10 Lessons from a Cancer Survivor

New York Times Editor Dana Jennings shares his lessons. Among them:

2) Doctors forget to share the gory details. After my prostate was removed, my testicles swelled to the size of shot-puts — bright, red shot-puts — and stayed that way for days. Nobody told me to expect this condition, and only ice brought relief. (Conversely, now that I’m undergoing hormonal therapy, my testicles are shrinking.)

3) Insurance can cause more stress than cancer. The goal of your insurer — no matter how singular or complex your case is — is to try to turn you into a statistical cliché, a cipher, in the face of your very human flesh-and-blood disease. In the months after my diagnosis, as my wife and I struggled to find the right pair of highly-skilled hands to perform my potentially difficult surgery, wrestling with my insurer caused me more grief, stress and depression than my cancer did. In our modern health-care-industrial-complex — and I’m talking about the bureaucrats who try to herd you into the cheapest cattle car available, not the nurses and doctors who are on the front lines — the emphasis is neither on health nor care, but on the bottom line. It’s our job, as patients, to resist with all our strength.

7) Cancer can be a punch line. I learned pretty quickly, with my wife and sons, that the phrase, “I’ve got cancer,” wasn’t a bad punch line — as in: “You take out the dog. I’ve got cancer” or “You answer the phone. I’ve got cancer” or “I ‘call’ the TV to watch ‘Monday Night Football.’ I’ve got cancer.” They’d all roll their eyes, laugh … then go do what I asked.

8) Home remedies are essential to cancer recovery. There is no better post-op therapy on a sweltering July day than a cold glass of lemonade, a transcendent oldie on the CD player — say, “Doggin’ Around” by Jackie Wilson — a stack of comic books at hand (“The Incredible Hulk,” “The Mighty Thor”) and the grace of a funny and compassionate visitor.

The Tan Commandments

At liberalchurch we promote behavior that doesn't hurt but rather supports and encourages the best behavior of others. We don't hold the Ten Commandments over each other like large stone tablets. If liberalpastor ever delivered anything close to a hellfire and brimstone message, we'd likely wonder whether an intervention might be in order because it would be so out of character!

In an effort to support our Wellness Ministry and it's ministry team leader, a woman who identifies as a non-Christian, I thought I'd pass along this website--although it's not made of stone and I'm no Moses--which sets forth the Tan Commandments!

Cancer News

As far as we have come in the struggle to find a cure for cancer as well as improve treatment options, news of a cancer diagnosis still hits hard. So it is with news of Senator Ted Kennedy's brain cancer. The youngest Kennedy brother never had the political flash of his siblings John and Bobby but he became a master legislator in the Senate and a massive progressive political presence in his own right. The prognosis sounds grim. Prayers for him and his family.

Speaking of cancer news, I also noted this morning in the paper the passing of Hamilton Jordan, who died yesterday 22 years after his first diagnosis with cancer. Jordan was Chief of Staff for President Jimmy Carter and the primary strategist behind Carter's 1976 election victory.

I met Jordan at the White House in the spring of 1977 as part of a delegation of Pennsylvania college volunteer coordinators. He made an immediate positive impact on us as we were all there dressed in our Sunday best, ready to meet the President, when into the room walked Hamilton Jordan sporting bell-bottomed jeans, a tee-shirt, and sneakers. We cheered. The President was dressed more "presidential" when he arrived. That very same casual dress and demeanor led an aunt of mine who had just left the White House after working for Nixon and Ford to declare the end of civilization as we know it. She was absolutely repulsed by Jordan and his folksy ways, and none to happy that her nephew was a Carter supporter.

In any case, prayers for the family of Hamilton Jordan as well.