May 13, 2013
Just as I
was preparing to leave my mother’s home on my way back to San Diego two weeks
ago, Mother said she wanted to give me one more thing. It was her picture taken
just a few weeks earlier for her church directory. I’m sharing it with you. You
would never guess looking at it that Mother is now 91 and a half years old. She
is amazing! What a blessing she is to her extended family. She has her health
challenges, but in many ways is in better health, and has a much sharper mind,
than me. Happy Mother’s Day (plus one)! I love you
This week
marks a major milestone in my life. It was May 15, 2008 I heard the results of
my biopsy – “Mr. Jenkins, you have CANCER”. I guess that makes me a 5-year
survivor. I owe so much to many people, especially Dr. Charles Kossman, my
oncologist who has become a dear friend. Plato said, “The greatest mistake in
the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and
physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated.” I could not
have asked for better physical and spiritual care from Dr. Kossman and Dr.
Frank Gaylis, urologist, who continue to care for and encourage me physically
and spiritually.
Of course
Anita is my biggest support. And most of all, I thank God for His gracious
healing.
I’ve
learned many lessons in the past five years, particularly that every day is too
precious to waste on worry and fear. But one of the best lessons came while
undergoing follow-up radiation treatments after prostate cancer surgery. In this
tenth year of the E-Vangel Newsletter, I have shared a few Pastorgraphs from
days gone by. This one is from January 2009 as I completed adjunctive radiation
therapy.
Pastorgraphs: “Survivor – (A Rerun)”
January 27,
2009
He is
speech impaired, so I didn't get his name. Over the past weeks, we have become
pals. I almost said we have become "friends", but I am probably
guilty of calling everyone my friend, which diminishes those time-tested true
friendships that are in fact special and life-enriching. Hope that means I just
like people...and easily identify people as friends, or pals.
We have
been meeting daily at 8:00 AM in Dr. Sharazi's waiting room for our
back-to-back radiology treatments.
Our first
encounter did not get off to a good start. I spoke to him and his wife (small
talk) but they did not respond. Awkward, I thought. No, downright rude! Then I
realized they are both hearing and speech impaired. I was ashamed of thinking
they ignored me. So I resorted to a friendly hand wave as we met and left each
day. He has a very pleasant smile.
The past
couple weeks, we began communicating more with sign language. Since I do not
know official hand signals, it was very primitive, but effective communication.
We learned two people can overcome any obstacle if they work at it.
Last
Thursday, my pal came in after I did. He sat down, waved to me, and smiled.
Then he held up four fingers. He counted them off. One, he communicated, was
for that day's treatment (since he pointed back to the treatment room). Then he
slowly counted off the three remaining treatments.
So I asked,
"You only have four treatments left?" He must be a good lip reader as
he smiled and nodded his head "yes". I said, "Me too," holding
up four fingers. Then he held up nine fingers, signifying he was completing a
nine week regiment (45 treatments). I held up seven fingers for seven weeks, or
35 treatments.
Today, my
pal and I graduated from our first-hand course in radiation. I had one more
message for him. Pointing to myself, I folded my hands in prayer, and pointed
to him and his wife. My simple way of saying, "I will be praying for
you." And then in the universal language, I gave my pal a hug. I wanted to
say, "I love you!" His reply was one more hand gesture: a thumbs up,
which spoke to me; "We are going to be OK".
Neither my
pal nor I wanted to join this club, but we have learned there are some
wonderful members wearing the blue ribbon, if we just take the time to get to
know each other. We learned another thing: Men, who don't communicate about
much (especially asking for directions when we are lost, much less about
something as private as PROSTATE cancer) can and must communicate as freely as
women do about their health issues.
One in six
men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. One in 35 men die of prostate
cancer. Next to skin cancer, it is the most common cancer among men. My pal and
I are in the club, and we set off today on a new journey: treatment
completed...life as a cancer SURVIVOR begun.
Devotedly, Bill
Jenkins, cancer survivor, 9 months.
(Now, make
that: cancer survivor, 5 years!)
Doxology!
From the
Quote Garden:
“Cancer is a journey, but you walk
the road alone. There are many places to stop along the way and get
nourishment - you just have to be willing to take it.”
~ Emily Hollenberg ~
In case you
didn’t see this on Facebook, I had a power lunch with my main man, Jacob, last
Tuesday. We solved several major world problems. We obviously had a great visit.
Jacob’s mom, Tiffani Tran Chuck, is one of my former SDSU students and later
valued technology colleague. I am so proud of Tiffani, the consummate
successful professional with a major company now living in Houston, TX. Would
like to say I taught her everything she knows, but truth is, I learned far more
from her.
Thanks
Tiffani for taking time to see me on your trips back to San Diego, and
especially for taking this picture. I love it! Love to you and Santiago and
Jacob.
And I
almost forgot, Jacob is expecting a little sister in a few months…so more
pictures to follow.
Christ United Methodist Ministry
Center
“Christ in the Heart of San Diego”
3295
Meade Avenue - San Diego, CA 92116 - (619) 284-9205
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