Living with cancer can challenge even our strongest relationships and create additional tension and stress in our conversations with caregivers, family, and friends. Thinking about our own needs and the needs of others can help clarify how we move forward in our relationships and support our own self-care. Preparing yourself for conversations can help in...
As we move through different stages of wellness, our bodies need proper nutrition to stay healthy, fight illness, and heal from all sorts of scenarios. We want to make sure to give the body as much of these nutrients as the tools it needs to do these jobs. We also want to make sure we...
Over fifty years ago a young, Filipina American mother, Gloria Gutkowski was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery and was informed the cancer had metastasized-her prognosis was not good. She endured harsh radiation and chemotherapy treatments, and she and her husband and young daughter took what they thought might be her last vacation and...
Mental Health…you hear a lot about it these days. People are talking about the importance of it and are encouraging the masses to tend to their mental health. People are even beginning to talk more about and educate others on the unique barriers to optimal mental healthcare and adequate mental health services. Most of us...
Cancer patients are often encouraged to stay active for best results during treatment. However, some patients in active treatment often feel guilty because they can’t always accomplish the exercising they hope to do. Whether it’s 30 minutes of cardio exercise for 3 to 5 days a week or keeping up with other people in a...
For some of us, the end of a calendar year can bring challenging feelings connected to the different cycles of life and how we feel connected to them and the people in our lives. Even so, it can offer a time of self-reflection because the winter months encourage a natural going-inward in response to nature’s...
The holiday season can be stressful, isolating and an emotional time under the best of circumstances. Living with a cancer diagnosis during the holidays may heighten the intensity of emotions and can trigger strong feelings or memories about previous losses such as the absence of family members who have passed away. It’s important to advocate...
It is easy to underestimate how far a dollar can go––or $450 for that matter. When you add up monthly costs in a typical American household, the list can seem endless. Enter a cancer diagnosis and suddenly the costs climb and, more often than not, become insurmountable. Cancer expenses in the US exceed $80 billion...
When you’re wide awake at 3:00 in the morning after spending too much time googling your diagnosis and treatment options, your anxiety is dialed up to eleven, and there’s no one to talk to, pull out your journal – or even just a piece of paper and a pen. Adding a cancer diagnosis on top...
Have you ever started laughing and found you couldn’t stop? Perhaps it started with a giggle and then gradually broke out into full-blown laughter that was giddy and out of control. Do you remember how you felt afterwards – happier, more exhilarated, and maybe even a little delirious? There’s no question that laughter is a...
