Wendy Harpham on Healthy Survivorship

Letting Go Part V

10 days ago, I promised to write about "letting go" and grief. Ironically, since then I've had to let go of blogging. 

Think Twice Before Praising Weight Loss

Until recently, if I saw someone who had lost excess weight, without hesitation I'd say something positive like, "Wow, you look terrific!"

Then I read "Why You Should Think Twice Before You Praise Someone For Losing Weight."

Help Me Live

Have you ever worried about saying the wrong thing to someone facing a medical challenge? If you are a patient, have you ever been hurt by something someone said?

Journalist and cancer survivor Lori Hope answered "Yes" to both questions and decided to do something about it. 

Dietary Pattern for Health

After a cancer diagnosis, patients ask, "What should I eat? What foods should I avoid?

The answers found in magazines and offered by clinicians and purveyors of alternative therapies often paint a confusing picture of contradictions.

Decreasing The Risk of Delirium

A study designed to determine risks associated with hospitalization and delirium in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) contains important lessons for Healthy Survivors.

"Doctor, I Use Dietary Supplements"

What are Healthy Survivors to do if they want to go against their physicians' medical advice and take dietary supplements? 

New Nutrition and Activity Guidelines for Survivors

Up-to-date, science-driven guidelines on nutrition and exercise after cancer were published in the April 12th issue of Ca - A Journal for Clinicians, a publication of The American Cancer Society. Although addressed to healthcare professionals, the material is accessible to patients (free, online) and includes a section written specifically for lay readers.

Choosing Wisely Campaign - Part II

In my last post, I introduced the Choosing Wisely™ campaign, an effort by clinicians to avoid overuse or inappropriate use of tests and therapies. Obviously, a successful campaign would save lots of money. But the campaign is motivated by a higher goal that reflects the mission of Healthy Survivorship.

Relieving Major Depression in Cancer Patients

An Oncology Times article caught my eye: "Relieving Major Depression in Cancer Patients: Specific 'Biopsychosocial' Method Found Useful."  It reviewed a study that addressed the impact of an intervention developed to treat depression, reduce stress and help patients develop coping strategies.

Problems with Generics

Did you know that when you take a generic drug, you essentially forfeit the ability to sue the company making the drug for damages if you experience an adverse event?

Be a Good Patient; Study Up - Part II

In yesterday's post, I introduced an article/video to clarify some of the points. Today I want to focus on the quote, "Hope cannot be false."

Scan Anxiety and Healing Hope

In my January 21st post, I shared a vignette that illustrates the notion that what you hope for affects whether your hope helps or hurts you.

Now let's look at the challenge of coping with the evaluation of a worrisome symptom. What can Healthy Survivors hope for? 

What are You Hoping For?

Challenges prompt new desires. If in school, we want to graduate. If ill, we desire wellness. While dealing with a challenge, how much hope do you have? Does it even matter?

Ranting and Healing - Part II

In yesterday's post, I shared my reaction to a rant found on a cancer-related listserv. I explained my concerns regarding such expressions of anger, disappointment and frustration.

So what are Healthy Survivors to do if, for example, they learn they had not received important information about aftereffects of treatments they received?

Revoking FDA Approval: Right or Wrong? - Part IV

My last post provided an outline of the FDA's approval process. I cringed while writing it, knowing 250 words couldn't capture the investment of time, people and capital. 

Managing Uncertainty: Hope

In my October 20 and November 19th posts I provided links to the first two essays of a 4-part series on managing uncertainty. In the November 25th issue of Oncology Times, you can read part 3, titled Managing Uncertainty: Hope.

Here's the problem: Patients' reactions to uncertainty may interfere with Healthy Survivorship.

Calming the Fear of Recurrence

Fear that cancer will return is a near-universal fear of patients whose cancer is in remission. This fear can interfere with getting good care and/or living fully. For Healthy Survivors striving to calm this fear, a 6-minute video may help.

Managing Communication

An interesting press release from the University of Texas supports my long-standing contention that it is better to ask a patient, "How are things?" than to ask "How are you?"

Your Medical Mind

My recent posts have discussed some of the difficulties of modern medical decision-making in the context of PSA testing for prostate cancer. A new book by Harvard oncologist Jerome Groopman and Harvard endocrinologist Pamela Hartzband offers help to Healthy Survivors: Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What is Right for You.

Does PSA Testing Save Lives or Not? - Part III

While the furor over PSA testing plays out in the media, my sympathies lie with men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer . At the end of the day, the patient has to decide what to do.

My Bad?

My August 6th post shares a report on a new technology for breast cancer screening. I confess: I did not check out the story.

Talking About Side Effects of Cancer Treatments

Effective communication is an essential element of Healthy Survivorship. So I felt honored when MD Anderson Cancer Center's Dr. Walter Baile invited me to write and narrate an audiovisual module titled TALKING ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS OF CANCER TREATMENTS

Hope or Letting Go - Part IV

Perhaps most troubling to me of  Hope or Letting Go, was Dr. Youn's question about whether the patient and his wife should be given a chance to say good-bye. 

2011 Cancer Resource Guide

Cure in association with the American Cancer Society has published a superb booklet for people with cancer: the 2011 edition of their Cancer Resource Guide.

Healing after a Doctor Visit Gone Awry - Part II

There is no one right way to obtain knowledge, nourish hope or take action. So, too, there is no one right way to heal a rift between you and your physician.

But there are good ways -- and maybe even a best way -- for you and your physician. What follows are my suggestions to the patient who, at her last doctor visit, raised her voice in frustration:

Making Your Case at Doctor Visits-Part II

A commenter wrote "[A]ll of your suggestions here seem to protect the ego of the doctor.... I do sometimes feel that I need to "arm" myself. It's not the way it should be but, unfortunately, sometimes it is the way things are."

Many things in modern medicine are not the way they should be, such as waiting in a cold exam room for physicians who are running late. What's a Healthy Survivor to do?

Ammunition for Your Doctor Visit

I find it troubling when Healthy Survivors describe obtaining sound knowledge (the first step to Healthy Survivorship) as "arming themselves with ammunition" to make their case to their physician.

And the problem is....?

Warning Strangers

Walking down the jetway, I hear a woman's voice behind me, "Umm, excuse me. May I ask if you work in the sun?"

The man behind me answers, "Huh? I work inside, but I play outdoor sports."

With a micro-chuckle of embarrassment, the woman says, "Gosh, I hope you don't think I'm crazy or overstepping my bounds, but were you aware of the black spot on your earlobe?

Free Toolbox

We are not born knowing how to become Healthy Survivors. We aren't taught in school how to get good care and live as fully as possible when living with, through and beyond cancer or other serious illness. I wish we were.

Why are You Here?

Yesterday I offered the opening comments for the Dallas Lymphomathon. Here's an excerpt:

Stigma of Illness (Part III)

My last post offered tips for recognizing stigma. My key message was that Healthy Survivors have a right to choose whether or not they advocate to destigmatize the disease that has become part of their life.

Today I'll tackle the challenge of dealing with this stigma.

Stigma of Illness (Part II)

In my April 11th post, I refer to an article in Women's Day titled, "The Stigma of Illness."

Stigma can keep patients from becoming Healthy Survivors, so let's talk about dealing with stigma in healthy ways.

What Not to Say to a Cancer Patient

The Dallas Morning News ran a story on the front page of today's Health section entitled, What Not to Say to a Cancer Patient.  For the article, special contributor Melissa T. Schultz interviewed me, two other survivors (scroll through photographs) and Dr. Walter Baile of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC).

Diane Rose, Model Healthy Survivor

A picture is worth a thousand words. But what if you can't see the picture? It didn't stop Diane Rose.

Disenfranchised Grief

What is disenfranchised grief?

Empathy and Weight Loss

Obesity is linked to many serious medical conditions. Yet many physicians refrain from talking about "the elephant in the room" for fear of offending patients. 

Healthy Responses in The Gray Zone

When symptoms or signs are not dramatic, patients often find it stressful to decide whether or not to call the doctor or go straight to the emergency room. As a patient, I found it more stressful when a new problem put me in what I call "the gray zone" than when a sign or symptom was clearly a serious problem demanding immediate attention.

What's a Healthy Survivor to do?

Cancer Rehab

After people have a heart attack, stroke or joint replacement, rehab is a routine part of their recovery plan. Cancer survivors, too, can have significant musculoskeletal issues during and after the acute illness. Yet cancer rehab programs are few and far between. Why is that?

Walking on Planet C

Nile Rogers knows how to use words to communicate feelings. Who among us doesn't instinctively begin to dance with joy when listening -- and singing -- to "We are Family" at a family celebration? 

Mistreated Patients

This is a painful topic for me to address,. But I will, since it is about a challenge for some patients:

What can Healthy Survivors do if mistreated? 

Talking With Your Doctors About News in the Media

In my last post I shared my response to a reader who was upset by the media reports of a new study. The commenter expressed ambivalence about discussing it with her physicians: "I don't know if it would be healthy or not to ask my doctors...if [knowing what we know today] I would have been spared this surgery."

The 5 Rs to Healthy Survivorship

For smokers, snubbing out their last-ever cigarette is a key element of "getting good care" in their pursuit of Healthy Survivorship. But smokers often feel miserable while quitting, enough that most relapse.

Treating Chronic Pain

A NYTimes article about ways to manage the costs of treating chronic pain also offers Healthy Survivors some tips on managing chronic pain itself.

Helping Misguided Survivors

On my January 28th post, Lori commented about one's obligations to survivors whose belief in the power of positive thinking precludes their getting effective therapies.

Disabusing Patients' Belief in the Power of Positive Thinking

In my last post I promised to address whether linking health to personal virtue is "good" or "bad" medicine. Followers of this blog know what I'm going to say:

A Fighting Spirit

A NYTimes op-ed piece entitled A Fighting Spirit Won't Save Your Life concludes, "Linking health to personal virtue and vice not only is bad science, it’s bad medicine."

When a Healthy Survivor Feels Like Quitting

My 1/14/11 post refers to a post -- Why We Quit -- by a Buddhist physician who believes we quit when we can no longer avoid paying attention to the idea of quitting. He recommends building resilience by "trying again, no matter what the reason you failed before."

Why We Quit

When I jog, I feel as if I'm running for my life.

Sacrificing for Healthy Survivorship

In some situations, your best choice is one that still involves some hardship, loss and/or pain. Perceiving such difficulties as a sacrifice can help patients on the road to Healthy Survivorship.

Sharing Laughter

Theresa Brown is a nurse who appreciates the healing power of patients' humor. In a December 1, 2010 article for the NYTimes' Well blog, Brown shares a few anecdotes that illustrate how she is often amused by patients' stories that others might consider offensive.