What’s the best thing about being an oncology nurse?
Honestly, I think it’s just human connection. You see humanity at every level, there are no walls. All walls are broken down. You walk in, and some of these families’ lives are just shattered by this new diagnosis, and with nursing you have a unique opportunity to pick up those pieces, enable the family to try and help the child maintain their childhood, and enable the parents by giving them the tools to help their child deal with the cancer. What’s the hardest aspect of pediatric oncology nursing? The hardest thing, apart from watching the physical and emotional suffering of our patients, would be watching the pain in the parents’ or the caregivers’ eyes. That’s really hard, and it’s hard when their support system isn’t there completely. Even their closest friends on the outside don’t really know what’s going on in certain situations. Because in that one moment you can do your work, but then you go home and you can’t be there for them.
