What I've been waiting for.

Last week I started my job on the ninth floor as an Oncology nurse. I could not be happier with where I am blessed to be. From the moment I walked onto the unit I felt calm, confident, welcomed, loved, supported, and I knew that this is where I belonged. I cannot imagine doing anything other than being an Oncology nurse. After only three shifts, I feel connected to the people I cared for, I actually miss them while I'm at home.
Everyday that I left work, I felt appreciated, I felt I had done the best possible job that I could, and that I got to know my four patients deeply, as well as their families. Caring for people who have cancer is completely different than caring for people with any other disease process. To me, they are not just cancer patients, they are amazing, wonderful people with lives outside of the hospital, lives to return to, dreams, and they just happen to have cancer. I was touched by them every moment that I got to spend with them, which was much more than I ever did with my patients on the med/surg floor. They were thankful for my care, grateful, appreciative, loving, curious about my life, and most importantly, they did not sweat the small stuff. If their meal was late or wrong, no big deal, if they felt nauseated, no big deal, if their medicine was a little late, no big deal. I have never met such patient, kind people in all my life.
The feeling of unity on the floor is amazing. Between the nurses, doctors, patients, families, it is known and felt that we are all a team working towards a goal, ultimately to cure the disease that plagues their loved ones, but for now, it is to care for them the best ways we possibly can. The doctors value the nurses input, and act swiftly when something is wrong with a patient, or if the nurse is just concerned. Cancer is serious, and a lot can go wrong, and we all see it as such. Anybody can get cancer, and this is what is so scary about the disease. One day you're fine, the next day you have cancer. Somehow these amazing people learn to deal with the horrific treatments, the hair loss, the nausea, the weight loss, and they do it over and over again, in the hopes that this disease will finally leave their bodies. I feel honored to care for such powerful individuals.
I now look forward to everyday that I get to go to work, and I get to meet these people and their families. Most people come in for 3-4 days of treatment, leave, and come back a couple weeks later for more treatments, so it is definitely a family unit. There's pet therapy every Tuesday and Thursday, bake sales, holiday parties, super bowl parties, and birthday parties. Even when it did get busy during a shift, it was still a great day, I must have looked like such a goof walking around the unit smiling all day and saying "I am so happy to be here!" I must have told every nurse and doctor that, and I meant it. The experienced nurses made it clear that they will support me and help me with anything, and they trust me. I immediately felt that I belonged, and they wanted me there. I even had some people asking me gen. med. questions since I had experience on the general medicine floor. One nurse thanked me for joining their team. Another nurse made me my own folder to keep my medical records in.
I know this is where I belong. I can see myself working in Oncology for the rest of my life. I can only imagine all that I have to gain, all the lives that will touch me, and I am anxious for the future. I never thought I would get to look forward to work everyday, so now more than ever, I believe that impossible is nothing.