If you could take a simple blood test to screen for more than 50 cancers, would you? It’s an interesting question to ponder, and one I put out on social media when invited to do just that. We first wrote about the research behind the multi-cancer early detection blood test in 2021 as a cancer… Read more »
You are cancer free! After chemo, radiation and multiple surgeries you are relieved to be done. Your family and friends are happy to celebrate your return to a normal life. But is that always the case? While weekly doctor appointments, checkups and blood draws are behind you, it can take a while to re-adjust from… Read more »
Just as an annual medical checkup is essential to ensure the body is healthy, a regular oral checkup is crucial to maintaining a healthy mouth and detecting any abnormalities. Regular screenings by your dentist should include an oral cancer screening which aims to discover cancer or precancerous signs early enough to be treated successfully. Oral… Read more »
It’s been 2,259 days since my oncologist told me I no longer had cancer. When I stop to think about each day, it still brings tears to my eyes and butterflies to my belly. I have learned so much about who I am as a person, and how I want to show up in the… Read more »
The gift of choice is what makes us human. The psychologist Albert Bandura wrote extensively about our free will to choose and described our human choice as “agency.” In his words, agency refers to the human capability to influence one’s functioning and the course of events by one’s actions. In our health experiences it is… Read more »
Last month, I joined a virtual presentation by the Global Wellness Summit on the newest trends in wellness for cancer. Over 500 participants representing 59 countries registered to hear the international panel of integrative practitioners. Speakers included Mayo Clinic medical oncologist and lead researcher Minetta Liu, MD, functional medicine practitioner Johannes Wessolly, MD of the… Read more »
Managing menopausal side effects is more important than ever, as it affects the quality of life in cancer “thrivership.” Many women and men face years of side effects from cancer treatment resulting from the surgical removal of ovaries and hormone deprivation therapy (tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors, etc.) in hormone receptor-positive cancers such as breast, endometrial, ovarian… Read more »
HOPE. This word has been in my heart since I heard a song at Sunday school as a young child. Growing up through the years, HOPE was something I said and heard many times, especially when people were sick. Throughout life, HOPE became something I said when I wanted a certain outcome to happen. If… Read more »
I’ve been having a hard time finding the right words for this column because, like everyone else, I am struggling to understand life right now. Everything in my struggle tells me to tell you, “Keep holding on to faith. Faith over fear. Live in love. Watch your words because you can unknowingly hurt someone. Life… Read more »
It now seems cliché to say that 2020 has brought unexpected challenges. We have all adapted to the constant of change. Personally, my biggest change was a diagnosis of bilateral breast cancer. Initially, I responded with calm analysis, keeping reality at arms-length by “doing” what needed to be done. I made a notebook, set up… Read more »
What is a Liquid Biopsy? Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were first discovered in 1869 by Thomas Ashworth in the blood of a man with metastatic cancer. He hypothesized that “cells identical with those of the cancer itself being seen in the blood may tend to throw some light upon the mode of origin of multiple… Read more »
Many have been following my cancer journey, which began with a diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma in January 2019. As most who share the journey will agree, the entire experience is life-changing and shouldn’t be traveled without the support, knowledge and encouragement of those who came before us. I am now on the other side… Read more »
The last time I wrote an article COVID-19 was not something we were so worried about in the United States; it was something we were watching unfold in China and Italy. But, in a blink of an eye, it started to unfold in New York City. I think a lot of us, myself included, thought… Read more »
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States. It accounts for approximately one out of every five malignancies in men and one out of nine malignancies in women. The average age at diagnosis is 70 years old. Over the past decade, the overall incidence of lung cancer has decreased due to… Read more »
The days of poke and hope are over! For decades, prostate biopsies have been performed in a random, systematic fashion. An ultrasound probe is inserted into the patient’s rectum and an image of the shape of the prostate gland is obtained. Random, systematic cores are taken out at the apex level (bottom), the mid-gland level… Read more »
The world is now abuzz with news about coronavirus (COVID-19), the viral disease that has taken us all by storm. The global response has been extreme with most things cancelled or postponed and the disruption to everyday life is unprecedented. Whether or not the current global response is an appropriate action or an overreaction is… Read more »
When you hear the three words “you have cancer,” your world just stops. You go into shock. You can only hear the pounding of your heart fearfully beating within your chest. It is that moment your body goes numb and your world turns upside down. The joy of everyday life is sucked out of your… Read more »
This year, Desert Regional’s Comprehensive Cancer Center celebrates 30 years of serving our community. In 2011, we interviewed the center’s management team for a story on integrative cancer care – the use of both medical and natural therapies – and wanted to see how things have evolved. We followed up with the manager of Oncology… Read more »
Anticancer Living is authored by the husband and wife team of Lorenzo Cohen, PhD, and Alison Jefferies, MEd who lead the integrative medicine program at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. The scientific basis of all their information and recommendations is deep and sound. In many ways, this book is a sequel to… Read more »
Nine months after treatment and a year after starting an integrative cancer care protocol, today, I am cancer-free. In January 2019 I was diagnosed with early stage invasive ductal breast cancer and chose to have my tumor frozen versus a lumpectomy or mastectomy. “Cryoablation” as it’s called is much less invasive and my results are… Read more »
