Meet cancer nurse who helps patients through murky waters
Cancer is a scary thing, and to men, prostate cancer is the scariest. The way registered nurse Juli Aistars, prostate and lung nurse navigator at Northwest Community Hospital Cancer Services in Arlington Heights, sees it, her job is to take the scare out of scary.
Aistars of Lake Zurich helps her patients, particularly men facing prostate cancer, navigate the murky waters of diagnosis and treatment that leave many with that glassy “deer-in-the-headlights” look.
Aistars meets the patient and his family and walks step-by-step with them through their journey, which doesn't end even after treatment.
“When working with patients, it helps me to hear what they think and feel,” Aistars said. “Though everyone is different, there are some underlying themes that occur over and over. Fear of the ‘C' word, no matter what the prognosis, is one of them.”
“The good thing about patient navigation is the patient doesn't feel they've been dropped off the cliff after they're treated. They always have somebody to call if something comes up.”
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. According to the American Cancer Society, about one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and one in 36 will die from it.
That means that while prostate cancer is serious, most men diagnosed with it do not die from it. More than 2.5 million men in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are alive today.
Wally Hoffman, 65, of Mount Prospect is one of Aistars' patients.
“My confidence level is high, but I've had glimpses into the abyss,” he admitted. “Cancer is scary, it's got to be one of the worst things you can ever go through. I think there are many people who don't have the confidence I do, and I can't imagine how scared they are. They've got to have a lifeboat somewhere, and it's got to be someone like Juli.”
Dealing as she does with life-threatening illnesses daily, Aistars finds her stress relief in running. She has been ultra running since 2002, often 100 miles or more, turning it into a fundraising vehicle for cancer-related causes.
This past July, Aistars ran 314 miles across Tennessee in five days, raising money for the NCH Lung Cancer Fund.
“I stopped by to visit one of my patients recently,” she said. “She is the most upbeat lady, despite lung cancer, surgery, chemo and now a possible spread.”
Aistars ran a 100-mile race in Ohio in the woman's honor, and presented her the award mounted in a shadow box.
“She was so thrilled,” Aistars said. “I really love what I do, even though there is sadness and frustration, mostly with our health care system. But that's what we're here for, to help each other through.”
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