Survivor: Pohlman says talking about cancer is helpful
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Sarah Pohlman of Peabody was diagnosed in March 2002 with invasive breast cancer. After a radical mastectomy and a six-month regimen of chemotherapy, she is free of cancer.
She said the tremendous support she received from family, church, and community made the experience much more positive than it might have been.
Sarah's father had bladder cancer 15 years ago, and she lost her mother to cancer in 1984. She said she regrets she never talked about it with them because she found out during her own experience that doing so was therapeutic.
Some time after Sarah's diagnosis, Jeannie Smith, a woman who Sarah knew but with whom she was not well acquainted, called her and asked to visit. She brought helpful books and shared her own mastectomy experience. The encounter had a positive effect on Sarah, helping her maintain a good attitude.
"I had a lot of questions, and she was able to answer them," Sarah said.
Her husband Jim and four sons and their wives also were supportive and talked openly with Sarah about the malignancy. Jeff and his wife Cyndi and Kip and his wife Rachelle, all of Peabody, stopped in often. Tim and Heidi of Burlington, Ind., and Dusty and Jamie of Goose Creek, S.C., called at least every other day. Church members brought food and expressed concern.
Sarah also found that keeping a journal was helpful in expressing her feelings.
"I never felt, 'Why me, Lord?'" she said. "I know where I'm going whether I live or die, but I prayed, 'Lord, my family needs me. I would like to live longer to take care of them.'"
The Pohlmans have 14 grandchildren ranging in age from three months to 21 years.
She said the diagnosis of breast cancer was a shock. In 1984, she had had a benign cyst and tumor removed from one breast. When she discovered the lump in the other breast, her doctor said it didn't feel like cancer.
Sarah wasn't worried and went by herself to the doctor to get the results of a biopsy. When he told her the lump was cancerous, tears welled in her eyes.
"I asked the doctor, 'Please leave the room so I can cry,'" she said.
When she informed Jim of the diagnosis, he said, "Well, the Lord will take care of it, and all will turn out OK."
Sarah underwent a radical mastectomy at Newton Medical Center in April 2002. She received chemotherapy at Axtell Clinic.
"Those people at Axtell Clinic made it easy," she said. "I was scared, but the nurses were so wonderful, and they said they were praying for me."
They told her she would lose her hair and instructed her to get a wig which matched her natural hair and style.
She lost only three weeks of work. As Jim said, "She didn't break her stride."
However, she acknowledged she had a lot of pain following surgery. She couldn't lie down without hurting and often cried herself to sleep.
When she went back to her job at Trane Heating and Air Conditioning in Wichita, she was very weak and could barely make it through a six-hour day.
Her treatment was complete at the end of September, but by that time food didn't taste good. She lost 24 pounds, but she sees that as a good thing.
"I feel so much better now that I lost the weight," she said. "I'm feeling great, and I have a lot of energy."
Tom Schmidt, a fellow church member who also is employed at Trane, drives her to work.
She has checkups every six months. At her last appointment, her doctor gave her a clean bill of health.
Jim has been pastor of the Peabody Christian Church for 17 years. He is proud of the way Sarah has handled the situation.
"She has not let the cancer beat her down," he said.
She plays piano for church services and teaches Sunday school.
She said the chemotherapy affected her memory somewhat, but she is starting to read more to keep her mind alert.
"Cancer is not an individual disease," Jim said. "It affects the whole family and the community, too. I can't talk enough about the support we received. With that kind of support, you can't help but make it."
