A Caregiver's Inspirational Journey Through Cancer
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts on Feb 17th, 2011
“Children adjust as well as you do.” – Unknown Telling our children we have cancer or someone they know and love has cancer is very difficult and often poses mental dilemmas and anguish for a parent. Young or old, its one of the many, many, things that cause stress and anxiety in addition to the […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Feb 14th, 2011
People say that losing weight is no walk in the park. When I hear that I think, yeah, that’s the problem. – Chris Adams When I meet cancer/MM patients who exercise vigorously and look terrific, I’m envious. Not that envy is much of characteristic I’m burdened with (thank goodness), but you get the idea. It […]
Posted in Caregiver Tips, Misc on Feb 11th, 2011
“We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.” – Alfred E. Newman We are debating treatment in Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant vs management. We are debating maintenance therapy or not. Politics, terrorism, all manner of things. It seems that it is […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts on Feb 10th, 2011
“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Berthold Auerbach Over at workingwithme.com there are blog feeds (mine), The Myeloma Beacon and others. When I visited recently I saw he posts a little too. I was surprised to discover he had taken some choice excerpts 0
Posted in Caregiver Tips, Misc on Feb 10th, 2011
“Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.” – Johnny Carson Most of us on are on biophosphates to strengthen the bones after the onslaught of Myeloma. Before you got on this infusion, done every several weeks or few months, you needed to get a […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Feb 9th, 2011
“Prescription drugs kill some 200,000 Americans every year. Will that number go up, now that most clinical trials are conducted overseas—on sick Russians, homeless Poles, and slum-dwelling Chinese—in places where regulation is virtually nonexistent, the F.D.A. doesn’t reach, and “mistakes” can end up in pauper’s graves?” 0
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Multiple Myeloma on Feb 8th, 2011
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” – Hannah Moore As I have written in the past, and recently for Pat Killingsworth over at Living with Myeloma, the need to get opposing views on treatment in your consultation process… 4
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Multiple Myeloma on Feb 5th, 2011
“We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity.” – Unknown Boy it was a bit hard to find a quote for this post. All I could think was what wisdom and optimism could you offer someone who was facing a secondary […]
Posted in Caregiver Tips, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Feb 5th, 2011
Mission: to provide effective mediation and arbitration services to patients to remove obstacles to healthcare including medical debt crisis, insurance access issues and employment issues for patients with chronic, debilitating and life-threatening illnesses. 0
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Caregiver Tips on Feb 4th, 2011
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Theodore Roosevelt “What do you do to keep yourself in good shape and spirits as a caregiver, and what advice would you offer other caregivers about caring for themselves?” – a Q&A question at a recent talk I gave and a great question! 0
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Feb 3rd, 2011
“Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work” – Albert Einstein HIPAA, The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, was enacted as a broad Congressional attempt at incremental healthcare reform. The Administrative Simplification section of HIPAA is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system by standardizing the electronic data […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 29th, 2011
“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.” – Joseph Campbell As I alluded to in a recent post “Prayerful Thoughts”, two of my myeloma friends are struggling at the moment. One chose to manage his disease and has done it quite well for some time. Another who had failed […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 27th, 2011
“… a growing body of scientific evidence is building the case that the spiritual balance created by yoga provides proven health benefits.” – from article (link here) Yoga is becoming very “mainstream”. It is growing in popularity around the world. Yoga studios are popping up all over the place and classes are offered routinely in local […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 27th, 2011
“If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secret of getting along — whether it be business, family relations, or life itself.” – Bernard Meltzer While on social cancer websites, list servs, private conversations, emails, etc. I have “watched” or been involved in the continuing debate about positive […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 25th, 2011
“Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.” – Laurence Sterne I have had very personal relationships good and bad with physicians over the years. It was a rocky road for me. I didn’t like them generally, the arrogance mostly. Their attempts at intimidation of their patient as I viewed it. […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Kids, Our Life on Jan 24th, 2011
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life — It goes on. —Robert Frost” This photo was taken in May 2007, a year before Dave’s MM diagnosis on the lovely day of our youngest’s HS Graduation. This May she will graduate from College! Good news. Dave has had a sudden burst […]
Posted in Caregiver Tips on Jan 22nd, 2011
“He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skills of the physician.” – Chinese proverb When my mother was ill with cancer and found it difficult to eat “enough” to satisfy my concerns, I began a fervent search for a supplemental way to provide some protein into her diet. 0
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 20th, 2011
“The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.” – C.C. Scott Two of my myeloma buddies aren’t doing so well at the moment. Their numbers are rising, there is concern. One I’m very close to and have garnered deep affection for. The other a blogger I’ve never met and have come […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 18th, 2011
“If it weren’t for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn’t get any exercise at all.” – Joey Adams We all know that exercise is important for our physical well-being and our mental & spiritual well-being. Dave was a champion racquetball player before he was […]
Posted in Caregiver Tips, Misc on Jan 13th, 2011
“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Angie, a MM caregiver I met in Little Rock, asked me to write about caregiver fatigue. Instead, I’m going to write about the value of particular vitamins that are […]
