As a young adult cancer patient, I craved a sense of normality. Going to work every day helped me maintain my routine, and for 8 hours, I tricked myself into believing nothing was out of the ordinary. Working as close to full-time as my doctor’s appointments and immune deficiency allowed actually kept me very distracted. It was a key coping mechanism.
Fats have a place in every healthy, balanced diet – which is great because they add delicious flavor and texture to food as well as slow digestion (which contributes to the feeling o
With Father’s Day coming up this Sunday, it’s time to celebrate all the men in your life - fathers, grandfathers, husbands, brothers, sons, uncles and friends. June is also Men’s Health Month and a chance to encourage healthy habits and lifestyle changes. But men are notoriously hard to shop for, especially if they don’t express their wants and needs. It’s even harder if they are dealing with something as stressful as cancer. Finding something he likes, and can actually use, requires a bit more effort.
Remember in the 90s when eating fat-free foods was the rage? The grocery store shelves were stocked with fat-free cookies, cakes, ice cream – you name it! Those were the days when many people thought that eating fat made you fat.
In recent years, oral chemotherapy (chemo)—cancer medication that is taken by mouth instead of through a needle—has become an option for some people undergoing cancer treatment. While oral chemo can be just as effective as infusion , and likely more convenient, it can present challenges. For one thing, it can be very expensive, so be sure to check with your health insurance company to see if it is covered.
As we work toward finding cancer cures in today’s digital era, it’s easy to forget that not all innovation is high-tech. In recent years, oncology centers have embraced practices such as yoga, meditation and acupuncture, finding that these integrative therapies can improve a patient's overall wellbeing as they cope with cancer treatment.
On the day after my blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in March 2016, I wrote a thank you card to my donor. “Dear donor…. With sincerest thanks, Recipient.”
The rule at Roswell Park is that all communication between donor and recipient during the first year is censored and edited for anonymity so that neither party feels responsible or guilty should something go wrong. All I knew about my donor was that he was a 32-year-old American male.
When Ra’Quan was 12 years old, he did not understand what having cancer meant, so when his mom told him that he had a bone tumor, the severity of the situation did not immediately strike him.
Coping with a cancer diagnosis can be extremely overwhelming. From managing appointments to coping with the emotional stress, the entire journey can turn your life upside down. That’s where Courtney Kelchlin and Adrian Donaldson come in.