Cancer from Both Sides Now … a Journey of Faith: A Unique Perspective on God’S Healing Power … from a Cancer Patient and a Cancer Nurse

By Marcia L. Kiser

This book is a spiritual and clinical guide from a faith perspective. It is designed to encourage anyone enduring cancer treatments and its debilitating side effectsor anyone with a terminal illnessto always maintain their faith in Gods healing powers and know that there is always faith, hope, and love if we simply are patient, look upward, and seek Gods divine guidance. Mrs. Kiser describes her rollercoaster ride as she experiences her cancer and radiation therapy. Although she has her world torn inside out and upside down by fear and doubt, she witnesses the healing power and strength that comes from slowing down in life, taking one day at a time, and listening to God as He speaks to us in many different ways to help us cope with our illness and find a road to recovery through a journey of faith. Mrs. Kisers background in psychology, counseling, and courses in death and dying can inspire anyone to face the stages of dying as a normal human process and still find courage and victory in living each day to the fullest. Mrs. Kiser is more than qualified to offer this guidance because she is not only an oncology nurse with many years of experience, but she is also a cancer patient herself who shares her own life experiences in the hope of inspiring others to a better and fuller quality of lifedespite the odds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490847450

Marcia L. Kiser

Marcia Kiser holds an RN in nursing and has been a certified oncology nurse for forty-two years. She also holds a BA and an MA in psychology and counseling from ECU in Greenville, North Carolina. She has completed postgraduate courses in death and dying and gerontology from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her husband of forty-five years is a retired mathematics professor.

Book preview

Cancer from Both Sides Now… A Journey of Faith

A Unique Perspective on God’s Healing Power … From a Cancer Patient and a Cancer Nurse

Marcia L. Kiser

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Copyright © 2014 Marcia L. Kiser And Lee Kiser.

All Rights Reserved. No Part Of This Book May Be Used Or Reproduced By Any Means, Graphic, Electronic, Or Mechanical, Including Photocopying, Recording, Taping Or By Any Information Storage Retrieval System Without The Written Permission Of The Publisher Except In The Case Of Brief Quotations Embodied In Critical Articles And Reviews.

Scriptures Taken From The Holy Bible, New International Version®, Niv®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 By Biblica, Inc.™ Used By Permission Of Zondervan. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Www.zondervan.com The Niv And New International Version Are Trademarks Registered In The United States Patent And Trademark Office By Biblica, Inc.™ All Rights Reserved.

Scripture Taken From The King James Version Of The Bible.

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Isbn: 978-1-4908-4744-3 (Sc)

Isbn: 978-1-4908-4745-0 (E)

Library Of Congress Control Number: 2014914048

Westbow Press Rev. Date: 9/4/2014

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1     The Diagnosis Are You Sure?

Chapter 2     The Anger, Hurt, Denial The OutofControl Spiral

Chapter 3     The Friendship Connection—Friends Are Forever

Chapter 4     The Prayer Connection—How God Reaches Out To All of Us—if Only We Would Listen

Chapter 5     What Connection does Suffering Have in Our Lives?

Chapter 6     Regaining ControlWhere Do We go From Here?

Chapter 7     Regaining ControlWhere Do we go From Here?

Chapter 8     The Journey Continues with Unexpected Events

Chapter 9     Is Healing Really Possible?

Chapter 10   Is Peace Attainable in this Life Living with Cancer?

Chapter 11   The Spouse’s Point of ViewWhat’s It Like for Them?

Chapter 12   Being Strong for the Long Haul

Epilogue

Biography

Bibliography

Glossary of Terms

Forward

No matter where cancer strikes, the human being suffers in mind, body, and spirit. Medical treatment whether on target or trial and error, is ingrained in our way of life. Marcia Kiser is coming from a life-long professional world of an oncologist RN helping the very group of people where she finds herself today. Her message is one of hope and faith in knowing and believing that God Almighty is the Supreme Director of this journey. She is in God’s hands, purely and simply. This path offers His strength on this walk, and more love than we can imagine.

Roberta Castillo, RES,RSPS, ICREA, SFR, Director of Eucharistic Ministers, St. Peter Catholic Church

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my little cat Nicky, my beloved furry companion and friend of 17 years, who was always with me on this journey, encouraging me with a lick of his tongue and the warmth of his body. Sadly, he died before my journey ended but he will always have a big part of my soul and I will long for the moment in Heaven when we can be together again.

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Special Thanks

I would like to take time to extend my deepest gratitude to our Heavenly Father, who gave me life and salvation, and to His Son -–Jesus Christ, to whom I owe my all. Without Their spiritual guidance,grace, and unconditional love, my faith would never have become strong enough to write this book.

I would like to thank my husband Lee, who has been my inspiration and stronghold throughout this cancer and faith journey (not to mention my heartfelt love to him for editing the book). Secondly, I would like to thank my Holy Trinity (Father Tony Mullane, Father Jim Vick, and Father Peter Scott), without whom I would never have completed the transformation of my faith. Thirdly, I would like to thank the faithful members of St. Peter’s Choir, the Eucharistic ministers and lay readers, as well as the congregation of St. Peter Church, who prayed without ceasing for me throughout this journey. And last, but not least, I would like to thank our good and faithful friends– Roberta Castillo, Joe and Jeanne Stem, and Sandy and Tom Glynn, who called almost every day to see what road the journey was now taking. And to those whom I may not have mentioned, please realize that I know who you are in my heart and I love you deeply. And to my readers, I hope you enjoy the book and that it will strengthen your faith and inspire you to never give up the fight to obtain healing.

Love and Peace, Marcia L. Kiser

Prologue

Before you put this book back on the shelf thinking, Oh no, not another self –help book!, please give me the benefit of a doubt and just read a little further. Let me introduce myself. I am a 63 year old female and a registered oncology (cancer) nurse by profession for forty plus years, and I hold a of bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling. Okay, you say—so What? Well, I always thought of myself as a healthy, caring person—always attending to the needs of others—never myself! But something changed the entire direction of my life—CANCER—the big C.

I chose to write this book because I thought it could benefit others who either have cancer or have a family member or friend with cancer by sharing my experiences as both a cancer patient and a cancer nurse –a view of my life FROM BOTH SIDES NOW—as the song goes. Cancer is a life-changing experience that turns your world upside down and inside out—not to mention trying your faith! This book is a personal journey based on my 40 plus years of working with cancer patients and my own journey in faith as I received my own diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Can a person go through this disease and its complications alone? Any of those who say they can, are either saints or patients who are not being honest with themselves. In my experience, it is much harder to admit you need help and then accept help, than it is to say I can do this by myself—I don’t need help of any kind!

So don’t put this book back just yet—give it a chance. It is a personalization of a cancer patient and cancer nurse’s journey through chemotherapy and radiation therapy and all the emotional/ psychological, spiritual, and physical aspects of cancer. It is my sincere hope and prayer that this book will be a helpful guide for people of all faiths who may be suffering from cancer or any other life-altering disease now or anytime in the future. Even though I am Catholic and thought I had a strong faith, cancer totally changed the way I looked at life and gave me a greater understanding of how to live life and love others more deeply.

May God bless and keep you in His love now and always!

-Chapter One-

The Diagnosis- Are You Sure?

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23)

In December of 2012, my husband and I had great Christmas anticipation, working in St. Peter Catholic Church in the Florida Keys. We looked forward to gatherings with friends, parties, and a glorious season for us all. It was a joyful time of year with Christ’s birth; however, my holiday anticipation was all turned upside down and inside out around December 18th. One night after bathing, I felt an unusual growth in my perineal area. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a polyp and I didn’t give it much thought. Next day, I called and made an appointment with my GYN (gynecologist). My husband and I were worried but not overly concerned. After all, polyps can occur anytime and can easily be removed in the doctor’s office we thought. The GYN doctor attempted to put me at ease, sensing my anxiety, by showing me pictures of his son on his i-phone, making funny faces. Needless to say, this distraction did not help. During the examination, the doctor told me it looked like a polyp, and he proceeded to do what we thought was a biopsy. It turned out that it was only a pap smear scraping from the mass. Okay. He sent the tissue sample to a lab and said because of the holidays it might take a few days. Imagine my fear as each day passed. What was it? Why is it taking so long? I made numerous calls over the weeks, probably every other day to be specific, to the doctor and the lab, but to no avail. Well, three weeks later, after much worry and anxiety, the results came back— (atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance). The office called and said, Now, you need a biopsy. I was puzzled by this request, since I thought they had done a biopsy during the first office visit. Needless to say, by this time, the holidays had passed and I decided to return home to Central Florida where I wanted to see another GYN doctor that I knew personally. So home we