Unexpected Change of Plans

2009 is rolling right on by on the heels of an out of the ordinary winter storm. An extreme event of novelty forcing us to change directions and many to make alternative plans. The Christmas Blizzard of 2009 forced stillness upon many as roads were impassible and customary family gatherings and spiritual gatherings were cancelled. A chance arose for looking at new ways of celebrating the season and for remembering the reason for the season. How many new traditions were born of necessity? How many old traditions were joyfully released into the family archives?

Almost four years ago I experienced my own novel, unexpected event…a cancer diagnosis. It too was immobilizing, forcing awareness. Forcing a review of the things that are important and those things that just don’t seem to matter in the big picture. Change was afoot and I realized self-care was a priority. Educating myself on how to take care of my body and integrating complementary ways to heal as chemo and radiation did their work, became my full time occupation. It was like running a corporation. Balancing all of the appointments, all in different places was time consuming. Imagine what a gift it would have been to have it all in one place!

Someone else imagined such a place. Touched By Cancer’s founder and author of Bigger Thank Pink, Still Alive and Thriving, Lori Lober had a dream to provide a place to find wellness while on a cancer journey. This dream has come to pass. The Touched By Cancer Foundation Wellness Center provides a wealth of current information resources and educational opportunities to anyone touched by cancer. Under the same roof the Wellness Center provides Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, Energy Healing and Nutrition counseling for those on a cancer journey. Group classes in Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates and even Belly Dance as well as informational topics are available as well.

So in light of change forced by events of extreme novelty…

Are you making your way through cancer treatment? Start the year fresh with a commitment to integrating something new into your wellness plan. Come to the Wellness Center and learn about what to eat to support your immune system. Or try a therapeutic massage.

Is there someone you know that inspires you with their grit and grace in spite of a cancer diagnosis? Consider gifting them with a session by making a contribution to Touched By Cancer in their name.
Save the date! Any and all are invited to the Touched By Cancer Open House on January 21 to get a taste of what we have to offer.

While not everyone experiences the same life altering moments…for those who experience the words, “You have cancer,” the Touched By Cancer Wellness Center provides safe space, tools and encouragement to weather the storm.

The Best Gift for You...

I don’t have time for a massage…
It’s the busiest time of the year… there’s no time for meditation.
There’s so much to do…when things slow down after the first of the year…I will take time for myself.

Why is it our own well-being gets put on the back burner, while shuffling through crowds and standing in line take precedence? The ironic thing about the holiday season is that it is the busy times when we should be making sure we TAKE the time for self-care. It is in these busy times that our body, mind and spirit need relaxation and recharging.

Taking time for self-care could be as simple as listening to Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias / Myung-Whun Chung or Songs of Joy and Peace by Yo Yo Ma while your car is warming up.

Try turning off the cell phone (altogether!) for ten minutes and making a list of what you are grateful for today.

Are you a cancer patient in active treatment and your messy house is driving you crazy? Check out Cleaning for a Cause and save that energy for something nourishing and fun!

If you are feeling time challenged, TAKE the time to schedule a 30 minute massage instead of an hour.

Go for a walk outside during your lunch hour. Something I like to do is to simply sit on the brick retaining wall in front of the office and take 10 minutes to soak up some gentle winter sun – to help recharge my natural stores of vitamin D.

Take an hour to learn something new. (We have a class tomorrow!) Choose to start one new healthy habit BEFORE the first of the year.

Turn off the electronics thirty minutes earlier than usual one night a week. Read a book instead. Do you fall asleep like I do when I sit and read? Try a magazine - short articles and lots of pictures.

Bottom line…at the end of the day you are the most important thing in your life. Your healthy body, active mind and fulfilled spirit are what supports you in your journey. Gift yourself that this year…

A New Day at the Touched By Cancer Foundation

Has it really been a year that I have been away? So much has transpired over the last 12 months for myself and the Touched By Cancer Foundation. I am grateful and excited to be back helping those touched by cancer navigate their unique journey to wellness.

Synchronicity has had its hand in the mix, as the TBCF Wellness Center is now located in central Johnson County, Kansas, making my commute to work ten minutes instead of forty-five! You on the other hand, can access useful information and an online support network 24/7 by utilizing our Touched By Cancer Blog and FaceBook page. I encourage you to subscribe to both and then comment often. Conversation threads can turn up “aha!” moments and help to develop peer support among those commenting.

Our new location has a proper gym setting for movement classes (inquire about yoga classes already underway!), a large board room for classes and group workshops, a cozy room for individual and group sessions, and two therapy rooms for massage and the like.

Join us for a fun and informative session on “Healthy Holiday Eating.” This is the first in a series of four lunch-time nutrition seminars presented by Kendra Friesz, coming up on Friday, December 18 at 11:00 AM. Call the Wellness Center for a reservation. As always group classes are open to anyone touched by cancer, those in treatment, friends, supporters, partners and those thriving after cancer.

A lot of times people do not know what to do to support a loved one’s journey through cancer. Touched By Cancer Gift Certificates provide a caring solution. In this season of giving, is there someone you know that would love a therapeutic massage, acupuncture or even an esthetic session? Call or email the office for information on purchasing a gift certificate.

A lot has changed and a lot is still the same here at the Touched By Cancer Wellness Center. Our location and some faces have changed and our mission remains steadfast: To instill hope in those touched by cancer by providing current research based information, educational programming, and affordable access to Complementary (CAM) therapies.

A message to share and an answer to prayer...

Very few days go by in my job at Touched By Cancer that I do not get to hear or read remarkable accounts of people like you and me facing the odds with bravery and hope. Personal stories make a profound difference to those looking for common ground in the face of a diagnosis. I share the feelings of our founder, Lori Lober, when she writes in her book Bigger Than Pink, "I'm telling my story with the hope that it will make someone else's journey easier."

So, thank you, Linda, it is generous and brave of you to share your story with our readers.

Here is Linda's story....

I would like to share with you a most remarkable story of my life.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in my right breast in July of 2005. My diagnosis was DCIS which is “ductal carcinoma in situ” which means that it is the lowest grade of malignancy for breast cancer, and it is not invasive. So I was very lucky that it was found early. I went through surgery for a partial mastectomy and had 7 weeks of radiation therapy and went on hormone therapy. I thought all was well. In June of 2006, I had a follow up mammogram and they found a suspicious spot in the left breast. Biopsy found it to also be DCIS. I then had to make the decision as to what I wanted to do. I was thinking that two diagnosis’s of breast cancer in one year on both sides was not good, and that maybe I should just have bilateral mastectomies instead of doing the partial and radiation again. Also, I did not want to have this be an issue every year. I called my oncologist and he said that data shows that partial mastectomy and radiation for DCIS is just as effective as total mastectomies and that I would have to decide as to what I wanted to do. I called my radiologist and told him I was thinking about bilateral mastectomies instead of doing the partial and radiation. He said, “Why would you do that? You are over reacting. DCIS is treatable and we cured your right side and we can cure your left” I was on an emotional roller coaster, one minute thinking I would go with the mastectomies, and the next thinking to just go the partial and radiation again.
Then it was recommended that I have an MRI study of both breasts before we did anything to make sure there was nothing else going on, which was done and there was an area of concern back on the right side again that needed to be biopsied. After two mammograms, two MRIs, two biopsies, (I did not have the results of the 2nd biopsy) I still did not know what I wanted to do from one minute to the next. I was scheduled for surgery for either a partial or double onl Friday, the 30th of June at Lincoln Surgery Hospital at 12:30pm. We would not have the results from the biopsy on the right until the 29th. I talked to a lot of people and had a lot of people praying for me during all this, but just did not know what to do. On Weds. night , I just prayed and said, “ Lord, I just can’t make up my mind, I don’t know what to do. Please give me a sign tomorrow to let me know what I should do. I am going to leave it up to you” Thursday turned out to be a remarkable day that I could not have planned if I had tried.
I work as a nurse anesthetist for Associated Anesthesiologists PC. and we staff several surgery centers in addition to Bryan East and West. I had been scheduled to work at East on that Thursday, but they called and asked me to go the LSH (Lincoln Surgery Hospital) that day. This was the first of many things that happened. When I got to LSH, my surgeon Dr. Norris just happened to be there that day and came in to talk to me. ( he does very little surgery at LSH) He asked how I was doing and if I had decided what I wanted to do. We did not have the biopsy report yet and I said I didn’t know . He said that I had until 7am on Friday to decide and that he would get hold of me when he got the biopsy report. He said that if I was thinking about the double mastectomies, that he would at least like me to talk to Dr. Orchard (plastic surgeon) about maybe doing some reconstructive surgery at the time of surgery, as it was easier to do that at the beginning instead of later. I said I didn’t think I would be interested in doing that but would think about it. I had planned on working all day that day, as the schedule was busy. At 11:30am, one of the anesthetists came to my room and informed me that they had rearranged the schedule and that I could go home. So, I thought, I would call Dr. Orchard’s office to see how long it would take me to get in to see him, as Dr. Norris said we could reschedule if I wanted to go that way. When I called, they said the Dr. was in but that his schedule was full. But then she said, “wait a minute, we have a cancellation at 2:30pm today if you would like to come in” I took the appointment and went to see Dr. Orchard. In the meantime, I found out that the biopsy on the right was benign so a double was not necessary unless I just wanted to go that way. After talking to Dr. Orchard, I thought it sounded like the reconstruction was something I would be interested in, and made the decision to go ahead with the double mastectomies. I told him that we would need to get hold of Dr. Norris and reschedule the surgery since I was scheduled the next day at 12:30pm. Dr. Orchard then says “it just so happens that I am free tomorrow at 12:00 and I could do it tomorrow. However, they needed some surgical supplies that they would need to order so he needed to make a phone call to see if he could get them there. He came back to tell me that they would be Fed Ex’d and would have them there by 8am tomorrow. By this time , I was overwhelmed with the way everything was working out, and knew I had received all kinds of signs that this was what I was supposed to be doing. I went to bed with total peace the night before surgery, had the surgery as scheduled and everything went well. Now, the rest of the story:
I went in to see Dr. Orchard postoperative, and he asked me if I had seen the pathology report from the tissue removed with the mastectomies. I said “no”. He said, “let me read it to you. Right breast, ductal carcinoma in situ, left breast, ductal carcinoma in situ! You had cancer on both sides, you did exactly the right thing!” I was shocked but felt so happy and blessed that God had showed me the right thing to do. If I had gone the other way, the cancer would have still been there on the right to maybe be invasive the next time around. To be diagnosed with three breast cancers, all non-invasive in a year is almost unheard of. My oncologist was also shocked, saying that the cancer on the right should not have been there with everything I had done, but that he was glad I made the decision I did. Interesting enough, I called my radiologist and told him that he had not cured me, but in fact I still had cancer on the right side. When I read him the pathology report, he said “ well, that was very small, It would have taken a long time for that to be a problem. Needless to say, that didn’t go over to well with me!!
I am one very lucky and blessed lady!! I have shared my story with many people and have had a chance to share my faith as well. God works in strange ways J. Sometimes, in the medical profession, I see so many bad and sad things that it tests my faith from time to time. This experience has really given my faith a big boost. I try to control too much some times, and have to remind myself to pray and listen!
I am sorry that this is so long of a story, but I am so inspired by my experience that I wanted to share it with you. Feel free to share my story with others if you want. What a wonderful example of the grace we are given and the power of prayer!!
One last thought for those who find themselves with the same diagnosis as mine. In retrospect,, I wish I would have just had a double mastectomy with reconstruction with the first diagnosis. I certainly can not recommend that one has a partial with radiation. My mammograms were always abnormal, and my thought was that if there was cancer in one breast, why wouldn’t there be cancer on the other side, but I was assured that the partial and radiation was the “ accepted treatment for DCIS” but as my story tells, it was no cure. Now I have and will continue to have side effects from the radiation that I will have to live with. I am lucky in that my cancer was caught early, but it was a couple of really hard years. If anyone wants to email me, I would be happy to share details of the treatment and reconstruction to help them decide what to do with their diagnosis of cancer.
Sincerely, Linda

The Journey is "Bigger Than Pink"

The late Dr. Harold Benjamin, founder of The Wellness Community once stated: "Patients who participate in their fight for recovery along with their health care team, rather than acting as hopeless, helpless, passive victims of the illness, will improve the quality of their lives and may enhance the possibility of recovery."

In October we are flooded with pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness. At the Touched By Cancer Foundation, we recognize that a journey through cancer is much "bigger than pink."

Our founder, Lori Lober, Lori Lober was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer and given eighteen months to live in April 2000. In her book, Bigger Than Pink, Lori shares her determination when searching for an explanation for her intuitive feeling that things weren't right. The book follows her wellness journey as she searched for clinical trials and complementary therapies to help keep her body balanced while conventional medicine was doing its work.

She made the critical decision to find the best medical treatment the world had to offer and chose to actively participate in her wellness planning. Lori and her physicians developed a treatment plan, combining Western medicine with complementary therapies. Alongside her commitment to conventional medicine, she incorporated a nutrition plan, reflexology, Chinese herbs, acupuncture, colonics, and therapeutic massage.

Eight years after her initial diagnosis, Lori is a happy, thriving woman with and has completed her sixth year of “No Evidence of Disease.”She has shown that information, support and active participation can make all the difference. Having found her recovery combining Eastern and Western medicine, Lori is a source of hope and inspiration to those going through their own cancer journey.

Read about a new study about Acupuncture and Hot Flashes:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5860508

He Did It!

At 8:42 am this morning, Karl Keltner surpassed his goal of running 100 miles in 3o hours. He ran down the home stretch accompanied by two other runners. Cheers and clapping greeted the runners as they crossed the last of the intersections before reaching Gary Gribble's Running Store in Overland Park.

After a shower and a hearty portion of the delicious celebration cake and a stout cup of coffee, he shared stories of the run with the group. He shared the challenges and the funny things. More details in future blog entries...for now he is taking a well deserved rest and probably a soak in ice.

Check out the ABC Kansas City affiliate video interview with Koach Karl "on the road".

100 Miles of Hope & Inspiration

September 7, 2008

While we sleep, he runs. He runs to raise awareness for the Touched By Cancer Foundation. He runs because…in his own words, “If I’m not dead, I can run.”

Koach Karl Keltner’s round the clock run began in the cool, damp, 6 am hour on September 6, 2008. His dedicated Runners in Touch teammates by his side for the send off, Koach Karl embarked on this incredible journey. This dedicated, driven and probably a little bit crazy, man has run through the silent, sleeping countryside, industrial landscapes, urban sidewalks and suburban paths around the Kansas City area. Mother Nature has proved fickle providing cool, overcast conditions and stillness punctuated with bouts of cold drizzle.

From Overland Park to Brookside to Independence to the Northland to Riverside back through Kansas City, Brookside, Waldo, he runs. On gravel and asphalt, over hills and bridges, past cornfields and shopping centers, he runs. Dedicated to bringing awareness to the mission of the Touched By Cancer Foundation.

In addition to rigorous physical conditioning, extreme endurance running requires a delicate balance of pacing, mental focus, hydration and nourishment and support. The athlete must be in tune with their body and be prepared to respond to its signals however subtle at any given moment.

A cancer patient’s wellness journey incorporates many of the same tools used by the endurance athlete. From the moment of diagnosis, the body, mind and spirit are called into action and challenged with preparing for and supporting the unique terrain of the individual’s journey to wellness. The Touched By Cancer Foundation was founded to provide inspiration, information and hope for those on a cancer journey. Patients can turn to the Touched By Cancer Foundation Wellness Center for subsidized complementary therapies, individually tailored information packets as well as free classes covering nutrition, reflexology, acupressure and other helpful topics.

For the cancer patient and the athlete, keeping the body healthy with good nutrition and exercise, making informed choices, seeking support, and staying focused and positive in the present moment reinforces the body, mind spirit connection.

As I write this, Koach Karl is 15 miles from his goal of running 100 miles in 30 hours. His wife Paula and supporter Beth are stopped, helping Koach Karl remove a rock from his shoe. The sun will find him running the streets of central Johnson County steadily closing the loop begun 23 hours ago. At 8 AM, I will be at Gary Gribble’s Running Store to cheer for him and thank him for all that he does. Words cannot convey my deep feelings of gratitude for his effort and strength. I am humbled by his selfless act to support those touched by cancer.
Thank you Koach Karl, Paula, all of your support crew, Runners in Touch and sponsors.