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  • Keep Breathing
    • Keep Breathing: Introduction
    • Part 1
      • Stay Grounded
      • Keep Breathing
      • Gather Information
      • Feel What You Feel
      • Take in Support
      • Pray
      • Practice Surrender
      • Notice Your Reactivity
    • Part 2
      • Realize What Is Happening to You
        Is Happening To Everyone in Your Life
      • Take Inventory
      • Let Go of Shame
      • Extend Grace
      • Show Up
      • Learn Vulnerability
      • Make Amends
      • Stay Present in Times of Waiting
    • Part 3
      • Be Still and Keep Moving
      • Know You Are Not Alone
      • Ask for Healing
      • Seek Guidance
      • Meditate
      • Pursue Peace
      • Acknowledge Death
      • Grieve
    • Part 4
      • Express Gratitude
      • Stay Open to Joy
      • Make Room for Laughter
      • Celebrate Each Day
      • Let Yourself Be Carried
      • Be Who You Are
      • Know That You Are Loved
  • Desperate Hope
    • Shocked by the Diagnosis
    • Responding to Feelings of Fear, Anxiety, and Sadness
    • Ordering Desperate Hope
  • TLC Leader’s Manual
    • Group Leader Resources
      • Introduction to TLC
      • Meeting Format
      • Notes to Group Leaders
      • When a Group Member Dies
    • Strong Feelings
      • Understanding our Feelings
      • The Emotional Roller Coaster
      • Living With Fear
      • Dealing With Depression
      • Living with Anger
      • Grieving Our Losses
      • The Experience of Gratitude
      • Celebration and Joy
      • Experiencing Peace
      • Finding Hope
    • Challenges to Faith
      • Stretching Our Faith
      • Prayer
      • Examining Our View of God
      • Healing Prayer
      • The Lord Is With Us
      • God’s Healing Presence
    • Changing Perspectives
      • The Seasons Of Survival
      • Living Sanely in An Insane World
      • One Day At A Time
      • Positive Thinking
      • Accepting Our Need for Help
      • Building Friendships
      • Perspectives on Treatment
      • Coping With Pain
      • Repairing Our Self Esteem
  • Contact

Perspectives on Treatment

The diagnosis of cancer for some is followed by months or years of chemotherapy. For others it is followed by weeks of radiation. For some, it is followed by both.

Cancer cells are cells that are out of control. Chemotherapy and radiation work by destroying rapidly dividing cells. The problem is, of course, that some healthy cells in our bodies are rapidly dividing cells. Cells such as hair cells and blood cells and the cells that line our mouths and our entire gastrointestinal tract are all rapidly dividing cells that can be effected by the treatment of cancer.

As a result, chemotherapy and radiation treatments can have significant side effects. The primary side effect is that these treatments dramatically drain our energy. We are exhausted as our bodies try to compensate for fewer red blood cells to carry oxygen and as our bodies work overtime to replace those lost cells.

Sometimes chemotherapy and radiation can begin to seem like an enemy. We take the treatment knowing it will make us feel worse. We may begin to associate the treatments with getting sick rather than with getting well. This perspective can cause us to fight psychologically against the very thing we need to regain our health.

It is important in our battle against cancer that we see treatment as our friend. We need to turn around the association between our treatment and feeling ill, and establish an association between our treatment and our health.

Treatment can be seen as a gift from God. It is God’s provision for us. Our treatments are marvelously designed to destroy the cancer cells that we want to be rid of. Sometimes the cancer can be stopped and even eliminated by the treatments we take.

To make the connection between our treatment and our health, there are several things we can do. Some people find it helpful to hang a sign on their mirror or door that says “Chemotherapy is a Good Gift From God.” Others give thanks for their treatment each time they take it, asking God to anoint the treatment with God’s healing power. Others visualize the treatment attacking the cancer cells, gobbling them up or slaying them. Some people do all of those things.

May you see your treatments as a gift. May God use your treatments to bring healing to your body.


Questions for Discussion – Session 1

1. What treatments have you (or your loved one) received for your cancer?

2. What side effects did you experience?

3. What was your emotional response to those side effects?

4. What helps you to see your treatment as a friend rather than an enemy?


Questions for Discussion – Session 2

1. Draw a picture of your treatment attacking the cancer cells.

2. Write a prayer thanking God for your treatment.

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TLC Leader’s Manual

A photocopy-ready version of the TLC Leader's Manual is now available for download. If you are thinking about starting a Cancer Support Group, this might be helpful!

PDF version

MSWord version

Quote of the moment

"I think the reason we sometimes experience joy after the expression of gratitude and grief is that expressions of gratitude and expressions of grief both ground us in the truth and open our hearts. Gratitude and grief are both vulnerable states. They are states of grace. They are moments when we let down our defenses a bit, when we soften, when we are receptive to God’s tender mercies in ways that might not be possible in the more ordinary moments of life."
Juanita Ryan

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