Providing Humor And Normalcy

Every day is chemo day for Pierse Byrnes. The chemo room is her ballpark where the averages don't usually play out.

Leroy and I met this mega-watt oncology nurse when he began his treatment. She became a fast friend and helpful hand right up to the last day Leroy visited Johns Hopkins.

She's a special person. Most nurses are.

-- Laurie

When Laurie asked me to write another piece for the blog, she suggested that I relay a memorable story or event that occurred in my years as an oncology nurse. I said that I thought this was to be a blog, not a novel. Because I have a novel's worth of memorable people and events I could talk about.

People often ask how I ended up as an oncology nurse. The truth is, I didn't choose oncology. Oncology chose me. I was placed (not happily, I will admit) in the Oncology Outpatient Department for a nursing internship that occurred during the final semester of nursing school.

"Oncology?!" I remember saying to my friends. "Isn't it really depressing over there?"

How wrong I was. I think it took all of three shifts for me to recognize that this was the place for me. And when, two years later, I was offered a real job in the clinic, I accepted with alacrity. I have never looked back.

I love getting to know my patients and their families. I love (to a degree) the ribbing I get from Steeler and Redskins fans when I wear my Ravens shirt on Purple Fridays. During visits with my patients, we spend a lot of time discussing labs and side effects -- but some days, I think we spend more time chatting about life outside of this clinic. Our discussions can run the gamut from how to deal with constipation (everyone's favorite topic!) to new grandchildren, birthday parties, shopping, and will the Orioles EVER rise from the basement of the AL East.

Oncology patients are special. I love their strong will to live and their willingness fight this disease with every ounce of their being.

Are there sad moments? Of course there are. Life is not without sad moments.

But my feeling is, if I can inject some amount of humor and some sense of normalcy into lives that have been interrupted by this terrible disease, THEN I have done my job well.

-- Pierse Byrnes

7:00 AM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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