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Baker Publishing Group - Yvonne Ortega

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78 pages

English

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Breast cancer affects everyone it touches, whether firsthand or through the life of a loved one. Counselor and teacher Yvonne Ortega discovered this when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and began her journey. In Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer, she shares with readers her personal triumphs and setbacks with humor and refreshing candor, always reminding us of God's desire to meet us exactly where we are. In this repackaged book, sixty devotions are divided into sections--diagnosis, surgery, treatment, and recovery--each incorporating Scripture into daily life. It also includes a new chapter on living with the possibility that cancer may return. Ortega's attention to even the most basic hopes and fears that a cancer patient faces each day offers encouragement that can come only from one who has been there herself.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 septembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441213655
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Cancer survivor Yvonne Ortega has written a wonderfully honest and uplifting book. Those who walk through the valley of the shadow of cancer no longer have to travel alone. They have Yvonne to walk through it, hand in hand, with them.
Donna Partow , author, Becoming the Woman I Want to Be
Yvonne Ortega s honesty will create a bond with readers and encourage them to face their own pain and fear armed with the Hope Builders from God s Word that sustained her. This is must reading for anyone diagnosed with cancer as well as for their family and friends.
Marlene Bagnull , author, My Turn to Care
This book can help women as they go through their experience with cancer, but it s equally helpful for families and caregivers.
Cecil Murphey , coauthor, 90 Minutes in Heaven
Boldly honest, marvelously comforting, and desperately needed. Yvonne Ortega clearly and unashamedly brings the struggles and, yes, the joys of surviving cancer to light.
Louise Bergmann DuMont , author, Faith-Dipped Chocolate
Yvonne Ortega knows firsthand how frightening cancer is for any woman. She walks with you along the path of discovery through surgery and beyond, pointing you to God s help and hope in the midst of these valleys. She ll quickly become your friend as you discover you re not alone.
Lin Johnson , director, Write-to-Publish Conference; managing editor, Church Libraries
Reading this book brought back all those complicated emotions I felt the year I was diagnosed and treated for cancer. Yvonne Ortega captures them all. If I d had this book back then, I know it would have helped me. I recommend it to all facing their own journeys through cancer.
Amy Givler, MD , author, Hope in the Face of Cancer
Ride the backward roller coaster with Yvonne as your seatmate on a courageous, vulnerable, hope-filled journey through cancer. You won t know whether to laugh or cry- but you will know you ve found a friend.
Jane Rubietta , author, Resting Place
Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer
60 Inspirational Readings
Yvonne Ortega

a division of Baker Publishing Group Grand Rapids, Michigan
2007, 2010 by Yvonne Ortega
Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com
Previously published in 2007 under the title Hope for the Journey through Cancer
E-book edition created 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1365-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. . Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
In loving memory of my cousin, Theresa Shields, who fought valiantly to the end in her battle against cancer
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Diagnosis
The News I Didn t Want to Hear
The Joy of the Lord
Angry Thoughts
Riding the Roller Coaster Backward
The Red-Sea-Splitting God
Intended for Good
Tears and More Tears
Hit Broadside
The Blue Card
Part Two: Surgery
Memories of 1995
A Tenderhearted Nurse
The One in Charge
Not Me!
My Drain Bulb Angel
Twelve Inches or Twelve Feet
Splashes of Joy
Not Alone
My Daily Carrot Juice
Love in the Storm
Blood and Burns
Dracula s Blood Bank
Clean at Last
A Mixed Message
A Swirling Mind
Longing for a Healing
Too Much Reality
On the Road Again
Back to School
To Life
Strength in Weakness
Surprise!
The Poster Child for Cancer
I Want to Live!
Part Three: Treatment
Decision Time
Struggling for a Normal Life
My Strength and My Song
A Long Day at the Hospital
Shopping for a Wig
An Extra Charge
An Unexpected Setback
Bubbly Bob
Freedom for the Captives
Reunions in the Hospital
Fight, Yvonne, Fight!
Hopping with Hope
Out of the Cage
The Last Round
Good-bye PICC Line
Germans and Muslims
Painted for Warfare
Giggles, Geniality, and George
Tangier Island
Riding the Shuttle
Turbans and Tightwads
Part Four: Recovery
Getting Ready to Live
Fear of Lymphedema
In the Counseling Mode
On the Farm at Last
Lessons from the Trenches
The Ultimate Healing
An Update from the Author
Acknowledgments
Many people helped me and prayed for me along the way. I thank God for all of them.
Lin Johnson of WordPro Communications and the Write-to-Publish Writers Conference saw the potential for this book, and she kept me on task at the American Christian Writers Mentoring Clinic in Nashville.
Dennis Hensley suggested I submit two or three of my cancer devotions to The Secret Place , so I did, and they were published.
Members of the Richmond Christians Who Write (RCWW) encouraged me at the monthly meetings and prayed for me, especially Coleen Kenny and Patrice Jones. Barbara Baranowski, an RCWW member, graciously edited my manuscript.
Debby Bissette, Donna Hines, Karen Schlender, and Arleta Turnbull gave me their input as cancer survivors. Glenda Brost and Carolyn Griffith expressed their viewpoints as family members of cancer patients.
My online writers group-Shirley Corder, Ruth Dell, Jan Kerns, and Elaine Heys-critiqued part of my project and prayed for a publisher.
Louise DuMont, Cecil Cec Murphey, and Susan Titus Osborn helped me with my book proposal and told me there was a publisher out there for my book.
Bill Petersen gave me the good news-a contract. Nan Snipes proofread my devotional. Lonnie Hull DuPont and Jessica Miles, my editors at Revell, assisted me in the process from manuscript to published book.
My Sunday school class prayed, then, when I received my contract, they took me to lunch and presented me with a dozen roses.
My parents have been my cheerleaders in this project from start to finish. I couldn t ask for more supportive parents.
To God be the glory.
Introduction
In 2001, I joined the ranks of more than one million people in the United States who were diagnosed with cancer that year. Their lives would never be the same. Neither would mine.
I was one of those women out of every seven or eight who are diagnosed with breast cancer sometime in her life.
As I would learn, women respond to cancer in at least four ways. The first response is denial. The woman in denial says, Everything is fine. She denies or suppresses her thoughts and feelings. She may force herself to smile and laugh to keep from disappointing her relatives, friends, and church family. She may repress her thoughts and feelings because she believes others will think less of her. Perhaps she struggles to accept her human limitations. She has always met the needs of others and ignored her own. She wonders what people will do if she s not available. She tells herself that if she cries, she might not be able to stop. She refuses to frown or shed a tear since she fears that would ruin her testimony.
The woman in denial smiles on the outside while her heart breaks on the inside. She may wear bright colors to convince others she feels happy. She whistles or sings hymns when she would rather scream or sob. She has lived in denial for so long that she doesn t know what she thinks or feels anymore. She asks others what prayer requests they have, but she doesn t share her own. When complications arise, she pretends they don t exist. She thinks the world is full of joy, and she has to continue to spread sunshine.
The second response to cancer is negativity. The negative woman says, I m going to die. Everything seems threatening to the negative woman. She walks around in despair. She anticipates her imminent death from this disease. The slightest pain means the surgeon didn t remove all the cancer, and it has spread to her vital organs. She thinks that the medical oncologist doesn t understand how sick she gets from an aspirin, much less from chemotherapy. The radiation oncologist will surely burn her. The thought of going to the hospital terrifies her. She has heard all about staph infections, and she worries she ll get one and die. She writes or updates her will. She may even schedule appointments with funeral directors to compare coffins and prices. She must talk to the pastor and may set up her funeral service. She is unable to smile, much less laugh. She fears that surgery and treatment will be ineffective. Instead of praying, she cries and endures sleepless nights.
Family and friends try to offer support. But as far as the negative woman is concerned, they don t understand and therefore can t help her. This woman may resign from her job since she thinks she won t need the money any longer. She may give away clothes and possessions and write fare-well letters. Hobbies and interests no longer appeal to her. She stares in the mirror daily for signs of physical deterioration. She may refuse to answer the phone or the door. Her Bible collects dust. Funeral March plays repeatedly in her head. Life has come to an end for her.
Anger is the third response. The angry woman says, God, why are you doing this to me? She lashes out not only at God but also at family, friends, her dog, and anyone else who crosses her path. She may be in a rage against herself, her genes, her family, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Control Board. How could God take her in the prime of life? Why didn t God give her better genes? Why didn t she take better care of herself? How could the government approve drugs that would increase her chances of getting breast cancer? How dare anyone smoke around her? Why did she waste he