Showing posts with label oncology nurses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oncology nurses. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Ashleigh Pugh-Clarke, @Ashleigh_RN - #OrganizedWisdom Profile, Did You Know? #hcsm #nursing #nurses #oncology

Ashleigh Pugh-Clarke Nominated Expert
Profile not yet claimed
my.organizedwisdom.com/Ashleigh_RN

MN, BScN, RN, CON(C)- Oncology Nurse Educator/ Technology (Nursing Informatics)... Learn More


This is an open letter to Organized Wisdom, and more specifically to Ashleigh Pugh-Clarke, MN, BScN, RN, CON(C)- Oncology Nurse Educator, @Ashleigh_RN, and other nurses who have been "profiled" without their knowledge.

Like you, I was profiled on Organized Wisdom and my tweets being "harvested" and added to their index.

When displayed in their index, my name, my photo and drug advertising were displayed prominently. Same with yours.

So, a few questions.

1. Did you know you were profiled on Organized Wisdom? Most nurses (and doctors) contacted do not.

2. Do you consent to your name/likeness being used to promote their site? Are you OK with them selling you as an "expert"

3. Do you consent to your tweet streams, being harvested, unfiltered and added to an organization that chiefly sells drug advertising? It implies your endorsement.

4. Did you know, once submitted, your favorite sites are copied, plagiarized and their copyrights infringed upon.

5. Did you know, that as a "curator" you receive no compensation, even though Organized Wisdom makes money hand over fist from drug advertising. Can you say exploitation?

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A discussion of the business practices we object to can be found here:

OrganizedWisdom's Twitter Hashtag

HONcode violations can be reported here if you feel you're being exploited: http://bit.ly/k8G096

I'll be happy to answer any questions as well.

Andrew Lopez, RN @andrewlopezRN, info@nursefriendly.com 856-415-9617


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******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

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http://www.inspirationalnursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
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http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Physician, Heel Thyself - NYTimes.com, Theresa Brown, RN

IT was morning rounds in the hospital and the entire medical team stood in the patient’s room. A test result was late, and the patient, a friendly, middle-aged man, jokingly asked his doctor whom he should yell at.

Turning and pointing at the patient’s nurse, the doctor replied, “If you want to scream at anyone, scream at her.”

This vignette is not a scene from the medical drama “House,” nor did it take place 30 years ago, when nurses were considered subservient to doctors. Rather, it happened just a few months ago, at my hospital, to me.

Click on the "via" link to read the full article.

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Any questions, please drop me a line.

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******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Nurse as Writer, Writer as Nurse Theresa Laurel Brown, BA, MA, PhD, BSN, RN, OCN®

Nurse as Writer, Writer as Nurse

Theresa Laurel Brown, BA, MA, PhD, BSN, RN, OCN®

 

The first column I ever wrote for The New York Times, called “Perhaps Death Is Proud, More Reason to Savor Life,” generated a firestorm of attention. Literary agents sent me e-mails, my piece hit The New York Times “most e-mailed” list, and within three days I’d been offered a book contract with a major publisher.

 

The column described a sudden and grisly cardiac arrest where a patient with lung cancer exsanguinated. I felt happy and lucky when The New York Times accepted it. I thought the piece would come out and my friends would read it, and that’s where the endeavor would end. Instead, from that one piece, I ended up becoming a professional writer about nursing. My book, Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between (HarperCollins), was published in June 2010 and comes out in paperback in April 2011. In addition, I am a regular contributor to The New York Times’ Well blog.

 

Whenever I talk about my two careers, people often ask the same questions. I have answered some of those recurring questions here, in part, because that is what interests other nurses, but also because those questions get at the heart of how I combine these two very different jobs.

Click on the "via" link to read the full article.

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For Health Information you can use, Follow, Connect, Like us on (Most Invites Accepted):
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Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.inspirationalnursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Monday, April 18, 2011

Oncology (Cancer) Nurses on: The Nurse Friendly

New!

Alicia Sable Hunt, Founder & President of Sable's Foods, @SablesFoods Connecticut:""As a Registered Nurse, it is my role to collaborate with the healthcare team to educate the patient and provide them with the skills they need to travel the cancer journey. After years of working with cancer patients, I decided to develop a handcrafted bar focusing on their nutritional, taste and texture needs. I am proud to offer my bars to the cancer population as part of a nutritionally balanced diet." – Sable, RN and Founder"
"Nutritious Foods Created For The Cancer Community. Founded, owned & run by an Oncology Nurse."
Sable-Hunt, LLC dba Sable's Foods
111 Saugatuck Avenue
Westport, CT 06880
877.21SABLE (877.217.2253)
info@sablesfoods.com
Blog: http://www.sablesfoods.com/sables-food-blog
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alicasablehunt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SablesFoods
http://www.sablesfoods.com

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Annette Tersigni RN, Yoga Nursing®:"I am the founder of Yoga Nurse Medical Yoga and Stress Management and am the creator of the enlightening new field of Yoga Nursing® and the Yoga Nursing Institute. Yoga Nursing is the marriage of modern nursing science with the ancient science of yoga. My programs are endorsed by lots of doctors and health care providers as a safe therapy to decrease pain and suffering and help folks to find peace instead of going to pieces. I have dedicated the past 16 years educating people around the world on leading healthier, spiritual lifestyles and with a dose of tough love and loads of laughter helped them to WAKE UP and GET CONSCIOUS NOW.

I am a sought after no barriers heart felt speaker, coach, teacher and writer and am featured extensively in the media including in the Associated Press and on NBC, CBS, Fox News affiliates and have been interviewed on national TV by Arielle Ford as one of America's Experts. I am producing, writing, and acting in several DVD documentary/educational projects: I am training and coaching other nurses, yoga teachers and health professionals throughout the USA and Canada to be Yoga Nursing Therapists and I lead fantabulous Yoga and Juice fasting Makeover Retreats on the magnificent Pyrate laden Crystal Coast of North Carolina. My programs our hip, conscious, filled with hilarious humor, enlightening and designed to inspire and leave a legacy. This is the most prolific, jamming and juicy time of my life and I get to do it all by serving others. SERVING RULES!"
Street Address: 103 short st apt. E
Beaufort, North Carolina, 28516
E-mail Address: theyoganurse@gmail.com
Phone: 252.725.1924
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629639595&v=info
Homepage Address: http://www.yoganurse.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/tersigni

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See also: Breast Cancer Debra L. Fore, RN, MSN, Vista HealthCare Consulting:"Legal Nurse Consultant, primarily Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury, Social Security Claimants' Representative."
Specialty areas: Adult Critical Care, Disability, Legal Nurse Consultant, Medical Malpractice, Oncology, Personal Injury, Renal Dialysis, Social Security Claims Telemetry-Step Down
http://www.nursingexperts.com/fore/

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Nelson Louise M., CRNI, BS

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Rowley Karen, R.N.

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Ann Wallace, BA, RN: Legal Nurse Consultant, Tennessee, Emergency Department, Nurse Consultant, Neuro Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Oncology
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/wallace/

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Joni Watson @joniwatson Austin, Texas:"Nonprofit Director, RN, OCN, wife, mom, Christ lover, shoe junkie, reader, blogger, and oh, so much more."
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/joniwatson
http://www.nursetopia.net

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Claire Westwood, RGN, RSCN, BA Health Studies (UK), happynurses.co.uk:"Claire Westwood is a trained nurse and inspirational life coach. She has been a nurse since 1985 and has worked in a variety of areas in adult and paediatric care. She is now a life coach and the founder of “happynurses” with a mission to create a million happy nurses. Claire works with individual nurses who feel overwhelmed and ‘stuck’ in life, enabling them to create fulfilling, balanced lives for themselves. She also enables employers who have high levels of absence or high staff turnover to raise their staff morale and reduce sickness and stress amongst their teams."
happynurses.co.uk
Claire Westwood, RGN, RSCN, BA Health Studies (UK)
Kenilworth House
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK
E-mail Address: claire@happynurses.co.uk
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/westwood/

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See also:

Oncology Nursing, Johns Hopkins Nursing:"As one of the National Cancer Institute's designated comprehensive cancer centers, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins is recognized as one of the world's best. Nurses use knowledge and research to set standards for oncology care. Our unique environment affords nurses the opportunity to practice ambulatory, acute, critical, and palliative care using state-of-the-art technology. Emphasis is placed on providing individualized patient and family-centered care. We offer support to patients which focuses on living with cancer."
Johns Hopkins University and Health System
720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
1-800-765-5447, careers@jhmi.edu
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/nursing/specialties_units/oncology/index.html

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Angiogenesis Inhibitors:
http://www.prescriptionforviagra.com/drugs/antiangiogenesis.htm

******************************************************

For Health Information you can use, Follow, Connect, Like us on (Most Invites Accepted): http://www.nursefriendly.com/social/:

Twitter! http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

What's New

Blogger: http://4nursing.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business, http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Posterous.com, http://nursefriendly.posterous.com

StumbleUpon, http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon

******************************************************

If your website is not listed here, we encourage you to submit it: Add Your Website/URL.

See also:

Nursing Topics, A to Z:

Nursing Degrees, LPN-RN, RN-BSN, RN-MSN, Online/Offline College, University and more!:"Higher income. Career mobility. Now, no matter where you live or what your schedule, you can earn your Associate or Bachelor Degree to take your professional life to the next level — without putting the rest of your life on hold!"

If you do any Browsing or Windowshopping online, please visit our online Mall:
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Gifts For Nurses:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/gifts/

4nursinguniforms.com:"Choose from Top Nursing Uniform Companies. All sizes, styles and popular name brands available. Large selection of accessories as well: Accessories Blood Pressure Cuffs, Sphygnomanometers Nursing Tote Bags, Carry-Ons, Medical Bags Clinical, Medical Supplies, Nurses Discount Outlet: Angels, Books, Clothing , Equipment, Figurines, Holidays, Home Decor, Jewelry, Nurses, Office Decor, Scrubs, Shoes, T-Shirts Footwear, Shoes, Sandals, Discount, Bargains Gifts For Nurses (Nurses Week) Hosiery, Socks, Stockings Hats, Jackets, Jumpers Jewelry, Earrings, Necklaces, Watches Luxury Spas, Facials, Manicures, Pedicures Perfumes, Fragrances, Phermones Shoes, Boots, Sandals, Footwear, High Heels, Slippers Stethescopes, Nurse Kits, Replacement Parts Swimwear (Tan-Through) Women's Lingerie "
4nursinguniforms.com

******************************************************

Nursing Chat, Nurse Discussion Forums:
http://nursingdiscussions.com

******************************************************

The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of this page is
http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing/directory/spec/oncology.html

Send comments and mail to Andrew Lopez, RN

Last updated by Andrew Lopez, RN on Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Click on the "via" link for the full article.

******************************************************
For Health Information you can use, Follow, Connect, Like us on (Most Invites Accepted):
http://www.nursefriendly.com/social/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Oncology (Cancer) Nurses on: The Nurse Friendly

New!

Annette Tersigni RN, Yoga Nursing®:"I am the founder of Yoga Nurse Medical Yoga and Stress Management and am the creator of the enlightening new field of Yoga Nursing® and the Yoga Nursing Institute. Yoga Nursing is the marriage of modern nursing science with the ancient science of yoga. My programs are endorsed by lots of doctors and health care providers as a safe therapy to decrease pain and suffering and help folks to find peace instead of going to pieces. I have dedicated the past 16 years educating people around the world on leading healthier, spiritual lifestyles and with a dose of tough love and loads of laughter helped them to WAKE UP and GET CONSCIOUS NOW.

I am a sought after no barriers heart felt speaker, coach, teacher and writer and am featured extensively in the media including in the Associated Press and on NBC, CBS, Fox News affiliates and have been interviewed on national TV by Arielle Ford as one of America's Experts. I am producing, writing, and acting in several DVD documentary/educational projects: I am training and coaching other nurses, yoga teachers and health professionals throughout the USA and Canada to be Yoga Nursing Therapists and I lead fantabulous Yoga and Juice fasting Makeover Retreats on the magnificent Pyrate laden Crystal Coast of North Carolina. My programs our hip, conscious, filled with hilarious humor, enlightening and designed to inspire and leave a legacy. This is the most prolific, jamming and juicy time of my life and I get to do it all by serving others. SERVING RULES!"
Street Address: 103 short st apt. E
Beaufort, North Carolina, 28516
E-mail Address: theyoganurse@gmail.com
Phone: 252.725.1924
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629639595&v=info
Homepage Address: http://www.yoganurse.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/tersigni

******************************************************

******************************************************

See also: Breast Cancer Debra L. Fore, RN, MSN, Vista HealthCare Consulting:"Legal Nurse Consultant, primarily Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury, Social Security Claimants' Representative."
Specialty areas: Adult Critical Care, Disability, Legal Nurse Consultant, Medical Malpractice, Oncology, Personal Injury, Renal Dialysis, Social Security Claims Telemetry-Step Down
http://www.nursingexperts.com/fore/

******************************************************

Nelson Louise M., CRNI, BS

******************************************************

Rowley Karen, R.N.

******************************************************

Ann Wallace, BA, RN: Legal Nurse Consultant, Tennessee, Emergency Department, Nurse Consultant, Neuro Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Oncology
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/wallace/

******************************************************

Joni Watson @joniwatson Austin, Texas:"Nonprofit Director, RN, OCN, wife, mom, Christ lover, shoe junkie, reader, blogger, and oh, so much more."
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/joniwatson
http://www.nursetopia.net

******************************************************

Claire Westwood, RGN, RSCN, BA Health Studies (UK), happynurses.co.uk:"Claire Westwood is a trained nurse and inspirational life coach. She has been a nurse since 1985 and has worked in a variety of areas in adult and paediatric care. She is now a life coach and the founder of “happynurses” with a mission to create a million happy nurses. Claire works with individual nurses who feel overwhelmed and ‘stuck’ in life, enabling them to create fulfilling, balanced lives for themselves. She also enables employers who have high levels of absence or high staff turnover to raise their staff morale and reduce sickness and stress amongst their teams."
happynurses.co.uk
Claire Westwood, RGN, RSCN, BA Health Studies (UK)
Kenilworth House
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK
E-mail Address: claire@happynurses.co.uk
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com/westwood/

******************************************************

See also:

Oncology Nursing, Johns Hopkins Nursing:"As one of the National Cancer Institute's designated comprehensive cancer centers, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins is recognized as one of the world's best. Nurses use knowledge and research to set standards for oncology care. Our unique environment affords nurses the opportunity to practice ambulatory, acute, critical, and palliative care using state-of-the-art technology. Emphasis is placed on providing individualized patient and family-centered care. We offer support to patients which focuses on living with cancer."
Johns Hopkins University and Health System
720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
1-800-765-5447, careers@jhmi.edu
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/nursing/specialties_units/oncology/index.html

******************************************************

Angiogenesis Inhibitors:
http://www.prescriptionforviagra.com/drugs/antiangiogenesis.htm

******************************************************

Follow us on:
What's New

Blogger: http://4nursing.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business, http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter! http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon, http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon

******************************************************

If your website is not listed here, we encourage you to submit it: Add Your Website/URL.

See also:

Nursing Topics, A to Z:

Nursing Degrees, LPN-RN, RN-BSN, RN-MSN, Online/Offline College, University and more!:"Higher income. Career mobility. Now, no matter where you live or what your schedule, you can earn your Associate or Bachelor Degree to take your professional life to the next level — without putting the rest of your life on hold!"

If you do any Browsing or Windowshopping online, please visit our online Mall:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/shopping/

Gifts For Nurses:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/gifts/

4nursinguniforms.com:"Choose from Top Nursing Uniform Companies. All sizes, styles and popular name brands available. Large selection of accessories as well: Accessories Blood Pressure Cuffs, Sphygnomanometers Nursing Tote Bags, Carry-Ons, Medical Bags Clinical, Medical Supplies, Nurses Discount Outlet: Angels, Books, Clothing , Equipment, Figurines, Holidays, Home Decor, Jewelry, Nurses, Office Decor, Scrubs, Shoes, T-Shirts Footwear, Shoes, Sandals, Discount, Bargains Gifts For Nurses (Nurses Week) Hosiery, Socks, Stockings Hats, Jackets, Jumpers Jewelry, Earrings, Necklaces, Watches Luxury Spas, Facials, Manicures, Pedicures Perfumes, Fragrances, Phermones Shoes, Boots, Sandals, Footwear, High Heels, Slippers Stethescopes, Nurse Kits, Replacement Parts Swimwear (Tan-Through) Women's Lingerie "
4nursinguniforms.com

******************************************************

Nursing Chat, Nurse Discussion Forums:
http://nursingdiscussions.com

******************************************************

The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of this page is
http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing/directory/spec/oncology.html

Send comments and mail to Andrew Lopez, RN

Last updated by Andrew Lopez, RN on Monday, January 18, 2011

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Nurse and Doctor, Neighbor and Friend By THERESA BROWN, R.N. - NYTimes.com

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” begins Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall,” about two neighbors who meet to repair the gaps and holes in the stone wall separating their properties. They walk on either side of it, picking up and replacing fallen stones as they go.

Theresa BrownJeff Swensen for The New York Times Theresa Brown, R.N.

The poem came to mind one recent day on the oncology floor where I work. It’s a medical oncology floor, where we tend to medical issues that go along with cancer, like giving chemotherapy and dealing with complications of metastatic disease. But it turned out that one of my patients had a serious surgical problem.

Surgical oncology is several flights of stairs below us. Even if they were next door, though, I imagine we’d still be inhabiting different worlds. There’s “med onc” and “surg onc,” and never the twain shall meet.

--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

******************************************************
Follow us on:

What's New:
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Blogger:
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Facebook:
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http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Facing Cancer, Sharing Laughter, Theresa Brown, RN

It’s the rare patient who copes with the stress of cancer by being a comedian, but a few people do. I have always found these patients not only funny, but fascinating.

One patient, a middle-aged woman, very thin, with an elfin face, got bad news on morning rounds. With the medical team at her bedside, she gestured toward the physician, then looked at Todd, her nurse for that shift, and asked in an innocent tone, “Does he know about our baby?”

Theresa BrownJeff Swensen for The New York Times Theresa Brown, R.N.

Todd said he turned every possible shade of red, but it was the kind of comment we’d all come to expect from this sardonic patient. She told us that she wanted her tombstone simply to list all the men with whom she’d ever been intimate. When one particularly somber doctor made his rounds, she scolded him for failing to order her a nightly martini.

We don’t need Freud to point out the unconscious desire expressed by this spirited middle-aged woman, who, faced with her own mortality, joked that she was still a sexually active party girl.

Another patient managed to find his own dark sense of humor in the midst of a dreadful chemotherapy session. The particular drug he needed required that I sit in the room and slowly inject it into his intravenous line. We call it “pushing chemo” because the drug comes in huge syringes that we use to literally push chemo into the patient’s veins. It takes about 20 minutes to get all the drug in, and during the process I was swathed in special blue plastic gowns that covered me from head to toe, and two layers of thick blue plastic gloves, to protect myself from this toxic drug that can blister skin.

Not only was the patient completely unprotected, but I was shooting the drug right into his veins. That paradox was not lost on him, and he called the chemotherapy “poison.” To heighten the sense of irony, the drug resembles orange soda in color and consistency, but all the checks and double-checks we go through before administering it show it is not that sweet drink from my childhood.

The patient had a female friend visiting, and they were watching a television program about a white supremacist group. While I sat there, pushing the chemo into his veins, he started riffing on how he was the only African-American member of the group. It wasn’t so much what he said as how he said it, and he had me laughing so hard I almost cried. It was, of course, an unsettling topic about which to joke, but maybe that’s why he chose it, venturing into forbidden humor as a way to cope with the unsettling circumstances of his treatment.

I remember another patient, a union organizer, who was hospitalized for treatment during the months just prior to the 2008 presidential election. I had evening shift that day, and the patient’s frustration grew as he watched coverage of the campaign on television. He saw the election as potentially historic, and wanted to be out campaigning. Instead, his cancer kept him stuck in a hospital bed.

He started telling a series of off-color jokes that I won’t repeat. I was busy caring for patients, but while I was out of the room he would think up a joke for me, and then tell me the joke the next time I came in. Each time the joke would be more outrageous, and each time he would say, “I really cleaned that one up for you.”

I suppose I should have been offended, but I wasn’t. I’ve never been in the hospital with cancer, but I’m pretty sure I would find it exhausting and terrifying. As coping strategies go, I could handle his racy humor just fine.

At the end of James Thurber’s short novel “The 13 Clocks,” a prince and princess have achieved a fairy-tale happy ending. They are advised to “Remember laughter. You’ll need it even in the blessed isles of Ever After.”

And that is what I like to remember from caring for these patients — the laughter. A patient and a nurse, sharing some laughs, lifting for a few hours the dark cloud created by disease.

--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

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Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
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