The Doctors Who Healed Me: My Journey With Colon Cancer and Gratitude

Carla Deschamps is now a survivor of colon cancer after receiving her diagnosis in February 2020. Read Carla's blogs here!

Jackie Chan once expressed, “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” This quote is a representation of my outlook towards the care that my physicians provided after my diagnosis with colon cancer. All of my doctors during that time not only took care of me but went the extra mile to ensure that my journey moving forward was smooth and pleasant. In this blog, I want to express my gratitude as well as explain how my physicians changed my life for the better.

To begin with, I would like to start with my surgeon, whom I would call Dr. Salazar to protect his identity. Dr. Salazar was the one who notified me about my prognosis of colon cancer. It was close to noon when he greeted and took me to a private room when I received the biggest news of my life. He expressed in a calming voice, “Carla, I am so sorry for what I am going to tell you, but we wanted to make sure what it was before we told you. After conducting your second CT scan, we found a mass in your colon, and it is cancerous. You have colon cancer. You have to stay in the hospital because we have to do an emergency surgery to get the mass out. However, you have to do a colonoscopy first to give us a better understanding of your condition.”

I recalled that day like it was yesterday as I will never forget how it made me feel. I remembered my heart racing extremely fast and I felt anxious and scared not knowing what to expect moving forward. Dr. Salazar during that time did everything he could to make my experience at the hospital enjoyable as it was my home for two weeks. He would check up on me as often as he could along with encouraging and supporting me during my recovery after going through a five-hour surgery. Dr. Salazar was kind, respectful, but most of all very optimistic, which was what I needed most during that time. Indeed, I am grateful that he was my physician.

Next, is my doctor who conducted my colonoscopy, whom I would call Dr. Sanchez. He was polite, sweet and kindhearted. It was a Saturday morning when he did my procedure, which lasted no more than thirty minutes. During that time, Dr. Sanchez and a few of the nurses were cheering me on and stating that everything was going to be OK. Yet, the phrase that Dr. Sanchez noted and helped me view my outcome from a different perspective consisted of the following: “The good news is that we detected the cancerous mass on time.” After that statement, I made up my mind to stay positive. I was determined to do everything in my power to heal my heart from all the pain and suffering I was feeling. Due to Dr. Sanchez’s words of wisdom, my journey of healing began.

Finally, my oncologist, whom I would call Dr. Sanders. She has been my rock since day one. I have so much love and respect for her due to the fact that she goes above and beyond for her patients. Dr. Sanders is nurturing, loving and friendly. It has been more than four years since Dr. Sanders took me under her wing. She has been by my side fighting to make sure that I stay cancer-free, and for that, no words cannot express or describe how thankful I am of her. Every day, I give thanks that God put an amazing, extraordinary physician that has taken care of me from the very beginning. Indeed, Dr. Sanders not only has done acts of kindness but has changed my life by helping me get a second chance in life.

I am forever blessed to have had a tremendous group of doctors that continuously demonstrate how caring they are by providing the highest quality of service. I am beyond grateful. Thank you God for blessing me each and every day.

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