A Case Study: Linda

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A Case Study: LindaJulie Allen Berger DMin and BCC aa Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical Center , St. Louis, MO, 63110 E-mail:Published online: 22 Oct 2008.

To cite this article: Julie Allen Berger DMin and BCC (2000) A Case Study: Linda, Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 10:2,35-43, DOI: 10.1300/J080v10n02_02

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A Case Study:Linda

Julie Allen Berger, DMin, BCC

SUMMARY. An oncology chaplain illustrates The Discipline for Pas-toral Care Giving by recalling interactions with a breast cancer patient.[ArticlecopiesavailableforafeefromTheHaworthDocumentDeliveryService:1-800-342-9678.E-mailaddress:<[email protected]>Website:<http://www.HaworthPress.com>E2001byTheHaworthPress,Inc.Allrightsreserved.]

KEYWORDS. Oncology chaplain, Discipline for Pastoral Care Giv-ing, outcome-oriented chaplaincy, spiritual assessment, breast cancer

We will call her ‘‘Linda,’’ a woman in her forties from a smalltown 3 hours away from our treatment center and newly diagnosedwith advanced stage breast cancer. She came into our spiritual careoffice anxious and crying on the first day her chemotherapy wasscheduled (Figure 1). ‘‘Will you come to the treatment room with meand my husband?’’ She was afraid and thrown off her emotionalbalance, sure that there was no room in her life plans to leave herfamily prematurely.

She was a mother of young adult children, a wife, and employed at

Rev.JulieAllenBergerisChaplain forOncologyServices,Barnes-JewishHospi-tal at Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, MO 63110 (E-mail:[email protected]).

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: ‘‘A Case Study: Linda.’’ Berger, Julie Allen. Co-published simulta-neously in Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy (The Haworth Pastoral Press, an imprint of The HaworthPress, Inc.) Vol. 10, No. 2, 2001, pp. 35-43; and: The Discipline for Pastoral Care Giving: Foundations forOutcome Oriented Chaplaincy (ed: Larry VandeCreek, and Arthur M. Lucas) The Haworth Pastoral Press,an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2001, pp. 35-43. Single or multiple copies of this article are availablefor a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-342-9678, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mailaddress: [email protected]].

E 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 35

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THE DISCIPLINE FOR PASTORAL CARE GIVING36

FIGURE 1. Linda: Needs/Hopes/Resources

S Need: ‘‘Not sure I cantolerate this chemo.’’

S Hope: ‘‘I want tosurvive this cancer.’’

S Resources: ‘‘I havemy family, faith,church (but not mypastor).’’

NEEDS/HOPESRESOURCES

E Julie Allen Berger. Reprinted with permission.

her home church as a secretary. Her pastor/employer/friend had re-cently moved to a new congregation in another state.

In exploring Linda’s feelings on this first visit, this profile emerged(Figure 2):

S Her concept of the holy was of a God who would reward her withgood health if she were a dutiful, upbeat cancer patient.

S She struggled with the meaning of her illness as she questionedhow this cancer could happen to her, a healthy woman with goodgenes.

S Her strong hope was to see through her roles as mother andgrandmother and wife. The vision ofgrandchildren yet to be bornpulled her forward through her first treatment day anxieties andlots of other up’s and down’s in her journey with cancer.

S She experienced good support from family and congregation andneighbors, but her pastor’s departure and her husband’s job as atruck driver were real concerns for her as she took stock of whoher community would be. I think this is part of why she soughtthe chaplain out, first thing.

It wasn’t hard to come up with a desired contributing outcome onthat first meeting with Linda and her husband (Figure 3). She was sojumpy and jittery getting started with her chemo that her nurse didn’t

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Julie Allen Berger 37

FIGURE 2. Linda: Profile

S ‘‘God helps those whohelpthemselves.’’

S ‘‘No one in our family hasever had cancer.’’

S ‘‘I want to see mygrandchildren.’’

S ‘‘Our family is strong, butmy husband drives a truckandmygirlsarejuststartingout in life.’’

PROFILE



FIGURE 3. Linda: Desired Contributing Outcome

S As Linda feels calmer,she’ll be able torecall/draw uponspiritual strengths.

PROFILE


DESIREDCONTRIBUTINGOUTCOME(S)


even try to finish going over potential side effects with her. He gavethe handout to her husband saying, ‘‘You two read this later at home.’’

Between her cancer diagnosis and losing her pastor, Linda felt therug pulled out from under her, with the sense that her spiritual guidewas not there at a critical time. I know, and I think Linda’s husbandrealized, that Linda had a relationship with God that was not totallydependent on the pastor. We worked on reminding Linda that she wasnot alone.

The oncology staff worked well as a team in Linda’s case. Forseveral of us on the team (the social worker, RN and myself), lowering

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Linda’s anxiety was going to be crucial to her ability to cope (Figure4). Linda was given names of counselors in her local community bythe social worker, and Linda and I wondered together how she couldbuild in a sense that she had a local ‘‘pastor’’ she could talk to abouther spiritual struggles since diagnosis. I know that Linda’s husbandencouraged her to follow through on these suggestions . . . the teamwondered if she could get it together to act on them.

In my first visit with Linda, and in subsequent conversations, talk-ing about all the sudden losses she’d been asked to weather washelpful (Figure 5). She’d temporarily lost her health, sense of certaintyabout the future, spiritual leader, boss.

She needed to talk about all the life plans that were now thrown

FIGURE 4. Linda: Plan/Integration

S Decrease anxiety.

S Connect with spiritual/mental healthresources.

PROFILE



PLAN


FIGURE 5. Linda: Interventions

S Explore losses withchaplain.

S Locate local pastor forsupport.

S Create new ‘‘futurestory.’’

PROFILE



PLAN

INTERVENTIONS


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open to question: would she get to ripen with her husband into olderage and retirement? Would she see her daughters marry and havefamilies of their own? Andrew Lester’s (1995) concept of ‘‘futurestory’’ is a good one here. Linda needed to mourn ways her futuremight be different from what she’d always imagined, and find a wayto build a revised story.

Did the chaplain’s plan and interventions help decrease Linda’sanxiety? It seemed to, witnessed by Linda’s unprompted reports backon her next visit to the clinic (Figure 6). She told me proudly aboutmaking it through her first round of chemotherapy and its side effects.She, on her own, had searched out another Protestant woman ministerin her town, and initiated weekly meetings with her. She also beganseeing a local counselor. The whole team was thrilled and relieved tosee that Linda’s anxiety was not as crippling as we’d feared.

Linda reported that the cancer process remained frightening for her,but that she had regained a sense that God was with her in this experi-ence, giving what she needed to get through it. She gave us her ownmeasurement.

Linda and her family were able to cope pretty well with the tripsback and forth to St. Louis for treatment, buoyed by the hope that herchemo was knocking out her cancer. The anxiety Linda experienced,on learning that cancer was still present after treatment, was just as

FIGURE 6. Linda: Measurement

S ‘‘I feel like I can hangin there a day at atime.’’

S ‘‘I found a womanpastor at home to talkto.’’

S ‘‘I’ve been able topray. Even thoughI’m still afraid, Godgives me peace.’’

PROFILE



PLAN

INTERVENTIONS

MEASUREMENT


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high as at the time of diagnosis. But now her anger surfaced as well . . .at God, at herself for daring to hope, at the chemotherapy for lettingher down (Figure 7). One of her most important resources, her rela-tionship with God, presently felt shaky.

The place in Linda’s spiritual profile that really stood out now washer rage at God (Figure 8). Fortunately, the pastor she was seeing athome had really helped Linda articulate the outrage and betrayal shefelt towards God. When I would see Linda in clinic, she was honestabout her struggles to believe that God was still ‘‘on her side,’’ or evenlistening to her at all. She wrestled, too, with the meaning of hertreatment failure: what was the purpose of all that hard work in chemoif the cancer didn’t budge?

At this point in my relationship with Linda, serving as a reminder ofGod’s presence in the midst of adversity seemed to be my primary role

FIGURE 7. Linda: Next Critical Juncture--Needs/Hopes/Resources

NEEDS/HOPESRESOURCES S ‘‘Chemo failed.

Mycancergrew.’’

S ‘‘I’m scared andangry.’’


FIGURE 8. Linda: Next Critical Juncture--Profile

PROFILE


S ‘‘God, I kept my endof the bargain. Youfailed me.’’


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as chaplain (Figure 9). This is a desired contributing outcome many ofus strive for consciously orunconsciously with our patients all the time.

Though we didn’t ever speak by phone, it was clear from whatLinda was reporting to me, that her newfound pastor friend and I werehoping for similar things for Linda in the way of outcomes contribut-ing towards her health.

The concrete plan Linda and I agreed upon was that, at her request,the nurse would page me when she came for more chemo or radiation(Figure 10). I like that the plan was mutual, and gave Linda somesense of ownership: she had the choice to call, or not. Later on inLinda’s journey with cancer, when her physicians knew they weregoing to be sharing more bad news with Linda and her husband, theywould page me to ‘‘be on the ready’’ to offer spiritual care to thecouple after their conferences with them. Sometimes the staff wantedspiritual care, too.

It doesn’t always happen this way, but in Linda’s case, the medicaloncology team worked well as an integrated whole. We anticipatedand responded to Linda’s emerging needs and hopes, recognizing aswell her sizeable resources in coping despite her anxiety.

As I mentioned, Linda’s local pastor and I were practicing parallelinterventions in encouraging Linda to put into words and prayer herbewilderment and frustration with God (Figure 11). As Linda was ableto do this, I noted with her the strength I observed in her sense ofrighteous indignation. I noted her strengths as a survivor of cancer fora year. I wondered with her if there were ways God had helped her, orstood by her, despite inability to provide a cure at this time. I have a

FIGURE 9. Linda: Next Critical Juncture--Desired Contributing Outcome

PROFILE



S Restore Linda’s senseof relationship withGod.


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FIGURE 10. Linda: Next Critical Juncture--Plan/Integration

S Medical staff pageschaplain when Lindacomes in fortreatment.

PROFILE



PLAN


FIGURE 11. Linda: Next Critical Juncture-- Interventions

S Validate Linda’s angerat God.

S Invite Linda toidentify ways God stillmay be present, active.

PROFILE



PLAN

INTERVENTIONS


sense that this is exactly what Linda’s pastor and counselor were doingin their own ways, too.

Linda’s own responses, over time, helped her caregivers measurethe effects of their interventions (Figure 12). You recall that the hoped-for desired contributing outcome for Linda was restoring in her asense that God was with her and for her. I want to say right here thatwe can’t know for sure how much of this outcome resulted from ourinterventions and how much Linda would have come up with on herown. Only God knows that.

Linda’s report, and her husband’s report, was that her pastoral con-versations were a tremendous help to Linda in coping. Linda taughtme a lot about trusting God’s presence through a continuum of hope,from the immediate (‘‘let this treatment not make me feel worse’’) to

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FIGURE 12. Linda: Next Critical Juncture--Measurement

PROFILE



PLAN

INTERVENTIONS

MEASUREMENTS ‘‘I’m still angry, but

I’m able to trust Godwill be with mewhatever.’’


the intermediate (‘‘let me survive long enough to see my secondgrandchild born’’) to her ultimate hope (‘‘God is with me now and I’llbe with God when I die.’’).

Linda died two years after her cancer diagnosis, coping better thanmany thought she would.

REFERENCE

AndrewLester.1995.HopeinPastoralCareandCounseling.Louisville,Ky:West-minister John Knox Press.

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A Case Study: Linda