Craig Daily Press / Health Watch: Moving beyond cancer: Keeping your body strong, Part 2

Archive for Monday, July 28, 2008

Anna L. Schwartz

July 28, 2008

Craig resident Joyce E. Phillips wrote the poems below in 2004 and 2007, respectively, about her personal battle with breast cancer and walking during last year's Relay for Life event in Craig and losing her father to cancer.

"The Test"

A test I've passed so many times

a no brainer, just show up

squeeze and zap,

The tech shows me the pictures

The call back is also routine

Same test: smaller area, greater detail.

I've come to expect the letter

The doctor's signature affirming all is well

This year a varied ending,

a phone call: summons to the doctor.

I pretend it's routine,

just another screening,

but the word biopsy terrifies me.

Thirty years ago I spent

weeks in hospitals, months

on extreme medications.

In fervent prayer I asked,

"please let me raise my babies."

"I'll go wherever You want.

But let me raise my little ones,

then my life is Yours."

Thirty years later, one question only.

Is the time now?

"Survivor's Dawn"

Light

barely visible in the east

highlights peach tendril clouds,

floating across the horizon

Cool wind

blowing across oval track

as caregivers and survivors

walk laps for life, for memories

laps that affirm: I'm still here.

Luminaries

candles in wet sand

names on sacks by track, on bleachers

bearing names remembered,

grieved, mourned,

celebrated, loved

Naming those who surrendered

to cancer.

I cry as I walk

I wasn't there for my father

Joyce Jensen, another survivor, was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2003.

Joyce was devastated by the news and soon learned that ovarian cancer is the most lethal women's cancer.

Joyce read everything she could find on ovarian cancer, but her doctor cautioned her, "Each person will have a different response to the cancer and cancer therapy; you need to focus on doing all you can."

Joyce stresses that you make choices in life; you choose how to respond and live regardless of cancer or other obstacles.

You can choose to be happy or depressed. We, as individuals, have the power to choose our disposition and our thoughts. Feeling in control during and after cancer therapy has a positive effect on recovery and well-being.

Joyce has had three cancer recurrences, the most recent in July 2006. And although the news of recurrence is always sad and stressful, she says, "We all have setbacks in cancer treatment emotionally or physically, but we have to look forward and make decisions that will not only help us live a full life but set an example for others and hopefully make life better for our families and those we love."

Joyce knows that she is in control of what she thinks and how she relates with others. She controls how her body prevails during and following treatment by choosing to exercise regularly.

She remarks, "I choose exercise - exercise is my time to feel well, to sense movement and my control over movement. While going through cancer rehabilitation, I learned what was safe, but I also learned that I was in control of my fitness."

Exercise is important for people with cancer, both during and after treatment.

It not only helps people feel better emotionally and physically, but it keeps us strong enough to do activities that are meaningful and important so that we can live the fullest life possible.

Cancer rehabilitation programs, such as the Mountain Land Rehabilitation program, are changing the way we look at cancer and its treatment and the experience of cancer for patients and survivors.

No longer is cancer a disease that robs us of our strength and vitality but rather a disease that we can learn to live with and live fully.

The above article was submitted by Rehabilitation Services of Craig.