Every patient 'gets a piece of your heart'
Patient Bill Smith, R.N.
Clinical program nurses like Ilene Galinsky, R.N., become thoroughly familiar with the experiences of patients on clinical trials. As Leukemia Program nurse, she provides care and coordination for the STI-571 trial and 19 others.
"We strive to give patients individualized support because everyone's experience is different," says Galinsky. "We make it clear that whatever happens, patients will get the best care possible, even if they decide to leave a trial."
Before becoming a research nurse, Galinsky cared for some of the most seriously ill patients at Dana-Farber. Her experience reminds her that even the best treatment couldn't prevent the premature deaths of some patients who have contributed to progress against cancer through clinical trials. "In some way, I remember all of my patients. Every one gets a piece of your heart," says Galinsky.
Throughout his treatment for multiple myeloma, Bill Smith, R.N., a nurse at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, also keeps in mind the lives claimed by this aggressive cancer. After participating in a clinical trial at Dana-Farber, Smith continues to manage his cancer with some side effects long after the average survival of most similarly ill patients.
Smith coordinates a support group for multiple myeloma patients and family members from his home in New Hampshire. "The statistics are against me, but I keep going," says Smith, who participated in a study involving chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant guided by a specific marker in the blood called CD34. This protocol allowed Smith to avoid radiation, a treatment he did not want.
Smith says even his experience as a critical care nurse, and now as a data analyst for a cardiology research program, didn't completely prepare him to make decisions about his care. "After looking at all the information, it was difficult to know what the best choice was," he says. "In the end, I decided to put my faith in the doctors and the protocol."
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