God Is in Control!: Cancer from a Patient/Social Worker Perspective

By Dr. Dennis Frey and Kaye Elliott Leazier

Brain, start working! Anyone who has heard a doctor say, Im sorry, its cancer understands this confusion. It was cancer and it was happening to me. This made it a whole new experience. The emotions were raw, the fear was real, my faith was shaken, and the reality of my own mortality stared me in the face.

Everything seemed to go on as usual, but nothing was normal anymore. I wanted to shout at everyone, Dont you see life has changed? It will never be the same again?

After surgery, I opted for prosthetics and early on was using the fiber-filled breasts. There was only one problem, and it was major! These things were too light. They kept moving up my body and hitting my chin. This was not going to work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449792091

Dr. Dennis Frey

Kaye Leazier has a doctoral degree in biblical studies from Master’s International School of Divinity and is a survivor of breast cancer. She is a licensed social worker in the state of Michigan and also the founder and executive director of God’s Way Guidance (a biblical counseling ministry.) She and her husband reside in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

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Copyright © 2013 Kaye Elliott Leazier.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-9208-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9209-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013907103

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/24/2013

Table of Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

It’s Just A Bump In The Road

Routine Isn’t So Routine Anymore…

So Much Information – So Few Choices

Why Doesn’t Anyone Want To Listen?

This Is My Body, My Life, Me

On Top Of Everything Else, There Is Insurance!

An Uncertain Path

The Problem Is The Tunnel

God Knew Who Joe Would Need

Coming Out Of The Tunnel

Life As Usual Is Not Familiar Anymore

Will I Ever Be Me Again?

End Notes/Explanations:

Scripture References Used Throughout And For Comfort

A What To Do And Do Not Do List For A Patient

A What To Do And Do Not Do List For A Social Worker

Bibliography

Websites:

Foreword by Dennis D. Frey, D.Th., President

Master’s International School of Divinity

Dedication

This book is dedicated first and foremost to:

Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord.

Then to:

Dean H. Elliott, my brother,

(January 3, 1945 – April 12, 2007)

who valiantly fought and lost his own battle with brain cancer as I worked on this project.

and to:

Joseph L. Leazier, my husband,

who went through my battle with me, while fighting his own battle with PTSD.

and finally to:

Dr. Dennis D. Frey, my brother in Christ,

without whose encouragement I would never have completed this.

THANK YOU!

Foreword

Those who serve in the helping professions, whether in counseling, social work or Christian ministry, are universally persons who sincerely care about the needs of others. In their own unique way, these individuals give from an inner resource of sympathy and love. They invest in themselves years of education and training in order to meet the requirements of their chosen field. Beyond that, they polish their skills of insight and discernment in the everyday struggles of real life.

Most of us in the helping professions, while not immune to the difficulties and trauma of those we serve, for the most part study their ordeals from the outside. This makes us professional sympathizers not fellow participants. This is decidedly not the case with Kaye Leazier. She is a fellow participant.

After decades of serving others from the outside, without warning, she found herself in the crucible of a life and death struggle with a woman’s most feared and hated biological enemy…breast cancer. Her personal journey into the tunnel as she calls it provides a rare opportunity to witness the way a care giver reacts when faced with being the care receiver. Her gift to thousands of women who have shared her journey and to the company of wonderful sympathizing women and men who serve in the helping professions is the story of her triumph as told in this book.

Kaye has been to the edge of the abyss, and has survived. However, she has not survived alone. She is a sterling example of what the Apostle Paul was speaking of when he said, I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:12-13 NASV). This is why she says,