|
Welcome to all of you!
My name is Marcia or Marcie and I’m a cancer patient.
Specifically, I have lung cancer, or non-small cell
carcinoma that has now metastasized, so I’m now a stage
4 cancer patient. This is the worst stage, which range
from stage 1 to 4 in general, but there are “a” and “b”
levels to at least some stages, because I was a stage 3b
when I was first diagnosed in August 2002. At that time
they estimated I had been carrying my tumor around for
at least five years, and it was about 5-1/2 centimeters
in size. It was so large, in fact, that they made me
wait three months before they’d give a final diagnosis.
It was so large they were sure it was not cancer, and
because of the location they didn’t want to try a needle
biopsy at that time.
I had been having bizarre,
very strong allergic reactions and sinus infections that
came from allergy attacks
that suddenly went "bonkers" for about six years, and they came so
often I was having a terrible time
continuing to work full time. Prior
to that I was a pretty healthy person. However, even
though I was a smoker, because my lungs sounded so good,
none of the FIVE
doctors I saw during
those six years even
suggested taking a chest X-Ray! (There’s a warning
here, demand a chest X-Ray often!)
The only
reason it was finally done was because they were getting
me ready for some unrelated surgery (that I’ve never
been able to have). They confirmed
my diagnosis in
December 2002, I sought a second opinion
immediately, and began
chemotherapy treatments in January 2003 in Fairbanks,
Alaska. Surgery was planned
after treating with chemotherapy for a few months to
reduce the size of the cancer, but it never happened,
and it was decided it could not be done in my case.
Thus began my journey through the land of cancer
patients. I didn’t know it then, because I didn’t ask,
but I guess I was supposed to die sometime that year,
and was shocked after we moved at the end of 2003 from
Alaska to Oregon, when my new Oncologist said I’d already
outlived my life expectancy!
The reason I didn’t ask about my chances, or statistics,
or anything else like that about my condition,
at any time, is because
I have a strong faith in God, and I’ve been a Christian
for a number of years now, thank you Lord! I believe
I will not draw one breath beyond the moment God
decides it is time for me to leave this earthly life. I
believe no one does. We really do not have control of
our lives; it is all just a “perceived” control. I
believe that this cancer is part of God’s plan for my
life, and He took care to prepare me to withstand it
well. First, I can see that
things that happened all through my life came about in
preparation for this time. Then, when it was time He led me to His light
and He gave me a
wonderful man to be my husband and caregiver, one who is
a strong Christian and very knowledgeable and well
trained in it, so he could provide the help I would need
in most matters. I think He went far beyond that in
preparing me for this, but these are
some of the important
ways in which He prepared me. I also believe, however,
that it is up to me to improve my “quality of life” as
much as I can while the Lord bestows it upon me.
Now that the technical stuff about me is out of the way,
I’d like to say a few words to all of you about why I am
putting this information on my website. The main reason
I’m doing so is to tell all of you the following, and
I’m going to set it off, because it is so very important
for you to know.
No matter what your diagnosis is, no matter what the
doctors have told you with regard to your case, or what
the results of treatment will be, or how ill you are, or
what your life expectancy is, There is hope for
you to survive much longer than believed, or to even be
cured.
I know this to be true, and there are cases of this in
every type of cancer, no matter how dismal recovery
rates are for some cancers. You see, when a doctor gives you a
prognosis, he is telling you what his best estimate is,
according to “the norm” for your kind of cancer, your
specific case information, your age, etc. It is
all still just an estimate. For one thing, it is most
likely that you will not even know this doctor
very well at this time, so there are a lot of things
that can’t go into his equation. He doesn’t know how
strong your will to live is; he doesn’t know about your
faith, if you have it. He also doesn’t know about
whatever support group you have, or
what kind of inner strength
you have – what I call “stubbornness,” in me.
The way in which you accept what is happening to you,
the way in which you deal with the stress it will bring
(as well as other stress you might be
under), the way you work to “help”
whatever treatment you are having, all of these things
can play an extremely important part in your
recovery.
Most of us are not very knowledgeable about cancer. It
is such a scary thing that we avoid
learning about it, or being around it
unless it is forced on us… I have relatives
that have always avoided it like it was the plague,
because it was so scary. This is NOT good. Fear sets
in with diagnosis and that can completely immobilize
you, as well as hamper any treatment you are getting,
and you cannot move forward with recovery until you get
yourself into the proper frame of mind, and gird
yourself for the battle of your life, for it IS your
life you’ll be battling for. I am a research-oriented
person, but at first I did no research beyond finding
things to help for specific side effects I was having.
As time went on, however, I began doing research on
other aspects of this illness, and have amassed a good deal of helpful
information over time.
I have a wide range of friends in many parts of the
world, because of my work previous to having cancer, and
many wanted to keep informed of my condition after I was
diagnosed. This led to my
keeping of an online journal. The
first few months I didn’t keep the copies, but since
early in 2003 all my journal entries that give
blow-by-blow descriptions of my treatment,
and problems and how they affected my
life can be
found in my Journal pages. If you go to the
Journal Index you’ll
find them listed.
Also during this last four years, because I had
information online, quite a number of cancer patients
sought me out and came to me with requests for
information and help with their treatment, their stress,
or other matters that affected them. There were also
people who had not gone to doctors because they feared
what they would find out, and relatives of those who had
cancer. Actually, some of them I didn’t hear from until
after they had conquered their cancer, and they then
came to me to tell me how my encouragement, and openness
in telling about my struggle with it, had helped them.
In fact, I’ve had people come from as far as
Massachusetts to thank me in person! It has been quite
humbling, and I believe the Lord has brought this about
to show me that this work is in fact, of help to others,
so I’m now working to put more of it online to share
with everyone.
Another thing I’d like to address is the subject of
“courage” and “bravery” with regard to me. These terms
and others like them made me uncomfortable, and it took
some time and prayer to sort it all out in my mind, but
here is what I finally concluded, because I knew
I was not brave or courageous. If you knew me well you
would know that I’m an absolutely terrible scaredy-cat
and probably the world’s worst worry-wart. How I ended
up with “Mr. Adventure” as my husband I’ll never know,
but I am scared most of the time.
What it is that keeps me going is first and foremost, my
strong faith and dedicated husband, and second is that
stubbornness I mentioned before. I am not ready to give
up on life. Each day, each hour, each moment is now
lived with much more meaning than ever before. Not that
I believe I have any choice in the matter. I don’t
know, as none of us does, what is in God’s plan for our
lives. I do believe that I have some control over the
quality of my life while I have it, and it is in this
area that I have been working this last year, and have
had some pretty spectacular results from some very
simple changes to my lifestyle that will be of help to
everyone, whether you have cancer or not.
Well, as usual this opening for this section is
lengthier than I thought it would or should be, but it
is all important information you need to know. What you
will find on succeeding pages is practical, useful
information that is included to help you in a number of
ways, and this section will grow as I can get more pages
ready and added to these.
Please check them all out, as they are all based on
actual experience or come from reliable health sources
such as Mayo Clinic, American Cancer Society, etc.
The suggestions on these pages have been used, and most of all, THEY
CAN WORK!
My Cancer Help Pages
Copyright
© 2006 All rights reserved
James & Marcia Foley
Page Created December 9,
2006
Page Design and
Graphics:
|