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I have lived with cancer for 18 years, an existential experience that has changed my personal and professional life. Along cancer's path, I have learned many life lessons about diagnosis, treatment, remission, and well-being.
Recently, a number of close friends have been struggling with end-stage cancer, which has compelled me to revisit my thinking about this devastating illness and consider it from a fresh perspective. In a series of forthcoming blogs, "A Journey on Cancer's Path," I intend to convey insights that have emerged from ethnographic experiences in West Africa as well as personal encounters in the world of American medicine. The third blog in the series is: "Treatment Rituals."
What could be more frightening than the start of cancer treatment? Treatment usually consists of various combinations of surgery (cutting it out), radiation (burning it away), or chemotherapy (poisoning it). There are also a variety of immunotherapies that trigger the immune system to kill cancer cells. These, of course, have scary side effects.
By necessity, cancer patients must subject themselves to a long and painful regimen of treatment. It is a process that may or may not lead to a cure. More often than not, treatment results in remission—a difficult waystation between health and illness.
Facing the mountain of cancer treatment with its cliffs of pain and crevasses of uncertainty can make your world spin faster and faster. Patients often feel that they have lost control of their lives. How can we retain a modicum of control over such a situation? What is helpful? In this blog post, I discuss some ritual measures that provide a degree of comfort and control. They are by no means the only options available, as each person, of course, has his or her own way of managing the struggles associated with serious illness.
Human beings have long used rituals to give themselves a sense of control in uncontrollable circumstances. Subsistence farmers make sacrifices to the land to ensure its fertility. They make offerings to the spirits that control clouds and wind to enhance the possibility that rain will fall on their fields. When a child becomes seriously ill, family members may engage in the ritual of prayer.
Faced with a difficult challenge, human beings carry ritual objects—a rabbit’s foot, a four-leaf clover, a special ring or bracelet, a particular passage found in a Chinese fortune cookie, a lucky pair of shoes or socks. Although these ritual objects may not offer protection from adverse elements, they invariably provide a sense of comfort in uncomfortable situations. The anthropologist Paul Connerton (1989, 59) defined ritual as a performance that is formal “…in the sense that its structure and content are conservative and repetitive.” Connerton goes on to suggest that many rituals are verbal, but some “…are encoded in set postures, gestures and movement.”
Cancer patients who are undergoing treatment often perform a wide variety of rituals prior to, during, and after treatment sessions. Some of them may have a special route to follow on their way to the treatment center. Others may want to sit in a particular easy chair to receive their chemotherapy drugs. Some patients may bring a lucky piece of cloth to put on their laps or spread out on a small table next to their easy chairs.
Because treatment sessions tend to last many hours, patients might find it soothing to bring particular books or special music that provide a degree of comfort during long and difficult hours. Chemotherapy patients might choose to wear special ritual objects or carry them in their pockets—all to ease the considerable anxiety of treatment.
Fear of Treatment
The experience of chemotherapy surprised me. Like most people, I expected a painful, difficult ordeal. Instead, I found that it made me live my life at a slower pace...
Like most people, my professional life had always been hectic. But the routines of chemotherapy compelled me to live my life with greater deliberation. As my treatment proceeded, I gradually developed a series of small rituals that helped me along the way.
I always took the scenic route to the treatment center. I liked to listen to my favorite music—jazz. Concentrating on a Chico Hamilton tune, I discovered new, nuanced elements in the music. When I listened to Eddie Harris, I let the music carry me away to a new place.
I spent time remembering past experiences. I thought about old friends and adventures. After sitting in the treatment chair for such a long time, my body would become weak and stiff. Chemotherapy drugs made my limbs feel heavy. At the end of the session, my partner would walk me to our car and would drive me home; then, we would go out for a meal—a ritual to keep things as normal as possible.
Rituals in Cancer Treatment
There is no one ritual for any set of cancer treatments. There is also no one ritual that can eliminate the unpleasantness of treatment. Even so, there are a wide variety of rituals that one can perform to ease the burden of treatment.
In my experience, the best strategy is to find rituals that match your personal sensibilities. Whatever ritual you might choose, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed or foolish. Human beings have been performing rituals for thousands of years—for two very good reasons. First, they connect us to others in times of need. Second, they provide a sense of control in stressful situations.
In short, rituals are woven tightly into the fabric of human existence. They give us peace and hope when we are sick.
References
Stoller, Paul 213. Cancer Rites and the Remission Society," Harvard Divinity Bulletin 41: 69-74.
Stoller, Paul and Mitchell Stoller 2014. Climbing the Mountain. Maidenhead: Meyer and Meyer
Turner, Victor 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. New York: Cornell University Press.
Connerton, Paul 1989. How Societies Remember. London: Cambridge University Press
