Our mother was recently diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. This diagnosis was incredibly scary and overwhelming with so many treatment options, schedules, and just the incredible amount of information and terminology that my mother, and all of us as her family and support team, had to process and then formulate into a health care plan that was less stressful for our mother.
All of the staff at the Cancer Center were kind and sympathetic, but especially Cassie Ketterhagen. She showed such patience and understanding, repeating words, procedures, and the treatment processes that my mother would receive her first day there and in the months to come. Ms. Ketterhagen never made my mother feel incompetent or like she was just another patient or taking up too much time. She offered a lot of suggestions and options when my mother had questions or concerns. She explained some of the other services offered at the Cancer Center, like a free wig, massage therapy, acupuncture, and transportation options.
It was obvious to my sister and I that she is an experienced nurse, (because my sister is also a nurse); but she never acted offended or threatened when we asked questions or wanted clarification. In fact, she made us feel that we were an important part of our mother's team. But most of all, she was incredibly kind and patient with our mother and spent as much time with our mom until she felt relaxed and in control of her own health care options. She also presented my mother with a quilt and a gift basket of needed health care items and hand-made cards by third graders at Phoenix Middle School. She made us feel invited at the Center, and the whole experience less stressful than I anticipated.
Too often in our society, we expect perfection from people and complain when we aren't treated the way we think we should be treated; and our family would like to say "thank you" to Ms. Ketterhagen for all the time and patience she displayed to us those first few days of chemotherapy. It really meant a lot to our whole family.