“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself

helping others.”                       – Mahatma Ghandi

Let’s face it, sometimes people fudge the facts about weight or age. Well, Dr. Nicholas T. Haddock, Plastic Surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says to be honest with your doctor when discussing habits such as smoking. Dr. Haddock reminds us that smoking can affect your healing after surgery because of the impact it has on your blood vessels.  When undergoing surgery, such as for breast reconstruction, you want to heal in the best manner you can. So follow instructions given by your doctor and be honest when discussing any health issues. It will protect you in the long run! Good luck!

According to Kathy Platt, MS, HHP, Holistic Healer, meditation can be a way to calm and even cure your body. There are many things that affect our ability to function, most being rooted in fear or another emotion. You may experience anxiety, muscle aches, head or stomach aches. Whatever it is that you want to focus on, bring that forward in your meditation. As you breathe with intention, bring out this pain or anxiety. Give it a shape and a color. This is all in your mind so anything goes, follow your first thought. Then imagine sunlight or moonlight shining directly on this “thing” you have “pulled out of yourself”. In your meditation you may see it change color, shrink, turn to dust. Continue to shine light in your minds eye until the “thing” is resolved. Until it goes away, melts, or becomes something beautiful. You may be surprised how this method can help heal deep, old emotional wounds. To many of us, this is a very intense form of prayer utilizing God’s gifts of light and intention. Check out Kathy’s website for more information.

Now if you look closely at the pictures in the collage, I must admit, some are rather scary.  In the last post, we saw that shaving your head was taking control. You manage what happens and don’t let it manage you…. to the extent that you can. But the story about losing your hair continues. Because this is traumatic for most women, they will choose to wear a scarf, hat or wig to make them look and feel “normal.”  When Janie went through chemo, it was not all fun and games. For each 4 hour session, she watched funny movies.  She wore shirts that said “Does this shirt make me look bald?.” If others around her were happy about these things, it would help her be happy. There was still pain and down times, but what do you want to preserve in your memory. What will you dwell on? This collage gives you an idea. When Janie came to visit, everyone was REQUIRED to wear the wig and take a picture. Do you notice anything about every one of these pictures? Everyone is smiling, even Janie in the middle. Don’t you think that all the smiles and positive energy around this helped Janie as well? She was the instigator, but all of us benefited. Remember this if a loved one of yours is in this place. Share the smiles … for that’s what you want to preserve in your memory.

Let me explain, I’ll get around to the dancing in the rain part. Janie started her chemo as any brave soldier would. But there are time, there will be times when you panic. Janie’s moment was when she took her pony tail out and lots of hair came with it. She reached out to a family member who had been through chemo and was told “If you shave your head, you are in the control and not the chemo.” I have seen video after video of patients pulling their hair out, literally. Take charge and tell your head what it will do. Shave and take control. That’s what Janie did and even though it was difficult, she focused on the positive. Watch funny movies while getting chemo….  read “Nordie’s at Noon” a great book. It wasn’t until half way through her chemo treatments that Janie realized this could actually kill her. But she decided to live by this saying and I think we should all do it.  LIFE ISN’T ABOUT HOW TO SURVIVE THE STORM, BUT HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN!

Look at them, aren’t they beautiful! Nobody knows what the future holds when they get married. For better or for worse is what we say. Janie is a 7-year survivor living in Louisiana. She is married and has a teenage daughter. How did her breast cancer story start? She noticed an indentation in her breast and went to her doctor, who then scheduled a mammogram. They noticed an abnormality and did another mammogram, then immediately did a sonogram. While she didn’t have the “results” at that time, she was given the look of pity and told “Best of luck to ya” and was patted on the back. She remembers telling her husband, “I don’t think this is good.” But it wasn’t time to panic yet, because Janie is a positive person. Next comes the biopsy and soon she was told she tested positive for cancer. Get an oncologist! This is where Janie’s story becomes a bit of whirlwind….the oncologist says “Oh, shit!”  And “You can get a second opinion, but don’t mess around.”  Some may be offended by this, but Janie was happy that someone was frank with her and told her straight up to get moving. What is Janie’s advice from this part of her journey: listen to your body and listen to your gut. There is no right or wrong way, just go with what you feel about finding help…… and fast!

It’s happened to most of us, right? We are somewhere and we need both hands. No place to put our cell phone, but wait, the bra is the perfect place to stash it. It won’t move, we can hear it if it rings and feel it if it vibrates.  But let’s take a closer look at this. The Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act requires items emitting radiation to be rated. Cell phones are in the same category as TVs, Microwaves, X-Rays and Mammography Equipment. WHAT?! Now, I’ve never held a TV or microwave to my breast. And mammograms are only for a few seconds. But what if you make it a habit of placing your cell phone in your bra….an intermittent source of radiation to the breast. No conclusive studies have shown that there is a direct correlation, but there are documented cases of very young women (late teens, early 20’s) getting breast cancer who have a history of carrying cell phones in their bra. So the choice is yours… you can wait for more studies to be done on this, or err on the side of caution and keep your cell phone somewhere else.