Cancer Care Navigator
St. Mary’s staffs a full-time oncology nurse devoted to assisting you in all of your cancer care. The Navigator assists patients in scheduling treatments and will follow-up with you before and after appointments. The nurse also can educate you on treatments and what to expect. The Navigator is here to answer all of your questions at this scary time.
Cheri Goudy, RN is our a trained oncology nurse and has experience working with cancer patients. Read more about what Cheri does on a day-to-day basis for her cancer patients. For more information please call (415) 750-4981.
Q: When did you realize you wanted to be an oncology nurse?
When I worked as a nursing assistant at USF, one weekend I was sent to oncology because they were short staffed and I fell in love with the unit. The staff was great and the patients and their families were wonderful. I knew that was where I wanted to be.
For the eleven years I worked in home care I always took care of oncology patients. Oncology care is my passion. I think the patients are at a very vulnerable time in their lives. They are facing a life-threatening illness, they are scared, they are sick and I felt like I made the most impact as a nurse. I felt very satisfied and gratified taking care of these people.
Q: What makes being an oncology nurse so special?
Oncology care is the core of nursing. It is everything I went to nursing school for. You care for an oncology patient and you get it all; the patient is physically sick and they need emotional support. Cancer is so all encompassing. It affects everyone around the patient – their family, their friends, their work and their leisure. Oncology nursing allows you to formulate a plan of care that is very individualized. You deal with a multitude of symptoms and managing all of those is challenging, it is never boring and always important.
Q: What cancer services does SMMC offer patients?
We offer a variety of services. We can see any kind of medical or surgical oncology patient. We do all chemotherapies. We take care of infusion patients; we have inpatient and outpatient units for cancer patients.
We have a very specialized melanoma center and there are not a lot of places that have clinical trials like we do for melanoma patients. We have a breast cancer support group for both veteran cancer patients as well as newly diagnosed patients.
We have a breast consultation panel with Dr. Michael Lagios. Patients can self-refer to [this panel] and they can come from another hospital or organization. There is no cost and they get a second opinion about their breast cancer diagnosis. As far as I know, we are one of the only hospitals to offer this service. You get a wide variety of physicians discussing your pathology/results and offering a second opinion.
Q: What extra (special) services do you offer patients?
My position is new to St. Mary’s and I am the first Cancer Navigator. I follow all my patients and I coordinate as many services as I can for them, whether it is the American Cancer Society or Breast Cancer Support Groups. I help them to get their medication covered, talk to their insurance company or whatever has to be done to get their care handled. I arrange scans for them and I follow-up on lab/test results. Patients are overwhelmed when they get a cancer diagnosis. I try to keep them focused and make sure they are moving forward. I also do a significant amount of support and teaching.
I call patients at home and it makes a big difference to them. I call anywhere from five to ten patients depending on the day. I can have ten voicemails when I come in to work with patient questions/concerns and then I go through those and call the patients back and decide which issues need to be referred to the physician. I give a lot of reassurance and make sure the patient knows someone cares and is interested in them.
We also offer spiritual care to our patients. We treat the whole patient and we treat the family. We have palliative care services and I work very closely that service.
Q: Have you seen changes in cancer treatments during your career?
There are so many types of medications now. We did not have targeted therapies, chemotherapies when I first started nursing. Also we did not have medicines to balance the side-effects like we have now. We did not have effective anti-nausea medicines. In the old days people got very sick and we had nothing to help them. Treatments are better suited to the type of cancers thanks to years of research and clinical trials. All of these issues make treating cancer easier than before.
Q: How do you approach a new cancer patient?
It depends on the patient and how they come to me. I get physician referrals and often have staff call a referral. Most times I try to meet the patient with the oncologist. I try to let the patient talk and tell me where they are with their cancer. People are at different stages of their illness. Some people are really sick in the middle of treatment and sometimes people are at the end of their illness. Every patient is an individual and I think that is the beauty of this job. People ask me all the time to write down what I do, but it is hard to put into words. Every day is different and every person is different. Usually just listening is a huge part of my day.
Q: What is the best advice you give your cancer patients?
One thing stays true – most people are scared. I let them know that being scared is OK. I tell them we are going to do this together and they are not alone. No matter where you are on the spectrum, St. Mary’s will be with them all the way. I make sure they know they can call me or email me anytime. I also give them as much knowledge about their disease as they want. I encourage them to ask questions as well.
Q: What is the most common question you hear from your patients?
Most people want to know if they are going to survive the disease, “Am I going to make it?” They want to know their prognosis. The doctors will leave the room and they will say to me, “What did he/she just say?” They don’t really hear it; they just hear the word, “Cancer.”
Q: What is the most satisfying thing about your job?
First of all I love my job! I love my patients. At the end of the day I feel like I have done something and helped someone. Even if I have had a bad day, if I had to hold someone’s hand while they heard bad news. I thank St. Mary’s for allowing me to work in this environment. I also have to say that I work with the greatest oncologists in the world; they treat me as part of the team. Our doctors are bright and caring individuals who make my days much more rewarding.
Q: What is the most frustrating part of your job?
People getting sick and getting diagnosed with cancer is the most frustrating part of my job. Patients wonder why they got sick and I usually don’t have an answer for them and that is frustrating.
Q: In one word, what is the best thing about your job?
People. I am a people person and I like to please people. I enjoy meeting new patients and people – that is the best part of my day.
Q: What’s your philosophy on life? How do you live your life every day?
The work I have chosen helps me appreciate life more than most. My philosophy is to learn to appreciate life. I have a lot of fun especially when I am not working. I also try to keep a smile on my face and have a happy response when people ask how I am doing. I love being with my family and experiencing all they have to offer. I know that I am blessed with my health as well. Life is not a dress rehearsal. You can’t re-do most of what happens in your life, so love this time. Just like I tell my kids, “You are not going to be 14 again, enjoy it!”
