From RN to Patient: Navigating Breast Cancer with Natalie D'Itri
Being a nurse was the easy part compared to being a patient. Natalie D'Itri was an educator and was involved in oncology research as an RN. What she didn't anticipate was being a patient and learning how to navigate the healthcare system in a totally different capacity. In this week's episode, Beth talks with Natalie about her journey with breast cancer, from both perspectives – patient and nurse.
Last season, we heard from Natalie as the podcast host of CareerWise Nurse. This season, she returns to discuss her life after a breast cancer diagnosis. From this experience, Natalie has started a podcast called Breast Cancer Life, where you can hear her personal story about what she endured from diagnosis through her treatment.
Natalie approaches this episode with humility, education, and newfound compassion for the patients going through the same experiences she has endured. Check out her podcast to learn more about her story.
ABOUT NATALIE
Being a nurse was the easy part compared to being a patient. Natalie D'Itri was an educator and was involved in oncology research as an RN. What she didn't anticipate was being a patient and learning how to navigate the healthcare system in a totally different capacity. In this week's episode, Natalie will share her journey with breast cancer, from both perspectives, patient and nurse.
Last season we heard from Natalie as the podcast host of CareerWise Nurse. This season she comes back to discuss her life after a breast cancer diagnosis. From this experience, Natalie has started a podcast called Breast Cancer Life where you can hear her personal story about what she endured, from diagnosis through her treatment.
Natalie approaches this episode with humility, education, and a newfound compassion for the patients who are going through the same experiences that she has gone through. Check out her podcast to learn more about her story.
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Beth Quaas: Hello everyone and welcome back to Don’t Eat Your Young . I'm your host, Beth Quast. I'm excited to have a guest back that's been here before, uh, Natalie Deitry is going to join us today. She is going to talk to us. She has a new story. She's had a lot of developments and she's going to talk to us today about what it's really like to be a patient when you're a healthcare worker.
Uh, it's a difficult place to be in and she's going to share some insight and her journey with us. So please welcome Natalie.
Natalie, it is so nice to have you back on Don't Eat Your Young. How are you?
Natalie D'Itri: Hi Beth, I am doing pretty well. Pretty good. Thanks. I'm glad to be back .
Beth Quaas: We have a lot to unpack in this episode because you have had some major shifts in your life and I'm excited for you to share your story today. So, the last time we talked, you were talking about your CareerWise Nurse Podcast and, um, we talked a lot about that and your teaching and education and what have you been doing now since we recorded last?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, I launched my podcast, Career Wise Nurse. Last summer. So just over a year ago, and it really is about nurses getting help along the way to launch, grow and thrive. And I realized one of my major messages is you have to make the work fit in your life instead of having your life try to fit around your job.
And that is really what I realized from. The work I did in 2022 as a hospital educator, I left my job. It was oncology focused, but it was really a lot about hospital problems. And it was great to see new nurses coming in and all the challenges of hospital life and how important those jobs are. Of course, it's very important.
It's a great place to learn, but it's very challenging. So I left that job. About a year and a half ago, and I focused on the podcast, focused on family life here at home, my teenagers, my husband, my dog, and figuring out what I wanted to do next. So we got into 2023, and I had. the opportunity to become an onsite clinical trials monitor.
My former director from several years ago was leading an organization where they, they use onsite monitors. So I said, yes, I'd like to be a monitor. I didn't exactly know what the role was about, but I knew that I could use my background in oncology as a nurse. And my experience having been a clinical trials coordinator where I was the nurse talking to the patient in the office or at the hospital about the clinical trial, these are phase three trials where somebody might be getting the standard of care plus something or placebo with the standard of care.
So, I, I had a positive experience being a clinical trials coordinator several years ago, and this opportunity that came up in 2023 to be on onsite monitor. I started that job, and that got me into this year.
Beth Quaas: What doest It mean to be a monitor? What are you monitoring?
Natalie D'Itri: So you go out to the sites where the clinical trials are being done, and you will verify source documents.
So Epic or the electronic health records against what the people at the site and by site, I mean, the doctor's office or the cancer Institute that a hospital might have that serves patients who are seen by doctors and that Institute or that health system. So we verify source documents. And that would mean making sure that the people in the offices at the site, I said, enter the information correctly into the, the electronic data capture for the clinical trials database.
Beth Quaas: I think that work sounds fascinating, actually. And for any nurses looking to do something a little different, this is something I didn't even know about. So thank you for sharing
Natalie D'Itri: that. You know, I don't only work with nurses. Some people have a background in lab, laboratory medicine, lab technology, data.
And they, we all have this monitoring role and we're out there supporting the sites through the data quality oversight that we do the monitoring and as being a resource on a daily basis for questions they have about the trial. I have a lot of support from the organization where I'm under contract.
People that essentially hired me and but I'm still seeing a lot of what goes on a daily basis in terms of questions or questions from the site or from centrally the study sponsor or the study leads getting clarification at the site. So everything is done according to the protocol. And I'm learning about the process of all that goes into monitoring, still.
Beth Quaas: And because you are, you have worked in oncology, you're kind of back doing that again, you're kind of at the forefront of what's going on in cancer research and treatment. Yeah,
Natalie D'Itri: I am, I am seeing trends. In terms of these trials that are going on in the ones that I particularly work on our breast cancer.
And that's what I spent a lot of time working on over the years is seeing patients with breast cancer, treating them and my clinical trials work several years ago also was focused in breast cancer. So, from my remote experience. Way back a few years ago, I know that the trials that go on that enroll many women can lead to changes in standard of care for cancer treatment.
And so that was the really positive takeaway I had from being a clinical trials coordinator many years ago. That was a nursing role. There's a lot of nurses that are the study nurses in these different offices and hospitals where they conduct clinical research. They basically implement the studies that are Made to compare the standard of care to something else.
Beth Quaas: And so with all that work you've done and focusing on breast cancer, well, you have a different story to tell about all of that. It hit very, very close to home.
Natalie D'Itri: Yeah, so I had the opportunity. I don't, wasn't a privilege, but I became a patient this year. And I'll just say right up front that being a nurse, Even more specifically an oncology nurse.
It didn't really, it didn't prepare me for what I went through. How do you
Beth Quaas: even unpack all of the knowledge that you had with a new diagnosis? How did you even deal with that?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, what, I'll just give a little, a short overview, a short summary of how this started. Because what I realized through this entire journey was, There wasn't really a nurse to explain things to me along the way.
So I realized there aren't nurses in those places where I was going through screening and diagnostics. So I would not have known what it was like to be in those places along the way, getting a mammogram or an ultrasound or an MRI of the breast or an MRI guided biopsy. I wouldn't know that from my work experience.
Because the nurses aren't there. It's the doctor in attack. And so nothing there would have prepared me for going through the actual experience. So, February I had a screening mammogram once a year, but I got called back and they did some more, you know, specific images, took some specific pictures, and I needed to get a biopsy as a result of what was found in the recall mammography.
So the biopsy was negative for cancer, but it was high risk tissue and I was told go to a surgeon because this needs further evaluation. But what I really heard is. It's benign, but it's high risk tissue. Go see a surgeon. And I'm thinking they're going to cut out that area around there because it's high risk tissue.
Well, that was probably true, but when I saw the surgeon, I was ordered to get an MRI of the breast to look for anything else that was going on. So that's a little alarming. And I was told, this is your risk of having a cancer.
And it was a little higher than the one in eight that you hear from the American Cancer Society or something out there about women's chance of getting breast cancer over their lifetime. And so I did the MRI and I got the results and it just led to one thing and another. What I realized is I didn't even know the process for going through a screening and diagnostic workup when they suspect high risk tissue or something abnormal versus something benign.
That
Beth Quaas: had to be scary. And the fact that you now have uncovered a gap where nurses could have helped you out and they weren't there for you, um, how did you continue on?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, so the nurses weren't there. I don't know what they would have done there, because when you go get a mammogram, you know, it's the mammography tech who does it.
And if it's a screening mammogram, you do your views, the different views on both sides, and you're done, you leave. If it's a diagnostic mammogram, they do the pictures and You wait, because the first time I had my mammogram, it was a screening, you take your pictures, you leave. And something popped up in my portal app on my phone the next day or two, like a day or two later after the screening mammogram.
And I saw it through an alert on the phone, and I knew right away they were calling me back. So I scheduled the appointment, and it was four days later. So as quick as I could get it. And in the meantime, I called someone I knew who had been a breast navigator and I asked her questions because I'm trying to find information.
And this is where being a nurse, having worked in oncology and having worked where I was getting my screening mammograms for as long as I've had them. Or knowing someone, I could call it another hospital in my community to ask questions because I've never been recalled, that's what they call it, a recall, to go back and get a closer look.
And it was only on one side that they wanted to get a closer look. Because my sense of alarm, you know, I was alarmed just because I got the recall. Notification. And I called right away to schedule. I was looking for information. What does this mean?
Beth Quaas: I, I can't imagine waiting for all of that. That had to have been terrifying. And so you got your second diagnostic screening and then
Natalie D'Itri: what? So it was the nine. I went to the surgeon, like recommend, the recommendation was from the person who gave me the results of that. Because I had, I had the diagnostic mammogram, got the biopsy the next week, fast.
I couldn't wait for anything. If I had the screening mammogram on Monday, I had the recall on Thursday or Friday, and then I had my biopsy the next Tuesday. Well, Wednesday morning, I got the phone call that it was benign, but you need to go see a surgeon. And then I could look in my app for the health portal for that healthcare system, and I could see the report.
Because, you know, you can see everything right away now.
It took about five weeks from the time I had the biopsy until I saw the surgeon. So at first, I didn't call to make my surgery appointment right away. I was trying to decide where to go and to see how long it would take to get that appointment. But I like to share the timeline because from the time I had the screening mammogram until I saw the surgeon, it was about six weeks.
But then I needed to get the MRI of the breasts and that took three weeks. So it was two months in from screening mammogram to MRI. I didn't have any known cancer, but they were suspicious. So I was nervous, and I was distracted. And it was early this year, and I was trying to do a new job. So I wasn't very into my job, even though I didn't have a known problem.
I had some things that needed to be explored, some screening to do. But my job was work from home, and it involved traveling to the sites. I was just training and we were trying to get trained for a new study that was going to open, so I didn't have anyone that I was working for sites to go to, so things were ramping up slowly in the work, which was good because I was getting distracted by what I would say could have been a problem, could become a problem because I've never had any recalls on mammogram.
So I'll speed up a little bit because it did, things did accelerate. I had the MRI in April and the next morning I saw the report. No one called me. Oh. I mean no one, it released in the portal the next morning as soon as the radiologist read it. So I don't remember. Getting called by anyone, but I probably tried to call and schedule what needed to be done next.
Once I read that MRI of the breast report, so we get portal release. Releases of reports rather quickly and. The people that are in the offices, whether it's women's imaging where you get a mammogram or an MRI or ultrasound of the breast or the breast surgery office, whoever is supposed to call you, they're busy taking care of how many patients in a day.
So they don't get to call me until the end of the day or their, their offices are busy. So they have a queue of what they're doing. So it took a while to get. You know, to get in touch with an office or to get scheduled for something because the MRI report said this area needs to be biopsied. That's the recommendation and on that was on one side and on the other side, there was another area that was suspicious that needed to be biopsied.
So I get this result from the MRI of the breast that I had the day before and I'm reading it and I just remember feeling sunk. It was a Thursday morning. It was April and the journey was continuing and I was stressed because I have to have biopsies because there are suspicious areas found on the MRI of the breast.
I was getting pretty used to the stress of the unknown. And I didn't really use my nursing brain and start reading things because I didn't think that would be helpful. Right. So I really Go ahead. Do you think,
Beth Quaas: and how do you answer this, you're a nurse, you have the knowledge, do you think it's harder to be a patient because you're a nurse?
Or do you think a patient that doesn't know how to navigate the system or understand what they're up against is more difficult? I know that's hard. What is your opinion on that, I guess?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, When I, so I had biopsy, a biopsy in May, so it took about three weeks from the time I got the MRI results that said this area is suspicious and should be biopsied.
So I got the biopsy done, and a few days later I got the call back from the doctor who did the biopsy under MRI guidance, and it was the end of the day, it was 10 to 5. And she said, we are the worst patients because she knew what I that I was an oncology nurse were the worst, she said. You just have to let someone take care of you.
But of course, when she called me and she said, it did come back as an invasive ductal carcinoma. I said, I just need a minute. I just need a minute. And I sort of panicked and I said. We have another health care crisis in our family that's been going on for a while so I'm not ready to handle this right now.
And I said, I just need a minute. And I literally put the phone down and just, I needed a minute. And then I said, okay, you know, what, what are you going to tell me? And she gave me the info and from the biopsy results. And. I was like, oh, this really is terrible. But, right away, I called the surgeon's office.
And I scheduled an appointment with them that week, so they could get me in three days later to see the surgeon. Because now that I know that something came back as a cancer, I have to get more information. And that is probably the nurse in me. And it was a coping mechanism that I developed, or a skill that I used a lot, because the unknown is the worst thing.
Good information or bad information. Something is there or it's not. However you want to phrase the good and bad. Just give me the information. But when I don't know, and I have to wait weeks, days or weeks, whatever it is, to get information, that is the hardest, that is really hard. It's very hard to sit with that feeling.
Beth Quaas: I think probably one of the benefits of being in health care is that we have an understanding of how to navigate the system where someone that is not, um, can get lost in the system or not even know where to go next. So you at least knew to call a surgeon and now you've met with the surgeon and what is your plan moving forward?
Natalie D'Itri: So I, they. She went over all the information, sort of like the first appointment where I had the benign report, and I was going to see the surgeon because the first biopsy in February from the mammogram, you know, said, go to a surgeon. So I. I saw the surgeon a second time and we had the MRI results, and then we had, I saw the surgeon, not after the MRI results, after the biopsy results that showed cancer.
So this was three months from my first screening mammogram, the regular screening mammogram that I get every year. Three months later, the biopsy showed cancer. So it takes time to get information. And Then the surgeon gives me the whole presentation. Lots of explanation as if I didn't know anything, but that's what I wanted.
Right. And I had my husband there with me and I wanted him to be able to understand what was going on. But waiting from the time I got the call that the biopsy done for suspicious findings on MRI, waiting from that time three days to go see the surgeon was really hard. And I guess I thought to call the surgeon right away, the office to get an appointment, because how was I going to wait any longer to get information?
And when I read my pathology report, because again, it was in the portal released. That looked familiar to me in terms of the components of the pathology report from my work. So when I looked at a pathology report, I finally felt some familiarity with what information is on the document. And just to read it over and to be able to process that, even though I didn't know yet what it meant.
It was helpful compared to not knowing and just waiting and thinking about all the possibilities in my head.
Beth Quaas: So as you're going through everything, how, how was it hard being a nurse as a patient and how was it easier as a nurse being a patient?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, it was I really had on my patient hat the whole way through because I said I didn't meet nurses.
So I would have never worked in one of these roles where you go get a mammogram, now you need to get a biopsy, you need to get an MRI of the breast, and then you need a biopsy. I didn't meet nurses in any of those places. And so I was relying on the people who were I, who I was encountering to educate me on what was going on about what to expect with the process, not only what to expect with the procedure or the process, but what to expect afterwards.
When am I going to get results? The things that we do as nurses to help people be reassured or to know the plan,
you know, that was what I was really seeking because I wanted to know when was I going to get information. Because me as the patient, I need information, and probably because I'm a patient who needs to know what in the world's going on, because I, I have a lot of background in cancer, and I wanted to know what, what's my deal, but I needed people to tell me what the plan was.
So that I wasn't wondering when was I going to get a call.
Beth Quaas: Do you think your family, were you overwhelmed with trying to reassure your family that everything was going to be okay?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, my daughter, my oldest daughter, said to me, basically, you know enough just to be dangerous. And, and, because I was really having the patient hat, because I'd never been in these situations to know what it's like.
From my work as a nurse, but it was helpful to be a nurse. Because I could make sense of the pathology report. I mean, there's not a lot of information on the pathology report from a biopsy that was done under MRI guidance. Because it's a tiny bit of tissue. Same thing for the first biopsy in February from what was abnormal on mammogram.
I had a stereotactic guided biopsy in February. And then the MRI got a biopsy of the suspicious area in May. So that's about three months apart. The pathology report, I could make sense of it, but there's not a lot of info because these pieces of tissue are really small and just preliminary. I don't know fully the extent of the cancer.
In May, when I found out it's a cancer, I, I didn't know how big it was. No one did. They could, they had visualization with ultrasound. They had the information from MRI, the MRI of the breast, but no one knew until I went to surgery. So soon as I had a biopsy that showed cancer in May, three months into this journey of screening and diagnosis, we're making a plan for surgery.
They do know it's a small tumor. We're making a plan. The surgeon was very good at explaining everything, and she brought in a nurse, a nurse navigator, who was able to explain a little bit more about the whole surgery process. Getting ready for surgery in terms of what I need to do, other appointments.
like seeing the physical therapist to get assessed for getting measured so they can have a baseline in case I would need to be assessed for lymphedema after surgery down the road, things like that. So it was a little more comprehensive because that's what a nurse navigator does. the breast cancer nurse navigator or the breast health nurse navigator.
So now a nurse enters the picture in the doctor's office, the breast surgeon's office, because that's their job. And it's part of a breast cancer program that hospitals want and have to have a breast cancer navigator on staff. And that nurse was very powerful in terms of the resources she provided it.
And I mean, my husband doesn't work in healthcare and he said she has a powerful role that breast cancer navigator. So I really realized, I realized the value of that person. And she was always available to answer questions for me from the time I met her when I knew I had a cancer and was going to have surgery going forward.
But I went through three months. of screening diagnosis, where there's no role for a nurse in the hospitals that I was at, the offices or the physician groups I was at, who are my providers. And I don't know that there would be a role, except that I was navigating all by myself.
Beth Quaas: I, I think where I do my screenings at the facility that I go to, They do have nurses and nurse practitioners there, and they ask you, do you have any concerns that you would like to speak to a nurse or a nurse practitioner for?
And I think that is now looking at what you've been through, that's kind of invaluable. So if there are any concerns, You do have the ability to talk to someone that day now I've never utilized that because I haven't had any concerns But for other people that may come in it may be very beneficial to have just that first touch point
Natalie D'Itri: Early on and I didn't know You've shared that there's someone there.
They ask you would you like to speak to a nurse? I didn't know any different besides I didn't come, I didn't come to expect a nurse would be in the mammography suite or at either hospital because I had something done at one place and then more done at the other. But when I said I called someone I knew that was previously a breast cancer navigator in the very beginning when I got called back for a second look mammogram, I knew because I was a nurse and because of my work in the past.
Who to call to try to get information. So being a nurse helped me right away to try to get info. But when I was actually living the experience, I had to search out the information on my own. I really love to hear how your organization, where you go, those providers or that system gives you the opportunity to connect with someone that who's.
They're there to teach you and help you know the plan, even in the face of unknown conditions. They're there for you. That is really good to know. Right.
Beth Quaas: Right. So, you decided to take your experience. And talk about it very freely and talk to us about what you are doing now in sharing your journey.
Natalie D'Itri: Well, I realized that nothing could prepare me to be a patient, not my work as a nurse, not any doctor and not a friend or family member that going through it.
was an experience like nothing I could have prepared for. And I wanted to share my experience because, because of what it is. So others might know what it's like when, because you never know when you're going to encounter something like this yourself as the listener. Or as the friend or family member of someone going through, to be the friend or family member of someone going through this.
So I created a podcast called Breast Cancer Life. And it really is from the patient point of view. It has nothing to do with being a nurse. It's about my experience. going through the screening and diagnostic process.
Beth Quaas: What were some of the biggest surprises to you as a patient going through this process?
What are some of the things that you want other people to know about that may help
Natalie D'Itri: them? A few realizations that I had, and I hope that, I think that these things, others might find them helpful. So at some point I realized this is my emergency. Once I knew that there was a cancer, a small cancer in there that needed to be removed and I was going to go to surgery, of course, that really consumed my brain, my headspace, you know, things would go in my head and just not go away, and it would be one specific thought and then another, but I realized at some point there in May, three months into this whole journey of screening diagnosis, that this is my emergency.
And when I was waiting for information from the offices. calls to schedule the next procedure or when is surgery going to be or what else do I need to do to be ready to go to surgery as soon as possible. This is my emergency and everyone in the offices is busy doing their job. This is my, my emergency.
And so they're busy doing their job, but I'm home waiting for information, and that's really hard, so I had to learn to cope with that. So first I realized this is my emergency. No one else's, this is mine. And really, it's not an emergency. So the other realization I had in the weeks after I found out that I did have a small cancer is that I'm not sick.
I don't stop. Doing what I do. I should continue to exercise. I know after surgery, I'm not going to be able to do my usual activities for a period of a few weeks. So, so I need to keep moving. I'm not sick. I still have work to finish from the job that I started this year. For the current project that I was working on in May, I had work to do.
And that work turned out to be really good to distract me from all the thoughts in my head, or from, didn't give me space for those thoughts to creep into my head when I was focused on work.
Beth Quaas: You are a strong person to come to that realization because Well, I can't imagine how I would react or someone else, but it's hard to believe that a person could get a diagnosis of cancer and tell themselves, I'm not sick, it's time to move on.
I think that's very powerful.
Natalie D'Itri: Well, I was healthy. I was healthy. I just had a little storm brewing in my breast is what I said.
Beth Quaas: This is the other thing that since we've been talking that amazes me. Every time you've talked about the cancer or the tumor, you've referred to it as small or little. And I think.
Wow, that's incredible becauseI think if I saw that I had cancer, it would consume me and you didn't allow that to happen.
Natalie D'Itri: Well, that did consume me. You know, I wasn't being very productive in my work and I, I said we were waiting for, things were ramping up slowly with my job. So I had space to just. Let that stop and kind of go on hold and I communicated with the people I work for and people covered the things that were going on that were part of what I had been asked to do.
And then, but I did take a pause from, let's say, like, late May until really the middle of July. And I just said here, I'm going to be back in this time. At some point after surgery, so I wasn't super organized in my thoughts about how to prepare for surgery, but I knew I needed some time and I, I got it. I had to get a grip on things because I did get tearful at times and it was a lot to think about because even though I knew I had a cancer, I didn't know the extent of it.
How, what was the actual size of the tumor? Was it in the lymph nodes? Those things were unknowns. And so I would get emotional at times. And we went away over Memorial Day weekend to the beach. I live in the D. C. area, and the Delaware beaches are a couple hours away. So we had the chance to go to a friend's beach house and spend the weekend away with our family and friends.
And at night, I would get emotional. And I don't know that my husband even really realized. But then I just said to myself, what am I afraid of? You know, it just came to me, what am I afraid of? And I knew that at first I was afraid of dying. When I first got the call that it was a cancer. But then I realized, I mean, that was a big thing, right?
I don't want to die. But then I realized, after a few weeks of trying to process this, you know, I'm not going to die this year. I'm not going to probably die next year. Or I probably won't die in two years or five years. I mean, I don't want to be sick. And I wasn't even thinking about that. All I could think about is I don't want to die, but then I figured it out.
I'm not going to die right now. So it just helped me to get a grip on the situation.
Beth Quaas: Wow. That's, I just can't imagine how helpful that would be for someone to hear that is also going through this. Because your outcome is not decided yet, you don't know, and you just have to keep going. Yep, you're right.
That's incredible. So, how are you doing today?
Natalie D'Itri: Well, I, it's been great to go through this whole experience and to share with you, because sometimes I forget that I have ever forget everything I went through because I get busy with the day and that's good because a couple months ago, I couldn't take it off my mind. It came up many times in the day or my day was focused on what I need to do to get ready for surgery.
So now I'm pretty good. I'm fully recovered from my surgery. In fact, I'm back to all my usual activities, sort of rebuilding from the time I didn't do a lot after surgery, and I'm working, and it's taken me a while to really get into my job. I didn't, I mean I had coverage when I was not working in the time right around surgery before and after.
But now. I'm really happy to have that work and I love supporting the sites that I'm assigned to because they're helping people be on clinical trials. People with breast cancer. In the case of the studies I'm working on and it's. It's, um, it keeps me busy, it occupies my mind, it can suck me in sometimes, and I've had some serious challenges learning how to work all the software systems that go into a clinical trial.
It's much more than when I was a clinical trials coordinator several years ago. And even though I can work a [00:39:00] computer, I can surf whatever, search things out, all these things. Sites and how they play together in one study and what I need to do to be a resource. It's been really hard. So it's good because now I've sort of turned the corner and I know I can do this.
I get a sense of it all. But when I was distracted by my personal emergency, my health care crisis, my crisis. that I've worked through and gotten through. I couldn't really tackle that. So I sort of had to start over to get familiar and fluent with everything I needed to do. And I have somebody helping me be trained now in a little more detail than I had initially.
So I'm in a good place. I have something that is productive where they need workers and I have knowledge and background to support the work. But I did doubt myself. I did doubt myself sometimes. Could I do this work? And I think I was I'm sure I was a little strained in terms of my resilience and my ability to focus.
So it was a lot coming at me and I feel like I've really turned the corner. I feel good, healthy. I still have days where this whole breast cancer experience takes up space in my head. And one of the oncologists that I know that I saw right away when I got the diagnosis. We just talked about the emotional roller coaster or the trauma to your psyche going through the biopsies, whether it's cancer or not.
The what if, right, that I had going on February, March, April into May for three months. Doesn't matter what time of year, what season of the year, that time when you're going through the unknowns, getting biopsies, getting images, getting information, waiting, that is very traumatic to your psyche. So that oncologist, that was one of the first things he said.
This is not going to affect your longevity, but the toll on your psyche I said, it's a roller coaster that I've been on.
Beth Quaas: And do you think telling your story on your podcast, uh, Breast Cancer Life, is helping you? Is it
Natalie D'Itri: cathartic? Yes, it is. Because I want people to know what the experience is like, what my experience was, so that they, they, they, I just want to share it.
Because so many people are going through this experience. Right. I've met other people since I had my biopsies that have had cancer and they're living life strong, appear strong and healthy. But now I, I, um, now I'm not so focused on the breast cancer because I've recovered from my surgery. I, I think about some of the things that Are different now just because I have more information and one thing I'm doing to really help myself is just getting more exercise to help with those stress chemicals in the brain and it allows me to focus better when I'm working and do with everything I do in my life.
It helps me to get that exercise. I've really reprioritized that. I was exercising before, but now I just have added in more time, and it's the start of my day, so I don't really start working until the middle of the day, because I'm not going to skip my self care to do work for others.
Beth Quaas: That's excellent advice for anyone.
Exercise, self care, we all need to get there. It's hard. It's hard. I know it for sure, but that is great advice. And so are you still continuing now with your, uh, CareerWise Nurse podcast
Natalie D'Itri: as well? I do. I do still have CareerWise Nurse podcast episodes coming out. Not as often. They are there and they will continue.
And Breast Cancer Life is launching at this time. So it really starts with. The screening and diagnostic journey, and I wanted to share my information all along my screening and diagnostic journey in my life around me with friends and neighbors family because. I wanted them to be informed along my journey.
But then I also, in my podcast, CareerWise Nurse, I had, uh, a multi-part series on the nurse becoming the patient. So if anyone wants to hear about My Journey Nurse to becoming a patient, CareerWise nurse has all those episodes already published. And I will also be releasing in the Breast Cancer Life Podcast, my screening and diagnostic journey.
And the CareerWise Nurse podcast is for nurses. Breast Cancer Life podcast is really from my patient perspective.
Beth Quaas: I cannot wait to listen to that. I appreciate you sharing your story because I know it's going to help so many people. Like you said, even if you're not the patient, you're the family member.
You're the person treating those patients. I think it's very important for you to get that information
Natalie D'Itri: out. I remember working with people who had breast cancer or any cancer. I was giving their chemotherapy. In one of my jobs I had a few years ago, and I wasn't thinking about what it must be like for them to live with breast cancer.
I was busy doing all the tasks that made up my work day, or all the tasks that were involved in giving someone their chemotherapy regimen. There's so many drugs you give as pre meds, you might give one, two, or three chemo drugs. They each have a specific way they're given. It's a full menu of tasks to do for each individual that you see in a day.
Yes, I really enjoyed most of the people that I took care of and everybody was unique. Their story was unique and they share their experiences. But as a nurse, with my nursing hat on, I wasn't thinking about All the details of what they might be experiencing as a person with cancer. So now I can say what I have experienced being the person with cancer.
It's definitely a unique lived experience that no one can prepare you for.
Beth Quaas: Well, I am so glad that you're doing well now. And that you are able to share your story. I hope everyone goes out to find your podcast and listens to it. I just so that it helps give them a little bit of knowledge. On what people go through and potentially what they may go through at some point as
Natalie D'Itri: well.
One of my thoughts that I can share that came up early on when I was having the mammograms was we screen to find things that are abnormal. That's why we go for a screening mammogram on whatever schedule you're on for your mammogram based on what you and your health care provider agree on. We screen for abnormalities.
If nothing was going to come up as an abnormality that needed to be investigated, whether it's additional imaging or a biopsy, we wouldn't be screening. So that was what I told myself after I got a grip. The first, with the first set of abnormalities and phone calls or alerts, but then I realized, Oh, this is continuing on.
And
Beth Quaas: no matter what from today, I think the take home message, just as you said, should be call to action. Go get your mammograms. If you haven't lately, go get checked out, check yourself, talk to your healthcare provider. I think you may have helped someone more than you know, Natalie, just by coming on the show and sharing your story.
Natalie D'Itri: Thanks, Beth, for letting me share and for your questions, your curiosity about the whole experience.
Beth Quaas: I will look forward to finding your podcast and listening along as well with everyone else and learning from you. And I appreciate what you've done. You're, you're a very strong person and I appreciate it.
Thanks. Thanks. Have a great day.
I really want to thank Natalie for coming on the show and sharing her very personal story. I hope you all can find out where to find her podcast, Breast Cancer Life, and learn something from what she has gone through and her ability to share. I appreciate your time. Have a great afternoon.