A few months back, I found a lump in my breast. Where the hell did it come from? My husband and I made our way to my doctor's office. She chit-chatted a bit, and then got down to business. "Unfortunately, I don't have good news today. The biopsy showed that you have cancer." What. The. Hell. And that was the beginning.

I received a call in early January 2006 telling me that I had prostate cancer and suggesting a treatment -- surgery. As a 49-year-old healthy and, yes, hockey playing Canadian, cancer was the last thing on my mind Well they say things happen for a reason but I was having trouble figuring out just what that meant.

The theme of National Oncology Nursing Day this year, "Partners in Care: Advocating for Excellence," highlighted the very important role that oncology...

I remember the car ride home from my oncologist's office that day. My head felt twice as big with all the new information I had just received, tests that were required and phone numbers to schedule surgery, all stuffed in there like a sock drawer with too many socks. But to all those newly diagnosed sisters and brothers out there, take heart. It will not always be this way.