It's All About Teal

I recently had the honor to be a guest speaker at the annual Caring Together Memorial Service.  

Thanks for having me here tonight.  My name is Anne Lawton and I am a Chemotherapy Infusion Nurse at Women's Cancer Care Associates.  This is the third time I've had the honor of speaking at this annual service.  Last month I took a lot of photos at the annual Teal Ribbon Race and Walk.  I have attended the Race/Walk every year since the beginning and it's one of my favorite events, because it reminds me of all the special women I have cared for over the years.  Enjoy the video.

It's the angels among us that have changed my life and made me a better nurse.  Let me tell you about a few of them. My very first Ovarian Cancer patient was Paulette.  She had a smile that lit up the room and twenty years later I haven't forgotten her and the love she had for her small children, the beneficiaries of that great smile. Jennie was very special to me.  She embraced the staff as people first and nurses second.  I had won a trip to a health spa with a group of other nurses and was reading aloud the accommodations and menu choices to the patients one day in the treatment room and bemoaning the lack of junk food being offered.  Later that week she brought in a gift bag and told me to tuck it in my suitcase for later.  The Spa weekend was awesome but by the time we arrived at the airport to go home, we were all hungry and wanted some non healthy food.  The plane was delayed due to bad weather in the North East and it being a small airport, the food choices were limited.  I remembered the gift bag and opened it up.  Inside were several bags of M & M's and a note that read "sometimes only a friend knows when another friend needs chocolate".  We were a happy group of nurses thanks to my friend Jennie. Linda and Deb both helped me realize the importance of good patient education and every time I write a new teaching tool, I try to put myself in their place. From Penny,I learned that spending your last days on earth by the ocean is comfort care, whether your insurance company or doctor's office agrees or not. I met Sarah over a year ago one weekend while working my second job as a home care infusion nurse.  I was on call the weekend of Hurricane Irene.  My beeper went off at 1:30 in the morning and on the other end was a scared young woman whose IV access device became dislodged by a jumping dog.  When I learned she lived over an hour away, I was not pleased.  Upon arrival I found both her and her dog howling.   After getting Sarah calmed down, I started to ask her questions and she shared that she was 27 years old, had stage 4 Ovarian Cancer and was dying.  Her dog had tried to jump on the bed with her when his paw became tangled in the tubing and the device pulled out, interrupting her Morphine drip.  I got her all fixed up and the dog had stopped howling.  Sarah gave me a hug, thanked me and whispered "goodbye".  At 4 in the morning I started back down the Northway to home.  I learned that night that there are far worse things that working a second job, being on call in the middle of the night, in a hurricane,with no gas, and no gas stations open.  An angel got me home safely that night. Mona and Jeff traveled throughout her illness.  So did Al and June.  I loved hearing about their travels but mostly I loved that they were living their lives fully.  They are proof that you can live a good life even while undergoing treatments. Joanne taught me that laughter in the chemo room was a good thing and laugh we did, each and every time she came in.  She once wore a pig nose and surprised the doctor by asking if it was a side effect of her treatment.  Joanne is the reason I spoke for the first time here.  She asked me after telling me that she wanted no more treatment, knowing I wouldn't refuse.   Maureen, Fran, Gay and Margaret all showed me the way, through their grace and dignity, as they faced this nasty disease.  Margaret, June and Maureen all volunteered for Hospice until they no longer could. I could go on and on, there were so many women who graced me with their presence.  What I learned from them and you most of all is this.......  YOU ARE NOT YOUR DISEASE.  Your CA 125 (tumor marker) does not define who you are as a person.  Your family does not revolve around your cancer. They are better and stronger than that.  Instead it's about the joys in your life.  So KEEP GOING, and as my persistent angel Mary would say, "I have to, good people are hard to find".