To make wise medical decisions, you need to know whether you are a believer in modern medicine or a doubter.
Read moreMaking the Best Medical Decisions
Making the best medical decisions for you is vital to Healthy Survivorship, and not only because doing so optimizes your chance of the best outcome. If you end up with a disappointing treatment result, your prior decisions affect--and may determine--your happiness....
Read moreSelf-Advocacy and Healthy Survivorship
The National Breast Cancer Foundation just published my guest blog post on self-advocacy, in which I explained how "The first time I heard that term in a medical context it conjured images of clench-fisted activists picketing in front of hospitals, demanding better care. Actually, self-advocacy is simply the act of....
Read moreMessage to Clinicians about Minor Symptoms
Capping off my posts about the challenges of minor symptoms, here's an excerpt How to Address Minor Symptoms in Long-term Survivors, an essay for clinicians.
If asked for a challenging topic in oncology, I doubt you'd answer “minor symptoms in long-term survivors”....
Read moreWeb-based App Improves Survival--Part II
How can an app improve cancer survival? My last post discussed an ASCO Post article about the first randomized trial to show improvement in cancer survival with Web-mediated follow-up versus standard office-visit follow-up....
Read moreWeb-based App May Help Improve Survival
What if an app could help improve (1) patients' survival, (2) patients' quality of life and (3) the cost effectiveness of cancer care?
Read moreThe Difficulty of Reporting Minor Symptoms--Part III
Recent posts outlined some of the many reasons patients may experience conflict and distress when deciding whether to call about minor symptoms. What's a Healthy Survivor to do?
Read moreThe Difficulty of Reporting Minor Symptoms -- Part II
What's challenging about reporting minor symptoms? They're less frightening. Shouldn't they be easier to report? Like many long-term survivors (LTS), I've felt torn between...
Read moreThe Difficulty of Reporting Minor Symptoms
After someone has been through cancer treatment and recovery, a new mild symptom is no big deal, right? Well, maybe. In the next few posts, we'll explore the difficulty of reporting minor symptoms in long-term survivors (LTS) who want to be Healthy Survivors.
Read moreA Purple Card for Papa
In "The Healing Power of a Selfie" I shared an essay by Melanie Di Stante. She also wrote a children's book for families dealing with cancer.
Read moreThe Healing Power of a Selfie
The Hope of Something New
Do you want to feel hopeful? If so, check out the Something New (SN) site. of Bonnie Pitman.
Read moreSkin Cancer Screening and Misguided Headlines
Don't be misled by the splashy headlines about the US Preventive Services Task Force statement that there's not enough evidence to justify annual skin cancer screening by a clinician. Or by the response of the American Cancer Society (ACS), which does not recommend such screening and has in the past recommended against self-screening.
Read moreA Cancer in the Family
If you ever wondered if you might be at increased risk of cancer because a family member has or had cancer, this book is for you: A Cancer in the Family by Theodora Ross, MD, PhD.
Read moreColonoscopy Comparison
Colonoscopy naturally makes you think of all the inconvenience and yuck. Here’s the problem: If you compare the colonoscopy experience to your normal routine, you might be tempted to delay (or decline) the cancer screening test.
Read moreAccepting Uncertainty
"Doctor, will my illness return?" If the answer is "maybe," the uncertainty can cause suffering in patients who are doing well now. Since you can't live as fully as possible (the second criteria of Healthy Survivorship) if you are overly anxious, let's talk about how to accept the uncertainty, both intellectually and emotionally.
Read moreDisease and Uncertainty
n "When Do You Give Up on Treating a Child" Esther Levy concludes, "'There are only two states after such a diagnosis: disease and uncertainty." Both sound terrible.
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