HEALTH MONITORING AFTER CANCER-SHOULD WE LET STUFF GO?

I was receiving a stern and deserved lecture from my eye doctor. “It’s been too long since you have been here.” “Oh two years,” I replied. Since I waited five years before that appointment, I was actually proud of myself. “No- it has been three and a half years,” he corrected me.......

STILL LIFE AND CANCER- TEACHINGS FROM A MYSTERY NOVEL

A favorite mystery author for many readers is Louise Penny and her featured detective, Armand Gamache. I have several friends and relatives who kept recommending these books. I decided to read the first one in the series when I visited Montreal, where the fictional characters live. It is titled Still Life, and......

WHY AM I ALWAYS SO TIRED – A LOOK INTO CANCER FATIGUE

Fatigue is an often-mentioned side effect from cancer and its various treatments. It is not the type of fatigue where a good night’s sleep will “cure” us. It just seems to go on and on. A standard dictionary definition of fatigue, according to Medicine, is, “extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion......

A CANCER LESSON FROM A TV SHOW

It is interesting to observe the lessons one can learn from a supposedly recreational television program. I was watching a new series this year called “New Amsterdam.” Surprisingly, the show features a medical director of the hospital who has cancer. He was talking to a Rabbi with cancer faced with what seemed......

CANCER SURVIVORS WAIT FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP

“I am waiting for the other shoe to drop,” is a popular expression I have heard many times. I thought I understood this saying, but I truly didn’t until I was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer typically isn’t treated the way I originally thought, which was a straight line from diagnosis to treatment......

CANCER CHANGES EVERYTHING – AND NOTHING

I was watching a television show I have mentioned in some other articles. The show “New Amsterdam” features a medical director of a hospital who has cancer. He talks honestly about his cancer journey. One of the statements he made to a colleague was, “Cancer changes everything – and nothing.” I stared......

INSOMNIA AND CANCER

I am a person who always was able to sleep and would generally be out before my head ever hit the pillow. Now I found myself tossing and turning for hours at a time. I would try reading, but then would just delay my sleep longer. Ironically, the cancer and chemo were......

BEING OFF CHEMO MAY BE TEMPORARY – BUT SO IS LIFE!

Being in remission can be both exhilarating and scary! As many of my readers know, I have a blood type of cancer and thought I would be on chemo without a break for the rest of my life. We all know that putting chemo into our bodies is pouring poison into our......

COPING WITH THE TIDAL WAVE OF CANCER

By Jane Biehl PhD Like many people I was very naïve about how much cancer would change my life. I thought that one got cancer, was treated and afterwards was “cured” and moved on. Of course I knew there were others who passed away from this devastating disease, and have lost dear......

HOPE IS AROUND THE CORNER FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

I was feeling upset and depressed. I had a terribly insensitive oncologist early in my cancer journey who told me that the average length of time for this type of cancer was 104 months. The worst of it is she stated this with same emotion as asking me if I wanted a......

ANEMIA AND CANCER

You are trying to climb an easy flight of step that used to be a breeze. Now you are hanging on to the rail, experiencing shortness of breath and feeling like a you are running a marathon. You wake up and it seems like a heavy blanket is on top of you,......

VISION BOARDS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

Vision boards are both therapeutic and fun for cancer survivors and everyone else!  What is a Vision Board?  Oprah Winfrey explains it this way. “I was speaking with Michelle (Obama) and Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver –we were all doing a big rally out in California.  At the end of the rally......