Episode 53: She Was Asked to Be the One They'd Hate

Most people have never heard of a hospitalist until they meet one. Dr. Monique Nugent practices hospital medicine, the specialty that meets you in the five days when you’re sick, scared, and moving fast through a parade of specialists. In this episode of Kicking Cancer’s Ass, Monique and host Joelle Kaufman talk about the conversations that happen at the edge of serious illness and end of life, the ones the oncologist often doesn’t have and the hospitalist does.

They cover what a healthcare proxy really means, how to ask whether a decision is truly life-or-death before you panic, why “medical time” confuses newly diagnosed patients, and how to have advance care planning conversations with your family before a crisis forces them. Monique, author of Prescription for Admission, also explains why the warrior language around cancer (“fight,” “beat it,” “don’t give up”) can quietly harm the people we love most.

Honest, funny, and unguarded, this is a conversation for cancer patients, caregivers, and anyone who has ever sat in a hospital room not knowing what to ask. Released concurrently with Joelle’s guest appearance on Monique’s podcast, Prescription for Admission.

Topics Discussed:

• The doctor you never choose, who holds your hardest hour

• Why we hide the truth from the people we love most

• The mercy of being asked to be the villain

• “Medical time,” and the question that stops a panic decision

• Proxy, not decision-maker: honoring beats guessing

• Why “keep fighting” can quietly harm

• The dining-room conversation that releases your family from guilt

• You are not cancer: before, during, and after

Prescription for Admission - https://drmoniquenugent.com/podcast/