ROLE REVERSAL
HOW SHE FACED TREATMENT WITH HUMOUR AND POSITIVITY
Nurse Tessa’s cancer curveball
As a registered nurse, Tessa Johnson has spent much of her near 30-year career caring for patients at Rotorua Hospital.
She devotes herself to her patients, some who are overseas in countries such as Cambodia and Uganda (where she also sponsors a child), while most are here in New Zealand and roll into the day-stay unit facing elective surgeries, including those facing cancer diagnosis.
But she never thought the day would come when the roles would reverse and she would nd herself the patient.
“I remember the date well as it was the day before International Nurses’ Day in 2017,” Tessa (50) says of the radiology recall she received after her mammogram before her breast cancer diagnosis.
“I’d had a recall before so I thought nothing of it, but once I had my mammogram, I somehow knew things weren’t so good as I happened to see my mammogram on the screen.
“The next steps were an ultrasound and biopsy – I left knowing that we were dealing with cancer. I just had to wait for the biopsy results to con rm it. I still couldn’t believe it. It was the longest six days ever,” she tells.
After that, Tessa found herself jumping on the rollercoaster of CT scans, more biopsies, MRIs and surgeries.
“The waiting was so hard. I kept thinking maybe they have it wrong, but aming heck, it wasn’t the case – damn it!” Tessa recalls of last year. “It’s just so funny because you go through life never thinking it will be you.”
Instead of being the nurse, Tessa became the patient, an eye-opening experience for the Rotorua woman. “Let me tell you, being on the ip side of care and the bed was humbling.”
But her treatment at Rotorua Hospital was “out of this world” and not just because she was a nurse herself.
“I saw this care repeated and reciprocated across all the other patients,” she says. “I’ve always been one to advocate for my patients and make them feel at ease, but now I can also share my own experience and a couple of hints about how I managed, such as remember to breathe and if people offer help with the washing or cooking for example, let them.”
Tessa was also given the support to continue working while having her chemotherapy treatment. And her bubbly nature and trademark positive attitude saw her through that hurdle, with the nurse dressing up as the character Zorro for her nal day of chemo!
For many people facing a cancer diagnosis, their perspective on life changes but for Tessa, she says she was already a “glass half-full” kind of person. “I de nitely used humour to get me through and I had Post-it Notes saying things like ‘laugh more, worry less’ around the house to help keep me on track or motivated to move forward.”
Another help was the comfort and care she received from the Cancer Society, a charity she had always supported. From being loaned books to help understand her condition, to being provided with wigs and given a lodge to stay in during treatment, Tessa says she has no idea how she would have coped without them.
“I had the massages to look forward to following chemo, links to get nancial advice and help, there was also a nursing team on board to seek support and advice from. They have coffee mornings also and if you call into the of ce, they always have the kettle on.”
But perhaps the icing on the cake to what was a pretty “rotten” year for Tessa was being recognised for her dedication to nursing, in both a professional and volunteer
capacity, awarded with the Outstanding Contribution to Nursing/Midwifery Professional Development from her local district health board. Even better, recently Tessa was told that her treatment had worked and the cancer had gone.
“I really like this quote by Mother Teresa which I do think sums up how I feel about nursing and the way I practice,” she muses. “‘Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don’t only give your care, but give your heart as well.’”