Grateful To Be A "Calm" Patient

Ashtyn is currently one of the “calm” patients on the cancer unit and has totally earned that title. In August we probably could have nominated her as being one of the more complicated, busiest, most medication heavy patient ever requiring a 1:1 nurse + 1:1 nurses aide + a 1:1 mom for several weeks. She has come far. As we inch our way closer to getting out of the hospital, the complications keeping her here are gradually diminishing. Currently it’s almost entirely her kidneys we are waiting on. Whether her kidney function has decreased and/or there’s tubular kidney injury, her kidneys are not balancing electrolytes properly causing her to have metabolic acidosis. Daily she gets IV fluids that provide a moderate amount of electrolytes, namely bicarbonate. After consulting with nephrology yesterday, the BMT team is going to make a bold (and nerve wracking) move today and decrease the IV electrolytes drastically. Frequent blood labs will be checked to prevent values from going too low and to determine how much IV plus oral electrolytes are needed to keep her body balanced. Before being able to leave the hospital, her electrolytes need to be stable with manageable oral supplements, and IV fluids if necessary, to help balance her body until the kidneys recover. We already received a kidney miracle when she didn’t require dialysis in August. Please pray for another kidney miracle that they will recover and will need minimal, if any, IV supplement. 

In August Ashtyn was so delirious she hit nurse Kyla. 

We all laughed later when we told Ashtyn what she had done. 

They still love each other 

Talking electrolyte balance with these 

two brilliant pharmacists on Halloween.