A Sojourner’s Cancer Chronicles:
Humor, Hope and Healing.
Part colon cancer survivor memoir and part proof that Stage 3 colon cancer isn’t always a death sentence.
Because cancer doesn’t get to decide the outcome. We do.
Experience
Stage III colorectal cancer is a beast. Then there’s treatment, recovery and survival.
Motivation
Facing colorectal cancer can be scary. Humor defangs it. Part narrative and part guidance, this book entertains and informs.
Goals
When attitude is everything for beating colon cancer, using humor as a shield make each new challenge bearable.
Contents
Contains inappropriate Stage 3 cancer humor, dad jokes and real advice from someone who got the t-shirt and rang the bell.
The Journey Captured in Excerpts
Chapter 01
Introductions Are In Order
Chapter 05
The Bad, The Worse And The Plan For Survival
Chapter 08
Side Effects: The Ultimate Test of Endurance
Read an excerpt for free.
Disclaimer
Glad you're here!
Before we get started, you should know that this book demands a disclaimer of sorts.
Consider it our reader-author contract – yours and mine – established solely to manage expectations. What you’re about to read is not what you think it is. Or maybe you read the book blurb and reviews, and you know exactly what you’re in for.
And you want it.
A Sojourner's Cancer Chronicles is my cancer story, based on real events, bolstered with facts, and possibly sprinkled with chemo-induced hallucinations brought on by exhaustion. All part of the process, I assure you.
My cancer experience is unique but not novel – at least, that’s what my medical team assured me. Many of us have had our lives turned inside out with three dreaded words: “You have cancer.”
We're not alone.
According to the CDC, more than 1.7 million people in the U.S. hear these words every year.
Although many cancer stories share similar elements, our journeys are not identical. With more than a hundred cancer types upending lives every year, according to the National Cancer Institute, patients will likely find themselves in extraordinary situations of treatment, recovery and remission. However, these patients also participate in many common tribulations, whether experiencing getting a port for the first time, shrugging off the apprehension that comes with radiation treatments, or trying to find something to eat – and keep down.
These commonalities unite us and make us part of a growing IYKYK (If You Know, You Know) club, even though no one asked for a cancer-chapter club membership.
Regardless of the stage or type of cancer, one thing is true in all cases. You can expect the disease to profoundly impact every element of a patient's life, from the daily routines they establish to how often they communicate with family members and friends. For many, a cancer diagnosis is serious, and it's not something to make light of. However, sharing our stories and finding funny moments may help cancer patients and their caregivers unite in their fight against the disease.
In no way should a reader assume that this book trivializes cancer. Instead, I learned to respect the disease but relied on levity to get me through diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
Humor creates a psychological shift that lightens an emotional load. Laugh, and your brain releases the feel-good chemicals called endorphins that reduce stress and boost mood. Hilarity is a natural pressure valve, allowing us to let out some of the tension that builds up in tough times.
The stress hormone cortisol often spikes when someone’s terrified or feels hopeless; humor tamps those levels back down and balances physiological wellness. Returning to that baseline, also called normalizing, is essential for overall well-being.
Finding something funny, even in the darkest moments, helps people distance themselves from overwhelming situations and gain a sense of control. Think of this playfulness as a mental reset—laughter doesn’t erase the problem, but it can make it feel less suffocating. Humor often creates a bond that helps people survive emotionally -- and a cancer diagnosis is undoubtedly emotional.
Laughing at cancer doesn't deny reality; it defangs it a little.
Many people use humor to create connections. Comicality shows we're not alone in the face of tragedy. Our laughter builds solidarity, so the connection between humor and despair can be a lifeline when gloom tries to isolate us. Plus, turning to humor is subversive—a droll metaphor for sticking a middle finger to fear by refusing to let it dominate entirely.
Being funny doesn’t fix everything, of course. But it’s a hell of a lot better than wallowing.
This book tries to seeks humor where fear, shock, and even anguish often take center stage. If you like grossly inappropriate flippancy at awkward moments, this book is for you.
I hope you enjoy reading it, whether you pick at the chapters that seem most relevant or read the book straight through.
And maybe you'll take some time to laugh with me in the face of cancer.
Let’s jump in,
Debi
Chapter 01
Let Me Introduce You to Worf
Finally, the day of the appointment with the doctor arrived. I stood patiently in the waiting room, not wanting to sit down. Now, I’m reluctant to share much about my private life, much less my private parts – and even writing this book challenged me, but of course, after listening to my description of the problem, the doctor wanted to see what the issue was.
I dropped my jeans, made some lame apology about the pad stuck to my underwear, bent over, and introduced the gastroenterologist to Worf, the first and greatest Klingon in Starfleet, also known as whatever was causing me intense discomfort. Stephen and I had begun calling the growth Worf; he was a cling-on we wanted to get rid of, and giving it a name was easier than calling it a growth or, worse, a tumor. Name-calling helped us distance ourselves from the reality of what it could be.
When the doctor met Worf, he recognized the ugly invader. It was a tumor.
Chapter 05
The Bad, the Worse and the Plan for Survival
No wonder I wanted to have a big, ugly cry.
Within seconds, my world had shrunk to a microcosm of itself. The dreaded words YOU. HAVE. CANCER clattered, echoing soullessly in a suddenly hollow chamber – me.
Stephen sat next to me, hearing the words at the same time. He gripped my hand and squeezed it tightly as if he knew I’d jump up and bolt from the room like an antelope ahead of a brush fire. However, I wasn’t going anywhere. I was too stunned to move.
The PA recommended the next steps while my heart pounded in my ears. I could barely hear what she said.
Did she say squamous cell cancer? Skin cancer?
Chapter 08
Side Effects: The Ultimate Test of Endurance (and Toilet Proximity)
Apocalyptically awful arrived sooner than expected.
I knew Armageddon was on its way; it had been steadily building up like a cloud formation in an ominous storm. It was the kind of storm that gathers on a West Texas horizon, rumbling with distant foreboding but now coming in fast.
I just didn’t realize how bad it really would be.
The intestinal dissolution began deep in my bowels. There, inside the nine or so yards of intestines, my body’s reaction to the fermented poisons of chemotherapy and radiation boiled over in synergistic toxicity. From there all waste slid quickly toward the exit.
That catabolic chemical concoction had only one way out: a highly radiated – and very tender – release valve.
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