Making the Most of What Life Offers

I've said it before, but the nurses at Lancaster General Hospital's Cancer Center are just out of this world.

It can't be easy being a hematology/oncology nurse. The patients they have to deal with are tough cases, they're tired, they're often depressed, they're suffering. When all the other doctors and specialists discover a patient with cancer they pass them to hematology/oncology.

Last week Barb and I were sitting in the waiting room, waiting to get called in to the chemotherapy room for my treatment. Lately, for some unknown reason, my blood pressure is low in the morning and that makes my veins tiny. By afternoon everything returns to normal and my veins are popping out all over.

My tiny morning veins can make it difficult to hit me with the needle and set-up the IV drip. So I was sitting there in the waiting room trying to warm up my arms, rubbing my hands together, tucking my arms under my jacket, slapping the back of my hands.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a nurse attacked me, wrapped her arms around me and shouted, "Are you cold? I'll keep you warm!"

My head happened to turn towards the rest of the waiting room during the bear hug where I saw every waiting patient watching the scene. They all were laughing with gigantic smiles on their faces.

I thought to myself, how awesome that one nurse could turn this solemn waiting area into one huge warm smile.

And they do that kind of thing everyday.

There is one Polish nurse at the cancer center who makes it a point to get to know every patient and make them feel special. Now when I say she's Polish, I mean she was born and raised in Poland.

She has a thick accent and sometimes I struggle a bit to understand her. But when she sees us each week she comes right over.

"How are you doing?" she'll ask. "I peaked at your chart. You're doing so well!"

All of the nurses at the cancer center have their own personalities of course. But they all share one thing in common - they all do an incredible job keeping the patients feeling upbeat and positive. And that's such an important component in fighting cancer.

But often times when I find myself saying that this or that is important for fighting cancer, I realize that these types of things aren't just important to fighting cancer, but really important for life in general.

Staying upbeat and positive is not just important to a cancer patient. It's important to everyone. It's crucial for well-being and general health. Eating well, living well, exercising, resting well, it's not just guidelines to fight cancer. It's guidelines for a healthy life in general.

Often times I will hear or read about how cancer changed people's perspectives in positive ways. And it's true, I believe my perspectives have changed for the better.

But why wait for illness to change your perspectives?

It's easy to get caught up in all of our daily, petty problems.

When's the last time you gave someone a big bear hug and made a whole room smile?