When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43: 2-3a)
As I stood waiting by the dining room window I saw Sam’s car pull into my driveway, the headlights glowing in the dim light of early dawn. He was right on time, as I knew he would be. It was 6:50 am on Monday, January 9, 2011 and my friend, Sam, had come to take me to my first round of chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the Cancer Hospital at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The first appointment was scheduled for 10:30 am, but our goal was to arrive well before 9 am, and we were hoping to get a head start on the rush-hour traffic which would inevitably clog the main artery between Raleigh and Chapel Hill.
UNC Medical Center. The Cancer Hospital is on the right, in front of the water tower.
I was told to expect that my morning appointment, which would be the first of seven weekly chemotherapy treatments, could take as long as three hours, which meant that if it began at 10:30, I probably would not be finished much before 1:30 pm. However, the first of my thirty-three daily radiation treatments was scheduled for 1:45 pm. This window of fifteen minutes did not give me much time to get from the second floor, where infusions are done, down to the lower level where I would receive my radiation treatment. It also left no time for lunch, if I was feeling well enough to eat after chemotherapy.
Furthermore, since most cancer patients at UNC undergo chemotherapy treatments on Mondays, and some patients require more time than others, usually by 10:30 am there are numerous delays and patients sometimes have to wait for thirty minutes or more before they can begin their treatment. Whoever put my schedule together for the day did not allow for such delays. So, Dr. Hayes, my medical oncologist, suggested I arrive about two hours ahead of time so that my blood work could be processed quickly and my treatment could get underway by 9 am. He told me to use his name if anyone questioned why I had arrived so early.
I was nervous about this first day of treatments. I had no idea Continue reading
However, thanks to our friend, Claire, who set up a care calendar for meals, Gil did not have the added responsibility of preparing dinners. Friends from area churches and the school where Gil is employed brought meals to our home, three times a week, beginning the day I returned home from the hospital. This gift of love, offered by more people than I can count, continued through the middle of March 2012.
She complimented me on my appearance (“I can’t believe you look so good so soon after surgery!”) and immediately put me at ease about what lay ahead for me. She told me that as difficult as the treatments were to undergo, she had never felt so close to God; she sensed Him by her side at every moment, full of tenderness, assuring her of His great love for her and that He would never leave her or forsake her. Her testimony was inspiring.
Once the mask had fully hardened around the face, it is ready for use in securing the patient to the pallet for every treatment. In radiation therapy, pinpointing the exact spot to be radiated is essential so that cancer cells are destroyed, but not too much of the surrounding healthy tissue. Therefore, when treating a patient with a head or neck cancer, measures must be taken – such as making sure the patient’s head is immobile – in order to ensure that eyes, ears, spinal cord or brain are not needlessly exposed to radiation. 
Careful For Nothing 