I’ve participated in more than a few “Run for the Cure” distance races. We all hope someday there will be cure to cancer. In her community profile, Precious says beating cancer is not a race; it’s a marathon. There will never be magic pill or silver bullet to eradicate the devastating disease. Here, Precious interviews a close friend and cancer survivor, Luz. Through their discussion, we learn of medical advancements in the treatment of cancer, but in the end, it most always will be a long, slow battle. Look for Precious’s historical analysis of the pink ribbon symbol I see at my race events. It’s there to remind us to keep the faith, courage, strength and growth in our lives. We can all use some of that.
Precious Barrios
Professor Lewenstein
Eng. 1A
November 9, 2017
The Fight against Cancer: The Never Ending Battle
Luz wakes up every morning at three in the morning to prepare lunch for her husband; she then prepares breakfast for her children and gets them ready for school. Once she is back home from dropping them off, she starts to clean up and prepare dinner for her family. This is her daily routine and she never complains, not one bit. When I first met Luz, she instantly became a mother figure in my life. She helped me through some rough times and always made sure I was okay. This is why when I was told she had cancer the first thought that came to mind was how I did not want to lose her and how she did not deserve to go through this. Seeing Luz throughout her cancer battle was difficult, but it made me look up to her even more. Luz is the strongest woman I know and I thank God for bringing her into my life. Even now, Luz is still struggling with the aftermath of cancer, but if she can beat cancer once then she can do anything.
More and more people are beating cancer every day. In the past, when someone was diagnosed with cancer it was like signing them up for their death sentence. This was because they did not have enough resources and knowledge about the disease at the time. But now, with new technology and knowledge more lives are being saved. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are about 15.5 million cancer survivors in the United States now and the number keeps increasing. Unfortunately, there is no definite solution or end point of cancer. Many cancer patients have to deal with breakthrough pain during and after cancer. Breakthrough pain is a sudden pain that “breaks through†the strong medication that is prescribed to cancer patients for pain, which is extremely painful and impacts their quality of life. What do people need to know about a complete recovery? Although many believe after they beat cancer it is all over, many are surprised to find out it is not. You hardly ever hear of all the suffering cancer survivors go through after cancer and how it impacts their life.
Luz is a strong woman, loving mother and a cancer survivor. Luz gave birth to a beautiful daughter and soon after was told she had cancer. Within that same month she went through a long sixteen-hour surgery to remove the cancer cells before reaching her other organs. For a month she had to stay in the hospital and once she could go home she was on bed rest. Luz was not able to enjoy her new born and started to feel as if her baby girl did not even know who she was. Like any other mother this devastated her, but Luz knew in order to be there for her baby she had to beat cancer first. Luz started her chemo treatment after she was heathy enough after the surgery. She had to get blood drawn out every week before getting chemo for an entire year. Her veins became very delicate because of this and it made her treatment a little harder on her. During her cancer battle there was many times where she wanted to give up, but she never did. Every time she felt like she could not go anymore she thought of her family and pushed herself harder through her treatment. Luz won her battle with cancer and so can many others who are going through this.
The article, "Cancer pain part 1: causes and classification" speaks of the importance of understanding the causes and types of cancer pain. Author Chapman S lists four different types of cancer pain such as: acute pain, breakthrough pain, physiological pain, and chronic pain. He describes these pains and lists the causes. Chapman explains how cancer pain effects patient's daily life and many become depressed and suicidal. According to Chapman, understanding the causes and types of cancer pain will help towards the care and ability to bring patients pain relief. It as well helps the nurse's support and help their patients. I too believe understanding all the causes and knowing the types of cancer pains is important to give the patients the best care and relief. How do you expect to help your patients with their pain without knowing everything you possibly can about it? Pain is a big problem that patients must deal with during and after cancer. This pain impacts their quality of life by making it hard for them going to work, performing the simplest tasks and feeling as a burden to others. Understanding the causes and types of cancer pain can help the care/pain relief for many patients and change their lives for the better. It is devastating that many have to deal with this pain throughout and after cancer. If there is a possibility to improve care and pain relief for patients then that is what everyone should do. Chapman states, "Cancer related pain remains a significant problem for patients at all stages of the illness." No one should have to deal with horrible pain daily.
I met with Luz around seven o' clock on a Monday after she had dropped off her kids at school. When I walked in her house I instantly smelled food and felt welcomed. For Luz it is very important for her guest to feel comfortable and have a good meal in their stomach. This is what she told me while we were getting ready to sit and enjoy our nice breakfast, papas con chorizo y frijoles. I thought this was the best opportunity to start asking Luz the questions I had.
I started off with the first question I had, what was the first thought you had when you were told you had cancer? This brought Luz back to the experience and her eyes started to water and she replied, "My first thought was that I was going to die. I was depressed, scared and shocked that something like this would happen to me." Luz was scared for her life but more scared that she was not going to be able to see her kids grow up.
She explained the most difficult part of her experience with cancer and her answer was the recovery after her sixteen-hour surgery. She said she felt like "death" and explained to me how she could not move at all and had a bunch of tubes sticking out of her stomach, "It was horrible." I started to tell Luz of the time I saw her the day she got home from the hospital after her surgery and how I couldn't stand to see her the way she was. She looked very sick and I felt like if I were to touch her she would break into pieces. It made me sad to see a strong woman like her like this and I thought to myself no one should ever have to go through this.
Family was the most important thing to Luz. Luz will do anything for her family and she tries her best every day to do so. Every time she felt like giving up Luz said she would just think of her family and it would motivate her to push herself harder through everything.
She started to tell me about her pains that she started to get after cancer and how it made her sad that her family has been there to witness them. On a scale from one to ten how bad are the pains, She was very clear: "A ten. Worst pain in my life." Luz started to get the pains right after she stopped chemo therapy and they would happen almost every week. All her family, including me started to worry. We would hear her scream her lungs out and we would not know how to help her or what we should do.
I always wondered how those pains felt so I decided this was a good time to ask. Her reply was, "it feels like my life is going to end and at times it hurts so much that I just want my life to end. When I heard this my stomach turned. A strong woman like Luz to say this was crazy to me. No one should ever have to deal with such horrible pains that make you want to end your life. I saw that Luz was started to get emotional again, so I decided I should ask my last question and start helping her put the food away. My last question for Luz was, how did you feel after the cancer? She smiled and replied, I felt blessed, but mija I am not done with cancer. I am still fighting every day and I will be for a very long time."
Dealing with cancer comes with a long, hard battle and recovery, but it is not impossible to overcome. I fully understand the fear of those when they hear the word cancer. In the past, when someone was diagnosed with cancer it was like signing them up for their death sentence. To this day most still think of death when cancer is brought up. However, with new technology and knowledge many lives are being saved. As it was stated in the National Cancer Institute, there are about fifteen point five million cancer survivors in the United States today and the number keeps growing. Unfortunately, after beating cancer many still deal with the effects of this disease. Although cancer does not have a permit end, it still is possible to deal with these effects and overcome them just the way you overcame your cancer battle.
The article "Breakthrough cancer pain is Top Challenge" explains how breakthrough cancer pain impacts quality of life, causes financial hardships and interferes with one's cancer treatment. Breakthrough cancer pain often strikes out of now where and lasts for a good thirty minutes. Breakthrough cancer pain can be triggered by the simplest things such as; walking, coughing, changing positions and sneezing. It as well causes financial hardships because of expensive medication and treatment. Unfortunately, breakthrough cancer pain is something every cancer patient has to go through while and after cancer. There is no proven solution to this problem which is why the author of this article wanted to bring awareness to others. No one should have to deal with this pain on a daily basis and have to accept breakthrough cancer pain as a normal thing.
Did you know that famous pink ribbon started off as being yellow? No one really knows the exact reason why someone chose basic pink, besides all of the other colors to signify the fight against cancer. It might just be a basic pink ribbon to some, but this pink ribbon means many inspirational words such as; faith, courage, strength and growth. This pink ribbon has helped many individuals through their hard battle with cancer and to this day they wear this pink ribbon with pride.
More and more people are beating cancer every day. In the past, when someone was diagnosed with cancer it was like signing them up for their death sentence. This was because they did not have enough resources and knowledge about the disease at the time. But now, with modern technology and knowledge more lives are being saved. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are about 15.5 million cancer survivors in the United States now and the number keeps increasing. My purpose of this essay is to provide hope and information to cancer victims and their families, but as well to inform those that are not aware of cancer. Unfortunately, there is no definite solution or end point of cancer. Many cancer patients must deal with breakthrough pain during and after cancer. Breakthrough pain is a sudden pain that "breaks through" the strong medication that is prescribed to cancer patients for pain, which is extremely painful and impacts their quality of life.
What interested me about my topic was Luz. I saw her struggle through and after cancer and thought it would be a great idea to do my project on cancer. I found that it would be interesting to know about the aftermaths of cancer and to be able to tell Luz's inspirational cancer story. While doing the research for this essay I learned of all the several types of cancer and how many others, besides Luz deal with breakthrough cancer pain. During the writing process I enjoyed working on the interview the most. I enjoyed being able to get information directly from Luz and to be able to share her information with others. At first, it was difficult for me to start my project. I did not know where to begin or what I should start searching. Therefore, I appreciated my teacher posting week by week structures of the assignments, these helped me very much to start and to end my project. Seeing my project all together it makes me feel proud of myself that I could complete it and that it came out great.
"Division of Cancer and Population sciences." National Cancer Institution. Office of Cancer Survivorship, n.d. web. 17 Oct. 2017 https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/ocs/about/contact.html (Links to an external site.)
Leave a Reply