Why be a pediatric oncology nurse?

I often get asked a question of how I can be a pediatric oncology nurse. I am going to try and give a little bit of insight on how I am privileged to have such an amazing job.

It is pretty simple, I love kids, and some kids unfortunately get diagnosed with cancer, I help them on their journey to fight cancer.

Many of these children have become very dear to my heart. Each one of these little fighters that I have gotten to know over the past 2 years have enriched my life more than I could have ever imagined. Yes I give them their chemotherapy and other medications and do all of my responsibilities as a nurse, but what I have gained from getting to know them has been priceless. You see, children are amazing and don't act like they are sick unless they truly are, unlike most adults. Children only know one thing and that is that they love to play. Being in the hospital and hooked up to IV pumps can really interfere with playing. I was told in nursing school by a professor that "play is the work of children". I thought that pretty much summed me up in a nutshell, because as the old saying goes if you choose a job that you love, then you will never have to work a day in your life. Now don't get me wrong, I do a lot of work during a 12 hour shift, but I also enjoy spending time with my patients and trying to make them feel better by the time that my shift is over. If even for a brief moment I can somehow make a child smile and forget about being in the hospital then that is one of the greatest accomplishments that I could have during a shift. So, in between passing medications, charting, assessing and all the other necessary responsibilities I make it a point to get to know some of these children. I do this because cancer treatment is not short term. These children are being treated for several months to years. So, they ultimately become like family because at times they are in the hospital more that they are at home.


I mentioned earlier that getting to know these young fighters has been such a blessing in my life. One way that they have done this is by making sure that I stay grounded. Sometimes in our busy everyday life we get caught up in so many petty and meaningless situations and we get bent out of shape when things don't go exactly as planned. These children were just going through life when all of a sudden their life was flipped upside down with a diagnosis of cancer. They still maintain such a positive attitude and sometimes their attitude is contagious. One patient when asked how he is doing always responds with "Great!" even if he doesn't always feel that way, but he has a very positive attitude about things. This is the attitude that I wish we could all go through life with and because of children like this I have tried to stay positive and have a great attitude in my everyday life.

Since I enjoy getting to know these children it means that I tend to find out what things they really enjoy in life. I like to know what makes them happy so once again we can talk about things to get their minds off of cancer. Since I find out things that these children like I am constantly reminded outside of work when I encounter the things that these children enjoy. For instance every time I see a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle item I think of a special young girl. Spider Man makes me think of another little boy. I can't help but think about a young lady every time my own children watch Frozen because I think of a little girl who loved it so much she named her central lines Anna and Elsa. I can't do a word search without thinking about a special young lady who one night stayed up until 3am trying to find them all. I will never be able to play the card game Speed without thinking about the young lady who beats me quite often while in for her chemotherapy. I will never forget the time I wheeled a 17 year old down to the gift shop in a little red wagon. I have numerous others that I think about often, but these are just a few. I will also never forget some of the amazing conversations that I have had with these children because they sometimes grow up so fast and sometimes have so much more insights into things that I never dreamed about at that age.

Each year the nurses of the children's hospital raise money to have a special day for all the children who have battled cancer whether currently fighting or are already cancer free. This is a day that is set up to once again help them forget about having cancer and get back to what children do best which is play. You see, these kids are sometime in the hospitals during major events in their lives like birthdays, holidays, and summers. So this event which is called the Pediatric Survivor Picnic is held every year for these patients and their families in order to celebrate another year. The event has grown each year and has become such an amazing event that the children can't wait for the next year. If you would like more information about the picnic and how you can help with next years event you can click on this link: http://kchcancersurvivors.weebly.com/ This event is so amazing and it is so great to see the kids as they are growing up and of course seeing them with hair is always a new sight.

Actually at the picnic this year a young man who is currently fighting cancer made an open challenge to everybody that was there to compete in  #whippingchildhoodcancer. This is just a way to raise awareness and donations towards pediatric cancer. Similar to the ice water challenge but they instead give people 46 hours to complete the challenge and then you do you donate $7 to a charity. These numbers are symbolic because everyday about 46 children are diagnosed with cancer and everyday around 7 lose their battle to cancer. I decided to participate and have the kids involved too. Here is a link to the video:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=736774168013&set=vb.151202065&type=2&theater and here are the pictures of afterward.

We donated our money to the Lane Goodwin Thumbs Up for Cancer Foundation. This was a young man that lost his battle that was from my home county. They have started this foundation and have been very influential in raising awareness for pediatric cancer.

So I have told you all the good things about working with children with cancer and you might say, well what about the not so good stories like when these children that you have become attached to lose their fight with cancer. To that I say that only through my faith in God can I bear to make it. He gives me the strength to continue caring for these amazing children and the peace that knowing one day I will be able to see them again and it will be a great day too because they will no longer be attached to IV poles, no more nausea/vomiting, chemo, and most importantly no more cancer. They will be able to run around and just be children and I can't wait to play on the streets of gold with them.

I absolutely love my job and love working with these amazing children and I can't really imagine seeing myself doing anything else. I ask you keep these children in your prayers because they have been given a difficult journey. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Running for FUN

Never in my past 29 years have I ever enjoyed running. Not until this spring when I set a goal of running 500 miles this year did I start to enjoy it. That might seem a little crazy to you, but this has given me a chance to spend some more time with the kids. That's right I have done most of the miles this summer with both kids in the double stroller. They have enjoyed riding in the stroller and going to the park, library, to see the horses and any other thing we can get into during the day. We have also participated in a few 5K races, too. Another goal that I have made for myself this year was to run a 5K race with both the children in under 30 minutes. This was a big goal for myself because I have never before even run a 5K by myself in under 30 minutes. This post is going to be about the 5K races that I have done so far this year.

The first 5K this year I actually ran with my father. This was a first for us both, so we were pretty excited to participate in the Color Me Rad 5K. I didn't want to run with the kids because I was unsure if it was child friendly with all the colored powder that would be thrown during the race. We created our own team and we called ourselves Team Michael because all of us men in the family share the name Michael.

The three of us pre race.

The race begins!

I finished.

I finished the race with a time of 28 minutes 58 seconds. This was great because I had never before run 3 miles straight in my training and I had also never had a time under 30 minutes. I was very happy with this time, but at the same time I was a little upset. This was because my goal for the year was to run a 5K with both kids under 30 minutes, not just one by myself. This gave me a lot of confidence though that I could accomplish this goal with just a little more time and effort. I went back to find dad and I met up with him and finished out the race with him.

Dad and I finished out the race together.

Dad actually finished with a personal best time of 51 minutes. He had been walking at home to try and build up his endurance to 3 miles and he actually finished with a time that was 7 minutes faster that he had ever done at home.

We let Landon participate in the festivities by getting some color onto his shirt.

Team Michael - Michael Lynn, Jordan Michael, and Landon Michael

The Color me Rad was a great experience and a really fun atmosphere. They really try to make the event fun for all the participants and it raised money for a great cause - The Ronald McDonald House Charity. This is a very important charity because it lets families stay in a house like setting while their children are in the hospital. They have food for them and all the amenities of their own home and they basically get it all for free while their child is sick in the hospital. I am glad that my dad and I could experience our first 5K together.

Then a few months later some people that I work with asked if I wanted to run a race that raises money for kids with congenital heart defects. This is again a very important charity to me because when I first started working in pediatrics I was working in the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital PICU and I took care of a lot of children with congenital heart defects. They are such amazing kids and have to start fighting for their lives the minute that they are born. They are little superheros! Fittingly that was the theme of the race - superheros. I thought hard on what to dress up as and I had difficulty deciding on anything for me and the kids. I ultimately waited too long and we ended up just finding some Superman shirts at Target that we all could wear for the race.

Landon and I dressed at Clark Kent with our Superman shirts underneath the dress clothes.

My little superheros were ready for the race.

Ready for our run! Both kids had their snacks and drinks for the race.

The race was a 1.5 mile loop that you ran twice. The hill at the beginning of the loop was pretty brutal to push the stroller up.

The worst part about the race was that on my second lap around I was having to dodge in and out of all the walkers. It could have been a lot worse, but I was having to use more energy than I wanted to try and maneuver the stroller around the other participants.

Crossing the finish line! My official time was 27 minutes 49 seconds which was well below my goal of 30 minutes!

What made things even sweeter was that I actually came in 3rd place in my age group of 21-29 year old males. Who would have ever thought that I could get an award for running. I actually came in 34th place overall. Not bad for pushing the stroller with both kids in it!

The only other 5K that I have done this year was actually a virtual one that raised money for a child that I had taken care of with cancer. This was a race that you completed on your own time and then posted the results to the web page. I talked Jennifer into competing in this race too. We actually ran our race the day after the Superhero race. We just ran in our neighborhood, but I thought a lot about the patient that I was running for during the race. Every time I felt tired I thought about him and remember that when things got tough for him he didn't quit! He pushed through all the pain and tears to beat cancer, so the least that I could do was run as hard as I could for him. I actually finished with my fastest 5K time ever, but I was a little slow hitting the stop button. I really finished in 27 minutes 37 seconds.

I have really enjoyed running with the kids. It allows me to get my exercise in for the day and it gets Brinley and Landon outside to see nature. Brinley loves to point out all the dogs and birds that we see on our runs. We also make a lot of trips to the park that is close to our house as well as the miniature horses that are at the end of our subdivision. These usually serve as a good halfway point in our runs that the kids can get out and run around some before finishing up our run.

I found this a few months ago and it has served as a huge motivational tool for me. Sometimes when I am feeling down on myself during a run and I want to quit I start to think about all the people out there that would do almost anything to be able to be out running. This has also translated to many other things in my life. I have tried to enjoy more of the small things and to try and live everyday to the fullest. I hope that you can get out and do something that you love! You never know, maybe you will start to love running too! Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Update on the 30 by 30

I have had a lot of people ask me about my progress on my 30 tasks that I wanted to accomplish by the time I turn 30. Well September 1st was the halfway point of my journey and it seemed like a good time to reflect and see how far I have come and how much further I need to go. I am really excited about how much progress I have made!

1. Read the entire Bible - This task is going to take the whole year. I have been doing pretty good so far with this. I just need to keep up with the second half of the Bible. According to my Bible app I have completed 48% of the Bible.

2. Lose 50+ pounds - As most of you know from my picture that I put on Facebook earlier this year I was able to accomplish this task. I still have a ways to go before I get to my end goal weight but 50 pounds was a huge start.

50 pounds lighter and it feels great!

3. Stop biting my nails - This task has been an utter failure thus far. I have only gone a week or two without biting my nails. I know that this is a horrible habit, but I have been doing it for so long that it is almost a reflex. I am going to try harder to kick this habit before I turn 30.

4. Finish a 5K with both children under 30 minutes - This was a task that I thought was going to be one of my hardest, but it turns out that when you run almost everyday that your body gets accustomed to it. Running the Wild Hearts 5K Fun Run with both kids in the stroller was a lot of fun and it was made even better that I actually placed 3rd in my age division 21-29 year olds.

Wild Hearts Fun Run

5. Pay for a strangers meal - This hasn't happened yet, but it is because I haven't spotted the right opportunity yet.
6. Write at least 2 blog posts a month - I haven't exactly gotten 2 posts done every month, but I have made sure that I average 2 blog posts a month.

7. Bike 1,500 miles - I really started off strong with this task. I was combining tasks by riding the stationary bike and watching the Academy Award winners at the same time. However, I finished all the movies and it has been so nice outside that I decided I needed to focus on the running 500 miles task while the weather was nice because I don't like running on the treadmill. I plan to resume riding the bike when winter arrives and I am stuck inside the house more often. I am currently at 438 miles completed.

8. Run 500 miles - I have been doing very good with this task. I have been working hard on it because I really enjoy running outside more than I do running on a treadmill. So far I have logged 336 miles.

9. Potty train a child - By far one of the most difficult and frustrating tasks on the list. We attempted this once with Brinley around May and it was a miserable failure. We ran out of underwear for her in the first 4 hours of the day so I cancelled that attempt and said that we needed to be better prepared when we attempted again. We restarted our potty training in August and the first day was miserable and then day 2 showed a lot of progress and then by day 3 we were having long periods of the day when we weren't having any accidents at all. Then on day 4 we needed to get out of the house and decided to put her back in diapers instead of having to clean up messes in the car. I think this truly confused Brinley and we have never gotten back to our day 3 success. We will keep trying and hopefully we can get this kid out of diapers soon.

10. Go an entire month not eating out at restaurants - The month of August was difficult, but we made it through without eating out at any restaurants. We were able to try some new meals and revisit some old classics that we had not prepared in a while. The hardest part was when we met my parents and siblings in Louisville. They went to dinner at a restaurant and I just sat and watched while they ate. Then they all went out for dessert too and again I watched. This might seem weird, but even though we are now into September I don't really have that much of a desire to go out to eat!

11. Get rid of DirectTV (cable in general) - We are in the early stages of this and it has been going pretty good so far. The only real problem that we for see is that football season is upon us and I will no longer have NFL Sunday Ticket. So, it will be back to watching whatever game comes on regular TV.

12. Register as a bone marrow donor - This is one of the things that I am most proud about. I first had the thought about becoming a member of the donor list because of some amazing patients that I have personally taken care of. I just pray that everyone else registers too because you might be the one that saves someone's life some day.

Everyone should sign up to be a bone marrow donor. It is easy and you could save a life.

13. Give up fried side items for a year or longer - This actually hasn't been as bad as I would have thought. It is amazing though how much our society indulges on fries and other fried side items.

14. Go an entire month or longer with no sweets (except immediate family members birthdays) - This was a hard one to accomplish and I might actually try it again. During this period of time it really made me think about all the times that we had dessert for just about any reason. I would love to try and limit sweets to just birthdays and holidays, but I am still pretty far away from being able to do that.

15. Go on 2 date nights a month with no kids - So far this year we have been able to keep this task. It has been nice to go out and do some things around town with no children to watch after and make sure that they aren't getting into everything. Some of the dates we have been on are dinner dates, movies, go-karts and my new favorite date is playing golf.

Date night to Ruth's Chris - dinner was great, but my company was better!

16. Take the kids to Disney World - I have been doing a lot of planning for this task and I think it might happen late this year or early 2015. The big perk of going while the kids are so young is that children are free under 3 years of age.

17. Take wife to Harry Potter World - This too is being researched a lot lately.

18. Work 26 extra shifts - This has been a difficult one so far. It is hard to sign up for extra when you are so used to only working 2 days a week. I have actually worked 8 overtime shifts and have signed up for another 2, but they didn't need me those times.

19. Try 5-10 new foods - I have really become more adventurous in my eating habits. I have more than exceeded the number of foods that I needed to try. You may be surprised that I have never tried any of these foods before now, but to the best of my knowledge this was my first experience with the following foods: fajitas, beef jerky, chili cheese burger, stuffed bell peppers, sauteed spinach, strawberry and rhubarb pie, trout, lima beans, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, chicken pot pie, green tea, coffee, vegetable soup. Although I wasn't a fan of all of them I can at least say that I tried them.

20. Pay off at least 1 of the 2 student loans we have left - Very relieving to know that between Jennifer and I we have paid off all but one of our student loans. Hopefully we can start to knock out the last one too.

21. Attend church on a more regular basis (weekly) - This has been a difficult task especially when I work day shift for a weekend. Then there are no times available for us to attend. We have made a bigger effort in order to attend weekly.

22. Watch all the best pictures award winners since I was born in 1985 - This was a mostly enjoyable task to complete. I enjoyed all but 1 of the award winners since I was born. I even ranked them in order of how I liked them. Here is my top 5 list: Braveheart, Gladiator, Forrest Gump, Silence of the Lambs, and Million Dollar Baby. I would recommend all the movies except for The Last Emperor - it was tough to even finish.

23. Plant and grow my own vegetable garden - This is one of the tasks that Jennifer was pretty skeptical about me accomplishing. However, I had huge hopes for a garden. I was also pretty ambitious and planted a wide variety of plants. I planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, green beans, corn, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, okra, eggplant, carrots, spinach and strawberries.

Here is some of all the different types of produce from my garden this year!

24. Spend less time playing on my phone - I have been trying to do this and have been pretty successful with not playing as much on games and different apps. I have been spending more time reading my Bible on my phone though.

25. See 2 new NFL football teams - This one might be difficult.

26. Take both kids to see a men's UK basketball game - Can't wait to take the kids!

27. Give up pizza for 1 month - Surprisingly this was one of the first tasks that I completed. I had pizza on my birthday and then didn't have it again for 3 months. I thought about pizza quite a bit, but after completing the 1st month I just decided to see how long I could last.

28. Go hunting or fishing - I had a lot of people offer to take me fishing and I have taken advantage of a few of these opportunities. I first went fishing with my sister-in-law's boyfriend Nick and then just a few weeks later I went fishing with my cousin Rossy. I still have plans to try and go hunting too.

Little bass that I caught in Hancock County.

29. Go on a day trip with no children - We actually went above and beyond this requirement. For our 7th wedding anniversary we went to Gatlinburg without the kids for a couple nights and then my parents brought them down so we could all enjoy some time in the Smokies!

Hiking in the Smokies!

30. Volunteer - Still haven't figured this one out yet.

This has been a great year so far and I have been extremely satisfied with the progress that I have made with my goals. I know that I still have a lot of things to accomplish and I am still dedicated to completing the whole list. I think that writing down my goals each year might be a new tradition of mine. It allows me to stay focused on the tasks and remain motivated to accomplishing them. I also feel that when you write them down and let other people know about them then those people can also serve as motivators, too. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Landon turned 1!

Landon got to celebrate his 1st birthday twice. This is because we were in Indianapolis working the National 7-on-7 tournament with my sister Andrea for his actual birthday on July 14th. We had some cupcakes and he got some gifts from his Aunt Andrea as well as a few from Grandpa and Grandma Heflin.

Our big boy! 

Landon doesn't quite have the sweet tooth that his sister does. He didn't really like his smash cake and he really wasn't interested in this cupcake either.

Brinley had no problem helping him with the cupcake that he didn't want. She was picking off the sprinkles one by one.

Aunt "Otter" with Brinley and Landon. She was given her new name by Brinley and she continues to call her that every time we FaceTime.

The Heflin's at Cracker Barrel before Aunt Otter had to head back to New York City.

Last month on July 19th we invited family over to the house to celebrate our little man turning 1 year old. We had a lot of fun seeing all of our family and Landon really enjoyed his cake and seeing his presents after his sister opened them for him. Here are some pictures from our celebration. We had a theme of Cookie Monster which we had actually planned out even before he was 1 month old. This is why we did cookies every month for his monthly birthdays. Jennifer did all the decorations that we put up around the house and I was in charge of food.

Cookie monster protecting the cookie jar.

Cake table and backdrop

We had the cake made, but I made the cupcakes decorated like cookies.

The happy birthday boy!

Aunt Sarah and Brinley looking at the gift table.

Our little family

Cousin Thomas playing a little football.

Uncle McKinley playing with Landon.

He actually didn't mind the hat, but wanted so badly to touch the candle.

I quickly helped him blow it out so he wouldn't get burnt and then he went straight for the candle.

We discovered that Landon only likes cake if he can eat it with his own fork.

Such a big boy eating his cake.

Brinley couldn't wait any longer. She had been eyeing the cupcakes all morning long.

Landon actually needed a second fork to help speed up the process.

All of Landon's gifts.

Thomas loved the balloons. Thomas is actually just a few months older than Landon.

As you can see from all the blue icing Brinley also enjoyed a piece of the cake.

After a quick bath, Landon was ready to open some gifts.

Brinley decided that Landon wasn't opening them quickly enough so she decided to help out.

Landon ended up getting 3 different toys that you could ride on. With the 2 that Brinley already had our living room looks similar to a car lot.

Grandma and Grandpa got Landon a rocking giraffe to go along with his jungle themed room.

Brinley and Landon grilling some corn.

Putting together the alphabet train.

Jennifer and the kids with her sisters and mother.

Brinley just had to get a ride in on the giraffe.

Landon Michael Heflin - 1 year old

I still can't believe that this little guy is one. The past year seems like it flew by. Before you know it the kids will be going to school and then in the blink of an eye heading off to college. I am trying to make sure that I enjoy all these moments with the kids because I know that they grow up quick. Thanks for reading and God Bless!