Some years of going through treatments for incurable cancer are tougher than others, but the Bible has some valuable lessons to teach us about persevering through the trials. In 2015 I had surgery to remove a malignant tumor on my left arm followed my 30 radiation sessions to decrease the chance the tumor would come back in that location. Unfortunately, this time the radiation started a chain of bad news events that would last for 18 months. My resolve to persevere through the bad to see God’s hand at work for the good was about to be seriously challenged.
The previous radiation treatment on my leg in 2011 had gone well, and I was going back to the same radiation oncologist at a local facility to get treatment now, so I had no worries about the results being any different than before. This time, however, I began to experience problems at the radiation site. It started as a rash, then blistering, which progressed into a second-degree burn. Radiation will continue to “cook” at the targeted site for weeks or months after treatment stops, so the worst of this burn occurred after the treatments had ended, but, as I was to learn later from my oncologist team at U of M, there was sufficient evidence of where this was headed that treatment should have been suspended before it got to this point. My forearm was now one huge blister, which then broke, followed by all the outer layer of skin falling off, with intense pain and a dangerous exposure of dermis that could lead to serious infection. The burn wasn’t the worst result of the radiation. After it healed, I noticed the swelling continued to increase, and it was diagnosed as lymphedema.
I received treatment for my left arm at a local healthcare facility, and I carefully followed my treatment regimen of wrapping my arm from fingertips to arm pit in 7 layers of bandages for 18 months. To me, the good that came out of this bad event was more than the eventual, and unexpected healing, it was in seeing how perseverance in the face of adversity can yield a harvest for the good when blessed by God. In addition, one of the good things that God brought out of the trials related to my disease was an increase of empathy for others going through similar trials. This was an essential lesson that was going to be put to use in many future encounters I would have with fellow patients in chance encounters in waiting rooms and common spaces over the next years.
