I Used Project Management to Get Through a Personal Crisis

In April (2025) I learned that pathology from surgery showed stray carcinoma cancer cells in my body. After the shock wore off, the project manager in me took charge. Now that this ordeal is over, I can’t imagine handling it without project management. Here are some things I did to make it through.

• What is the goal? I’ve said many times that the project goal is crucial. My goal isn’t to overcome cancer cells. I delegated that to my doctors. The goal has been to get through the treatment as comfortably as possible while also managing the rest of my life.
• Understand the project. Cancer treatment has a lot of moving pieces. In my first appointment with the chemo oncologist, he handed me a packet with at least 80 pages of information about the treatment, side effects (and how to handle them), things to do, things to not do, what to eat and not eat, and so on. I read the entire packet – twice – and then created my own document to organize and highlight what I needed to know to succeed along with all the questions I had.
• Confirming the requirements. Part of the pre-treatment was reviewing the information with a nurse. I was able to ask my questions, jot down more notes, and then update my home-made treatment document.
• What are the risks? This project has been annoying in so many ways, but mainly because I am a planner and cancer treatment has a gazillion unknowns. What side effects will I get? How bad will they be? When will they happen? Will I be able to drive to treatment or will I need help? What should I have on hand? 
• Risk response strategies: A, B, C. With so many unknowns, you might think there is no way to plan. In fact, my plan was a set of risk response strategies depending on what I might face. First, I bought supplies and food (resources!) recommended for dealing with side effects. Then, I scheduled friends (more resources!) to drive me to treatment the first week. And if I felt so bad that I couldn’t handle the 35-minute drive to treatment, I would get a room near the hospital. This was an iterative project. I stopped there to see how I was at the end of that week.
• Communication.
  • Confirm details: If someone on the medical team told me something that differed from what the doctor or other provider had told me previously, I spoke up to say that was not what I had been told. If necessary, I would push back and ask them to confirm what was correct before proceeding. (In every case, I was correct to question the discrepancy.)
  • Ask questions: I called the doctor’s office when I had issues and major questions. I wrote up points to make, details about status, and questions, so I wouldn’t forget anything.
  • Don’t back down on important issues: Unfortunately, my two big issues happened on the first and then second weekend. That meant I had to get through the difficulties of getting support outside of normal work hours. I did not take no for an answer until I was able to speak to a doctor.
  • Streamline communication: I knew from experience that I did not have the bandwidth to communicate with my friends individually. I created an email group and a smaller text group to update people on my progress and to ask for help when I needed it. If anyone got impatient and emailed or texted to ask how I was, I would not respond to them directly but would send an update to the group when I was able.
• Get advice on big decisions. My second big issue was life-threatening. I was in the hospital for almost 4 days. (That could be a whole separate article.) This issue required revisiting my treatment plan – digesting information and making a significant decision to change the second round of chemo. I asked a good friend to attend the meeting. The oncologist ran through all the possibilities with pros and cons of each. He said I couldn’t take another full round of chemo, but there were 5 other options. A lot of information and my head was spinning. My friend asked several questions, which prompted a good discussion and got my brain back in gear. After the meeting, she and I compared notes to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
• Ask for help. I’m rather independent and take care of myself. Ask anyone who knows me. But I learned a long time ago to ask for help when I need it. Asking doesn’t make you weak: it shows you’re strong. Asking doesn’t mean you’re incapable: it means you’re smart. Asking means you are proactively choosing the best path to success.
• Celebrate small wins. The course of treatment was grueling, although I know that it was minor compared to what other people go through. At the 4-week mark, I was ready to be done. So, I looked for small wins to celebrate, to motivate me to hang in there: when I disconnected the pump when chemo was done, when the PICC line was removed. I counted down the number of radiation treatments to go. I reminded myself how quickly time passes, especially when it seems to move slowly when things suck. I booked a couple trips and planned fun things to do when I was done.
• Stay positive. I had plans. I had a good team. I had support. I focused on what was good. Even after my bad bouts, I acknowledged that I bounced back quickly. I had some moments of negativity. When those occurred, I thought about everything that went well. If I was really negative, I would reach out to a good friend to talk it through.
  • Staying positive doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine. It’s more like lessons learned: focus on what went well and do more of that, what could be done better and adjust the plan, what went wrong and figure out how to correct that in the future. For example, I was concerned about a second life-threatening episode on a holiday weekend, so I spoke to the oncologist’s nurse. I learned that one of their locations had regular hours on the weekend and could provide the injections I needed if necessary. Fortunately, I didn’t need to go there because our adjusted treatment plan worked well.

I hope you find this real-world example helpful. If you’ve used project management to get through things in your life, I’d love to hear about it.

 

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