First, you get the diagnosis: “Your child is critically ill, and needs a bone marrow transplant.”
Next, you connect with Patty Kleinke, lead nurse clinician for University of Minnesota Health’s Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) program.
Kleinke regularly interacts with people during what may be the most traumatic moment of their lives. With patience, empathy and an understanding of the process—Kleinke formerly worked as a nurse at Masonic Children’s Hospital—she’s often able to make the referral day a lot easier for families.
This often produces side effects—nausea, pain or mouth sores, for example—that our provider team and nurses identify and manage. Every child reacts differently. Before a child is admitted to begin their prep for transplant (the chemo and/or radiation), we also evaluate them from head to toe, making sure there isn’t any kind of infection that would delay or potentially prevent a transplant from happening.