A Lens Unfocused &

Narrowed
 Cancer
 is a disease that has deep spiritual,
emotional & cultural implications
 for other people cancer is perceived as
dirty & invasive, ravaging the body &
distorting the spirit
 For most people: diagnosis of cancer is a
DEATH SENTENCE
 other even concerned about its
‘contagiousness’
 Cancer is an insidious, slowly progressive
disease
The course of cancer is crisis ridden, its
jogs & turns are sudden & its effects are
visible
 FACT
Many people live their lives as though
nothing is serious is ever going to happen.
“This life is ours to hold and to keep”.
Ministers may still be harboring illusions
about our own lives that separates from
the world of the cancer patients.
 Coping resources from
comments of some cancer
patients
• Do not expect too much

• The patient together with the family has

developed a coping mechanism in the past
• Do not try to talk to them too soon
• Sometimes the patients wants to escape
from us (ministers)

• Do not try to do too much

• Respect uniqueness of religious history

• Do not talk down to them

• Be flexible
The ministry must be:
Flexible, supportive, other
times confrontational:
individualized, respecting the
unique needs and varying moods
of each cancer patients.
 Recurrence of
Cancer
•The return of the signs and
symptom of a disease after
remission.
•The reappearance of the cancer
cells at the same or different site.
• A devastating experience
• It shatters one’s confidence in
treatment; it actualizes one’s
worst fears.
• Many of the feelings
encountered in the detection
phase resurface, sometimes
with even more intensity.
Recurrence phase:
• A phase that is very difficult for the
professional to fully empathize with the
cancer patients.
• There is a chasm that is difficult to
span.
• It is difficult, at times to accept the
regression, rage, cynicism, the fear and
the futility that are often expressed
• Difficult though it maybe,
it is extremely important
that those ministering to
cancer patients be secure
in accepting their own
limits and finiteness.
• This is not easy to do
when one’s own life is
filled with buoyancy,
energy, and power
• The wide contrast in mood,
outlook, and situation in life
between cancer and non-
cancer persons can make
communication between
them strained.
DYING
VISION NARROWED AND
SHARPENED
• Focus on living is sharpened
• Many patients begin a process
of purging and refining
• A process that is fraught with religious
dimensions
• A process all persons ought to engage but
few actually do
• The patient is virtually compelled by that
situation to a narrow and sharpened focus
• No longer has time or stamina
• Potential losses and gains in one who is
dying of cancer, as one is surrendering life,
living may take on a deeper and sharper
focus
 CANCER UNDER
CONTROL: Renewed
Clarity
Incidence of cancer increases
Fears and myths deepen
Treatment modalities
-when remission occurs, it usually induces
hope mingled with apprehension. It is
during this time that hope is reevaluated.
 Levels of hope:
• Hope for cure
• Hope for more time
• Hope for relief from suffering
• Hope that one can still
accomplish some personal goals.
 Patients in remission
 will resume the tasks of life with
renewed vigor. It almost suggest that if
one can busily engage the tasks of life
then one is WELL. Vigorous activity is
associated with HEALTH.
 Approach those tasks with a new
perspectives.
 Some alter their life’s goal.
Some experience a serenity
that comes from a
reappraisal of values and
goals.
Feel they are living in a
borrowed time.
Some push down on
accelerator.
the deeper meanings in life are
more sharply focused even
though the course of their
disease remains undetermined.
It is indeed a beautiful irony to
feel inner serenity and
composure while one’s external
life is fraught with uncertainty.
Pastoral Care
to Cancer
Patient
• Understand how the individual perceives
the crisis
- Understand that there is direct relationship
between perception & coping
- What does it mean for this person to have
cancer
• Know the coping capacities of the patient
- What are the strengths & resources?
- How this person habitually coped with similar
loses?
- Can those coping mechanisms be useful?
- Who are the significant person in his life?
• Help the person to respond in as
meaningful, responsible & creative way
as possible
- Help patient identify assess options
- What choices does he have, now & in the
near future?
• Facilitate the process & support the
individual’s capacity & right to choose
& supporting his decision
- Continuation or modification of
treatment
Others have to do with job, family,
lifestyle changes
- Having intense relationship with God
Help cancer patient & families realize
that their intense emotions are
appropriate vehicles of communication
Bring a symbolic & personal presence to
the quest for the basic issues of life
MEDICAL ANNEX
-
CD