV medications. As a newbie to the BMT world, it's hard to keep all the medicines straight! It is very overwhelming! Karlee took a lot of time out of her day that shift to explain all of them to us. She constantly checked to make sure we understood and she always told us what she was giving him to try to ease our minds. We had her multiple times that hospital admission and she ALWAYS made sure we were comfortable with his care and the medications that were being infused. It meant a lot to us that she took so much time explaining it all.
Another example was during our second transplant. We had Karlee for night shifts this transplant. My son had a REALLY tough time second transplant, with night time being the WORST. We had Karlee during the worst of it, three nights in a row, and she was in our room most of her shift. No lie! He was in so much pain and was just miserable. Karlee took the time to really understand what HE was going through and what he needed. She offered different solutions to EVERY problem he faced and made sure we were comfortable with it all and understood it. Just like the first transplant, she explained everything to us in a way that we understood. Even at 3 am.
I always knew Karlee was an outstanding nurse but what she did for him during his second stem cell transplant will never be forgotten. My son did not sleep for 46 hours. Every time he would close his eyes to sleep, he would wake up screaming at the top of his lungs. We had Karlee as our nurse for three nights during this time. The first night that he didn't sleep, it was assumed by everyone (us included) that he was in a lot of pain. Karlee mentioned that she had seen him in pain before and she wasn't convinced he was in pain this time. I thought she was right but we didn't know what else it could be. We went over medications that he was on (mainly new medications that he just started) to see if they could be the cause but nothing added up. Finally, at 4 am, we both decided that maybe it was pain and she called the pain team and they increased his pain medication. Unfortunately increasing the pain medication did not work. He seemed to "wake up" and he watched the iPad literally the entire day the next day. He tried taking a nap, but again would wake up screaming. Again, it was assumed it was pain by everyone. I starting insisting that I didn't think it was pain though because it was not how he normally showed pain. I told Karlee about it when she come on night shift that night. She agreed that something else was going on. She witnessed him "sleeping" and waking up screaming over and over again trying to figure out what was happening. She kept going to the doctor to ask what else it could be besides pain. She was in our room all night (same as the night before). Around midnight she came in and said that she had figured out what was happening! The pain medication was actually causing him to have nightmares the second he closed his eyes. I was happy that she figured it out but heartbroken for my boy. I could tell that she shared my sadness. She was truly concerned and upset that he was having terrible nightmares from the pain medication. It was a waiting game at that point for the medication to get out of his system. She was with us all night, making sure that he was okay and that I was okay. (It had also been a while since I had slept) The good thing about that medication is that it gets out of your system quickly so finally, at 4 am, he fell asleep! I passed out hard next to him and didn't get to thank Karlee that shift. When we had her again a couple of nights later I got teary-eyed thanking her for what she did for him. She didn't stop looking for an answer when everyone told her (and me) that it was pain-related. She KNEW him because she had previously taken the time to get to know him so she knew that how he was acting was not pain-related. I hate thinking about how long he would have been on that medication had she not pushed so hard for an answer but thankfully I won't ever have to know. Karlee made a HUGE difference in his time while inpatient for both his stem cell transplants. I will always tell about how she did everything she could for him.
Karlee ALWAYS took his physical state into consideration when planning his care. She suggested a cool mist machine when she saw his lips were dry, she played detective when he didn't sleep for 46 hours and figured out what was wrong, and she always checked with me and my husband if she thought something needed to be changed. Even if it was an "easy" shift (no such thing if you're a nurse) she would always make sure we were comfortable with the plan for the shift. If I ever brought up a concern, she had an answer or found one out. She included us in everything!