Today marks the three-year anniversary my wife, Sherri, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. Like the proverbial ton of bricks, those words fell on us that afternoon with stunning force. Life changed.
“You will need to begin chemotherapy treatment immediately,” the doctor said. “The cancer has spread to your liver.” That was 43 treatments ago.
Systemic treatment for cancer by chemotherapy involves many things.
First, you have a medical port (medi-port) installed in your upper chest to receive the chemicals during every treatment. Even when the port is unused, it must be flushed about every three weeks, requiring a trip to the doctor.
Then there are the treatments themselves. Treatment rooms vary by hospital. Some are larger rooms with many “chairs” that recline, with people of various kinds and levels of cancer flanking you in your chair. Others provide a bevy of small, private rooms, a dozen or so, in the “treatment area.” Either way, walking into one of those rooms the first time is a frightening experience. “This can’t be happening to me” plays through your mind like a broken record.
Before each treatment, you always have blood work. These past three years Sherri has had enough blood drawn to satisfy a vampire family of four for months on end.
Depending on the chemical mixture, called a “cocktail,” prescribed for your brand of cancer, your time in a treatment room usually ranges from one to as much as 7 or 8 hours. In Sherri’s case, in the first two years, we could always count on about 5 hours. In more recent months, 2 to 3 hours just about covers it.
Sometimes you can have various reactions to chemo while receiving it, ranging from mild to serious. An itching, burning sensation . . . pain in your lower back or spine area . . . headaches . . . nausea . . . . After all, a chemo treatment is essentially putting poison in your body to attack the cancer cells . . . but it’s not a walk in the park for your good cells either.
Following treatment, you get to wear a portable chemo “pump” home with you (remember “fanny packs”?). This pump dispenses controlled chemo into your system for 48 hours, through a tube attached to your medi-port, completing your treatment for that round. Once the pump is empty, you get to make another trip to the doctor’s office to have the needle in your port and the pump removed.
Twelve days later you get to repeat the process . . . again . . . and again . . . and again.
Then there are the surgeries. Sherri had four; three in the first year of treatment. There was colon surgery to remove the parent tumor, followed by liver surgery to resect tumors in the liver. Then there was surgery to insert a hepatic pump beneath the skin on top of the liver to inject chemo directly into the organ as a precautionary measure to attempt to stop the return of cancer. This pump had to be loaded with chemo every two weeks . . . more trips to the doctor’s office. (It was removed the following year when the cancer spread from her liver to her lungs.)
Oh yes, don’t forget the scans: CT scans . . . PET scans . . . MRI scans (claustrophobics beware!) . . . initial scans . . . subsequent scans . . . routine scans to monitor the progress of the disease . . . each one requiring trips to the hospital, waiting rooms, waiting and more waiting, . . . encounters with lots of people wearing white lab coats.
Yet all this is just the beginning of sorrows. Fatigue. You can’t imagine how this stuff saps your energy. You learn how to live with almost chronic fatigue.
Little by little after three or four treatments during her second cycle of chemo, Sherri endured the indignity of watching her hair (a woman’s glory) fall out, first in strands, then in clumps. She added two wigs and a number of head scarfs to her wardrobe to cover her cue ball head.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
One night we were cuddled on the couch watching TV, when Sherri suddenly looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said: “I don’t know who I am anymore. Look at me. I have cancer. My body has been scarred with surgeries. I’ve got a port in my chest and a pump on my liver. My hair is gone. I’m tired all the time. I don’t even feel like a person anymore. I feel like I’ve lost my identity.”
I don’t know why, but in that moment my mind raced to a line from a movie. (Throughout the 36 years of our marriage, Sherri and I will sometimes respond in conversation with a line from a movie. It’s just a fun thing we do).
“You still Lieutenant Dan!” I said.
Of course that is one of the famous lines from the movie Forrest Gump. Lieutenant Dan Taylor was badly wounded in Vietnam. Tom Hanks’ character, Forrest Gump, carried him out of the jungle safely to the extraction point. But Lieutenant Dan lost both of his legs. Lying in the hospital in a bed beside Forrest, who also had been wounded, Lieutenant Dan jerked Forrest from his bed to the floor and castigated him for saving his life.
“Look at me. I’m a cripple. I was supposed to die on the battlefield with honor. That was my destiny. I was Lieutenant Dan Taylor.” After a pause, Forrest says: “. . . You still Lieutenant Dan.”
For a moment I just looked at Sherri. Then she smiled and said: “That’s right! I am! I’m still Lieutenant Dan!”
We talked about who we are in Christ, and how no matter what comes our way, our identity is in Him. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outward self is wasting away, the inner self is being renewed day by day,” Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16. “This present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
So, for all of you who are suffering, whether its cancer or something else that ravages your body, remember . . . “You still Lieutenant Dan!”
Thanks … I pray for Sherri often, realizing as much as one can without being the patient, the difficulties that come with cancer. She is a trooper.
Happy Anniversary! Thanks for sharing & reminding us of our identify through Christ.
You two are a blessing! What an
encouragement !
Thank you for letting God’s love shine
through you !
Keep Looking Up !
Karen
Thank you for sharing David. We love you two and are praying for you and your sweet wife. This is a very difficult thing for a family to go through, but we have no way of knowing what Sherri is really going through. We are praying for Sherri’s strength and healing.
We are sitting at Frank’s dad’s bedside now (for 2 weeks) waiting for the Lord to call him home. He will be 94 on the 14th. He has served the Lord for many years; a strong, loving and generous man. Physically he is not the happy man we have known and loved. It is hard to let him go, but it is even harder to see him suffering. We just thank the Lord for our blessed hope in Christ Jesus. He has a plan and we must wait patiently to see it unfold and learn the lessons He has for us now.
Wow! What a great reminder!
Thanks for sharing, we think and speak of you often.
Earl Hammons
You are such an encouragement to us.
I am so sorry to hear about this, David and Sherri. Our hearts ache for you. We will pray for a miracle. May you continually be reassured that God is in control.
David: Linda and I pray for you, Sherri, and all your family on a regular basis. Also, your entire family is on our church’s prayer list, and many of our people look forward to the updates from either you or Sherri. Thank you for your transparency. Linda has been recuperating from a total knee replacement on August 4th; I am her caretaker, and don’t do a very good job of it! You are my inspiration. God bless you,
Harold
My husband and I were wondering just the other day how your wife was doing. Love this post. Just feel the great love you two share! Praying for you both as you continue the battle! Praying for healing!
“We do not make requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy.” Daniel 9:17(b)
My heart goes out to you both. Such a precious couple. May God continue to be your strength and refuge in this present time of trouble. May you know the peace that surpasses all understanding. You are both an inspiration. Prayers raised to our Father on your behalf. Much love in Christ. Thank you again Sherri for letting Lakeland “borrow” your husband these past months.
Amen. Thank you for sharing this. Prayed for you and Sherri this morning. May our Lord continue to give you both strength and continue to use your trial to display His glory through you.
We love you guys and will be praying for both of you!
“Baby stepping… on to the Elevator”.
Your courage is a sweet smelling aroma…of Life.
Ohhh, David, how much we love yall, and I do not like the things we sometimes have to go through this side of Heaven, and I do wish for this world to bring about healing and wellness and all things good, but we know in all things that one day it will all be made right. Looking forward to THAT DAY and knowing that the ANCHOR DID HOLD.
Dr. Allen what a great blog! The title caught my eye as I am a HUGE Forrest Gump fan. I am humbled to be in the great number who receive Sherri’s emails. The Lord using her even on her sick bed. Each letter comes at a perfect time to edify my soul as you have done today. May our Lord continue to keep you in perfect peace. I will continue to lift your family up in prayer and will never forget your insightful words whenever I see this scene in the future.
I am so sorry tohear of your loss. Imagine my shock when two hours after I posted above to find out that Sherri has gone on before us see our Savior. She was an amazing lady. I considered her a pen pal as we only met a SBC years ago. I will always remember her living and even dying well for Christ! Bless you and your family!
I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Imagine my shock when two hours after I posted above to find out that Sherri has gone on before us see our Savior. She was an amazing lady. I considered her a pen pal as we only met a SBC years ago. I will always remember her living and even dying well for Christ! Bless you and your family!