Description
FORMATTING:
Use the document entitled Week 7_Thematic Analysis Assignment TEMPLATE to complete Parts 1-3 of this assignment.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS: After completing the assigned reading for Week 7, apply your knowledge of qualitative data analysis to conduct a thematic analysis of the provided interview transcripts. The interview transcripts are in the document entitled Week 7_Interview Transcripts.
PART 1. Outline the steps used to conduct a thematic analysis as defined by Braun and Clarke (2006).
– Use the numbered bullet points provided on page 1 of the Thematic Analysis Assignment TEMPLATE
PART 2. Conduct a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. List the codes you developed and organize them by theme.
– Use the boxes on page 2 of the Thematic Analysis Assignment TEMPLATE to display your codes and themes. You do not need to use every box and you do notneed to complete the full list of codes for every theme. Similarly, you can add additional codes to the list or add more themes or subthemes if needed to represent your findings. You can also add arrows or design figures or mind maps to display relationships between codes and themes if it would be helpful.
PART 3. Define the main themes and subthemes that arose in your analysis. Use specific quotes from the transcripts to support your themes.
– Use the table provided on page 3 of the Thematic Analysis Assignment TEMPLATE to present and define your themes and subthemes. Cut and paste the supporting quote(s) directly from the interview transcripts and place them below the theme.
Unformatted Attachment Preview
WEEK 7 ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Assignment due by Sunday at 11:59pm
FORMATTING
• Use the document entitled Week 7_Thematic Analysis Assignment TEMPLATE to complete Parts 1-3 of this
assignment.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
• After completing the assigned reading for Week 7, apply your knowledge of qualitative data analysis to conduct a
thematic analysis of the provided interview transcripts.
• The interview transcripts are in the document entitled Week 7_Interview Transcripts.
PART 1. Outline the steps used to conduct a thematic analysis as defined by Braun and Clarke (2006).
• Use the numbered bullet points provided on page 1 of the Thematic Analysis Assignment document
PART 2. Conduct a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. List the codes you developed and organize them by
theme.
• Use the boxes on page 2 of the Thematic Analysis Assignment Template to display your codes and themes. You do not
need to use every box and you do not need to complete the full list of codes for every theme. Similarly, you can add
additional codes to the list or add more themes or subthemes if needed to represent your findings. You can also add
arrows or design figures or mind maps to display relationships between codes and themes if it would be helpful.
PART 3. Define the main themes and subthemes that arose in your analysis. Use specific quotes from the transcripts to
support your themes.
• Use the table provided on page 3 of the Thematic Analysis Assignment Template to present and define your themes and
subthemes. Cut and paste the supporting quote(s) directly from the interview transcripts and place them below the
theme.
MAXIMUM POINTS EARNED FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT: 10
GRADING RUBRIC
CRITERIA
Part 1: Content &
Completeness
RATINGS
0 pts
The outline is
missing or
largely
incomplete.
1.0 pts
The outline
includes most of
the analysis steps
as defined in the
assigned reading.
Most of the
definitions are
acurate.
2.0 pts
The assignment is
complete and
includes all six of
the analysis steps
as defined in the
assigned reading.
Content
demonstrates
in-depth
comprehension of
reading.
MAXIMUM
POINTS
AVAILABLE
2.0
Part 2: Content &
Completeness
0.0 pts
The assignment
does not include
responses to all
questions.
Ideas are
undeveloped.
1.0 pts
The assignment
includes
responses to all
questions. Most
of the codes and
themes are not
fully supported by
the data. Content
shows some
comprehension of
reading. Content
shows some
thinking and
reasoning. Most
ideas are
underdeveloped.
2.0 pts
The assignment
includes responses
to all questions.
Most of the codes
and themes are
supported by the
data. Content
shows some
comprehension of
reading. Content
shows some
thinking and
reasoning. Some
ideas are well
developed and
original.
3.0 pts
The assignment is
complete and
includes
responses to all
questions. All of
the codes and
themes are
supported by the
data.
Content
demonstrates
comprehension of
reading. Content
demonstrates
original thought.
Most of the ideas
are firmly
developed and
well articulated.
Part 3: Content &
Completeness
0.0 pts
The assignment
does not include
responses to all
questions.
Ideas are
undeveloped.
1.0 pts
The assignment
includes
responses to all
questions. Most
of the themes are
not clearly
defined. Most of
the themes are
not fully
supported by the
data. Content
shows some
comprehension of
reading. Content
shows some
thinking and
reasoning. Most
ideas are
underdeveloped.
2.0 pts
The assignment
includes responses
to all questions.
Most of the
themes are clearly
defined. Most of
the themes are
supported by the
data. Content
shows some
comprehension of
reading. Content
shows some
thinking and
reasoning. Some
ideas are well
developed and
original.
3.0 pts
The assignment is
complete and
includes
responses to all
questions. All
themes are clearly
defined. Themes
are supported by
the data.
Content
demonstrates
comprehension of
reading. Content
demonstrates
original thought.
Most of the ideas
are firmly
developed and
well articulated.
TOTAL POINTS AVAILABLE
4.0 pts
The assignment is
complete and
includes
responses to all
questions. All of
the codes and
themes are firmly
supported by the
data. Content
demonstrates
in-depth
comprehension
and analysis of
reading. Content
demonstrates indepth, original,
and analytical
thought.
Ideas are firmly
developed and
well articulated.
4.0 pts
The assignment is
complete and
includes
responses to all
questions. All
themes are clearly
and precisely
defined. Themes
are firmly
supported by the
data. Content
demonstrates
in-depth
comprehension
and analysis of
reading. Content
demonstrates indepth, original,
and analytical
thought.
Ideas are firmly
developed and
well articulated.
4.0
4.0
10.0
WEEK 7: THEMATIC ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT
YOUR NAME:
PART 1. Using the bullet points below, outline the steps used to conduct a thematic analysis as defined in the article by Braun and Clarke (2006).
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Step 1:
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Step 2:
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Step 3:
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Step 4:
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Step 5:
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Step 6:
PART 2. CODES AND THEMES: List the codes you developed and organize them by theme. IF you developed subthemes, you can also group the codes into
subthemes, but this is not required.
THEME NAME:
THEME NAME:
CODE:
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THEME NAME:
THEME NAME:
CODE:
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PART 3. Define the themes (and subthemes ) that arose in your analysis. Include a few sentences to describe the meaning of each theme and subtheme. Try to
be precise and apply your analytical skills! Provide specific quotes from the transcripts to support your themes.
THEME NAME:
THEME DEFINITION:
Subthemes (if any):
SUPPORTING QUOTE(S):
THEME NAME:
THEME DEFINITION:
Subthemes (if any):
SUPPORTING QUOTE(S):
THEME NAME:
THEME DEFINITION:
Subthemes (if any):
SUPPORTING QUOTE(S):
THEME NAME:
THEME DEFINITION:
Subthemes (if any):
SUPPORTING QUOTE(S):
Qualitative Data Analysis: Interviews With Indigenous Patients With Cancer
The data included here are portions of interview transcripts from a study of decision-making in
Indigenous patients with cancer. Data collected by: G. Groot
The letters “XXX” are used in places in the transcript where de-identification is necessary.
I: Interviewer
P: Participant
INTERVIEW 1
I: Can you just tell me a little bit about yourself and how you learned about that?
Tell me about your cancer, just, what happened?
P: Well … I was diagnosed last XXX. I suspected that I was sick for many years
and I didn’t bother telling anybody. I think the first sign was one morning when
I woke up and I remember the sun was out, I was beside the window, we were
living in the city. It would have been about XXX maybe and I woke up and the
most amazing pain that I’ve ever experienced literally lifted me up off the bed like
this. I mean I was on my back, like this, harsh. And I said “what the hell?” and it
came from down here. I looked beside me to see if I woke up [wife] and I had,
that’s when I realized there was something wrong but I didn’t do anything about it.
It didn’t come back and then I got steadily I guess sicker, I didn’t want to … low
energy, mainly despondent. I talked to my doctor and he prescribed pills, so I was
on those for quite a while. I had told him about my pains, and he gave me a lot of
pills and I took them, went off of them, and got back on. It was a sick little cycle
there for a couple of months.
I: What kind of pills were those, do you know?
P: Very addictive ones. I was freaked out when I found out what I was on. I don’t
know what they’re called, but they are the ones that are causing a lot of problems
in the First Nations communities.
I2: For pain?
P: Yep.
I: Sort of a morphine or Dilaudid or something like that?
P: Yeah, something like that.
I: MS-Contin maybe.
I2: Yeah, MS-Contin.
P: That one, yeah, that one. That’s what I was on. The pain was persistent, it kept
coming back on and back on again. A friend of mine came to visit, and he told me
about his experience with this. You know what I said, “you know what, that’s what
I’m going through with all this pain here” and at the same time, [wife] had said
“well you know what, I want you to switch doctors.” So, I think it was just before
my friend’s visit that I had switched doctors, and I heard doctor sent me to X-rays
right away and stuff – specialist. That’s when they realized something is wrong,
and they sent me for tests. It was then that my friend came to visit and he told
me about his situation so I decided to do something about it then and at the same
time of course [wife] said “no. We want to find out what’s wrong.” So it all came to
ahead, and I went for those tests –
I: And that was when?
P: That would have been May.
I: Of last year?
P: Yeah.
I: So you had been having trouble for quite some type already at that point?
P: Yeah but kind of, you know, you don’t want to think it’s cancer. I mean I’ve been
healthy pretty much all my life. I’ve been working and doing all kinds of things,
traveling and I just was basically in denial at that part. I was sick – very sick.
I: So do you remember when you were told you had cancer?
P: Mm-hmm.
I: What happened from there?
P: What do you mean?
I: Well you had a cancer, where was your cancer?
P: Oh, in the colon.
I: Colon cancer. Okay. Had it spread already by then, or?
P: Mm-hmm. They did other tests, like a CT scan, ultrasound, there was another
one. But they found, you know there were spots all over.
I: Did they offer you any treatment at all?
P: Mm-hmm. They offered, well they wanted to do something right away, but I was
really weak. I was already really weak and so they wanted to talk to me right away
[inaudible 00:07:34]. I went ahead and did all the tests that they wanted me to do
and in preparation for surgery, I went for a – what do you call that? Prep? Where
they prepare you so you know what they expect. Went through all that then had my
meeting with the anesthesiologist. They asked me if I was taking any alternative
medicine etcetera and I said “yeah, of course,” and they asked me what it was
and I said “I’m not sure,” “Is she an elder?” and so from that point on it was an
interesting journey from that point on.
I: Interesting in what way?
P: Well I don’t know I didn’t realize they were going to be asking me questions
related to spirituality and medicine. I thought about it, I don’t know. I hadn’t given
it much thought. But it’s also important, I get from reading this that others sort of
see things from my perspective, but at the same time, you’re recording something
I don’t allow anybody to record.
I: I can turn that off.
P: Yeah, please. We should talk about it and then start recording again.
I: Mm-hmm. […]
P: When I got diagnosed with cancer, of course, it was a given that I would
combine our Indigenous medicines and combine them with Western medicine. I
believe in both. You take the best out of both and you work with it. To get back
to that time last year prior to my proposed surgery, I had a meeting with the
anesthesiologist, telling him that I was taking medicine.
I: Is it acting up?
I2: Yeah, it won’t turn back on. This one’s on though.
I: I’m not an expert on this. Maybe try that?
I2: Yep.
I: Maybe the battery is dead. We won’t worry about it. Sorry.
I2: We’ve got the –
P: We’re still on right?
I: Yeah.
P: Where was I?
I: You were meeting with the anesthesiologist.
P: Oh yeah, I told him about it and he asked me “what is it?” and I said “I don’t
know. The elder gave me the medicine, I go home and drink it.” He stopped it
right away, he said “stop taking it.” I said “why?” He said “because we don’t know
what you’re taking. We don’t know if what we’re giving you or will be giving you
will balance out or counter or anything like that.” I said “oh, okay.” That’s when
I told him “well I’m going to wait a while.” I said “I don’t think I’ll be doing the
surgery.” He said “what?” he was surprised. I said “Yeah.” But I needed to know
everything that’s you guys are proposing because I’ve just been going through
this, taking tests you know, and coming here. To make a long story short, I told
my doctor that I was going to take alternative medicine first as opposed to going
straight into surgery. They knew I was on this medicine. Of course I was – different
medicine. Then, I had a follow-up with my doctor after several months of being on
the medicine. In the beginning, they had found spots in my lungs, my kidneys, my
colon, and they showed us on the chart where they were you know these spots
were kinda all over. I said “aw man.” Basically I was told around that time anyway
that if I didn’t do that surgery, what my options wouldn’t be very long. This was
pretty advanced I guess. But I kept taking the medicine and I start feeling better
and better – it got to a point where I thought I wasn’t sick. Then we decided okay,
now that I’m strong enough I guess maybe we should do more tests and find out
what our options are and go back into Western medicine and see where we are at
now. So I went back and met up with the doctor again. He was surprised to see
me that time, thought I’d be bringing in a wheelchair. I said “no, no, I’m walking
away. I’m hunting.” You know right to January I was hunting. I got six elk inside of
a week, I can’t believe it today. Six elk and what like three moose in a few months
before I went in for my surgery? But when I did go back in and they did two tests
and it got worse you know but it also had gotten all into one place. I don’t know
what happened there. It was all one but it was in the area where it affected my
bladder, my colon, and my prostate, so I was given my options. I said “alright.” It
was pretty advanced I guess, they didn’t think I would make it through a surgery,
but things worked out. [XXX]
P: So I phoned his office and I made an appointment to go see him. So I went
there right away to go see him. I told him my situation, that my dad was sick and
I’d like to have an elder come in and do a pipe ceremony and say some prayers –
maybe other things I said, I don’t know – but I said “you have nothing here” I said,
“all you have here is for what you guys do and how you guys do it, but there’s also
another way” I said, “that we bring here. We go back to when we go home but
it’s not some place that we can bring here. We should be able to combine them”
I said. Our healing, our medicines, by way of protocol and proceeded by prayer.
Prayer is a spiritual — I guess there’s protocol because of the medicines that are
used. I told Dr. XXX that it would be good to have a place where we can go to
as First Nations, kind of a place that would be clean where we can pray, where
we can smudge. Then what Dr. XXX did was, I also told him I wanted to bring
in, I said “another person.” He said “okay.” He gave me permission to do that.
From what I gather, I think it was the first time a room was, they set aside a room,
cleaned everything out, they let us have a ceremony in there. We wheeled my
dad in there in the bed and the pipe ceremony and we were smudging there, we
said our prayers because I mean what did I have to lose? He was in bad shape.
Anyway as I don’t know, I should say he did make it out of hospital. He was with
us another two and a half years after that.
I: That must have been a special two and a half years.
P: It was. I remember him coming out of hospital and going into the medical van
and saying “I didn’t think I was going to be going back home” he said. But again
to get back to this study I’m glad you’re doing it. It’s been a long time before you
know we get asked.
I: I’m sorry about that.
P: No, no, it’s alright. Maybe we weren’t ready anyway. The generation before us
probably would have provided different information, responses to those questions.
But we’ve had a chance and a good opportunity to be part of that, I guess
rejuvenation and revisiting, revitalization of not only language but also of culture
and you know, getting to re-acquaint with ourselves what was almost lost because
of residential schools and that, and starting to understand and value the
importance of taking the best out of both worlds and because of our, I guess
personal experiences for sure, in not being burdened with the residential school
experience. We’re just angry. We’re still angry mind you, but less angry. Our minds
are more open I think. Whereas in my father’s and mother’s generation, there
was a lot more anger, a lot more frustration, and I understand that. I was fifty-one
when I found out that my mother had gone to a residential school for ten
years. She had never said a word about that before that. Fifty years. So when I
got sick, you go through a lot of things obviously, a lot of thoughts come to mind
and with Dr. XXX opening the door at [hospital], it’s a start. Thinking about this,
I talked to [wife] about this last week, I said, because the day of the surgery I
said my prayers. I couldn’t smudge, I wish I could have gone and had a chance
to go smudge at the culture room you know, it would have been good because
that morning I was thinking it would have been great if me and of course my wife
and maybe some of my kinds or my family could have been there in the culture
room and said prayers before my surgery and maybe even a few minutes of the
surgeons time. That’s what I was thinking when I was in there because I put my
life in their hands. This is major, this is important, you know? And they need to
understand and accept if anything that when we do something, we don’t do it
without prayer. In everything we do a lot of us. So in the hospital they’re good
changes since I was there in [hospital]. There’s been some major changes, there’s
Aboriginal people working there now. It’s a good start. I also think it’s important
what you’re doing by coming here, that’s another thing I was going to – I mean,
I could have gone into your office and I could have gone to meet with you in the
city to do an interview and whatever but, and of course it’s going to be different
for every one of your participants, but it’s important I think to go to see what they
go home to. Sometimes, there are very few support systems, sometimes nothing.
[hospital] goes and makes many major efforts to do what they do in saving lives
but a lot of times they don’t have any idea what kind of situation that patient walks
into when they leave those hospitals and they go back to their homes. That’s
why it’s important I think that you go see people in their houses when you do
these interviews possibly because a lot of our people have nothing. They need
somebody to help them, be it homecare, etcetera. I know I’ve been rambling on
and on but you have got a series of questions you wanted to ask, right?
I: I think you’ve answered most of them. Can I ask, what, so you had your
operation?
P: Hmm?
I: You did have an operation then?
P: Yeah, yeah.
I: And did they talk to you about –
P: They took out the colon and the bladder and prost – what do you call it?
I: Prostate?
P: Prostate. They took it all out.
I: Okay and then did they give you chemotherapy afterwards?
P: Well I was supposed to have a meeting to discuss that but I don’ know if I will.
I: Okay.
P: They said they took it all out, they took the cancer out. But with this stuff you
don’t know. With this cancer stuff, they say that and within the next week, oh it’s
back, you know? I don’t know. There’s a lot more I could share with you and I
want to share with you but I’m somewhat hesitant because in terms of ceremony
medicine plants because I don’t have bed right. That would be up to the person I
went to. But I think it’s also important that –
I: Without giving my details.
P: Yeah.
I: You saw somebody and that was important to you.
P: Mm-hmm. Yeah. We’ve always done that, you know. We’ve always made an
effort to combine. It’s not something that the medical world agrees to or are maybe
even aware of but it’s a strange concept you know. You’re taking these plants
that are clean and pure, and you want to combine them with what the Western
world has in this place of sickness. You take something from plants that are clean
and helpful and you take them into their environment and they’re not known and
maybe they’re not even accepted, maybe they’re not even wanted in there, and
yet you go in there with your prayers and your medicine and you’re looking for
something – health, wellness. But there’s no room for it over there, only what
they have. So there’s a gap there and it’s very impersonal, Western medicine. I
understand that I’m only one of how many other patients these people see on
a daily basis when I talk about impersonal, I don’t expect a really close strong
relationship to develop between patient and doctor but all I’m saying is that there
needs to be a little bit more where people can feel okay, good. They don’t mind, or
maybe I shouldn’t say that, I don’t have to feel guilty for taking my own medicine.
They’re not going to condemn it because they now know that I’ve been taking it, I
don’t know if I can say they know what it is but they know that I’m relying on that in
the same way that I’m relying on their medicine because right now, I walk in there I
have to hide my medicine. They’re going to say “no, don’t take it. That disrupts the
balance.” I also think maybe you could consider talking to people who are healers.
INTERVIEW 2
P: And I just went for radiation treatment – something I was against … against
before but after they explained and how they can work along with our herbs and
that you know they can, they both can work together.
I: Mm-hmm.
P: Yeah. See that’s all I took when I first got diagnosed. I refused chemotherapy, I
refused radiation, I refused any kind of treatment.
I: Okay.
P: And I went solely to the traditional medicine.
I: Mm-hmm.
P: Right, right.
I: And so that you guys can get the treatment that you’re looking for that’s ideal
right.
P: Right.
I: So it’s not just about being –
P: Keeping an open mind.
I: Well and learning from each other.
P: Yeah exactly.
I: I think, I have learned a lot from the people I’ve talked to and I think we have a
lot to learn and hopefully we have a lot to share as well, so it can go both ways.
P: Right.
I: So that’s the purpose.
P: Uh-huh.
I: And I think we’ll get there so I’m just going to, with that as an introduction, let
you tell me your story. I heard you say you were diagnosed five years ago with
lung cancer and then you chose not to go with chemotherapy and radiation but tell
me a little bit more.
P: Well we’ve always been the family that believes in our traditional ways, you
know that’s what we grew up with our grandparents where you know before we
start going running to doctors we’d have our own type of medicines that our
grandmothers would make for us eh, like for even the simple cold eh. We still
practice that. My oldest sister still makes the medicine that we get from her you
know instead of going to the doctors and it’s that belief that anything that comes
from Mother Earth is good and kind and will heal us. Just hold on here.
[…]
P: But it’s always been believing you know the spirituality because that’s who,
we really believe that with our belief and our creator and Mother Earth that that’s
where you know, I’ll tell you what my mother used to tell us.
I: Yeah, absolutely.
P: She was, she used to tell us “when you’re sick, 50% comes from you, 50%
from within.” You are the one that can heal yourself, you know talking to your body,
talking to yourself, and saying, being kind to whatever sickness you have, not
being mad you know like my cancer. Not being mad at the cancer but talking to it
and like I’ll tell you what I say to my sickness. I tell it to “please leave my body” you
know but “go somewhere where you will not hurt any more people.” This is what
I say every day. And then she used to say “50% is … well the help that you get
from medicines” you know either it be herbs or what you get from your doctors.
50% comes from that you know and of course that 50% from within its including
our creator and our Mother Earth hey and 50% is from outside sources but your
mind is very powerful in curing yourself too eh, believing that you’re going to get
better. And that’s a lot of our old people, that’s what they believe in.
I: So you grew –
P: I don’t know if I’m making sense here!
I: You’re making total sense. You can’t see my face and my nodding but you have
made total sense. You grew up with this though.
P: Yes, right.
I: This was something that your mother instilled in you.
P: Yes, and our grandparents. We lived with it. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of
[inaudible 07:33 Kim Kan-wa-pa-tay-woah]?
I: I have not.
P: Yeah he was one of our most respected Elders [ ] and we were – we grew up
with him and he showed us a lot of what I’m telling you. You know a lot of the
knowledge we have now came from him. The medicine, like you know none of
our family has like is into healing or whatever but we believe in it. You know we
have not been blessed with a healing part of it, but we go to others and we’re very
careful who we choose, you know whoever healer that we go to.
I: So how do you choose which healer you would go to?
P: Just by –
I: Word of mouth?
P: What you hear from people.
I: Okay.
P: They’re you know who has helped who. Like a lot of – like the healer I go to
a lot of people around here don’t even know about him. You know and it’s just
like you’re guided to the healer that you’re supposed to be using and our family
really believes that when you pick a healer you only go to that healer. You don’t
go to you know a whole bunch of healers like you hear of “oh this person has
been curing cancer” and whatever eh and you go running to him. We don’t do
that you know and we stick to one healer and put – and it’s not the healer that
is healing us. Like he’s always told us, like either we go to, he’s always told us
“it’s not me that’s healing you. I’m just being an oskâpêwis a helper” eh. That’s
what oskâpêwis means in Cree. “I am just a helper. I am the one that brings the
medicine to you but it’s the creator and Mother Earth through her herbs. Those are
the people that are healing you, not me.” He’s really made us understand that eh
and he’s one person that doesn’t ask for money or whatever you know it’s up to
you what you want to give him you know he doesn’t charge you a fee or whatever.
If you don’t have nothing to give him that’s fine – as long as you give him the
tobacco. Tobacco is first and foremost eh and the cloth and that’s all he’ll ask for.
You know if you don’t have anything else then that’s fine with him too.
I: And the healers that you go to or that you have gone to do they heal, they help
with a number of different illnesses as I understand. Is that correct?
P: Right.
I: Yeah.
P: Right. And the first, how I met him I don’t even know how my oldest sister who
is 80 now she had a, they told her she had a type of Leukemia, something to do
with her blood. She said “you know, I really want to go and see this man” and at
that time, he was living outside of XXX and she said “I want to go and see him” so
I took her and already she had this like bubbles all over her legs at the bottom of
her legs, with black stuff in there you know and I took her and through the herbs
that he gave her and showed her how to look after herself – she came out of it.
Those things disappeared. And then again she had, twice we just about lost her
and we got him to go and he you know give her medicines and she came out of
them, out of her illnesses. One time she had a tumor in her brain.
I: Wow.
P: You know and we’ve seen so much real, even in my case when I first got
diagnosed with cancer we had a ceremony and there was things we saw in there
that … makes believers out of us hey. And things we really don’t want to share
with just anybody and … it’s hard to explain. And that’s why I’m such a believer
and that’s why I believe now because just recently when I got diagnosed with the
right side of my lung –
I: Mm-hmm. This is the second time now.
P: Yeah and the doctors in XXX, like I was in XXX hospital and they did all the
tests and everything. They sent all my records to XXX, to the cancer clinic there.
Cancer clinic turned around and said there was nothing they could do for me that
it was too late you know and that the best thing for them to do for me is to make
me feel as comfortable as possible, something that my family did not want to hear
eh.
I: Sure.
P: So that’s what we were told and one of my –
I: And when was that?
P: That was in November.
I: Of this year?
P: Of this year.
I: Okay.
P: See I went to the hospital because I got a blood clot on my leg, and this is
where it all started from and from there they found I had cancer of the other lung
so after my family was told there was no hope for me they said “we can’t take
that” you know, “we can’t believe that. There’s something we can do.” So one of
my sister’s husbands said “okay XXX says they can’t do anything for you, you
know you need to get a second opinion.” So I told my doctor in XXX and he
sent my records to XXX to the cancer clinic in XXX and they turned around and
they said “yes we believe we can do something for you” but remember that I was
against chemotherapy and radiation all along eh and I wanted to just depend on
my traditional medicines. So I got sent to XXX and I said “I’m going in there with
an open mind” because after talking to my healer he said “you know contemporary
medicines and traditional medicines can work together.”
I: Yes.
P: And that’s what I went to XXX with.
I: So but that’s a different message than you heard the first time you were
diagnosed, five years ago.
P: He didn’t tell me, he didn’t tell me not to go you know. That was a choice I made
because very soon into, it was only a few days from the time I got diagnosed to
the time we had our ceremony where I got my healing through the ceremony that
this stuff happened where, where I believe that I was healed you know and … I, I
really don’t want to tell you what it was that happened.
I: You don’t need to! You just tell me what you’re comfortable with. I’m not trying
to ask you to say what doesn’t feel comfortable.
P: And that’s what I went with you know because of what I saw at the ceremony
and what I believed in and all these years I followed my traditional spirituality in
that you know I pray every day, I pray all the time not only for my health but for
everybody eh and so when I went to Edmonton I went there with an open mind
and … it was such a positive, positive meeting that I had with the doctor. Anything I
wanted to ask I had my family, I had two of my sisters, and I had my two youngest.
You know one is XX and the other is XX and they came in with me and they had
questions. They all had questions about radiation like I told them though first right
off though “no there is no way I will go to chemotherapy” so they … they knew
that. And then I said “but radiation, explain radiation to me” and they did and you
know how it can shrink the masses you know and how they can help me and I
knew it worked. I know it worked because how you feel within yourself, you know
something’s working and I feel like I’m going to beat this.
I: That’s a good way to feel.
P: Yeah and I feel that with, keeping up with my, like I’m still on my traditional
medicines. And they understand that too. They said they don’t have nothing
against me taking my medicines and taking the … the … radiation treatments too.
You know even when I was in the hospital I had my medicines right there and they
knew.
I: So your experience has been a very positive one in terms of being very
comfortable not only within yourself but also finding the system both with your
healer and with the healthcare system being accepting of you using both.
P: Right, right because when I was in the hospital I did a lot of educating.
You know I talked with the nurses, I talked with the doctor and told them what
my beliefs were too eh and to respect how I feel too eh and I didn’t have no
problems whatsoever you know and it’s been positive, positive all the way around.
Especially in Edmonton you know from being told there was no hope for me and
being told something else that was different you know and that was the difference.
I do have a niece, it’s surprising how her and I we ran the women’s program here.
In fact, I had just retired a year ago in February and she took over. She was my
assistant all along and she took over and here she started getting sick in July
and now she, her cancer has gone to her spine and her and I just got sick both
at the same time. But she’s in worse shape than I am. She’s in palliative care
in Lloydminster but her too, her mind is strong. This is not going to beat her eh
you know and her experiences are a little bit differen
