Duke University Medical Center Intercom VOL. 25, NO. 1 JAN, 6, 1978 DURHAM, N.C. you can't give up/ cancer patient says By William Erwin Polio gave Alfred Schofell a lame right leg; emphysema made him short of breath; cancer took his voice box. Last year, a cancerous tumor the size of an egg grew on his jaw. But "you can't give up," he says, pounding his fist on the dining table in his house trailer. Schofell, 56, isn't about to give up. He's one of an estimated three million Americans alive today who have a history of cancer. With the help of his family and some able health professionals, he has learned to accept the changes his disease has caused. Now he's squeezing as much living as he can into each day. The former construction foreman and his wife, Vivian, tend a greenhouse full of plants that they sell to neighbors in their coastal plain community of Grantsboro east of New Bern. In February they start raising vegetable plants from seed — Homestead and Rugert tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, collards and broccoli. They sell four kinds of ivy, and geraniums, wandering Jew, THE FISH ARE WAITING at the mouth of the Neu*e for Alfred Schofell (right) and grandson Chris Santimaw, but a few more plants in the greenhouse need to be repotted first. Cancer and other diseases have presented Schofell with some detours, roadblocks. (Photo bi/ William Erwin) yet few insurmountable If s not just wedding bells and diaper pails By Parker Herring You used to not have much of a choice. For most couples it was wedding bells to diaper pails without much thought given to doing anything else. But increasingly young people are thinking about whether or not they really want to have children. The role of parenthood is being scrutinized as people take a look at the age-old values associated with childrearing. A nursing course. Nursing 121 A, entitled "Parenthood," was designed to give Duke students a basis for deciding whether or not they want to become parents. Gerber image vs. reality "If people understand what parenting is all about," said course instructor Betty Harris, RN, "then they can make a rational choice. "People need to discover for themselves if their idea of parenthood centers on the Gerber baby image or on realistic expectations," she said. Harris started teaching the course in 1972. Initially 14 female nursing students were the only ones enrolled in the class. Now the course is open each semester to Duke undergraduates, with enrollment computer-keyed so that the student ratio is 50% male, 50% female. "I've found it's better to have it that way (50-50)," Harris said. "One semester I had one man and 19 females in the class and the discussion kept getting askewed. "The courses places a heavy emphasis on what it is actually like to be a parent," she said. "It complements courses in child development." Chronology and fantasies Harris said her course explores the chronological aspects of parenthood — why people have children, what pregnancy is hke, what family-centered birth is like, how to parent children of different ages, parenting adult children and the relationships of grandparents. Students explore their fantasies about parenthood and are exposed to the realities of modern parenting. "More people are having problems being parents today," Harris said. "A lot of that is associated with the high divorce rate and more women working. Many families are faced with the problem of not being as accessible as their parents were to them. "The early stages of parenthood are rough for most people," she continued. "Being a parent is a lot more work than most people think." Shocking And parenthood can be a shock to some. "Many people suffer a type of reality shock when they first become parents, and how new parents react to the (Continued on page 3) pansies, poinsettia. Fall shifts their energies from greenhouse to dining table, where they make plaques from sea shells they gather beside the Atlantic 30 miles away. Quite a fisherman Whenever he can, Schofell fishes for croakers and spots at the mouth of the Neuse River. Sixteen-year-old grandson Chris likes to come along; so does daughter Jane Santimaw, head psychiatric nurse at Craven County Hospital. They live next door to the Schofells. Four other children and seven other grandchildren are scattered from Arapahoe, down the road, to northern New York state. Schofell says hell never forget the morning five years ago when he and son Jeffrey and Chris pulled 468 pounds of fish out of the Neuse. In one morning. "The only thing I can't do now is swim," the proud grandfather told a visitor earlier this year. "1 could once swim as far underwater as you can swim on top," he winked. He can't swim because he has a small opening at the base of his throat. It's the standard opening patients use for breathing after they've had their vocal chords removed. Wasted no time Once a four-pack-a-day smoker, Schofell developed cancer of the voice box three years ago and he had to have the organ removed. But he wasted no time before learning how to speak again. Pat Jernigan, speech therapist at Craven County Hospital until recently, visited the patient before his operation. Then about three weeks later, as soon as (Continued on page 2) BETTY HARRIS

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