Happy Nurses Week

A very Happy Nurses Week to all of my nurse friends!

My parents sent flowers to me at work yesterday. I opened the attached card and had to giggle – it said “Happy MOTHER’S Day! We are very proud of you!” Whoops!

My husband also brought flowers home to me last night! He said my parents beat him to it, but that’s ok…both arrangements are beautiful!

I’m often asked why I became a nurse, especially one in the field of Oncology. To be honest, I’m not really sure why I became an nurse. For years, my answer to the question “what do you want to be when you grow up” was always “A Teacher”. I grew up around the hospital system. My mom is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist and my dad is an accountant that works in healthcare. As a Junior in high school, I volunteered in a local hospital’s Cardiology unit. I will never forget the first time I saw a heart cath. I was in awe. The fact that I could see a heart on the screen in front of me, with dye flowing through it absolutely amazed me. I knew from that moment on, I wanted to be a nurse.

Nursing school was hard, I am not going to lie. There were times I didn’t think I’d make it through. With a lot of prayers, hard work, (and a little bribing on my parents end), I graduated.

As a senior graduate student, I knew deep down in my heart that pediatrics was my calling. I loved loved loved working with kids. However, God had a different plan. I was accepted into a program for brand new graduates that took me from a surgical unit for six weeks to the cardiac unit for 4 weeks to the oncology unit for 4 weeks and finally to the ER/ICU for 2 weeks each. It was during this program that I discovered my love for Oncology nursing. My grandfather passed away from Lung Cancer my senior year in high school….so oncology held a deeper, more personal meaning for me.

After a few years of working on the Oncology floor, I switched to Radiation Oncology and that’s where I am today!

I absolutely LOVE what I do. People ask all the time, “How do you work with oncology patients? Aren’t you sad all the time?” Me? No. I look at it this way – we might have failures, but there are always successes. It’s rejoicing with those who have been given a clear report…cured…that keeps me going. Yes, being an oncology nurse is hard, but I absolutely love it.

I’ve found other ways to give back, too. I’m currently our area American Cancer Society Leadership Council President and I serve on various councils throughout ACS. It’s a satisfying feeling knowing what I do on a daily basis has purpose – fighting back against a terrible disease that has claimed so many of our loved ones.

Ok I might have gotten off on a tangent there – my main reason for this was to say HAPPY NURSES WEEK to you!! Thanks for EVERYTHING you do! :0)

P.S. – Please continue to pray for my grandfather. He now has fluid on his heart/lungs and is having a very difficult time breathing. It breaks my heart to see him like this. :0(  We appreciate your prayers!!