Meant To Be

I wish I had a picture of the two amazing people we met in California last month, Terry and Sharon. Steve had to go to Costa Mesa for business and I was able to go with him for the week. The first night we were there on Saturday, we headed out for dinner in our rental car and the GPS system it had. Steve suggested going for steak but I wanted seafood being that we were in Cali (Schwab was paying for everything for Steve, so it was just me we had to pay for). So I chose 'seafood' on the GPS and about 15 restaurants came up. I scrolled over the list and finally just picked one because none of them were familiar to me, McCormick & Schmick's.

When we arrived the wait was about 40 minutes but they offered us bar seating right away, where we could watch the chef in action. We sat down choosing two seats out of three, closest to another couple and Steve had me sit closest to the couple (something he would never do, normally he would have left a seat between us and them). Anyway, they bring out this enormous menu and after looking it over I turn to the stranger next to me and ask if he had eaten there before. We talk for little while about the food and a little later get talking about being from the Phoenix area and what we are doing there. Gradually we introduce ourselves and we meet Terry and Sharon. Terri eventually asks what we do, Steve talks a little about computers and I mention that I am a nurse. We talk a little more and then Terry asks me if I am specialized in any type of nursing to which I give the very general response, that I am a cancer nurse. He responds by telling me that he had just been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia that very day. Needless to say the conversation took off from there as this is one of the types of cancer I deal with on a daily basis and am very familiar with.

We talked all the way through dinner about everything from how his family was taking the news to what he might expect over the next several months. My heart just went out to him and his wife and as we talked I felt almost as though we had been friends for a long time. We ended the night by exchanging phone numbers and decided to meet up for dinner later in the week after he had a follow-up appointment with his hematologist. We met Wednesday night at this amazing Cuban restaurant they introduced us to and we talked again for 3 hours, not just about cancer but our lives too. They even brought me a bag full of amazing skin care products from a line called Kinerase. On Easter Sunday, our last full day there (or at least I thought...see Greetings from LAX) we went and toured the hospital where he is receiving treatment.

It was the best part of my week and he and Sharon are quickly becoming our great friends. I am very happy to say that he is doing very well so far. We have been keeping in touch through email and calls, I always know it is him calling because when I pick up the phone he says, "Hi angel." It makes my day and makes me happy to be a hematology/oncology nurse.

Sometimes working in this area can be very emotionally challenging and it is at times hard to find the energy to give my patients what I feel they need, lots of encouragement and support. I can't truly describe what it feels like to not only take care of people with cancer but to love them through that journey, wherever it leads. All I know is that I can't help but love them. Each person I meet and get to know in this way encourages me and gives me amazing strength, it is a huge support to me to be their nurse even if only for a few hours.