Hey, You Got This: Giving Back Is A Two-Way Gift

A breast cancer survivor's thoughts on her eight-year cancerversary.

BY Barbara Tako

PUBLISHED June 10, 2018

Barbara Tako is a breast cancer survivor (2010), melanoma survivor (2014) and author of Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools–We'll Get You Through This. She is a cancer coping advocate, speaker and published writer for television, radio and other venues across the country. She lives, survives, and thrives in Minnesota with her husband, children and dog. See more at www.cancersurvivorshipcopingtools.com,or www.clutterclearingchoices.com.

I can't believe I am eight years out from my breast cancer diagnosis - my first cancer diagnosis. I honestly never thought I would have the perspective of eight years to look back on that frightening day. Those of us who have made it several years out have the opportunity to help and support those who are more newly diagnosed.

Giving back during and after cancer is a win-win situation for the giver and for the recipient. Cancer survivors do this every time we help each other. Sometimes it is sharing knowledge and experience, sometimes it is sharing empirical information, and sometimes it is emotional support and understanding. Cancer takes more than a physical toll on each of us. I believe we are here to help each other.

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"Survivorship" Resources

Healing Waters: Reflecting on the Lessons of Survivorship

When I contemplate this latest benchmark in my life, my 15th year surviving stage 3b breast cancer, I confess there are times when I feel like it was just yesterday the Trickster Coyote – the Native American mythical creature of evil and bad omen – blindsided me, bent on taking me down in the one sacred place I felt I could take refuge from the world: my home.

BY Carolyn Choate

PUBLISHED April 30, 2018

Carolyn Choate recently retired from the TV production industry to write full-time. Diagnosed at 45 with stage 3 estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in 2003, she underwent two radical mastectomies - in 2003 and 2012 - without reconstruction. Carolyn credits Angela Brodie, Ph.D., and her discovery of the aromatase inhibitor, for saving her life and those of millions of women globally. In the summer of 2017, Carolyn and her older daughter kayaked from New Hampshire to Baltimore in tribute to Dr. Brodie. When not informing others about Dr. Brodie and the "living flat" movement, Carolyn enjoys gardening, cooking and RVing with her family and dog.

I marked my 15th year of cancer survivorship far from my New Hampshire home, soaking, once again, in the healing, hot mineral springs of New Mexico’s Ojo Caliente – the sacred and storied land of the Pueblo peoples. Miles from civilization, the Georgia O’Keeffe-esque red canyons reached for the clouds, while I was dwarfed in their shadow, up to my neck in the hand-wrought stone pools brimming with the medicinal iron, arsenic, lithia and soda-laced waters. I was keenly aware of life and again reminded of the unexpected detour mine took on April 17, 2003.

Fifteen years. What to say?

In Native American story-telling, concepts of time and space are so different from how we see them in Western culture. Something that occurred long ago in tribal history may be referenced as happening yesterday to have immediate impact on listeners as they seek to make sense of a traumatic and/or confusing event or situation.
Time can be circular, not linear, as we traditionally construe it. While we think of the past as a natural, rational route in molding and understanding the future, Native Americans strongly believe the future is a valuable route in molding and understanding the past. It’s a two-way street.

Read More: Reflecting on the Lessons of Survivorship

Time to Regroup: Advice from a Survivor

Advice from a long time survivor proves fruitful in helping this breast cancer survivor regroup.

BY Bonnie Annis

PUBLISHED April 22, 2018

Bonnie Annis is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in 2014 with stage 2b invasive ductal carcinoma with metastasis to the lymph nodes. She is an avid photographer, freelance writer/blogger, wife, mother and grandmother.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a survivorship dinner. I was astounded by the number of cancer survivors at the function. The emcee announced there were 402 survivors present. It was hard to believe there were that many survivors in and around our city.

Each survivor received a circular sticker as we entered the building. We were to place it on our chests after writing the number of years we’d survived in bold black marker. As I moved through the crowd, I did my best to see the stickers and make note of how long each person had survived. There were various numbers but most of them were below 10 years of survival.

As luck would have it, I was placed at a table with an elderly man. Glancing at his sticker, I thought he’d made a mistake as he’d written his number. When I asked him about it, he confirmed he was a 48-year survivor.

Read More - Time to Regroup

Staying Active and Healthy as a Family

New post on New Focus Daily

Staying Active and Healthy as a Family by New Focus Daily Staying Active and Healthy as a Family While many of us seem to be having wild swings with weather, the warmer weather is soon to be with us to stay for a while – and provides a great opportunity for getting outside and staying active.  Being active as a family is one way to stay […] Read more of this post New Focus Daily | April 23, 2018 at 7:59 am | Tags: cancer prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, physical activity | URL: https://wp.me/p7szYo-1gG Comment    See all comments

Counting the After-Effects of Cancer

How has cancer changed my life? Let me count they ways.

BY Laura Yeager

PUBLISHED April 11, 2018

As well as being a cancer blogger, Laura Yeager is a religious essayist and a mental health blogger. A graduate of The Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, she teaches writing at Kent State University and Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Laura survived cancer twice.

After I had cancer and came out alive, I told myself that from there on out, I'd take things a little more easily. I wouldn't "sweat the small stuff," and everything that happened would be "the icing on the cake."

Well, that attitude adjustment lasted about six months. In short, I was easy-going and carefree for a time, but soon, my old habits returned. After a brief (too brief) reprieve, I took things very seriously, and worried about everything just like before.

Funny how a near-death experience didn't really change my fundamental nature. According to my mother, every day for me is a new crisis. She's known me for 55 years, so I guess she's right.

Yes, I'm a worrier. I wish I could be happy-go-lucky, but I'm not.

Not even cancer changed that. I'm a survivor, but I'm still the same Laura Yeager.

So, what has changed? Little life details.

There are some after-effects of cancer that are tangible for

me. Below is a list of ten of them: (Read More:)

Excuse Me, I May Throw Up From Stress: Ways To Cope

Sometimes worry is good. It keeps us alert and safe. Other times, we kick into worry overdrive and it is helpful to create a tool bag of ways to calm ourselves.

BY Barbara Tako

PUBLISHED April 10, 2018

Barbara Tako is a breast cancer survivor (2010), melanoma survivor (2014) and author of Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools–We'll Get You Through This. She is a cancer coping advocate, speaker and published writer for television, radio and other venues across the country. She lives, survives, and thrives in Minnesota with her husband, children and dog. See more at www.cancersurvivorshipcopingtools.com or www.clutterclearingchoices.com.

One of my daughters is a musician who has performed in front of thousands. Long ago, her piano teacher wisely told her what to expect: “Expect your body to betray you every way that it can.” It could be nausea or diarrhea, a headache, stiff neck, trembling, all of the above or other things. Everyone carries tension and stress in their bodies a little bit differently. Once we acknowledge and expect this to happen as we face unknowns as cancer survivors, I think it becomes easier to manage.
 
Recognizing and accepting that our body may manifest our poor upset feelings is actually the first step to manage and cope with those feelings. It is not something to be freaked out by. It is not something to feel betrayed by. Adrenaline. It is how we are wired for survival. Sometimes I mentally say to my body, “OK, so that is how we are going to play it, eh?” Sometimes when I lean into those feelings a little, my body sometimes backs off—at least a little.
 

Read More: Excuse Me, I May Throw Up 

The Art of Enjoying Each Breath

Many patients with cancer know of the importance of stepping back and enjoying the little things in life.

BY Jane Biehl, Ph.D.

PUBLISHED April 04, 2018

Jane has earned three advanced degrees and had several fulfilling careers as a librarian, rehabilitation counselor and college teacher. Presently she does freelance writing. Her articles include the subjects of hearing loss and deafness, service dogs and struggling with cancer. She has been a cancer survivor since 2010.
She has myelodysplastic syndrome, which is rare, and would love to communicate with others who have MDS.

One of my favorite quotes is, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

I first saw this quote on the wall at my hairdresser. I loved it so much that I got online and purchased a similar decoration for me. It is hanging in my bedroom and I look at it every day. I had this hanging before I was diagnosed with cancer, but afterwards it had even more meaning. Every living being breathes, but how often do we have our breath taken away?

Read More - The Art of Enjoying Each Breath

What is it like to go through difficult chemotherapy? Nausea, dehydration, 'chemo brain' and more. Although chemotherapy is one of the first things to come to mind when someone thinks about cancer, many don't know about the wide variety of reactions that people experience. We teamed up with the folks at I Had Cancer to start a conversation about difficult chemo. Head on over to their blog to read stories from a few people who had a rough time and let them serve as a reminder that you CAN get through this. Want to share YOUR experiences with chemo? We have an opportunity for you to help others. Find out if you qualify and learn more.

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