Enduring cancer treatment—especially early on—can be painful and lonely. Having a great caregiver helps. But even then, a cancer patient often spends many hours alone getting x-rays, MRI’s and IV’s.

The one constant and saving grace for me has always been an oncology nurse. And I have had more than one good one, mind you. Wherever I have been treated, I have always received thoughtful, excellent care.

My nurses over the years have served as friends and counselors. They have listened when I needed support and given me pep talks when I was down.

For example, Mayo Clinic transplant nurse Teresa Micelli has always gone above and beyond what might be considered a normal standard of care. Teresa has kept in touch and monitored my progress over the years—even after I chose to delay my stem cell transplant.

Then there was Monica, who stayed by my side for days at a time, helping me make it through serious complications I suffered while undergoing what should have been a short, simple stem cell harvest procedure.

And Dody and Cathleen are a dedicated pair of oncology nurses who handled my day-to-day care for three years. Dody and Cathleen were the only oncology staff at my hometown Osceola Medical Center in rural western Wisconsin. They did everything there, from supervising tests to administering IV's. We spent many, many long cold, dreary hours together, sharing stories about our families and gossiping about small town life and Twin City politics. We laughed together, and, on more than one occasion, cried together too. Dody and Cathleen helped me stay focused on my recovery and keep my spirits up.

I can only imagine how difficult some of their tasks must be: to get up each morning and deal with stacks of paperwork and hospital and government red tape, then spend hours with a variety of different patients—all with some type of cancer.

I have often told my fellow multiple myeloma support group patients how I plan to return to earth and become an oncology nurse in my next life. Not an oncologist, but an oncology nurse.

Why? Because, unlike doctors who pop in and out of our post-cancer lives, the nurses do all of the heavy lifting. It’s the nurses who administer the drugs and comfort us. The nurses are the ones who persistently, yet gently try sticking us with another IV, even when our tired veins are hiding.

Oncologists are important. But oncology nurses become a part of our lives. Oncology nurses are my heroes—and isn‘t that what we should all aspire to be—even if it must be in another life.

Feel good, keep smiling, and don‘t forget to thank your nurses for their help and support! Pat