Turning 'stubborn'

Decades-long Ellendale resident Glenda Blouin, 71, says that yes, she’s headstrong–and she comes by it naturally. Her mother, Delerene Herbst of New Richland, was well known for the way she insisted on things.

 

Though there were times when stubbornness like Delerene’s was difficult to cope with, there are times when it’s also valuable, Glenda observes. Especially now that she’s been diagnosed with cancer for the third time in her life.

 

Glenda has survived breast cancer twice, once in 2000 and again in 2009. Although her self-exams never indicated anything suspicious, she says she has also always been persistent about getting a yearly mammogram, even back in a time when she had to pay for it out of her own pocket. To a great degree, that was Delerene’s doing.'

 

“She had breast cancer,” Glenda explains. “So she wanted to be sure all three of her daughters were taking care of things. She would ask us in this loud, rough voice ‘Have you gotten your mammogram yet?’ 

 

“She would say it anywhere, even if we were shopping in a store. She didn’t care who heard her.”

 

Glenda expresses gratitude to her mother, who was 90 years old when she died in 2013. “I thank her for loving me so much she yelled at me,” says Glenda lightheartedly. “She saved my life, because if I hadn’t done a mammogram, the cancer wouldn’t have been found.”

 

Glenda remembers that, when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, her reaction was anger. 

 

“I had two kids at home,” she remembers. “I didn’t want them to lose their mother.

“I was scared because I didn’t know whether I would live or die.”

 

Glenda has two children, Kari and Jesse. In 2000 they were, respectively, 17 and 10 years old.

 

At that time, Glenda was working full time as a cook at the Owatonna hospital. The treatment at the time was radiation. And while there are many details she doesn’t remember, she recalls the only place treatments were available was in Mankato. She would drive there in the morning, wait her turn at the accelerator, and afterwards drive to Owatonna to work a full shift.

 

Back then, the machines were apparently less precise than they are today. In order to shield other parts of her from damage, Glenda–like all other patients using the machine–was provided with a personally fitted metal form. She would undress and settle down inside it.

 

“The metal was cold,” she mentions. But once it warmed up a bit, she said it was quite comfortable. She describes joking about taking it home when her treatments were over, though in the end she left it there to be melted down and reused. The method of shielding wasn’t perfect, Glenda mentions: a small portion of her lungs was permanently damaged.

 

After the radiation treatments, Glenda underwent a lumpectomy to remove the tumor.

 

One of her dearest memories of the time was the way her husband, Dennis, responded. When he learned surgery would be necessary, and that Delerene’s cancer would require a radical mastectomy, he reassured Glenda, “I love you whether you have breasts or not.”

 

She is also still deeply touched by the tenderness Dennis showed.“He helped me with the bandages,” she remembers. “He never batted an eyelash.”

 

He and Glenda had been married 42 years when Dennis died in 2017.

 

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, it was again because of a mammogram.

 

The anger she remembers from this time was Delerene’s. “She shouted and said it couldn’t be back,” Glenda recalls. “She was truly mad, and she didn’t want to believe it.”

 

The treatment in 2009 was also radiation and a lumpectomy. Glenda again drove to Mankato in the morning and reported to an eight-hour shift in the kitchen of the Owatonna hospital. She remembers being very tired. “One time we were on break,” she describes. “And all of a sudden my boss was waking me up.

 

“I was sitting next to her and I fell asleep with my head on her shoulder.”

 

Glenda suggests that, when it comes to self exams and regularly scheduled mammograms, women should pretend they have a mother like Delerene.

 

“Self examinations and mammograms have saved a lot of people’s lives,” she declares. “So women should always be taking care of those. The sooner it’s diagnosed, the faster it can be taken care of.”

 

As for the difficult processes that follow a cancer diagnosis, Glenda says “stubborness” is the best response. “Make a decision you’re going to beat it. Find people who will help you, and then go do it.” 

 

That’s the approach she’s chosen, she says, to the diagnosis of Hodgkin Lymphoma that she received only a few weeks ago. She says she is neither angry nor scared, but simply determined to beat this round of cancer, too. She mentions her faith is a great source of support.

 

“God gives us life,” she says. “He knows what he’s doing, so this must be happening for a reason. Since life is a gift, we should all treasure it.

 

“Yeah, I’ve been through a lot. But I know my family, my faith, and that stubborn streak from my mom will get me through this.”