Abbie is one of my pediatric dialysis RNs. When I got promoted to HSA, I had to step down from being the main pediatric RN at our hospital, and Abbie stepped up. We recently had a pediatric hemodialysis kiddo who, unfortunately, grew up in the hospital. At only 10 years old, she was well-versed in hospital talk and how it worked. She was also on the grumpier side compared to almost all of the pediatric patients we have treated, but who could blame her? Abbie went in every time with the goal of getting her to smile and to have fun since dialysis is pretty boring and this kiddo hated just about everyone who walked through her door. Every hemodialysis Abbie ran, she learned as much as she could about this kiddo. By the time week 2 came around, Abbie brought in games, colored markers and pages to color, magnets, diamond art, and other fun things to do while on treatment, and all of it was around what this kiddo liked to do. She also made sure to put on Willy Wonka because the music was this kiddo's favorite, and she would sing to it while Abbie listened. They would sit and listen to the songs while playing uno or jenga.

Fast forward a few months, and one of the pediatric nephrologists had a conversation with me about this kiddo. She said that she had been seeing this kiddo for the last 1.5 years, and the last 3 months that this kiddo was on hemodialysis, she saw a change in her. She saw happiness that she had not seen before. She saw smiles that made her face beam. She heard laughing come from her room where silence used to be. She may not have been on hemodialysis long prior to her passing, but the time spent with Abbie sure did make a difference in how this kiddo spent her last months. The nephrologist thanked Abbie for all that she did for this kiddo because she truly made a difference in this little one's life.