Madeline grew up in Cincinnati, OH and went to nursing school at Boston College. After college she moved to NYC and pursued oncology nursing at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she fell in love with life as a nurse. She’s the youngest of 6 kids in a tight-knit family.
Working in Hematology/Oncology has quickly allowed Maddie to realize how short life is so she quit her job in October to backpack New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia. She’s lived in a camper-van named Lucy and has seen some pretty insane vistas and has finally settled here in SF right near us and we couldn’t be more excited! Maddie is a nurse, a traveler, and a life optimizer.
My older sister is a nurse and I shadowed her in high school which definitely helped, but in all honesty, when I applied to college, I applied to 7 different schools with 7 different majors. They were all science related majors geared towards helping people, but at the end of the day, I think the big man above was looking out for me when I ultimately chose nursing.
Be prepared to have the best career ever! But only do so if you want to work hard, never stop learning and challenging your brain, and best of all, help people. I think the most important thing to know in a potential career as a nurse is that you have to be okay with 12 hours of putting others first. While this is my favorite aspect of the job, it can be a challenge to look after and care for yourself too.
Hmm, I think I am lucky in the sense that I do not view nursing as a career, but more of a lifestyle! When I show up to work, I don’t necessarily feel like it’s a job. It adds more fulfillment to my life then many other activities and I am continuously learning from patients in a physical way but also an emotional way. When I was 23, I had a patient look me in the eye and ask what his dying process was going to look like. Would he feel pain?
I was SHOCKED that at such a young age, I was to ease this person’s fears at the end of his life. He became the first of many oncology patients I have seen pass away. Being with someone at the end of his/her life teaches you things you can’t gain anywhere else. As difficult as it is, it is something that strives me to lead a purposeful life and brand myself as someone who feels thankful and blessed for every day.
It was challenging and fulfilling at the same time. We set up mobile clinics to villages that didn’t have access to healthcare. Families would walk up to five miles just to a get 3 month supply of blood pressure medication or treatment for a UTI. It was extremely humbling how much these patients looked to you for the answer to a medical problem they’ve had for months. It made me thankful that my profession is so universal!
Being outside gets me out of bed and being able to walk to new places. I LOVE walking. Breathing in the crisp, fresh air, having tired feet after a long day, feel the relief of a bench, it's all so good. I’m thankful for my two feet!
Honestly everything. I especially enjoy the long-lasting trust and relationships I am able to develop being a hem-onc nurse as the patients are in the hospital for 30-60 days. I think I am most amazed by how much strength oncology patients show when their life may have been normal yesterday, but today they’re facing a life-threatening diagnosis. On top of all of that, at the end of the day you feel as though you are a part of your patient’s family because of how well you get to know each other and how much they trust you.
Honestly, not really! I knew it was a temporary and once in a lifetime opportunity to backpack for 4 months so I didn’t worry too much about missing something that would be in my future soon enough. Living in the present is the best anyways, right?
When you feel like you can’t do enough for a patient. Or you feel like the patient wants to express a particular wish but doesn’t feel comfortable in front of the team.
Of course! I work to live, not live to work.
How much we teach doctors
And how much patients teach us!!
I am really interested to see how nursing develops. I think nurses are going to have more autonomy someday than they do now, but I’m not sure in what ways! I absolutely love the bedside, but I do have an itch to be a palliative care nurse practitioner, so that could be in the cards someday. But for now, travel travel travel!
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