CANCER TAKES A TEAM

You will have many needs now.  Some will be the same old, same old, that you have had all along.  Some will be quite surprising.  Things you never thought you would be needing.

This doesn’t mean you will be needy,…. it just means you will need some experts to help along your way.  Many people think of cancer as a real drag.  It is!  When you have people helping lift the load it is a lot easier.

I’ve been working at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital for 32 years, yes that is a long time.  (Would you believe I was 2 when I started?  Well maybe not.)  Legacy Health system has a great cancer team, I’m very proud of it.  Where ever you are you will need some or all of what I’ve been a part of.

THE NURSES     I know you are counting on your doctor to be the team leader and you are right.  I’ll talk more about doctors later.  What I want you to know is that you will be spending more time with your nurses and they will have more time with you as you go through cancer.  Nurses who work with cancer patients are committed.  Some people think they should be committed.  That is just because many people are afraid of cancer.  Cancer nurses are not.  We know that more people are cured of cancer than ever before and more will survive in the years to come than anyone thought possible just a few years ago.

We like what we do. We love being with cancer patients.  We love being able to help with your symptoms.  We can’t always prevent you from getting a symptom but we can give you suggestions that will make it better a whole lot faster!  If we don’t know what to do for a symptom you are having we can find out real fast and put you on the right track.  This is what cancer nurses do.  And we like being there for you.

SO  as I say to my patients… the first rule of being a cancer patient is ..KEEP NO SECRETS FROM THE NURSE !!