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WEDNESDAYS WITH WENDY
Hopeful news and views
on Healthy Survivorship
The crisis is over, and you are now fine. Except you keep replaying in your mind a particular aspect of how you handled the crisis, wishing you’d said or done it differently (e.g., recognized a worrisome symptom sooner).
Rationally, you know you need to let it go and move on. It’s in the past. But your mind is fixated on it. What can you do?
Read moreMy post, Recognzing Obstacles to Hope, listed various factors that may impede the ability to feel hope. I brought up those issues to empower you. If hope feels elusive right now, understanding why opens opportunities to address potential obstacles to hope with your healthcare team and your support team.
Read moreIn Why Don’t I Feel Hope? I talk about hopelessness as a physical problem. If changes in the brain block the proper firing of brain cells needed to experience hope, willpower and/or spiritual faith may not be enough (just as a severed spinal cord makes it impossible to move the legs)—no matter how much patients want to feel hope.
Read moreA patient knew there is hope—a real possibility of a good outcome. That patient wanted to feel hope but didn’t. What could he do?
Read moreMy dream was for every patient to get free personalized exercise training and support. With hope of making a real difference now, I’d set the bar low: Write something that motivated patients to walk at least 10 minutes twice a day while in cancer treatment. The challenge was….
Read moreWhile others are making (and breaking) New Year’s resolutions, I’m experimenting with a new tack:
Read moreHealing words and ideas can change your world for the better. If facing unwanted changes in your reality, the idea of creating a “new normal for now” can help you …
Read moreA man's decision to donate one of his kidneys to a stranger offers Healthy Survivors a provocative insight on decision-making.
Read moreFellow Texans are suffering from the wrath of Hurricane Harvey. A few thoughts for those impacted, drawn from my experiences as a cancer survivor:
Read moreMcCain's diagnosis released a flood of articles about survivorship in the setting of a poor-prognosis cancer. Assuming McCain is fulfilling the first criterion of a Healthy Survivor by receiving excellent medical care, is he living fully, knowing the average life expectancy is 15 months?
Read moreIt's easy to forget the real meaning of a cancer walk. I'm breaking my 250-word-limit rule to share the 704-word speech I delivered yesterday at the start of the 5K Dallas Lymphoma Walk
Read moreYou could argue that false hope makes patients feel good and stirs the same placebo effect as realistic hope. Those are both healing benefits. Why my insistence that Healthy Survivors nourish realistic hope?
Read more"...hope, to provide what it can and should, needs to be tied to reality." That's the line that prompted me to share
Read moreIn "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 moreDo you want to feel hopeful? If so, check out the Something New (SN) site. of Bonnie Pitman.
Read more"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 moren "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.
Read more