Fight Together

"You haven't been feeling well, and feel a lump in your breast. So, you make an appointment with the doctor and he sends you for a mammogram. The mammogram lights up with a suspicious area for concern. The doctor decides it would be for the best if you get a biopsy done. You are nervous, you are scared. Once the biopsy is performed it is sent to pathology to be studied. A few days later you are sitting in the doctor's office waiting room, waiting patiently but nervously. Thoughts are running through your mind.. what if, how could this happen?! The nurse calls you to the back. You are now sitting in the exam room awaiting the doctor. The doctor walks in and shakes your hand, sits down and proceeds with what he has to say..

'Unfortunately, the biopsy did show adenocarcinoma of the R breast.'

You have just been diagnosed with... cancer. The worst words a person can hear. An illness that nobody wants to face. You are numb, you feel the tears start flowing down your face. What is the next step? The next step is surgery to remove the lump. The doctor decides its best if we proceed with a right mastectomy. This mastectomy takes away part of what makes you a woman. After healing, it is time for chemotherapy and radiation. I will fit this monster, I will survive."

This is just the beginning of what my patients have to go through. I am a medical assistant that has been working in the oncology field now for 2 1/2 years. I love my job, and I especially love my patients. Every case of cancer is different. Every patient faces their own battles, and their own side effects. Some only get chemo, while some only get radiation. Then you have individuals that have to get both. These people to me all hold a special place in my heart. I watch them smile, cry, laugh, etc. I am by their side to just talk if that is all they need. I have been there right after a patient is diagnosed, or even told that their cancer has came back after being in remission for more then three years. I have watched people decline. I have lost many patients who I have held a special bond with, while I have also lost family members too. I have seen the scars they have. I have seen it all. I wish this monster could fade into the darkness, I wish there was a cure. Families are loosing their mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother. It isn't fair. It isn't fair that we have to bury our babies because cancer took over their little bodies. It isn't fair that these patients regardless of age have to fight with every piece of their soul. These patients are warriors in my eyes. When I walk into my job in the morning, I leave all of my problems at the door. I know when I walk in I do not know how my day is going to go, I also know that they are fighting more of a battle than I could ever imagine myself doing.

Being someone who works closely with these patients, it does bring you down sometimes I am not going to lie. Sometimes I feel defeated because I am trying to provide my best, but it isn't enough. It is something totally out of my control. I have had countless car rides home that I have cried the entire time. I have yelled and cursed as to why this has to happen. I will always be there, and I will never give up though. These patients have made me stronger. I have a different outlook on life now too. I live by each moment, because you never know when it will be your last. Your life could change in a blink of an eye.

No one fights alone, I will be there to support each and every one of my patients. I will be along their side as they beat their diagnosis. Cancer Sucks!