The article is entitled" Cancer Doctors Dodge the Death Talk" published on the CNN.com/health website. Citing recent research, the authors highlight four points:
-Most cancer doctors do not discuss end-of-life care
-Those who had end-of-life talks are less likely to be on breathing machines
-About 7 percent of all patients in the study develop depression
-Sometimes doctors have trouble accepting that the end is near

The research supports the efforts being made to encourage doctors and patients to have end-of-life talks as early on in the treatment process as is possible and appropriate. From the perspective of a chaplain, I believe it would also be important for doctors to suggest chaplaincy resources to the patient and caregivers, so that they can receive the benefits of holistic care in the context of advanced care planning.

The CNN artcle can be viewed at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/06/15/cancer.talk.ap/index.html

Faith in God and belonging to a religion may reduce stress and anxiety in family caregivers, a new study suggests.
Read the article at NaturalStandard.com blog page

Spirituality and Medicine: Frontiers of Care is a free forum open to the public. It will take place on Sunday April 27, 2008, 2:00 - 5:00p.m. at St. John's Persbyterian Church, 5020 W. Belfort Ave., Houston, TX (just off Loop 610). Forum panelists include: Phil Johnson, Memorial Herman
Susan Lange, Interface Samaritan Counseling Centers
Cheryl Smith, First United Methodist Church, Pasadena
Steven Spidell, Prebyterian Outreach to Patients
Pamela Taylor, texas Children's Hospital

For more information, call Rev. Dr. James S. Curie, associate dean of the Houston Extension Program at 713-965-0766.

A web-based educational program is available through EndLink, as a resource for end of life care education. Sponsored by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, the site was developed with funding from a National Cancer Institute Grant. Rather than providing answers, the site attempts to offer frameworks for thinking about caring for the dying individuals and their families. The content of the site was written primarily for health care professionals who work with the dying patients and their families. The material presented encompasses the complex, multidimensional considerations involved in caring for individuals at the end of life. You can reach this site through the following web address: http://ednlink.lurie.norhtwestern.edu/index.cfm

Modern medicine has accomplished incredible things in the last fifty years or so. Developments in vaccines, antiobiotics, surgical interventions, prevention and treatments of major illness have been extraordinary. Everyone knows someone who has been blessed by medicine. There is every reason to believe that future advances are still in the pipeline. In a strange way, however, the very scientism of medicine has contributed to the undoing of an appreciation for the spiritual dimension of human experience. On the positive side, if one becomes ill, the problem is reduced to a "matter" of chemistry, tissues, and organs that can be physically treated. At the same time, the experience of illness is reduced only to matters, viz., chemistry, tissues, and organs. The ill person, therefore, need see nothing of spiritual significance in illness in order to be successfully treated. God, in a sense, is removed from the equation. You see, the spirit never shows up in the test tube. And yet, the true spiritual foundation of life pushes through. Human beings are not finally content for their lives to be reduced to samples on a slide. The Spirit which is within us all cries out for God to be found within matter itself. We want to know that our lives matter, have significance, and purpose, maybe even our diseases. In an ancient twist of logic, it is that very longing to see God's work in everything that led people to say that God "caused" illness, or "permitted" it to happen, or even "intervened miraculously" to bring about a cure. I think what we really wanted to affirm is not that God causes illness or tragedy but that God is involved in every aspect of our human experience. God truly is sovereign over all not because God makes everything happen but because God cares for everyone and everything that does happen. Science on one extreme took God out of everything; religion on the other made God the puppet master. Both missed the point. The spirit cries out that we are more than matter. We see meaning and purpose, even promise in every illness, every injury. God meets us where we live, in the good and the bad and the ugly. And that is what we truly mean by the providence of God, that God provides all that God's children need to face life with love, with wonder, and with hope. Medicine has been a blessing and a challenge. Yet the traditional view of Western medicine is being expanded to include spirit along with matter. When we stop putting things in separate boxes we will see the unity, the sacred unity of all things. Then we will understand that in medicine, in illness, and in treatment the work of God is being done.

- Steven Spidell DMin , BCC

What happens when the professional caregiver is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease? This is precisely what happened to chaplain Debra Jarvis. Jarvis has written a realistic story of cancer survivorship that is refreshing, inspiring, and informative. Debra Jarvis is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. She has worked as a hospice spiritual counselor and currently serves as a general oncologist chaplain for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. She is a commentator for National Public radio and frequently speaks at conferences and workshops on caner, death and dying, medical staff care, and spirituality.

I found her book to be authentic and engaging. It is worthwhile reading for those who are survivors as well as caregivers. She reflects: "I learned much about cancer from being a patient, and probably the most astounding thing to discover was only a small part of the cancer experience is about medicine. Most of it is about feelings and faith, and losing and finding your identity, and discovering strength and flexibility you never knew you had. It's also about looking at life and staring death in the eye. It's about realizing the most valuable things in life are not things at all, but relationships." These words are reflected in the title of her book, to remind caregivers that cancer is a mixture of curse and blessing - and the blessings are experienced as gifts that are not often apparent to the naked eye of the observer.

The author uses her personal journal, shared from the moment she received the news of her demise, and expands upon her entries to paint a vivid picture of her life as a cancer patient, including excerpts describing her interactions with those around her. She is real about the personal and social dilemmas faced when having to ask for help. She wrestles with her faith, seeking assurance from the Almighty when she faces a deep sense of powerlessness. Her writing style includes an internal dialogue which she places on the pages in order to engage and the reader to enter the drama for the sake of learning and finding inspiration.

Having been employed as a chaplain in a large metropolitan hospital, I found many aspects of Jarvis's journey to be universal in the sense that I have heard those common themes associated with the cancer journey to be reflected in so many patient and caregiver stories. Jarvis has a way of giving those themes life and substance, depth, and color which portray the rich basic elemental aspects of human life, when disease threatens to annihilate one's existence. I recommend It's Not About The Hair to those who are seeking strength and encouragement when life's journey includes an encounter with cancer.

Reviewer: Rev. David Jenkins

Make room on your calendars for the Living Fully With and Beyond Cancer Conference, sponsored by M. D. Anderson Cancer Center's Anderson Network.

This year, the conference will be held at the Houston Marriott Westchase, 2900 Briarpark Dr., Houston, on September 6-8th.

For additional conference information, call the Anderson Network at 800-345-6324 or 713-792-2553 or visit : www.mdanderson.org/patientconference

Back in April 2006, I recommended a devotion entitled "Disrupted" by Rev. Dr. Virgil Fry. Dr. Fry has just published a companion book, entitled: "Rekindled, Warmed by Fires of Hope". Once again, Virgil has used his considerable experience as a chaplain and writer to create another rich devotional resource, drawing upon scriptures, wisdom sayings, and personal experience in the pastoral care ministry. The prayers he includes are real, and express the deepest spiritual longings of the heart.