Hello & Welcome to Your Cancer Care Guide: Buckle Up, It Might Be a Bumpy Ride
So, you or someone you love just got a cancer diagnosis which basically means you’ve been handed the full-time job no one wants. Unfortunately, navigating the U.S. healthcare system seems to require the expertise of a lawyer, a doctor, an insurance specialist, and possibly, magical powers.
Let’s be honest: Cancer is already a nightmare, but throw in a bunch of medical jargon, endless appointments, insurance battles, and healthcare systems where the right hand doesn’t seem to know the left hand exists, much less knows what its doing? It’s enough to make anyone want to run screaming into the night.
As unreasonable as all this is, in my experience people just keep moving forward and at some point you’ll probably find that you’ve become a seasoned pro. Which is probably when some new nonsense will pop up.
That’s where this blog comes in: my goal is to share my 24+ years of experience in healthcare and 14+ years as an oncology nurse to give you a filtered view of the information out there to help you figure things out as you navigate this ridiculously complicated system.
To be honest, you’ll probably be able to find most of what’s in this blog somewhere else. My intention is to focus on the information on topics that I have seen as the biggest gaps facing most patients and lay it out in a way that is easy to digest. Along the way, I’ll share tips from my own experience both as a nurse and as a caregiver for my own loved one’s cancer journeys. One of my personal frustrations is how much random information is out there and how much of it is questionable at best, so I’ll also do my best to connect you to validated sources that you can trust when you need to do some deeper dives for information.
Most importantly, I want you to know that you’re not in this alone. Cancer is hard. The system is a mess. But we have all made it through hard times before and you can make it through this too.
Welcome aboard, kids. It’s probably going to be a bumpy ride, but at least you’ve got company.
