the little things.

Much of the time, I am humbled by the work I do, or plan to do one day. Often times I think that just because I'm not "doing" what I want to do 40 hours a week, or I'm not an oncologist or oncology nurse or PhD researcher, I'm not "really" working in oncology....and there are days that prove me wrong. Like today. I gave the LAF survivorship handbook, the NASW Cancer Survival Toolbox cd kit, and LiveStrong wristbands to someone whose husband was just diagnosed with a rare cancer and is having surgery this week. Because she herself is in the helping professions, I debated about giving these to her; I thought she'd have enough "toolkits", etc. But I was wrong - in fact, she seemed quite happy about it and said they were using a manila envelope for all the medical papers/files and the handbook would be useful. And it hit me, once again, how important this work is; to give people tools to navigate through the cancer world; because the majority of people don't have a compass when thrown into that place. Even people whom you might think don't need help, might need help or something "extra". In the end, I'm glad I gave her the tools; even if they look it over and decide not to use them. If it's one less thing for her or her husband to have to worry about, I feel like I've done my job.

This is probably all coming out wrong, and I can't really express what I'm trying to say...but I hope the sentiment comes through. Never underestimate the little things, I guess.