Episode 392: ONS 50th Anniversary: Stories From the Other Side of Cancer

"Working as an oncology infusion nurse, being oncology certified, attending chapter meetings, going to ONS Congress® has really taught me plenty. But being an oncology patient taught me way more. I know firsthand the fears 'you have cancer' brings. Then going through further testing, CT scans, MRIs, genetics, the whole preparation for surgery was something I never considered when I treated a breast cancer patient," ONS member Catherine Parsons, RN, OCN®, told Valerie Burger, MA, MS, RN, OCN®, CPN, member of the ONS 50th anniversary planning committee, during a conversation about her experience being an oncology nurse and cancer survivor. Burger spoke with Parsons and ONS members Margaret Hopkins, MSN, RN, OCN®, HNB-BC, and Afton Dickerson, MSN, AGACNP-BCP, CBCN®, AOCNP®, CGRA, about how cancer survivorship has shaped their careers as oncology nurses and personal lives. Music Credit: " Fireflies and Stardust " by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Episode Notes This episode is not eligible for NCPD. ONS Podcast ™ episodes: 50th anniversary series Episode 385: ONS 50th Anniversary: Evolution of Cancer Survivorship Episode 263: Oncology Nursing Storytelling: Renewal Episode 253: The Ethics of Caring for People You Know Personally Episode 187: The Critical Need for Well-Being and Resiliency and How to Practice Episode 91: The Seasons of Survivorship ONS Voice articles: Being a Patient Taught Me How to Be a Better Oncology Nurse by Margaret Hopkins Sharing Our Stories Supports, Celebrates, and Advances the Nursing Profession Our Unified Voices Can Improve Cancer Survivorship Care Why I Truly Understand How Our Patients Hold Onto Hope ONS book: Oncology Nurse Navigation: Delivering Patient-Centered Care Across the Continuum (third edition) ONS course: Essentials in Survivorship Care for the Advanced Practice Provider ONS Nurse Well-Being Learning Library ONS Huddle Cards: Coping Moral Resilience Survivorship Care Connie Henke Yarbro Oncology Nursing History Center To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities . To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library . To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org . Highlights From This Episode Parsons: "I thought I knew cancer. I thought I knew the treatment. I thought I knew the side effects. There's so much I didn't know. There's so much behind the scenes before a patient comes and sits in my chair. The stuff that they go through I now can understand. It surprised me how much I didn't know." TS 11:39 Hopkins: "I had been thinking I'm going to be that hero, that I can go to work. I work at night, get 8 am radiation appointments, and go home and go to sleep and wake up and go to work again because everyone said, 'Oh, it's not that bad. Radiation will be okay. You can work.' … But the real challenge for me was I didn't know how to be a patient and a nurse at the same time. And my first radiation treatment, I go in there, and I change into the gown, and then I started cleaning up because I was getting treatment done at the hospital where I worked, and were taught if you see a mess, you clean it. So I was acting like a nurse. And I almost wanted to go help the other patients, but I couldn't because I had to focus on healing." TS 15:36 Dickerson: "What made the difference for me were the nurses who didn't just treat my illness. They treated me as a whole person—my emotions, my feelings. They made me smile. They would hold my hand or just take a moment to really ask, 'Hey, how are you?' And those small, little gestures made me feel worthy, made me feel like a human. I always tell nurses it's not just about the chemo; it's about the connection. Sometimes your presence is the most healing thing that you can offer to your patient." TS 30:52