Wendy Harpham on Healthy Survivorship

Letting Go Part III

For cancer patients who run out of treatment options, how can "letting go" help in the pursuit of Healthy Survivorship? How can it hurt?

False Hope

In my December 25th Oncology Times column I discuss false hope. Here's a brief excerpt, with paragraphs rearranged for clarity:

Altered Immune Cells Beat Leukemia

Yesterday's NYTimes article about the 11th-hour rescue of a dying 6-year-old girl with an investigational treatment created a lot of buzz. Here are a few reflections on the story that might be useful to Healthy Survivors.

To Survive with Cancer

James C. Salwitz, MD doesn't use the term Healthy Survivor. Still, the story he tells offers a name and face to the idea that patients in difficult circumstances can find Happiness in a Storm.

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."

Grief and Acceptance - Part IX (Time)

A reader commented on my last post, eloquently sharing his hard-won insights about grief. In doing so, he highlighted an important element of grief: time.

Grief and Acceptance - Part VII

Since my last post, I've been wrestling with what I believe about the struggle between grief and acceptance.

Needing more time, today I'll share Part 4 of the series "Managing Uncertainty," a topic germane to this discussion and newly available online at Oncology Times.

Grief and Acceptance - Part V (Promoting Acceptance)

The preceding four posts on grief and acceptance set the stage for a closer look at how patients can be Healthy Survivors at the end-of-life. In other words, how can you both get good care and live as fully as possible after a diagnosis of terminal disease?

Grief and Acceptance

Illness is often associated with loss, even when the medical outcome is excellent.

Since prolonged grief is associated with distress and dysfunction, an understanding of healthy ways to deal with loss may propel patients' pursuit of Healthy Survivorship -- and happiness. Reading a 2008 editorial in the British Journal of Psychiatry might further this understanding.

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?

The New Me

During my first remission I began work on After Cancer, a book to help patients understand and respond in healthy ways to the medical, practical and emotional challenges of recovery and long-term survivorship. The subtitle was Your Guide Back to Normal.  

But as I struggled with my own aftereffects and then recurrences, I realized my original approach wasn't going to work well for me.

Revoking FDA Approval: Conclusion

The FDA revokes approval of Avastin for breast cancer. What's a survivor to do?

Searching for Hope - Part II

In a provocative 242-word essay -- Interruptions --  that prompted my November 13th post, Lucy Stanovick fishes for information about how hopeful her oncologist feels regarding her recovery. Is her doctor trying to cure or contain her cancer? Or just to keep her comfortable?

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.

Hope or Letting Go - Part II

In my last post, Hope or Letting Go, I shared the story of a physician, Dr. Youn, still troubled by an incident that happened ten years ago. Since reading it, I've been bothered by some of the questions he posed.

For example, Dr. Youn asked if concern for the needs of the patient's loved ones ever take precedence over the patients' needs?

From Promise to Disaster

Patients are not Healthy Survivors if they believe the promises of charlatans. What about patients who receive treatment from of team of professionals at a major university in a clinical trial that turns out to be based on wrong information?

Hope Will Find You

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.

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.

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.

Mantra for Healthy Survivors: "We'll See."

In yesterday's post, I shared a short story that has changed my life. Ever since I first read it, when unwanted change or loss seems to be ruining everything, I've thought, "We'll see."

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.

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."

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.

Beads of Courage

Jean Baruch is a remarkable nurse who understands how to help children with serious illness become Healthy Survivors.

Rare Cancer Initiatives

My recent posts are about the trouble of defining "rare cancers." The attention these cancers are now getting gives Healthy Survivors many reasons for hope.

105-Year-Old Healthy Survivor

Esther Mauzy can teach us all a thing or two about how to become a Healthy Survivor.

Pushing Past the Pain

"Can you train yourself to run, cycle, swim or do another sport at the edge of your body’s limits, or is that something that a few are born with, part of what makes them elites?" So asks New York Times journalist Gina Kolata. 

This topic touches on something of interest to me as a Healthy Survivor, namely, Pushing Past the Pain, as Champions Do.

Miners' Lessons from the Eye of the Storm

How the trapped Chilean miners coped with life more than 2,000 feet below the earth's surface offers rich lessons on Healthy Survivorship. When you or a loved one enters the "storm" of illness or injury:

Miners' Lessons on Healthy Survivorship

The rescue of 33 minors in Chile dramatizes some lessons about positive transitions as a Healthy Survivor, such as after a risky surgery or after completing therapy for a life-threatening condition.

Witholding Rx in Clinical Trials

Sunday's NYTimes ran an article tackling a complex ethical dilemma in cancer care: The witholding of treatment in clinical trials. Because I was treated in 3 clinical trials in the 1990s, the topic is close to my heart.

The Treatment Option You May Be Missing

As a scientist, I credit clinical trials with advancing our understanding of cancer and ability to treat it effectively. As a patient, I credit clinical trials with playing an essential role in my survival. 

From both perspectives it troubles me greatly that only ~3% of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials.

Emotions After Cancer

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.

Not Waiting for Answers

How can Healthy Survivors get good care -- the first criterion of Healthy Survivorship -- if the data needed to make sound choices in their particular situation is not yet available?

(Genetic) Testing My Children

In a piece entitled"The Genes That Bind" (summer issue of CURE magazine), Journalist Charlotte Huff covers the emotionally charged topic of when and how to share information on genetic risk with children.

Dealing with Post-radiation Risks

In yesterday's post, I shared how I learned about my increased risk of carotid artery disease due to my past radiation therapy. So how did I get from rattled to relaxed? My thoughts went something like this:

Cancer Survivorship Research: Recovery and Beyond

What a three days I've had here at the 2010 Biennial Conference. While packing my suitcase for the return home, I'm thinking about all I've heard.

Last Acts

"Imagine you know you have only a few months to live. What would you do with your remaining time?"

Letting Go

Illness and injury have a nasty habit of causing losses. Can such loss be good?

Breakthrough Melanoma Drug: Hope or Hype?

NBC News health correspondent Robert Bazell introduces his report on a sensational new drug for the treatment of melanoma.

But then he explains that the new drug --  ipilimumab -- improves life expectancy from 6 months to 10 months. And it works well in only 20-30% of patients, the other 70-80% of patients showing no benefit at all. And it carries serious side effects, such as colitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Is the fanfare hype? Are we celebrating too soon?

The Love Story of a Man Without a Heart

The title is not a trick. Mr. Charles Okeke had been tethered to an artifical pump in a hospital for over two years before a new portable artificial heart made it possible for him to go home to his wife and two young children.

I'm sharing his dramatic story for two reasons:

Memorial

A memorial is something that serves as a focus for remembering a past event or person who died. Monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and online legacies such as those found on www.legacy.com are examples.

Can a frame of mind be a memorial?

Broken Heart

In Wiesel on Hope, I unintentionally omitted one insight offered by Elie Wiesel. He said, "No heart is as whole as a broken heart." What did he mean? And what does a broken heart have to do with Healthy Survivorship?

Surviving Horrible Mistakes

Fatal Distraction is a gripping article that is not about illness, but about surviving the death of a child. Although wrenching to read, this article by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gene Weingarten (2010) illustrates useful lessons for Healthy Survivors and their caregivers.

Palliative Care

In my April 6th post I discuss the case of Dr. Pardi, a palliative care physician who chose to continue aggressive cancer therapy when she was dying. Letters to the editor about the article don't mention what I consider to be a key point.

Palliative Care Doctor Refuses Palliative Care

A NYTimes story of Dr. Pardi's dying illustrates that it is difficult to project what you will think or feel when faced with a grim prognosis.

Hospice and Healing Hopes

How can compassionate physicians suggest hospice without causing the patient to lose all hope?

Stopping Treatment with Hope

Commenting on a recent post, "Talking About Death,"Judy, an experienced hospice nurse, shares two illustrative experiences with end-of-life care -- one good, one awful.

A question came up: "What should an oncologist do if the patient and family insist on more treatment so the patient won't lose hope?"