Posts Tagged ‘cancer survivorship’
I Can Cope & Survivorship E-Newsletter
We held our biannual “I Can Cope” program on Saturday, April 17th and were pleased with the number of patients and families that attended such a program for the first time. It is always interesting to me who shows up for these programs. “I Can Cope” is a free program, which is offered to all but is especially geared to patients, who are newly diagnosed with cancer. Yes, the day is long and packed with wonderful speakers and I always worry that patients may not be able to sit through such a long period. The other side of the coin, though, is having the sessions over a number of weeks, which can also be challenging to the patients who want to attend all the sessions but cannot guarantee that they will be feeling well enough to do so over time. We had over 30 participants in attendance and our speakers, which included Drs. David Drew and Lav Goyal, were exceptional in their discussions about cancer and its treatment ranging from surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal and radiation. Dr. Alexander Kushch, Licensed Psychologist, held the audience’s attention as he elaborated on how the mind handles complex aspects of life while helping us to cope with life’s challenges. Other speakers addressed issues such as nutrition, acupuncture, estate and health care planning and sexuality and cancer.
There are always some wonderful activities going on at the Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center as evident in these blogs and we still have much more to offer. Our next major activity involving our survivors will be the third annual “Hope Relay for Life” event, which we do in partnership with the American Cancer Society. The date is May 21st to May 22nd and it will be held at Christ Church in Fort Lauderdale. Our survivorship newsletter, which we will be sending to our readers via email, is now available so we are inviting you to send us your email addresses so you can get a copy of this and upcoming enewsletters every quarter. We would like to highlight survivors’ stories, poems, quotations and words of wisdom so be sure to write to me. I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Did you know that in the month of May we focus on: Women’s Health/Cancer Awareness (May 9th, Mother’s Day), National Women’s Health (May 9th to 15th), Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention, Cancer Research, as well as the World No Tobacco Day (May 31st)?
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
Pearls Of Wisdom
In my first blog in 2010, I am once again turning my attention to the very important topic of survivorship. Although I did not get any survivorship stories from my bloggers out there in “blog land,” I went on my own search for them because I know there is great strength in the telling of one’s story and the effect it has on another survivor could be profound and enlightening. Survivorship remains an important concept in cancer care because after all it is the aim of early diagnosis and treatment – improved prognosis for survival. I wanted to know 1) the survivor’s diagnosis and date of diagnosis; 2) what important lesson was learned along the journey; and 3) what pearls of wisdom would you share with patients, who are newly-diagnosed with cancer. Here are a couple of stories from survivors I interviewed:
Maria said, “I was diagnosed in 1998 with Stage One Breast cancer and chose to have mastectomy to be sure of clear margins. Along the way, I learnt that when you are hit with challenges in your health, you can find strength in everyone around you. My pearls of wisdom are that one must sort through one’s life and the things that are important and to overcome those hurdles of fear, denial, anger, depression, acceptance in order to move forward. Make everyday of your life count because life is too short not to enjoy it.”
Vickey indicated she was diagnosed with two different cancers, in 1981 with squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva and in 1992 with breast cancer. She went on to say that along the way she learnt the value of having close family and friends to accompany her to the doctors and take notes. “I gathered the information and opinions from professionals, not rumors, and then decided for myself about what was best for me. My pearls of wisdom are to take time to make your own decisions about your treatment and survivorship – the cancer did not occur overnight.”
I thank the survivors for their stories because often we hear the word “cancer” and we don’t always equate it with survivorship. So as we begin the 2010, I want to challenge you to think about life and how we can make the most of our lives as Maria said. I hope you all had a wonderful Hanukkah or Christmas and for those of you still celebrating Kwanzaa, have a wonderful Kwanzaa celebration. I wish you all a Happy New Year. Be safe and come back with more stories to celebrate life.
Survivorship Journeys
Cancer survivorship continues to be our topic of discussion because as I mentioned in my last blog post, there are over 12 million cancer survivors today and growing. The Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center wants to be ready to deliver survivorship care as adeptly as other cancer centers throughout the United States. I continue to stress the fact that treating the patients’ disease is only a fraction of the care and that their psychosocial, spiritual, socioeconomic and social needs need to be addressed along with their physical needs.
We are working diligently on accomplishing our goal of setting up a survivorship program by July 2010 to routinely address the comprehensive needs of our survivors. We continue to partner with other cancer organizations to bring programs to our survivors and their caregivers such as the American Cancer Society’s “I Can Cope Program,” which was offered to the community this weekend on the second floor of the Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center. We had approximately 40 participants in attendance and many wonderful educational sessions were presented. We also partnered with patients, their families and members of the community in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at their annual “Light the Night” walk this weekend. We are hoping to continue with our partnership with and for our survivors and their families. I would also like to hear your survivorship stories so don’t be shy, leave a comment about what your survivorship journey was like.
The Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center offers several cancer support groups to meet the needs of our patients and families/caregivers. Click here to see the upcoming calendar of available support groups. We also offer weekly and seasonal bereavement (around the holidays) support groups. I am still soliciting thoughts on support groups or any other aspect of cancer support. What role has cancer support played in your cancer treatment experience?
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
In my last post, I began talking with you about cancer survivorship. Cancer survivorship is one of the most popular topics in oncology care and rightfully so. Today there are over 12 million cancer survivors. The increase in cancer survivorship occurred because of the many advances that we have made in oncology care in areas such as early cancer detection and treatment. The National Cancer Institute reported that of the 12 million cancer survivors, the highest percentage of cancer survivors are breast cancer survivors, who represent 23% followed by prostate cancer at 20%. For more information on the total breakdown, please visit cancer.gov.
For me it is more personal than that. I live with a cancer survivor—my mom. She celebrated her 10th anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. In August 1999, she was diagnosed with breast cancer had a mastectomy followed by radiation treatments. I was reminded again about the power of the word “cancer” when one of my closest friends called me two months ago to tell me she had too just been diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember the fear and dread in the sound of her voice. Despite the fact that more women survive with breast cancer today partly owing to early diagnosis, the announcement of the diagnosis is no less frightening to hear. Other people have different responses to a diagnosis of cancer as well. I remembered when one of my sister-in-laws was diagnosed with breast cancer; she was calm and accepting saying, “it is God’s will and I will not question him.” The differences in handling our life’s crisis are unique to us but it is important to remember in all of this that there is help and hope surrounding us as well. For more information on cancer survivorship support, visit canceradvocacy.org.
Breast Cancer affects 192,370 annually according to the American Cancer Society (2009). October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Holy Cross Hospital and the Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center, in recognition of this are the Gold Sponsor for the American Cancer Society’s Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC). For more information about our cancer center, please visit The Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center’s website. We hope you will join us at the Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, October 10th for MSABC. For more information on MSABC, please check out or the American Cancer Society’s website.
About the Center
The Michael & Dianne Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is the Cancer Care Leader in Broward County. Dedicated to providing patients with precise diagnosis, the latest and most advanced treatment and aftercare options, we offer a multidisciplinary approach to care, a compassionate and spiritual healing environment, and an affiliation with the National Cancer Institute. We are also working together with Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center to provide South Florida residents with rapid access to specialized cancer care and genetics counseling.
Browse by Category
- Breast Cancer Surgery (14)
- Cancer Support (24)
- Gastrointestinal Cancer (4)
- General Medical (28)
- Lung Cancer (10)
- Nutrition (2)
- Prostate Cancer (5)
- Radiation (11)
- Research and Genetics (21)
- Spirituality (20)