Saturday, May 10, 2014

Tips for Caregivers

Finding out a loved one has cancer can be overwhelming. Cancer affects not only the person diagnosed but all those who care about that person. You may be wondering, “What should I do now?” or “How can I help?”

At Cancer Support Community, we believe you have the ability to make a difference. The following ten tips are intended to help you tackle the challenges of caring about someone with cancer.Here you will find information and resources for caregivers, those who provide emotional, spiritual, financial or logistical support to a person diagnosed with cancer.

1) Find YOUR Support System
When a friend or loved one is diagnosed with cancer, it’s an emotional time. Roles and expectations may change (or you may wonder if they are going to change). Sometimes it’s difficult to talk with your loved one about your feelings, because you both have so much going on. Many find one of the best ways to cope with stress, uncertainty, and loneliness is to talk to others who share similar experiences. You can learn from personal experiences how to be effective in your new role as a caregiver.

There are 46 Wellness Communities and Gilda's Clubs across the United States that offer free support groups and educational programs for patients and caregivers. Cancer Support Community Online also holds professionally-led, password-protected support groups for caregivers, free of charge. As a participant, you will receive and share ongoing support, feedback, and information with other people affected by cancer. If you are interested in joining an online support group, please visit “Join the Online Community” using the link at the top of this page.

If there isn’t a Wellness Community or Gilda's Club near you and you prefer in-person support, doctor’s offices and hospitals are great places to seek referrals. Only you can determine what type of support works best for you. What typically doesn’t work is not seeking any support at all.

2) Gather Information
There is truth to the phrase, “Knowledge is power.” There’s no way to completely grasp the ups and downs of a cancer diagnosis and treatment – and you shouldn’t be expected to. Being armed with knowledge may help you accommodate you loved one’s needs, however, and put you at ease because you know what to expect.

Cancer Support Community can help you learn about the course of cancer, its stages, recommended treatments and side effects of medications through its national patient education programs. To learn more about your loved one’s cancer diagnosis, visit “Learn About Your Cancer” using the link at the top of this page.

3) Recognize a “New Normal”Patients and caregivers alike report feeling a loss of control after a cancer diagnosis. Many caregivers are asked for advice about medical decisions or managing family finances and/or need to take on new day-to-day chores. It is likely that your tasks as a caregiver will create new routines – after all, you’re taking on a new role in the patient’s life as well as your own.

Maintaining a balance between your loved one’s disease and the daily activities of your own life can be a challenge. It may be helpful to identify the parts of your life that you can still control – such as your own health and relationships. In doing this, you will be able to create a strategy for integrating new routines with old ones.

It may also help to acknowledge that your home life, finances, and friendships may change for a period of time. Sometimes the laundry might not get done, or maybe takeout will replace home cooking. Try to manage each day’s priority as it comes – it’s alright to put other tasks on hold. Take a deep breath and realize that the support you provide is priceless.

4) Relieve Your Mind, Recharge Your Body
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the tasks of caregiving. Mini-breaks are an easy way to replenish your energy and lower your stress. Try simple activities like taking a walk around the block or closing your eyes for 10 minutes in a comfortable chair.Taking time for yourself is not selfish – it’s necessary. You are working hard to provide and secure the best care for your loved one. Time spent recharging your mind and body will allow you to avoid depression or burnout. Research shows the person you’re caring for benefits most when you are healthy and your life is balanced.

Seek ways to rejuvenate your spirit. Everyone holds beliefs about life, its meaning and value. Many people have a spiritual dimension, whether or not they subscribe to a particular religion. Feeling spiritually connected can provide comfort and may also help you to put your situation into perspective. Prayer, meditation, and other spiritual practices can ease distress. Finding your own ways to meet this need may also help you recharge.

5) Take Comfort in Others
Caregiving can sometimes take a great deal of time. Many caregivers feel a loss of personal time over the course of their loved one’s illness. Keep in mind that while you are taking on new and additional responsibilities, you are still allowed a life of your own.

Many seasoned caregivers advise that you continue to be involved with your circle of friends and family. For some, remaining involved might mean playing an active role in school or community activities. For others, it may mean weekly visits with a best friend. Only you can determine the level of involvement that is right for you, and that level may change over time. No matter your choice, it is certain that you will appreciate having someone to turn to as you care for your loved one.

6) Plan for the Future
A common feeling among caregivers and people with cancer is uncertainty. It’s hard to know what the future holds. While planning may be difficult, it can help. Try to schedule fun activities on days when your loved one is not feeling the side effects of treatment. You can also give yourselves something to look forward to by planning together how you will celebrate the end of treatment, or a portion of treatment.

Planning for a future in the long-term is also important and can be increasingly stressful for a caregiver when sometimes, two futures are being planned – one based on survival and the other based on the possibility of losing your loved one. All of us, whether we have been diagnosed with cancer or not, should have in place necessary paperwork such as healthcare agent, power of attorney and a will. You can ask your loved one if he or she needs, or wants, assistance. It is in everyone’s best interest that you begin this process sooner rather than later. Having essential paperwork under control will allow you to have peace of mind.

7) Accept a Helping Hand
It’s okay to have "helpers." In fact, you may find that learning to let go and to say “YES!” will ease your anxiety and lift your spirits. People often want to chip in, but aren’t quite sure what type of assistance you need. It’s helpful to keep a list of all caregiving tasks, small to large. That way, when someone asks “Is there anything I can do?” you are able to offer them specific choices.

8) Be Mindful of YOUR Health
In order to be strong for your loved one, you need to take care of yourself. It’s easy to lose sight of your own health when you’re focused on your loved one. But if your own health is in jeopardy, who will take care of your loved one? Be sure to tend to any physical ailments of your own that arise – this includes scheduling regular checkups and screenings. And just like your mother told you: eat well and get enough sleep.

9) Consider Exploring Stress-Management Techniques
Even if you’ve never practiced mind-body exercises before, you may find that meditation, yoga, listening to music, or simply breathing deeply will relieve your stress. Research shows that these practices can enhance the immune system as well as the mind’s ability to influence bodily function and relieve symptoms.

Mind-body (or stress-reduction) interventions use a variety of techniques to help you relax mentally and physically. Examples include meditation, guided imagery, and healing therapies that tap your creative outlets such as art, music or dance. If this interests you, seek out guidance or instruction to help you become your own “expert” on entering into a peaceful, rejuvenated state.

Wellness Communities and Gilda's Clubs across the country offer mind-body therapy and guided imagery programs on a monthly basis. Enter your zip code into the dark gray box on the right side of this page to find an affiliate near you.

10) Do What You Can, Admit What You Can’t
Throughout these ten tips, we’ve touched on many tasks associated with caring for a loved one. Even seasoned caregivers find themselves caught up in the whirlwind of appointments, daily errands and medicine doses. No one can do everything. It’s O.K. to acknowledge your limits. Come to terms with feeling overwhelmed (it will happen) and resolve to be firm when deciding what you can and cannot handle on your own. Your loved one needs you. You cannot do this alone. Together, you can get through.

- See more at: http://www.cancersupportcommunity.org/MainMenu/Family-Friends/Caregiving/Tips-for-Caregivers.html#sthash.AhY5BrDm.dpuf

Recipe: Raspberry Banana Sorbet

Refreshing, homemade, with no added sugar

By The Beating Edge Team | 5/9/14 6:01 a.m.

Make your own sorbet! It’s a perfect, refreshing ending to any meal. Unlike store-bought versions, this recipe has no added sugar. You can use this combination of fruit or experiment with other fruit combos – your flavor choices are limited only by your imagination and the fresh fruit currently available.

Cool off with this sweet treat: raspberry banana sorbet #recipe

CLICK TO TWEET

Ingredients

1 ripe banana, sliced
1½ cups raspberries or sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh orange juice or other fruit juice

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a freezer container and freeze until firm.
To serve, let the sorbet rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before scooping into 4 dessert dishes.

Nutritional information

Makes 4 servings
This recipe is a vegan option

Calories: 90
Fat: 0 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Protein: 1 g
Carbohydrates: 22 g
Fiber: 2 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 0 mg
Potassium: 310 mg

Recipe provided by Cleveland Clinic Preventive Cardiology nutrition experts.

http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2014/05/recipe-raspberry-banana-sorbet/?utm_campaign=cc+tweets&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=140509+raspberry+recipe&dynid=twitter-_-cc+tweets-_-social-_-social-_-140509+raspberry+recipe

Friday, May 9, 2014

Patient’s Cells Deployed to Attack Aggressive Cancer

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/health/doctors-use-patients-immune-cells-to-shrink-cancer-tumors.html?action=click&contentCollection=Health&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Blogs

Patient’s Cells Deployed to Attack Aggressive Cancer

By DENISE GRADYMAY 8, 2014

Melinda Bachini this week in Billings, Mont. Her treatment, doctors said, could point to a way of fighting the deadliest cancers. CreditLynn Donaldson for The New York Times

Doctors have taken an important step toward a long-sought goal: harnessing a person’s own immune system to fight cancer.

An article published Thursday in the journal Science describes the treatment of a 43-year-old woman with an advanced and deadly type of cancer that had spread from her bile duct to her liver and lungs, despite chemotherapy.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute sequenced the genome of her cancer and identified cells from her immune system that attacked a specific mutation in the malignant cells. Then they grew those immune cells in the laboratory and infused billions of them back into her bloodstream.

The tumors began “melting away,” said Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, the senior author of the article and chief of the surgery branch at the cancer institute.

The woman is not cured: Her tumors are shrinking, but not gone. And an experiment on one patient cannot determine whether a new treatment works. But the report is noteworthy because it describes an approach that may also be applied to common tumors — like those in the digestive tract, ovaries, pancreas, lungs and breasts — that cause more than 80 percent of the 580,000 cancer deaths in the United States every year.

Dr. Rosenberg’s patient, Melinda Bachini, now 45, a paramedic in Billings, Mont., who is the mother of six children, said that without the cell treatment, “honest, I don’t know that I would be here.”

Dr. Rosenberg agreed, saying that in April 2012, when Ms. Bachini received the first immune treatment, her life expectancy was probably a matter of months.

Related techniques involving immune cells have brought lasting remissionsfor people with leukemia, a blood cancer, and the aggressive skin cancermelanoma. But until now researchers had not found a way to use the cells against the so-called solid tumors that cause so many deaths.

Other researchers said the treatment used by Dr. Rosenberg’s team, known as adoptive cell therapy, had promise for these common cancers. But they also cautioned that the report was early and based on just one patient.

Dr. Carl June, who directs similar research at the University of Pennsylvania, said the research addressed an important issue by showing that adoptive cell therapy could have an effect on commonly lethal solid tumors.

Another expert, Dr. Michel Sadelain of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said the report showed that carefully selected immune cells could be a powerful tool against bile-duct cancer. But he also said it was too soon to tell if the same approach would work for other patients or could be scaled up to treat all those who might need it.

Dr. Rosenberg acknowledged that there were limitations: The technique required highly sophisticated techniques in immunology, and produced a treatment tailored to only one patient. He said his team was working around the clock to streamline the process, and added, “Potentially, if we could reduce the complexity, it’s something that could get out into common usage eventually.”

Researchers have hoped for decades to find some unique marker on cancer cells, something not present on healthy cells, that could be used as a target so that cells of the immune system could home in on it and leave the good ones alone.

The goal has been elusive, but Dr. Rosenberg’s team has helped some patients with melanoma by treating them with immune cells — a type of T cell called a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte — that were extracted from samples of the patients’ tumors. The team decided to study whether this type of T cell could help people with other types of cancer.

Ms. Bachini learned in 2009 that she had bile-duct cancer, or cholangiocarcinoma. It had already spread to her liver. She had surgery to remove about two-thirds of her liver, but within a few months the disease had turned up in her lungs. She went through one grueling regimen of chemotherapy, then another. She had nerve damage, nausea and hearing loss from the drugs. Her tumors began growing again. She started to cough.

“I knew chemotherapy was not going to kill this,” she said. She quit the drugs.

Searching the Internet for clinical trials, she came across Dr. Rosenberg’s T cell study.

“I looked at my husband and said, ‘This is what I want to do,’ ” Ms. Bachini said.

In March 2012, Dr. Rosenberg’s team removed tumors from her lungs to extract tumor-infiltrating T cells, then cultured the cells in a lab. A month later, Ms. Bachini was given chemotherapy to wipe out her immune system, and more than 42 billion T cells were infused through an intravenous line. She was also given a drug called interleukin-2, which helps activate T cells.

The treatment was arduous: The chemotherapy left her vomiting, weak and bald, and the interleukin-2 made her swell up with fluid.

By the end of April 2012, her cough was gone and her strength returning. She went back to the cancer institute once a month for checkups. The study, paid for by the government, was free, even including her airfare.

“Life was good,” she said. “Everything kept shrinking.”

But by last summer, the lung tumors were growing again.

By then, the team had sequenced the genome of her cancer, and done extensive studies on her immune system. And it had found what researchers had long hoped for: a mutation in the cancer that was unique to it and not found in normal cells, and a type of T cell that would attack the mutation. Tests revealed that only 25 percent of the T cells that had been given to Ms. Bachini were of this specialized type.

Again, the team cultured Ms. Bachini’s T cells, but this time it used only the ones that would go after the mutation. In October, she received more than 120 billion T cells, 95 percent of which were the highly specific ones.

Her tumors quickly began shrinking, and have continued to do so for the past six months, Dr. Rosenberg said.

Ms. Bachini said she was grateful for every day. She walks her dog, a 140-pound Labrador, two miles a day, and said she was constantly on the run with three teenage daughters still at home.

“I pretty much can do anything I want,” she said.

Dr. Rosenberg said that his team would check up on her every two months, and that if the tumors started growing, it might be possible to treat her again. As for her long-term outlook, he said, “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

In the meantime, he said, the team has identified unique mutations and T cells ready to attack them in two of three other patients with cancer in the gastrointestinal tract. Treatment plans are underway.

Correction: May 8, 2014

An earlier version of this article misstated the number of other cancer patients in which Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg’s team has identified unique mutations and T-cells. It is two of three patients, not three of four.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/health/doctors-use-patients-immune-cells-to-shrink-cancer-tumors.html?action=click&contentCollection=Health&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Blogs

Living with Cancer: Careless Care

By SUSAN GUBAR

MAY 8, 2014, 4:41 PM

Hilary Brodey/Getty Images

LIVING WITH CANCER

Susan Gubar writes about life with ovarian cancer.

When I consider what happened to an esteemed friend and colleague, I fume at the mayhem that ovarian cancer wreaks and at the deficient care she received at a university hospital in another town. Do instances of medical negligence sometimes go unnoticed because patients are so debilitated that they cannot testify — especially if they are still in treatment?

After diagnosis, surgery and a round of chemotherapy, my friend had developed a habit of talking with me on the phone every Sunday night. Because of her bounteous insight and candor, it was a great pleasure for me, even though we often discussed her depression. As the months passed, she began suffering from abdominal pain, constipation and rectal bleeding, and her anxieties grew. A CT confirmed growing malignancies.

In “The Ultimate Guide to Ovarian Cancer,” Dr. Benedict B. Benigno explains that “when a patient develops a recurrence, she has an overwhelming chance of developing yet another recurrence.” It’s no wonder that with little hope of putting cancer in the past tense, my friend was dismayed.

The plight of this younger woman fills me with a loathing of cancer, which has blighted my life. “You think you were depressed before?” the disease sneers, like an abusive parent. “I’ll give you something more to get depressed about.”

Getting mad at cancer is pointless, but now I have another target for my anger: the negligent care my friend received.

Despite the abdominal pain, constipation and rectal bleeding, the gynecologic oncologist did not arrange a personal consultation until 13 days after the CT. When the meeting finally occurred, the oncologist sketched three miserable options: chemotherapy with only a 20 percent chance of arresting the tumors; a trial at a distant hospital for which, in any event, she might be ineligible; or no treatment except palliative care.

Back at home deliberating on these alternatives, my friend happened to have an attack of vertigo, unrelated to the cancer, which landed her in the emergency room. Only because of this coincidence did a doctor there decide that she had to be hospitalized. Twenty-four hours later, another doctor ordered an X-ray that showed she had a bowel obstruction. Without surgery, she would have died one or two days later from a perforated bowel.

Horror enough, surely, but other calamities followed. After she had an emergency colostomy, her husband was unable to find anyone in the hospital to help with the persistent problem of rectal bleeding. One doctor proposed taking her off heparin, an anti-coagulant routinely prescribed after surgery to stop clot formations. A nurse pointed out two problems: Through a dangerous oversight, heparin had not actually been administered after the emergency operation — and it could not have caused the bleeding, which had started before surgery.

Eventually, the same doctor who had diagnosed the bowel obstruction decided the best course was to control the bleeding with localized radiation. As my colleague’s husband, a medical researcher, put it in an email to me, “This is a good plan, but the process by which the gynecological oncology team made the decision resembles brain surgery performed by middle school children.”

If we cannot destroy cancer, at least we should be able to put a stop to this sort of negligence. The word “negligence” derives from the Old French word for sloth or the Latin word for carelessness. In tort law, it signifies a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. Not intentional harm, “just” sloppy incompetence and inexcusable inattention.

I cannot help wondering if such carelessness is a particular problem for people with metastatic disease, and especially for women with gynecological cancers. These malignancies infest the abdomen and then the bowels, not easy matters to discuss publicly. There is no detection tool and no treatment that saves the majority of those with these cancers from death. Do some doctors disengage when a disease is assumed to be incurable — when people need more, not less, assistance?

Because I am all too aware of the diabolic tenacity of ovarian cancer, I realize that it remains the villain in my friend’s case. Yet all the careless care — the 13-day delay, the oncologist missing clear signs of a bowel obstruction, the mix-up on the heparin — jeopardized her life and undoubtedly contributed to her deepening depression. Negligence cannot be said to have caused the harm that cancer wrought, but it certainly compounded it.

I pray that my friend will find a treatment that will allow her to continue living a comfortable life as long as possible. Though I fear hospitalizations and medical interventions, as she does, this is the provisional decision I have made after three recurrences. But I am blessed with an oncologist who would never make me wait 13 days for an appointment.

After I went on the web to order flowers in celebration of my friend’s going home from the hospital, I was about to finalize the transaction when I noticed an error in the “Send to” box. The address I had typed was correct, but the name of the recipient was my own.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/living-with-cancer-careless-care/?_php=true&_type=blogs&emc=edit_tnt_20140509&nlid=52389906&tntemail0=y&_r=0

Monday, May 5, 2014

Electronic nose sniffs out prostate cancer

By Nick Lavars

May 5, 2014

1 Comment

An electronic nose developed by Finnish researchers is capable of distinguishing between prostate cancer and benign disease and could result in a less invasive approach to diagnosis

Typical approaches to diagnosing prostate cancer can be costly and invasive. Furthermore, a large number of prostate cancers are low-grade and won't result in symptoms or death, meaning that without necessarily extending it, aggressive forms of treatment can impact a sufferer's quality of life. In an attempt to establish a less invasive method of detecting the condition, Finnish researchers have developed an electronic nose capable of sniffing the patient's urine sample to distinguish between prostate cancer and benign disease.

The potential of smell as a diagnostics tool first emerged in the 1980s following reports of dogs capable of detecting cancer in their owners. Subsequent experimental studies demonstrated that indeed, trained sniffer dogs could detect cancer, though the value of this approach was questionable due to the unreliable performance of the canines. While a dog's role in sniffing out cancer is limited, it has provided inspiration for the development of various electronic sensors to serve the same purpose, such as that produced at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2010.

The ChemPro 100–eNose device developed by the researchers at the Department of Vascular Surgery, Tampere University Hospital in Finland uses a cluster of nonspecific sensors to produce a profile or "smell print." Citing preliminary data indicating the detection of malignancies was possible by sniffing the urine headspace, (space directly above a urine sample), the team conducted a clinical study comprising 65 patients.

Of that number, 50 had been diagnosed with prostate cancer via biopsy, while 15 had been diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Using the eNose to examine the urine headspace of samples provided by the patients, the device demonstrated an ability to distinguish prostate cancer from BPH, correctly identified 78 percent of cancer sufferers and 67 percent of those with BPH. The researchers say these results are comparable to those produced by testing prostate specific antigen (PSA), a common approach to detecting the cancer.

The team is now hoping to conduct further studies to improve the technology so molecules behind the distinct odors can be accurately identified.

The research findings were published in The Journal of Urology.

Source: University of Tampere

http://www.gizmag.com/electronic-nose-prostate-cancer/31900/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=e7736445c0-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-e7736445c0-90055698

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Hoda Kotb on post-cancer body image: 'You live your life and you carry it with you'

Hoda KotbTODAY

May 1, 2014 at 8:08 AM ET

Peter Kramer / NBC

TODAY 4th hour co-anchor Hoda Kotb is 6 years cancer-free. As part of TODAY's "Love Your Selfie" series, she writes about how she came to terms with her post-cancer body image.

When I think about surviving cancer and dealing with body image after the fact, I realize now: You can’t really prepare yourself for it, for how you are going to feel.

The breast cancer I had required an extensive eight hour surgery, which included a mastectomy and reconstruction. I had a hip-to-hip incision as well as more incisions on my chest. Let me tell you: it looks like a roadmap.

There are two phases post surgery. There’s the "OMG, they got it" reaction and you are just so happy they got the cancer. You are so grateful, and you think, "I don’t care what my body looks like, I am just happy to be here." I still feel that deep in my soul every day. This is the body I have and I’ll take it.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say there is a second phase, a window of time where you don’t even want to look at yourself. It’s jarring. I remember a moment in the hospital when a nurse said she needed to help bathe me and I had to be standing up, in front of a mirror. I told her, ‘Please, just turn me around. I’d rather not see it.’

Then, when your body heals, you start to feel better. You realize that you don’t care about the scars. You are just happy to have this body, a healthy body, no matter the lumps and bumps and problems.

And even though I now consider myself about 90 percent, as far as feeling emotionally and physically recovered and body confident, I am not at 100 percent. Don’t get me wrong: I am very grateful for everything I have. I am fortunate to have had great doctors and to know that I am 6 years cancer free. I am happy about that. But I still pull and tug on things I wear, like bathing suits or when I’m wearing gym clothes. The actual scars are there… that’s forever a part of me.

Will I ever feel 100 percent, and slay that last 10 percent? That’s hard to say. I think in life you sort out a lot of things but you can’t solve everything. You carry some of the things you can’t untangle and that’s perfectly fine. I think about people who live through terrible tragedies and what they carry. I think about the guys who lived through WW2 and what they carry. You can go to ten shrinks and you still have the pain so what do you do? You live your life and you carry it with you.

I remember after my surgery and the cancer was out, my sister said that I immediately looked healthier. I think sometimes when you have something inside of you that’s poisonous and terrible, until it’s out you don’t realize you got the light back in your eyes, the color in your face. And really, you didn’t even realize it was gone. You were just walking around that way and didn’t know it.

Someone told me I looked good. In terms of body image, that always feels good. I don’t care what you’re going through, if someone says you look great in that dress — it’s affirming. Soon after the mastectomy and reconstruction, there was this one guy I met who couldn’t keep his eyes off my chest. I thought that it was so great that he appreciated my post-op rack!

Ultimately, I don’t think there is an ‘ah-ha’ moment where you think, “I’m back!” You gradually learn to accept your body after cancer. I have always been pretty happy inside. My outsides come and go, whether it’s because of gray hairs or scars. All that stuff is going to be there, but I feel if I am comfortable with who I am on the inside, I will always be OK.

In my experience, the best way to not let your post-cancer looks affect how you feel is by taking the spotlight off yourself. When I feel crummy about how I look or whatever I am going through, I remind myself there is always someone else going through a more difficult time.

There’s a poignant story about a little 8-year-old girl who was in a car accident and lost the use of her legs. She was in a bad way and her devastated parents had her in a private room in the hospital because she was miserable and depressed. Her doctor begged the parents to let her share a room with another patient, and they finally moved her, even though she was adamant that she didn’t want to. So, she’s in the shared room with another kid and he asked her, “Can you help me and push the button to call the nurse?” The girl is totally exasperated and tells the boy, “How am I supposed to do that? I lost the use of my legs.” And the boy tells her: “I lost the use of my legs and arms.” So she hoisted herself up to a wheelchair and rolled over to his bedside and pushed the button for him.

So, I guess my point is that someone has always got it worse. I know that goes beyond body image and how I feel about myself, but it is the same concept. If I am worried about my scars then I am going to be looking at myself. If I am worried about the person next to me who needs something, I am not thinking about me, my scars, or my problems. I am thinking about him.

That’s probably the best advice I have: If you are worried about how you look and how you feel, just take the focus off yourself. Turn the spotlight somewhere else and in the process, you’ll realize that you feel so much better.

Hoda Kotb's essay was told with the help of TODAY.com's Kyle Michael Miller and Kavita Varma-White

http://www.today.com/style/hoda-post-cancer-body-image-you-live-your-life-you-2D79598436

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Low White Blood Cell Count

Mayo Clinic

A low white blood cell count, or leukopenia, is a decrease in disease-fighting cells (leukocytes) circulating in your blood.

The threshold for a low white blood cell count varies from one medical practice to another. Some healthy people have white cell counts that are lower than what's considered normal. A count lower than 4,000 white blood cells per microliter of blood is generally considered a low white blood cell count. The threshold for a low white blood cell count in children varies with age and sex.

A low white blood cell count usually is caused by one of the following:

Viral infections that temporarily disrupt bone marrow function
Congenital disorders characterized by diminished bone marrow function
Cancer or other diseases that damage bone marrow
Autoimmune disorders that destroy white blood cells or bone marrow cells
Overwhelming infections that use up white blood cells faster than they can be produced
Drugs that destroy white blood cells or damage bone marrow

Specific causes of low white blood cell count include:

Aplastic anemia
Certain medications, such as antibiotics and diuretics
Chemotherapy
HIV/AIDS
Hypersplenism, a premature destruction of blood cells by the spleen
Infectious diseases
Kostmann's syndrome, a congenital disorder involving low neutrophil production
Leukemia
Lupus
Malnutrition
Myelodysplastic syndromes
Myelokathexis, a congenital disorder involving failure of neutrophils to enter the bloodstream
Other autoimmune disorders
Other congenital disorders
Parasitic diseases
Radiation therapy
Vitamin deficiencies

Causes shown here are commonly associated with this symptom. Work with your doctor or other health care professional for an accurate diagnosis.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/low-white-blood-cell-count/basics/definition/sym-20050615?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=living-with-cancer