Parents going through chemo often struggle to explain their alopecia (hair loss) to their young children. The rhyming verse in Nowhere Hair offers a healing conversation-starter that is both whimsical and profound.
Parents going through chemo often struggle to explain their alopecia (hair loss) to their young children. The rhyming verse in Nowhere Hair offers a healing conversation-starter that is both whimsical and profound.
Posted at 07:55 AM in Books, Children of parents with cancer, Family illness | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Writers choose words and phrases with care. In all my years of writing, only once or twice have I repeated a sentence word-for-word in a single essay. So when surgeon Nuland did so in How We Die, I took notice.
Posted at 07:59 AM in Books, End-of-Life, Family illness, Palliative Care | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
In my last post I share my discomfort with a passage from How We Die. Reading on, however, Nuland offers a useful insight about a risk of increasing specialization:
Continue reading "How We Die: Discriminate Specialization" »
Posted at 08:36 AM in Books, Current Affairs, Doctor-Patient Communication, End-of-Life, Family illness, Palliative Care | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Most pages of my copy of Nuland's How We Die sport underlinings and check marks. On page 72, though, I drew a big question mark in the margin beside a paragraph that preceded another that earned a "great insight!"
Continue reading "How We Die: The Problem With Specialists" »
Posted at 05:46 PM in Books, End-of-Life, Knowledge, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Dr. Nuland opens Chapter 2 of How We Die saying, "No one dies of old age, or so it would be legislated if actuaries ruled the world." Later in the chapter he introduces a perspective on aging that can serve Healthy Survivors well.
Posted at 07:30 AM in Books, Current Affairs, Dictionary of Healthy Survivorship, End-of-Life, Grief, Healthy Survivorship, Palliative Care, Treatment Decisions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I just read a gem of a book by breast cancer survivor Bob Riter, Executive Director of Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes: Elephant in the Room: Practical Advice When the Diagnosis is Cancer.
Posted at 06:51 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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.
Posted at 09:59 PM in Action, Books, Clinical Trials, Current Affairs, Doctor-Patient Communication, Health care system, Knowledge, Uncertainty | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Oftentimes, insights and mantras that help adults become Healthy Survivors can help children whose parent is going through treatment, if presented in an age-appropriate way.
Posted at 09:04 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
I just read A Father's Love: One Man's Unrelenting Battle to Bring His Abducted Son Home. Why?
Partly because a good friend of mine is a family lawyer. Anything that gives me insight into her world helps me be a better friend.
Posted at 05:37 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Rabbi Naomi Levy's book To Begin Again has been my go-to book when comforting someone after the death of a loved one. Her new book Hope Will Find You is surely to become one of my go-to books when supporting someone after the death of hopes and dreams.
Posted at 07:36 AM in Books, Hope | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Your doctor dictates into your chart, "The patient is tolerating treatment well." Huh? After every treatment you feel nauseated, lightheaded, weak, headachy and, in a word, miserable. What does your doctor mean by "tolerating treatment well"?
Posted at 07:49 AM in Books, Dictionary of Healthy Survivorship, Doctor-Patient Communication, Knowledge | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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).
Posted at 07:02 AM in Action, Books, Caregiving, Family illness, Healthy Survivorship, Post-treatment Recovery | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Inconceivable is the story of a couple who became pregnant with the wrong embryo. Early on, we learn that church and religion had played central roles in the lives of Carolyn and Sean Savage. When faced with their health crisis, their church became a source of both support and additional pain.
Posted at 07:58 PM in Books, Doctor-Patient Communication | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
To further our discussion of Healthy Survivorship -- what it is and how to achieve it -- let's look at it in the context of a medical challenge that is not an illness or injury.
Continue reading "An Inconceivable Mistake and Healthy Survivorship" »
Posted at 07:46 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: atypical grief, grief, health challenge, infertility, loss
Henry Kaplan, The Gentle Giant.
He was the first giant I'd ever seen. My chance meeting occurred on an otherwise uneventful afternoon in radiation oncology at Stanford....
Posted at 07:27 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: book review, lymphoma treatment, radiation oncology
Mutual understanding helps build strong bonds, including those between clinicians and patients. How can patients learn more about the world of the clinicians who care for them? One way is by reading true stories of clinical encounters.
Posted at 09:57 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
An aphorism from the business world may help on the path to Healthy Survivorship: The current system is perfectly designed to deliver the results it does.
So if you don't like the way things are going under the circumstances, change something! Today I am blogging about changing how you walk.
Posted at 10:31 AM in Action, Books, Complementary Therapies, Happiness, Spirituality | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
In my last post, I recommended Promise Me, by Nancy Brinker, with Joni Rogers. One reason is the unusual and effective presentation of Brinker's story.
Posted at 08:27 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Regular readers of this blog know if I review a book, I'm going to recommend it. Today's post is no different. Thumbs up for Promise Me by founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Nancy G. Brinker, with best-selling author Joni Rodgers.
Posted at 04:25 PM in Books, Current Affairs, Dictionary of Healthy Survivorship, Health Marketing and Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
When I was first diagnosed, my medical background made me more prepared than most for the physical and emotional challenges of cancer treatment. What blindsided me were the medical and emotional issues that arose after completion of treatment.
Posted at 08:51 AM in Action, Books, Complementary Therapies, Happiness, Healthy Survivorship, Hope, Knowledge, Post-treatment Recovery | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: post-treatment emotions, recovery from cancer
When in training, I had to rotate through each specialty before I could become board certified in internal medicine. I remember telling my new husband how much I loved learning about (fill in whatever my current rotation).
"So are you thinking of specializing?" he'd ask.
Posted at 04:34 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
"Imagine you know you have only a few months to live. What would you do with your remaining time?"
Posted at 08:44 PM in Books, End-of-Life, Family illness, Happiness, Healthy Survivorship, Hope, Humor, Spirituality, Treatment Decisions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: end-of-life, palliative care, treatment decisions
Posted at 08:17 PM in Books, Caregiving, Clinical Trials, Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: clinical trials, IOM, NCI, progress in cancer care
Jane Brody, the NY Times Personal Health columnist, has been guiding Americans on matters of health since 1965. On occasion she offers readers a glimpse into her personal life, such as the time she described the uncontrolled pain she suffered following her knee replacements.
This week, Jane Brody shares a deeply personal life event in real time: the dying of her husband of 43 years.
Posted at 10:46 PM in Books, Doctor-Patient Communication, End-of-Life, Family illness | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
The Princeton Alumni Weekly published an essay by Robert Klitzman, M.D., "Double Lives," adapted from his book, When Doctors Become Patients. Naturally, it caught my eye.
Posted at 07:24 PM in Action, Books, Health care system, Healthy Survivorship | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 05:34 PM in Books, Family illness, Healthy Survivorship, Meaning of life, Post-treatment Recovery | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Cancer did not make my life uncertain. Cancer simply exposed the uncertainty of life.
This insight helps me accept the uncertainty of survivorship, but it doesn't help me deal with uncertainty. So here's one that does:
Posted at 08:16 PM in Books, Happiness, Healthy Survivorship, Hope | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
You've survived cancer. Now a friend develops the same type of cancer and is making horrible decisions (in your opinion). She's declining conventional therapies for a treatable cancer or deciding against telling her children she is sick. What's a good friend to do?
You will never hear me call cancer or any other horrible disease a "gift." So how can I talk of happiness when dealing with Alzheimer's Disease (AD)?
Continue reading "Happiness in the Storm of Alzheimer's Disease" »
Posted at 07:32 PM in Books, Caregiving, Family illness, Happiness, Hope, Meaning of life | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
The Biorkman family celebrated Christmas last week. November 8th, to be exact. Is their calendar messed up? No, their timing was perfect.
Continue reading "Family's Lesson on Healthy Survivorship" »
Posted at 05:50 PM in Books, Family illness, Happiness, Meaning of life | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: end-of-life, holidays and cancer, parent-child communication, pediatric cancer
Posted at 08:54 AM in Books, Hope, Knowledge | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Jane Brody's Personal Health column today discusses a model nursing home in Florida. I want to draw your attention to the second half of the article, which highlights the book, Taking Charge: Good Medical Care for the Elderly and How to Get It.
Posted at 07:12 PM in Books, Caregiving, Healthy Survivorship | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: caregiver, caregiving, healthy survivorship, nursing home
In the prelude to Why Faith Matters, Rabbi David Wolpe describes his visit to the bedside of a friend, Isaac, who was dying of cancer. Knowing the Rabbi had been through chemo, too, Isaac asks, "why did it happen to you?"
Posted at 06:00 PM in Books, Healthy Survivorship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Mine is not a religious blog. So why am I writing about Rabbi David Wolpe's book, Why Faith Matters?
Posted at 08:32 AM in Books, Healthy Survivorship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: faith, healing, healthy survivorship, holistic medicine, spirituality
If you want to visit an exotic land and be swept up in a world of love, faith, family, power and medicine, let me make a recommendation: Pick up a copy of Abraham Varghese's first novel, Cutting for Stone.
Posted at 06:53 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
A trying time of survivorship is the interval between knowing you might have a problem and learning your exact diagnosis. Why? Because you can't reassure yourself you are okay - or are going to be okay - if doctors are ordering tests for the purpose of finding out if you are okay or are going to be okay.
Posted at 10:05 AM in Books, Happiness, Hope, Uncertainty | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: anxiety, awaiting results, calming fear, diagnostic tests, evaluation, fear, healthy Survivorship, Survivor, survivorship, uncertainty
I expected to blog about Jamie Reno's new book, Hope Begins in the Dark, but only after I'd finished reading it. I am enjoying the short pieces by a wide variety of lymphoma survivors too much to wait. Reno, an acclaimed Newsweek journalist, singer-songwriter and lymphoma survivor believed a book that shared stories of survivors would be inspiring and informative to people just starting out or struggling with their cancer journey.
Posted at 11:45 AM in Books, Healthy Survivorship, Hope, Meaning of life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Hope Begins in the Dark; survivors stories; Jamie
If you haven't seen the video, "The Last Lecture" by Professor Randy Pausch, try to carve out 75 minutes from your schedule to hear what this model Healthy Survivor has to say about life.
Posted at 08:33 PM in Books, Dictionary of Healthy Survivorship, Family illness, Happiness, Healthy Survivorship, Hope, Humor, Meaning of life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: Healthy Survivor, hope and acceptance, Last Lecture, Pausch
Healthy Survivors get good care. And good care depends on healing doctor-patient relationships. But what happens when your doctors talk only in physicalist scientific terms, and you want (or need) to talk about your illness in terms of spiritual or emotional imbalance? Throughout history patients have told stories about their illnesses in order to deal with existential questions, such as "Why me?"
Continue reading "Pitting Science Against Patients' Unscientific Stories" »
Posted at 08:22 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: doctor-patient relationships, healthy survivors, healthy survivorship, illness stories, The Cure Within
The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine - Anne Harrington - Book Review - New York Times Yesterday I read this excellent review of a new book about the age-old question of the mind-body connection and its role in healing. Dr. Groopman says the author did a masterful job of retracing the history of the “stories” people use to give meaning to our suffering when we are sick or injured.




