An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part 26

As Paul Harvey always said, “Here’s the rest of the story." Well, here's the rest of the story of my 50+ years with ovarian cancer.

My oldest brother, Walt, died of lung cancer in 2009. He and I had long phone conversations before he died because of my experience with cancer. We exchanged ideas; we learned about alternative remedies that might help each other. However, nothing helped him and he’s now joined those who’ve gone before us in heaven.

He did, however, get me interested in an herbal tea developed by an Englishman named Jason Winters who set out to find a cure for cancer when he was diagnosed as terminally ill.  So I decided to give it a try — again couldn’t hurt and might help. Sir Jason Winters survived his bout with cancer and lived a long and full life before passing away from natural causes in old age.

I’ve been drinking the tea now for four years on a daily basis. Since I’ve been religiously taking the PH Balance pills for even longer, I felt no ill effects from the cancer but a PET scan in 2009 revealed that cancer remained in my body. A PET scan is purported to give a definitive answer about whether cancer is in one’s body or not. It uses a radioactive solution that is injected into the veins and thus travels to every part of the body following which x-ray pictures are taken and these tell the tale.

In January 2011, my doctor, who I avoid seeing unless I absolutely have to, insisted I pay her a visit. Now, I like Dr. Chang. She’s nice, courteous and understanding. I just don’t like doctor visits. On this particular visit she grilled me about my cancer history and how I was doing. I, of course, told her I was fine and since any and every doctor I’d ever seen about the cancer had no answer except surgery, chemo or radiation of which I’d tried all three with no results at all, I’d given up on any help from doctors.  She took this news with grace but said to me, “It's been two years since your last PET scan, so let's do another one and see where we’re at.”

Easy for her to say. It’s me that gets the injection and then put in an enclosed chamber for 20 minutes. I’m not usually claustrophobic but that tends to get to me. I agreed, though, as she insisted on it.

So on January 26, 2011, she called me and said, “the PET scan showed that you are free of cancer.”

I was so stunned and overwhelmed I didn’t even think to ask her to what she attributed this (at least to me) miracle. So I don’t know if it’s my clean living, my drinking the herbal tea or what. I give all the glory to God. Any healing, whether from a natural substance or the touch of His hand, comes from God. God is so good.

Thus ends my long journey and struggle with ovarian cancer. I can see from this vantage point God’s hand guiding and keeping me all the way. I said when I was first diagnosed back in 1961 that I wanted to live to raise my two precious children. I’ve lived long enough to raise them and send them out into the world; I’ve seen my three wonderful grandsons raised and helped some in the raising, and now I’ve seen two great-grandsons born and have a small part in their lives. It’s truly amazing!

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Twenty-five

One thing about me when I’m in ill health, it helps my prayer life. And I did a lot of talking to God about the pain I had. The only thing the doctor had to offer me for the pain was opiod pills like Vicodin or even Oxycontin. But I refused to take them; they make me sleepy, my mind fuzzy and I knew there had to be a better way.

One night as I slept peacefully, the pain awoke me. It felt like my side was on fire. I got out of bed unable to sleep any longer and turned on the TV. I knew Daystar, during the wee hours of the morning, ran beautiful nature scenes with Scripture superimposed on them and lovely hymns playing softly in the background. It couldn’t soothe the pain but it soothed my mind. And I prayed. This was my prayer: “Oh Lord, please help me find a way to deal with this pain or take me home. I just can’t live this way any more. I know there’s got to be an answer. Please, please help me find a way to be rid of this pain for once and for all.”

Did you know God hears our every prayer and feels our pain and sorrows? He does.

As I sat there rocking and watching the beautiful scenes, they soon came to an end. Too impatient to wait to see what would come on next I flipped through the channels. A scene on one station caught my attention. Two men sat, one interviewing the other. I quickly figured out it was an infomercial but I tuned into their interesting conversation. One of the men said, “It’s important to keep your pH balance at the optimum level. Being too acidic causes disease and the same goes for being too alkaline. Finding the balance is important for good health.”

Well, I knew I had an acidic stomach as it constantly caused me problems. I knew this, too, because my father had had the same problem.  I thought perhaps I should check this out, my philosophy being—can’t hurt and might help. The next day I found a website that offered PH balance pills—actually I found several websites but in looking them over decided on one that appeared more professional and hopefully reliable. I sent away immediately for the strips they suggested you start with to find out where your PH level stood.

As soon as the test strips arrived I checked my PH level and found, as I had suspected, I fell on the lowest end of acidic. I sent away then for a bottle of the pills they advertised would balance my PH level. When the pills arrived I began taking eight pills a day; two in the morning, two at noon, two at dinnertime and two before bed. In about two weeks my pain went away! And as long as I took the pills regularly I was pain free. I’ve reached the conclusion that the men from whom I got this information were wrong about keeping one’s PH level balanced avoided disease. But it is important for good health.

I also felt astonished, humbled, and grateful to the Lord my God. I knew He’d answered my prayer beginning the very night I cried out to Him.

Next time I write, I’ll tell you the rest of the story.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Twenty-four

Still cancer on my liver, still pain with no relief and, having had surgery and chemo, the doctor had no further solutions. Of course, I prayed about it and it happened that my husband and I had lunch with our pastor and wife shortly after. In the course of our conversation the pastor asked if we had any concerns he could pray about for us. The cancer and pain always on my mind I brought up that. “Have you looked into radiation?” he asked.

“My oncologist believes it wouldn’t give me any relief so, no, I haven’t considered it.”

“There’s a doctor in our church who does radiation. You might consult him and see what he thinks,” he said.

Thinking about our conversation awhile later, I decided it couldn’t hurt to check into it. I made an appointment and off I went for a consultation. The upshot of it was the good doctor believed radiation might help. There were no guarantees of course, but hope appeared on the horizon. The doctor prescribed a six-week course, five days a week for the treatment. My first Monday there, on a sunny day in March, I felt some trepidation but also felt ready to give it a try and go for it.

The nurse ushered me into a changing room where I removed my upper clothing and put on a hospital gown then off to the radiation room we went. They had me lay on a bed, a fairly comfortable apparatus but looming overhead looking down at me was a huge machine like a big eye. They measured and poked and prodded and measured some more than marked, with a permanent marker, an “X” on the site of the cancer on my liver where the radiation would be trained.

Next, everyone left the room except me, of course, and as they left they admonished me to “lie still.” I was agreeable to that but the telling thing that settled in my brain was no one else was in the room. I suppose radiation treatment is a miracle of science and there are probably some good things about it, but too much. . .   Well, over my lifetime I’ve had more than my share of it so when the lights go out, just plug me in and I’ll light up the room (just kidding.)

The huge machine aimed at my “X”, zapped me for fifteen to twenty minutes then they sent me back to get dressed and sent me on my way. As I left, I mused that I had no pain, no after effects. I felt just as I did when I walked in the door.

Just in case you’re wondering—about the middle of the third week I realized there were effects and I was feeling them. I drug myself home and immediately had to lie down and rest. The next week I was dragging and I noticed my mind didn’t work as well as it usually did. I worked at Front Range Community College during this time and one day asked my boss, “Does it seem to you that I’m slower and my mind isn’t working like it did?” He said, “Well, I didn’t want to mention it but since you’ve brought it up, yes, I’ve noticed that.  But,” he continued, “when you’re through with the radiation treatments, I’m sure you’ll bounce back.”

That encouraged me and I needed that. I hoped he was right. The last week of treatment I took most of it as sick leave and the last couple of days a friend drove me back and forth to the medical facility as I was incapable of driving. I could barely change my clothes and dress myself afterwards.

The good news was I had the weekend to rest up and regain my strength. Still dragging some I went to work on the following Monday. The bad news was the radiation gave me only about eight to nine months relief from the pain then I was right back where I started.

Did you know constant pain is wearing on a body and tiresome? But I struggled on, still looking for relief.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Twenty-three

In November of 2000 I was given the opportunity to go to Africa on a mission trip with others from my church. We call these Work & Witness trips and we pay our own expenses although on this particular trip, as I was the president of the Mission Council, someone anonymously paid all my expenses for the trip. The exception, of course, was any personal costs like passport, extra clothing (we needed to wear only long, modest dresses) and any souvenirs.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, in January of 2000 I spent two weeks in the hospital following a chemotherapy treatment that left me weak as well as bald. My doctor assured me I’d have my hair back by March or April at the latest but although I’d regained my strength by then, my hair wasn’t cooperating. By November I finally had enough hair to allow me to leave my wigs at home. But it was so very short and since I have such fine hair my hair stylist suggested dyeing it as it would give it some body. I’m still dyeing it—for the body, of course—not to cover any gray.

I joined seven others as we flew out of DIA to Atlanta, Georgia. From there we flew to France where we changed planes in a drizzling rain. We deplaned on the tarmac and bussed to our next plane that then made a stop in Riyhadh, Saudi Arabia. I’ve never seen a place so lit up—it even outdid the Las Vegas strip. From there we landed in Djibouti City, Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, our destination. Four of the group stayed there while another group of four, including me, took a plane the next day to Hargeisa, Somaliland, a Muslim country and our assignment was to go to an orphanage to make it more habitable for the children. The country was in the process of recovering after a civil war. We found bullet holes in the roofs and walls of the orphanage.

Three missionaries stationed in the Horn of Africa accompanied our group. Our task consisted of making repairs to the buildings while showing the people what Christians are really like. We found out that Muslims there believe all Christians are like the people they see in our movies. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel these type people portray Christians at all.

There are so many stories I could tell you about this trip but I think I’ll keep most of them till later. We spent our time at the orphanage fixing it up, making repairs, putting together a playground including a huge tire embedded in the sand for climbing over, under and through, and teaching life skills to some of the older children. My main job took place in the nursery rooms where I painted bright figures on the walls.

We also presented them with a new computer, sewing machines and the fellows in our group made beds for the older children who still slept on the hard floor. The playground equipment and the bed frames were all fashioned from materials the orphanage had lying around. The guys were quite ingenious in all they did.

After our week and a half there we flew—in a Russian airplane, with a Russian pilot, yet—back to Djibouti to join the other group. Scheduled to leave on a Monday the missionary leader stationed in Africa held a service on Sunday evening in the apartment where we all stayed and included a healing service. I asked for prayer for healing of the cancer as during the trip my pain reared its ugly head—again. It wasn’t unendurable, yet, but I just wanted it gone forever.

For those who don’t know, God answers prayer but not always when we ask or as soon as we’d like Him to. I know, I know, sometimes we feel we needed the answer yesterday. My response to that—get over it. God’s love resides in everything that comes our way.

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

            Psalm 103:2

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

            slow to anger, abounding in love.

                        Psalm 103:8

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Twenty-two

My last day in the hospital finally arrived two weeks after my admittance. But the oxygen was an issue. I really didn’t want the hassle of using oxygen at home and it all hinged on getting the bright red ball on their measuring gadget up, up, up. I struggled and struggled through a few times but—yes—I succeeded at last. My oxygen level reached the level needed. I was free from it at last.

Another problem then arose. The doctor informed me I needed at least another week of antibiotics by IV. No problem, I thought, but when I asked the insurance company for a home nurse to administer it they told me I had to do it myself. Me?! I went home still weak and shaky. I needed a cane to get around and they wanted me to do what? Even at the grocery store where it looked huge and I knew there was no way I could walk around it, I had to resort to the drivable carts. At least my husband accompanied me to show me how to work it and help me get things off the shelves. Otherwise you’re sunk. So the day I got home I had to get on the phone and fight with the insurance company, and fight I did, call after call. Finally, they agreed and scheduled a nurse to come out twice a day to set up the drip bag and insert the needle. Whew!

I returned to work the next week. They’d been very understanding and it felt good to be back and feeling relatively healthy. My hair was no more but I had two wigs so put them to good use exchanging them according to my mood. One was short, curly and my natural color, the other longer and a sassy dark red. The beauty of it was I could take my hair off at night, place it on the wig stand and put every hair in place for the next day—and no bed head in the morning! There was one minor problem. I had no hair so there was nothing to attach the wig to and it would have looked strange to tie it on so I found myself at the mercy of the elements—and other things.

The first hapless incident happened as I drove home from work one evening. A guy in a pickup rear- ended four of us. It delivered quite a jolt even though I was at the front of the pack. All the drivers got out to survey the damage—except for the woman in the small car looking like an accordion. She left in an ambulance but the EMTs said she wasn’t injured too badly.

I stood in the median talking to the guy who drove the car behind me. We chatted for a while about careless drivers until I caught a reflection of myself in my car window. I was bald! My wig! Where was my wig?! I dove into my car feeling so embarrassed and so puzzled. I looked all over the car and outside it, too. I got up on my knees in the driver’s seat and looked in the back seat and there it sat. The jolt had thrown it onto the floor in the back right behind my seat. I grabbed it, dusted it off and jammed it on my head. Even using the car mirror I felt unsure that it was on straight but it would do. I still had to talk to the police officer.

Another time we visited friends in Casper, Wyoming, which is notorious for blowing wind. The minute you cross from Colorado into Wyoming the wind blows fiercely. After church on Sunday we stopped at a restaurant for lunch with our friends. The minute I got out of the car my wig went flying across the parking lot with my husband, bless his heart, in fast pursuit. My husband did recover the wig after it pin wheeled across the lot. I didn’t stand around to watch. I dove into the car and covered my head with a scarf. When I got the wig back I dusted it off, jammed it on my head and hoped it was straight. 

Did I tell you I am vain? I know, some women are much braver and maybe put on a cap or a scarf or even nothing at all and manage quite nicely. I, on the other hand, feel exposed, ugly and desperate for a covering. I wished for some way to attach the wig to my head but glue was out of the question so I tried to be careful and conscious at all times of the precarious wig on my head since that’s where I wanted to keep it.

Thus ends my Wig Tales. I’m sure there were other times besides these two but they’ve, thankfully, slipped out of my memory bank into oblivion.

Next, I take a trip to Africa—with my own hair! But did the chemo get rid of my problem?

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Twenty-one

I remained in Isolation for about a week. While there I could eat anything I wanted but the last thing I wanted, strangely enough, was to eat. Believe me, that’s unusual for me. The head dietitian, a little bird-like lady with an iron will, visited me regularly.

“I’ll fix you anything you want,” she said. I, wanting to send her away happy, wracked my feeble brain for something edible that appealed to me. Nothing, not even chocolate! The things I loved to eat made my stomach turn when I thought about them.  She brought me a bunch of grapes one day and those I found I could eat. So, bless her heart, she kept me constantly supplied with grapes.

Toward the end of the week in Isolation the doctor moved me to Rehab. My weakness had been so profound that I couldn’t walk unaided. Rehab, the nurse explained, meant I would be retrained to help me regain the abilities I’d lost. The oxygen nasal cannulars stayed in my nose and the antibiotic IV in my arm but every day a few times a day I went for a walk with one of the nurses. Short walks at first, of course. I found it impossible to climb stairs so that became part of my retraining as well.

One of the requirements for a person in Rehab, I found, was to walk to the dining room and eat with the other inmates also in Rehab. That turned out to be a trial for me because eating with those other folks for reasons only my stomach knows, made me lose my appetite even more. The little dietitian even promised me she’d go out and buy something and fix it herself if I would eat it. But my stomach rebelled. I ate grapes.

The good news was I lost 25 pounds. The bad news was I needed more nutrients. However, even if I wanted to eat I couldn’t. It happened to be the best diet I ever went on but the doctor and dietitian were not happy with me. Well, you can’t make everyone happy.

Other than my problem with eating while in Rehab, I found one fine morning, my hair coming out in chunks. I had hoped that with just the one chemo treatment my hair would be spared. Wrong! In just a day or so I lost all my hair. From the time I was 4 and had a Dutch bob (picture the little guy on the Dutch Boy paint can) my hair gave me fits. At the ripe old age of 6 I begged and pleaded for curly hair and my mother finally gave in and gave me my first perm. I loved my curls. My regular hair, though, was stick straight and thin—and now it was gone. I decided thin and straight was better than bald but before I left the hospital my hair left first. Good thing I’d bought 2 wigs before the chemo because, I admit it, I am vain and never felt baldness helped my self-image at all.

A good friend, Barbara Higgins-Wilson, bought me 3 (can you believe it, 3!) hats. These I wore in the hospital, as my wig didn’t work well there. And I still wear them occasionally on a bad hair day.

Two weeks after my admission into the hospital the doctor scheduled me to go home. Finally, going home, but I still needed the antibiotic by IV and could I get off the oxygen in time? Plus the insurance company wanted me to administer my own IV? They had to be kidding!

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Twenty

It was a long night. Oh, how I wished my body could sink into the bed and become one with it. Every part of me felt tired and impossible to move. My limbs were too heavy to move. The hands on the clock on the dingy green wall crawled up one side and struggled down the other.

So tired but I couldn’t summon sleep. I tried but sleep eluded me. And for some reason I can’t explain the first digit on my right hand found the little button on the gadget that controlled the up and down movement of the bed. All night long my finger moved the button and the bed responded by undulating beneath me. Slowly up and down the bed moved as I watched the slowly moving hands of the clock. This somehow comforted me and helped me make it through the night.

At about three in the morning a little nurse completely swathed in the blue isolation garb including mask and cap entered the dimly lit room where I lay alone. Others had previously entered at different times for various reasons, too. I paid her scant attention until she approached my bedside and said, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this but you may not make it through the night.”

“Believe me I know I could die at any time, I’m so tired and weak.” I said.

“I’m here because I’m concerned about your relationship with God. I don’t want you to die without knowing God.”

As tired as I felt, amazement at her words struck me because I knew the hospital discouraged such conversation—perhaps even meted out hard consequences for such boldness.

I replied, “I’m okay with God. We have a close and active relationship but I appreciate your concern.” Finished with her mission she slipped out as quietly as she entered.

All through this exchange my finger kept the bed moving beneath me. Along towards morning activity increased in and out of my room someone took my vital signs, took my blood and whatever else that needed doing. I think they offered me breakfast, not to sure, but I wasn’t hungry. Around eight-thirty a.m., I realized I’d survived through the night and knew then I would make it. I finally fell asleep.

I awoke at eleven-thirty that morning and found a note on my bedside table from a close friend. It said, “I didn’t want to wake you so sat here while you slept, held your and hand prayed for you. Love you. Carol” I don’t think she’ll ever really know how special and dear that note was and is to me. I still have it.

The next day, my doctor, Dr. Lee, stopped by to see me. He wanted to tell me why I was so weak and ill. I remember so well, he looked at me and his eyes, which are normal oriental eyes, were big and round as he said, “Your immune system was wiped out and you have double pneumonia and pseudomonas.” He added, “Pseudomonas is a blood infection that kills in six hours. I almost killed you.” I’m pretty sure he felt relieved I’d survived but at the same time wondering why I hadn’t died. I can’t tell you when the blood infection raised its ugly self in my system but I have a feeling it was for far more than six hours.

I thanked the good doctor for his care of me and have never had any ill-will toward him for the illness I suffered. I believe he did what he thought best for me.

I still slept most of the time when the nurses weren’t bustling in and out of my room. I still felt extremely weak and unable to eat or even sit up on my own. The doctor kept me on oxygen and antibiotics by IV but I knew I was well on my way to recovery. I didn’t know then what a long recovery it would be.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Nineteen

The second Sunday in January 2000 remains hazy in my memory except for the midnight hours. Tired and weak with the unrelenting diarrhea, I spent most of the night up and down and in and out of the bathroom. It was not a pretty sight and at one point I remember so well I was too weak to replace the Depends I knew I needed so my long-suffering husband did it or me. If that’s not an expression of love I don’t know what is.

Monday morning I knew I couldn’t make it to work so had Larry call my doctor and make an appointment for me and I called my friend and superior at work, Carol, and relayed the information to her. I’d purchased a couple of wigs in December knowing I would need them later. I still had my hair but no energy to fix it so slapped a wig on my head and off we went to Dr. Lee’s office.

The first thing he asked me was why I didn’t keep my appointment on Friday for my second chemo drip. I’d completely spaced it out. In fact I had very little memory of that week—most of what I know today has been told to me by friends and Larry. It appears I faithfully went to work every day, taught my Wednesday night Bible study, Sunday morning Bible study and evidently did okay. I don’t remember doing either.

The second question Dr. Lee asked me after carefully observing me, “Do you want to go to the hospital?” I prefer to avoid hospitals as much as possible but I heard myself say, “Oh, I really want to.” I did? Yes, I just wanted to lie down and lay aside all responsibility.

While Larry drove me to the hospital only a few blocks away the doctor called and gave instructions for my arrival. We drove up to the entrance and parked in a “No Parking” zone. Larry helped me through the sliding doors where I was met with a wheelchair—which looked so good to me—and a nurse whisked me up to my room while Larry filled out the admittance papers.

The nurse gave me a hospital gown—you know the kind—and told me not to put a diaper back on. I told her that wasn’t a good idea but she warmly assured me they’d have no problem cleaning me up if I had an accident. If I had an accident—she should have said when I had an accident.

I’m an independent sort, which sometimes gets me into a lot of trouble. I gratefully laid back on the clean, cool sheets and the crinkly bed mat under my rear. Immediately I knew I needed to quickly get to the bathroom. They hadn’t hooked me up to the IV yet so I hastened as fast as I could in my weakened condition. I made it to the bathroom but unfortunately had an “accident” before I got to the toilet and worse than that I slipped in the mess, fell down and hit my head on the wall. And, of course, I couldn’t get up or reach the call button. The good thing was they hadn’t finished getting me set up so a nurse came bustling in shortly. She stopped dead still when she saw me and I saw a deep frown and her arms akimbo as she looked down on me.

She called for more nurses and they got me up, cleaned me up and someone conferred with the doctor who said to take me to x-ray to check my head for any damage. Actually the only damage was to my ego. Then when they brought me back from x-ray the nurse tucked me into bed, raised the bars on the bedside and said, “Mrs. Luke, you are not to get out of this bed unless a nurse is in the room with you.” I responded with a meek, “Okay.” She hooked me up to the IV to start the antibiotics I needed and I gave myself up to the comfort of the bed.

I didn’t know they’d put me in Isolation until that night. Everyone coming into my room had to put on a blue gown, shower cap, slippers and mask. It turns out the chemo compromised my entire immune system. One of my nurses explained the garb was to protect me from their germs not the other way around.

That night, knowing I was at death’s door, I longed to sleep but couldn’t.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Eighteen

It was around the middle of December, 1999, while I worked full time I wasn't getting enough sleep because of the pain. I refused to take a narcotic since it made me drowsy and not fully functioning so I resorted to Tylenol which provided not much relief.

As a result I reluctantly called Dr. Lee, my oncologist and said, “I can’t deal with the pain any more. I guess I’m ready to do chemo.” He understood my feelings and assured me that he felt this was the best help available. Yeah, right—poison.

On the last Friday of that year I found myself seated in a comfortable recliner in Dr. Lee’s office. My dear friend, Velma, offered to drive me there and home and even to stay with me for the duration. What a gift from her! So there we sat in a row of about six similar recliners all with an individual as unfortunate as I, each in various stages of this awful disease. Velma sat on a straight chair beside me so we could talk. She didn’t hold my hand but it would have been a nice touch. She knew me too well, though, and knew it would embarrass me.

The nurse came over to start the chemo drip on me through an IV line into my arm. I noticed immediately her fingers were chapped and red and I wondered how she maintained the sensibility in her fingers needed to place needles in veins all day long. I commented to her about her hands and she said it resulted from the chemo. She never handled it but evidently enough of it got on her fingers to cause the state they were in. I should have called it quits then and there but the pain kept me in the chair.

Velma and I sat there for six hours while the poison dripped into my body. The nurse came by frequently to check on me and offer water and words of encouragement. I felt nothing—it could have been a saline drip for all I could tell. Velma and I kept a lively conversation going and I am still thankful to her for generously giving me her time and keeping my mind on other topics. We had a great time. She is now with the Lord she loves.

Y2K (remember when everyone worried about that?) came and went with no startling changes. I went to work everyday but discovered about mid week I’d developed a severe case of diarrhea. Now, diarrhea is not something I really like to talk about or dwell on and perhaps you might wish I wouldn’t mention something so gross but it is germane to my story.

I purchased a box of adult diapers amazed I needed them but I’d found it had become imperative.  On Friday of that week, I discussed with my superior at work and good friend, Carol, how difficult it had become to drive myself to work. She suggested I contact Access-a-Ride so I wouldn’t risk my life and others driving to work. I thought that a good idea and said I would arrange that for Monday.

However, I didn’t arrive at work on Monday. Instead I found myself in the hospital close to death.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Seventeen

For those of you who don’t know or maybe have never experienced it, chronic pain from illness or injury, over time becomes more and more difficult to live with. One thing it usually causes is fatigue. Doctors generally prescribe narcotics for chronic pain but these cause drowsiness and make living a normal life virtually impossible.

Thus, I wanted to deal with the pain as the first solution had run its course.  What to do next? My oncologist felt chemotherapy would solve my problem but chemo is poison and kills both good cells and bad cells. Not the best answer in my point of view. I discussed this with my oncologist, Dr. Lee, and I suggested surgery to him. It seemed so simple—just cut the offending growths off and be done with it.

Dr. Lee pointed out to me that the offending cysts sat on my liver. The liver has a very important role in our bodies. It cleanses our blood, among other things; therefore it is full of blood as it goes about its business. He said most surgeons are reluctant to cut into a liver except in extreme circumstances. To me this represented an extreme circumstance so I insisted. He called around and one day told me he’d found a surgeon who would do the surgery.

I’ll call her Dr. Nice as I don’t recall her name. I found her sympathetic, caring and kind. She, too, voiced her concern but since I was adamant she agreed to schedule the surgery. Since she knew it would require a blood transfusion and she felt it would be best to use my own blood, I deposited blood at the hospital prior to the surgery—two pints, if I recall.

On a day in April, 1999 I went under the knife for the fourth time due to the cancer. This scar, evidence of my many surgeries joined two other scars from operations on my abdomen. My husband and I referred to the result as my “road map.” Despite all the concern, the operation went well.  The surgeon reported to me that she removed only a small portion of my liver and that may have been the reason I had no difficulty following the surgery.

I remember well the day I went home from the hospital. A friend came to drive me home since Larry couldn’t take off from work. As we drove home the news on the radio related a shooting at Columbine High School. It was April 20, 1999, a day none of us will ever forget. At home, ensconced on my faithful blue floral sofa I watched horrified with the rest of the country the events at the school. It was a glad day for me as I recuperated from the operation but a sad day for so many.  I rejoiced in my renewed health but mourned the heavy loss of life on that day.

I need to report here that the “ultimate answer to the pain”, as I thought of this surgery, lasted only a few months. By October the pain returned and with it the need for another answer.

Looking for a lasting solution I made one of the worst decisions of my life.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Sixteen

My doctor assured me when I quit taking the morphine there’d be no withdrawal to speak of. I went through three days and nights of withdrawal and since I’d been assured that that wouldn’t happen, it caused confusion in my mind about what was happening to me. I felt tremendous anxiety, panic, and fear. I felt afraid to go outside, to get in a car—to go anywhere.

The nights brought the worse symptoms and I spent three mostly sleepless nights. One evening when I was assailed by a great deal of anxiety, something I usually don’t experience, I called a pastor friend of mine, Pastor Kaster or PK as we called him.

I described to him what I was going through and related to him I’d taken morphine for the last month. He immediately made the connection and said, “You’re going through withdrawal. This doesn’t mean that you’ve become an anxious person or will be having panic attacks later on. He advised me to hang on, keep praying and like most things in our lives—both good and bad—that , “this, too, will pass.”

Heartened by his words, even though I still felt the anxiety, panic and fear and still didn’t get much sleep, I knew the reason for it and knew with God’s help I’d get through this okay.

And I did.

Feeling somewhat better after quitting the morphine and with the promise of pain relief I set out several days later for my first appointment with the doctor who would do the aspiration. Now this procedure is not for the faint of heart—at least any who faint at the sight of needles.

After putting on a hospital gown, I lay down on the examining table and he produced a needle approximately eight inches long (no exaggeration)! (Well, maybe it only seemed that long to me but it was long.) They sterilized and numbed the site of insertion and placed the needle through into the cyst on my liver, then extracted the fluid. I chose not to watch and didn’t feel much discomfort during the procedure. Next, as though on a spit, they rotated me on each side, in turn and reintroduced the needle and did the extraction—four times. It was some comfort that a camera helped them know where to guide the needle.

Well, when they finished and I dressed in my street clothes and I walking to my car I checked myself. NO PAIN!  That hadn’t happened for several months. What a relief. I’m not sure if my feet touched the ground as I returned to my car.

But, alas, in two or so months, the pain returned. Back I went to the doctor’s office for a repeat procedure. Relief for another two months. Then back for another procedure. But this one was different in that after they’d finished, I fainted. I didn’t know I did until I came to and realized someone was placing me back on the examining table. Of course, they gave me a few moments to recover then I was escorted to the doctor’s office and he told me they wouldn’t be doing another one because of the possibility of a life-threatening infection. I left, pain free, wondering what I would do in when the pain returned.

I looked to the only place available for an answer—God.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part 15

After all the solemnity of that day in 1992 after my surgery, no problems arose until 1998 when the pain started. It was a day in July as we were returning with my mother from a trip to Nebraska. We’d taken her for a small family reunion that consisted mostly of cousins she rarely saw.

We were driving along on the return trip and I felt a definite twinge of pain in my side. As my usual reaction to that sort of minor thing is to ignore it, I ignored it. But it wouldn’t be ignored. As the days went by the pain worsened until I visited my doctor who upon reviewing my medical history referred me to an oncologist, Dr. William Eng Lee.

Dr. Lee is of Chinese descent. I liked him immediately. He’s kind and caring and listens to his patients. The only problem, at least from my point of view, rested in the fact he felt chemotherapy the only answer. I didn’t. The last thing I wanted was poison dumped into my body.

Because I refused chemo and was in pain he gave me morphine. The entire month of August I took morphine. Any time I needed more I just called the doctor’s office. The nurse would say, “I’ll call in and renew your prescription. You don’t need to be in pain.”

What I remember of that August is very little except sleeping. At night I slept in bed. In the daytime I made a nest on the living room sofa and slept there. My husband set up a small table next to the sofa to hold necessities, mostly water and pills, but everyday he clipped off a red bloom from the neighbor’s huge rose bush that hung over the fence into our patio. He’d once bought me a set of three miniature green glass vases and he’d place the single red rose in one of those. Every time I opened my eyes I saw the beautiful rose. It remains to me today an expression of his love.

I got a call from the doctor one day asking me to come in. At the appointed time a friend drove me over since I couldn’t drive because of the morphine. The doctor said he’d talked to other doctors about my case and he’d found a doctor who suggested aspiration as an alternative to chemo.

It seems the cancer when it attached to my liver consisted of a series of fluid-filled cysts so removing the fluid would lessen the pain. Eager to give anything a try I set an appointment for the first of September. Next, I needed to get off the morphine. Dr. Lee assured me any withdrawal symptoms would be minimal.

Unfortunately for me, he was wrong.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part 14

A few years later we moved to the Denver area to be close to family. One Saturday in early spring all of the family, including the kids, decided to go for a bike ride. The weather was typical Colorado—gorgeous and sunny with a slight warm breeze lifting the leaves. A perfect day.

As we prepared to start out a wave of pain engulfed me. I gripped my middle and knew I couldn’t pedal a bike anywhere. Concerned, my daughter tried to make me comfortable on their bed then they left for their ride as I urged them to go on. Soon I sat up feeling better and wishing I’d gone with them. I puttered around the house for a bit then, like a wave, the pain attacked me again. It came in waves and this felt worse than the first bout. I literally rolled on the floor clutching my middle. It eased up—for a period of time—then hit me, again. It probably wasn’t as bad as the pain of childbirth but a close second.

After the family arrived back at the house, my husband and I went home and on Monday I made an appointment to see a doctor. Strangely the rest of the weekend I’d been spared the rolling waves of pain. When I described what I’d been through she determined it was my gall bladder and recommended removing it since if we left things as they were, I would have more attacks. “Best to take care of it now,” she said.

I agreed, not wanting to endure another round of such excruciating pain. She referred me to a surgeon, Dr. Sally, and before I knew what hit me I was in the hospital, under the knife, as they say.

The operation went well and the doctor pronounced it successful predicting I’d not have to go through that particular pain again. But one fine day while I was recuperating in the hospital, Dr. Sally entered my room followed by my entire family including my brother but minus the grandchildren.

They all eyed me a little strangely I thought and I wondered what was up. Quite solemnly the doctor said to me, “I wanted your family here when I told you what we found. After we removed the diseased gall bladder we discovered small growths on your liver. We had them biopsied and I’m sorry but they are cancer. I have an oncologist I want you to see after you’re home and recovered from the surgery.”

I looked around at the solemn faces on my dear family and thought, so? I said to the gathered assemblage, “I was diagnosed with cancer when you were born,” indicating my daughter. “No one thought then that I would live to raise my two babies but here I am. I raised my kids, which was all I asked of God back then. But now I’ve even seen my grandsons. God has been good to me all this time. It’s okay. The rest is in His hands.”

I don’t know what anyone thought of my short speech but I’d rehearsed it in my head many times in case this day ever arrived and I meant every word. If the cancer had returned I was ready for whatever lay ahead.

When I saw the oncologist, he confirmed to me that the biopsy revealed the cancer was the primary cancer, ovarian. I was surprised after all the years that had passed but thankful that God had spared me through all those thirty years.

What would come next, I had no clue.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part 13

As I said in my previous post, I’d gone to Dr. Pitt annually for about two years. He, of course, knew my medical history and like most doctors found it intriguing.

On my third visit he said to me, “It’s been almost twenty years since you were first diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I’d really like to go in to check you out. See if we can find out where we’re at now.”

Surgery isn’t one of my favorite things to participate in especially if I’m the one on the operating table. But he convinced me it would be in my best interest to have this exploratory operation. I agreed to go ahead with it, albeit reluctantly. What difference would another scar on my abdomen make, anyway?

We scheduled a date and I went under the knife, again. The difference this time proved to be nothing was removed—or put in for that matter. I’d had so much removed before I wondered sometimes why I wasn’t hollow. (Unfortunately it fills up with fat, wouldn’t you know.)

A day or two after the surgery, still in the hospital but finally coherent, Dr. Pitt came in to talk with me. His demeanor was somber as he said, “I went in hoping to see nothing out of the ordinary but it appears to me there are ‘seeds of cancer’ on your liver.”

“What do you mean, “seeds of cancer?”

“It means there’s the start of something there, I think, but that we shouldn’t do anything right now. Sometimes disturbing it makes it worse. But it needs watching. It doesn’t appear that it’s causing you any problems at this time.”

“No,” I said. “I feel fine, except for the surgery of course. And I’m not going to worry about it Worry doesn’t help or change anything.”

“That’s the spirit, but it does bear watching.”

Over the years I put the matter out of my mind—even the watching part. I’d escaped the “Big C” one more time. What could a few little seeds of cancer do to me anyway? My God is bigger than those.

However, cancer has a way sometimes of coming back and smacking you in the face when you least expect it.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part 12

In 1971 we moved to a small town in eastern Oregon, Enterprise by name—a peaceful little town nestled at the base of the Wallowa Mountains. The mountains were often referred to as the Alps of America. No cardiologist resided in this sleepy little town. A drive of fifty miles west to LaGrande turned out to be the closest place one could be found.

Since we, at this time, had no medical insurance and the job promised to Larry before we moved vanished when we arrived, we were, as they say, broke. Therefore, after we’d been there several months and my medication for the tachycardia ran out I made a decision. The trek to LaGrande was too costly, a visit with a doctor even more, so after talking it over with the Lord I put my life in His hands and trusted Him to take care of my medical needs.

The heart problem gradually decreased till it was no more. I found out, though, that I couldn’t take anything for pain like Excedrin or drink anything with much caffeine. This I could live with.

Then in 1976 we moved on to Missoula, Montana looking for steadier work than could be found in such a small place. One of the first things I did when we arrived in new city was find a doctor, an OB-GYN. This I’d been admonished by the Air Force doctor in Arizona to do and schedule a yearly checkup and make sure it included a Pap smear.

This I did every where we went. I found Dr. Pitts in Missoula and he proved to be good fit for me. He took great interest in my medical history and set out to watch over me. There’s a funny story about my first visit to his office. If you’re a woman you’ve no doubt seen a gynecologist. There you sit in the examining room on the table--with the stirrups—in your rustling paper “gown” and very little else feeling so vulnerable. And there I sat waiting for someone I didn’t know.

The nurse left me there with, “the doctor will be in shortly.” Okay. I sat and stared off into space after I’d checked out the room. Nothing out of the ordinary there, merely the pictures you’d normally find of various female parts and a baby in utero. A knock on the door and the doctor opened it, then stood there clipboard in hand. He looked at the clipboard, looked at me, looked down at the clipboard, looked at me again. He closed the door without entering leaving me wondering what was up.

A few minutes passed then he knocked and re-entered. I’m sure he noticed the questioning look on my face as he said, ”You’re Beverly Luke?”

“Yes.”

“Your patient record says you’re thirty-seven and when I looked in a minute ago I thought you were an eighteen year old girl.”

Astonished I could only chuckle and say, “Really I am thirty-seven.”

After a couple of years on my third visit to him he approached me with an idea he had since my cancer history intrigued him. I’ll write next time about what he proposed to do and the outcome.

An Ordinary Life Touched by an Extraordinary God – Part Eleven

Life went on as it always does, after I came home from the hospital. I took my time and moved a lot slower during this trying time, I’d learned by now that getting stressed, hurried, or even getting excited brought on what I called episodes. I tried each time my heart raced to count the rate but how accurate I was, who knows. I think they were usually over 300 beats per minute. About this time because of my forced inactivity, to my distress, I gained weight. I went up at least two sizes. It took me several years to lose the unwanted pounds and I never went down to my youthful weight but at least found a satisfactory and more healthful weight.

Not too long after my hospital stay—in the Psych Ward of all places—I scheduled a visit with my doctor. Not a psychiatrist (I know what you’re thinking) nor even a cardiologist. Just my regular general MD. He had me lie back on the examining table and when listening to my heart, wonder of wonders, my heart started racing. This was a first. He took my pulse and said, “You really do have a problem.” That was the first time he believed me. Yes, I should have sought out another doctor when this whole thing started. Not sure why I didn’t but he came highly recommended and he was on our insurance plan. I never did like him very much, though.

Finally, I got a diagnosis. He said that I had “idiopathic electro tachycardia” which when translated into plain layman’s language means that the part of my heart that controlled the electric impulse that regulates the heartbeat chose to go crazy periodically resulting in a rapid heart beat. The idiopathic part means, as he explained it to me, that they didn’t have a clue about why it happened. But it could be fatal. “No kidding.” This was back in the early Seventies and not as much was known about this condition. Today it’s called Atrial Fibrillation as well as other similar terms.

My life could finally really return to normal. The doctor prescribed a medication, Inderal, and this kept the problem in check. I found I still needed to keep my caffeine intake down to almost non-existent levels plus there were several over-the-counter pain meds I couldn’t take. None of this bothered me. The relief to have my regular life back made up for any inconvenience. The weight gain did bother me and since that time I’ve had an ongoing struggle with my weight. Anyone who’s ever needed to lose weight knows what a struggle it is. If you could just give up eating completely…sigh. Guess not.

I attribute my still being here, alive and kicking, to my heavenly Father’s intervention. I’ve reached the conclusion that when we’ve finished what he sent us here to do, even if we’re not always sure what that is, then He will take us home—and not a moment before. Our lives truly are in God’s hands. I’m glad about that, aren’t you?