Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday, July 4, 2013, was a day of independence for our country. Many of you celebrated with backyard BBQs, fireworks, friends and family. Despite all the fun, good times, laughter, food and beer...as a military spouse, it was always a time for my family to reflect on the real reason for our celebrations.

Why in 1776 did the United States of American declare their independence from our motherland? FREEDOM! Yes, freedom...so that we could escape the overly abundant taxes, worship in our own ways, enjoy freedom of speech, and basically become self-governed. 

For the first time in many years, I was without family or friends to celebrate with this 4th of July. The day left me to contemplate the meaning of being independent and free.

free·dom

  [free-duhm]

noun

1.

the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.

2.

exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

3.

the power to determine action without restraint.

4.

political or national independence.

5.

personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery.

This quote from Louis D. Brandeis is enlightening. To be free (or survive), you have to have courage...courage to choose your battles, to take risks, to fight, and to have the integrity to endure whatever comes your way. You do NOT give up!

As a leukemia survivor, I have indeed declared my independence from cancer! People always said to me, "You're going to make it." I never asked "why me?" in the face of my diagnosis...but just always had a positive attitude, kept moving forward in each stage of treatment, and even afterwards. Just like our revolution against Britain, some battles were easier than others and some were tough. But the moment that you DECIDE to fight, is the moment that you begin to declare your independence and freedom from whatever it is that is holding you back.

So, if you haven't already...it's time to FIGHT! Give it your all...hope...pray...have faith...roll with the punches...and don't let cancer steal your FREEDOM! Happy Independence Day ~

Blessings,

Lisa

Y Not? Relay??

The Survivors of Team Y Not? at Relay for Life of Sarpy County, June 8, 2013

This year was my second experience with Relay for Life. I am the Team Captain of Team Y Not? ~ why that name? Well, we started our team at the Sarpy County YMCA in the LiveStrong program. If you are not familiar with that program, it is a program for cancer survivors in treatment or beyond. That program got me up and moving and out of depression. It literally changed my life! For detailed information check it out at: http://www.livestrong.org/What-We-Do/Our-Actions/Programs-Partnerships/LIVESTRONG-at-the-YMCA

But our name really means much more than that. Why not Relay? Why not come out and support survivors, caregivers, and advocates at a Relay for Life event? Why not raise funds to find a cure? Why not??

Cancer touches all of us: the patient, their spouses or partners, their children, extended families, friends and co-workers. I bet YOU even have known someone whose dealt with this disease. Let's face it...when the facts are that 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get cancer in their lifetimes, the statistics staggering. In my family alone, I've lost 5 members to cancer...all had a different kind. And my sister and I are survivors. Do you think my cousins, children, and my future grandchildren will be shaking in their boots thinking "who's going to be next....me?" You bet your booty they are. I know...I've been there...and my children are scared.

That's why I Relay....not to walk in honor of my Mom who died of lung cancer in 2010...or my maternal Grandmother who died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. But for ALL of us! So that no one has to shed the amount of tears I have, or go through the pain, nausea, and chemo brain that I did, or make a "bucket list" when I thought I wasn't going to live to see the day my youngest son (age 11 at the time I was diagnosed) would grow up and go to college, or to see my daughter walk down the aisle with her Dad at her side.

I walk for YOU!!

Each year I raise my fundraising goal a little higher. Because I want to be part of the global movement to end cancer forever. Because I took advantage of some of the American Cancer Society's programs (such as "Look Good, Feel Better") and they lifted me up and gave me a positive attitude during my fight. I walked last year all night long with a knee that was in severe pain. This year I walked with a new knee (yes, a total knee replacement was needed after chemo and meds deteriorated my bones). Next year I hope I will walk stronger, longer, and farther. And every year I will keep walking for a cure. I will walk until I can't walk any longer...and even if I am in a wheelchair, I will be there.

That is the core reason I Relay. But there are so many other reasons: it is serious FUN, a party with a PURPOSE, a great time to meet and hear stories of and celebrate SURVIVORS, REMEMBER our loved ones who've past, FIGHT BACK, and a real reason to HOPE.

If you've attended a Relay for Life event before, put that on your "live" list....and just DO IT! It's an experience you'll never forget.

For more pictures from our Team Y Not? and the Sarpy County, NE Relay for Life 2013 event please visit our Team Facebook page...and it's still not too late to make a donation in honor or celebration of someone you love. We're just $62 away from our Team goal!

https://www.facebook.com/RelayForLifeTeamYNot?fref=ts

Thanks for reading....and remember, Life is Good!

Lisa
Owner/Artist and Survivor
www.cancerkaleidoscope.com

Please "Like" CancerKaleidoscope on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CancerKaleidoscope?fref=ts

Guest Blog: 5 Ways to Cope After Being Diagnosed with Cancer....compliments of WhatNext.com

GUEST BLOG:
Today's blog is from Greg Pierce is a 3x cancer survivor and community manager for WhatNext.com

A cancer diagnosis may take a toll on all areas of your life. It can affect your emotions, your physical body, your daily routine, and even your mind. Here are five firsthand insights on positive ways that you can begin your journey in each of those areas of your life.

1. Emotional - It’s likely that you will experience a whirlwind of emotions after you hear that you are diagnosed with cancer. It may include shock, fear, anxiety, and even denial. Embrace your emotions; let them sink in; do not push them away. If you deal with emotions head-on then you might find it easier to move on. If you feel overwhelmed you can seek the help of a counselor or support group.

2. Physical - (Are you reading closely? This one is important.) Take care of you. You just became your number #1 priority. This means making all those “cliche” healthy decisions. Get more sleep, exercise regularly, and keep a healthy diet. This may be taking a daily walk, going to bed a little earlier, or eliminating processed foods from your diet. Whatever it is - take care of yourself. Have confidence that these seemingly simple things will contribute to your physical health while you’re fighting cancer.

3. Practical - Often it is the little things that can make a big difference. In the past, cancer patients have recommended bringing a friend or family member to doctor appointments, asking as many questions to get the answers you need, doing research on trusted medical sites, and keeping track of all insurance and medical information.

4. Psychological - You may have heard the expression “mind over matter;” some people affected by cancer agree that a positive outlook and can-do attitude through their diagnosis starts in their mind. It might be difficult at first, but it could be helpful to find new perspectives so that you can accept your diagnosis and move forward.

5. Humor - A lot of people with cancer have simply tried to find humor in their everyday lives. Maybe there were certain things that made them uncomfortable before, but now they just find reasons to laugh about them. Finding humor in your life may give you a better perspective on your diagnosis.

Now that we’ve given you these five insights on how to cope emotionally, physically, practically, and psychologically, try to implement at least one of these tips today. You can work on it for a few days, and then try the next. Even if you feel you are moving at turtle speed, you are making progress and that is what is important!

Optional (and suggested!) Ingredients to Survivorship....Part 2

So, to wrap up my series on the Ingredients of Survivorship, we have:
1) a great medical team
2) a great support system
3) Faith
4) Positive Attitude
5) Healthy Living
6 ) optional - a dash of the Arts

and finally....
7) a dose of Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom...that's something that my support group leader always ends our session with. We go around the table and each of us take a bit of candy from her candy jar and says something we either learned from the group that day, or brought with us from our journeys. To quote a Caregiver who attends weekly with his wife (leukemia survivor with an auto transplant)..."Be kind to your caregivers, we're only pushy because we care."   or  "Count your blessings...there are so many people with heavier crosses to bear."

This situation inspired me to create a quilted wall hanging for our Relay for Life team to raffle off as a fundraiser. See the picture below...the white boxes are for Survivors and Caregivers or Nurses to write their own Words of Wisdom in. It's not yet completed....but will be a nice keepsake or motivational tool for the patient in the midst of treatment.

   

Some of my other favorite words of wisdom come from famous Presidents, authors, artists, leadership experts, the Bible, etc. Such as....

I never really enjoyed history while I was in school...but there is truth to the saying that you have to know your past to know where you're going in the future. These tried and true quotes and sayings had real bearing on me during my treatment and recovery. But I had to be mindful of this: be humble enough to accept and respect the words of those who have been there before you. It may not have been specifically written with cancer journeys in mind, but "Never, never, ever give up!" certainly can apply to your situation.

Thanks for reading my blog. I am open to suggestions on what to write about in the future. Next time, I post, it will be a guest blog from WhatNext.com. Check them out...they are a great resource that matches like diagnoses so you can vent, ask questions, and receive support from others who have walked the same path you are going through right now. 

Blessings to you all,

Lisa

Optional (and suggested!) Ingredients to Survivorship....

Hello again folks. In the final installment of my series on "The 5 Ingredients to Survivorship" I have a few additional options to add. Just like when a cake calls for "optional" ingredients such as nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips, I too have some options to add to my list of ingredients...in fact, these are some things I would highly recommend. To recap, my 5 Ingredients to Survivorship are: a great medical team, a super support system, faith, a positive attitude, and healthy living. If you've forgotten or missed a blog or two, they are available to refer back to on the right side of this post. So...onto the task at hand:

Optional ingredient #1: the Arts
After our journeys with treatment, Cancer survivors are quite concerned with finding their "new normal." In my case it was no different. I left a career as an Elementary Art Teacher when I was diagnosed with AML Leukemia, and due to a severely decreased immune system, there was no way I could go back to my old job with a classroom of 20+ sniffling young students. So, I had to reinvent my career. Fortunately, for me, I was an arts lover to begin with. The arts have been proven to help the healing process when faced with al sorts of things: depression, divorce, health issues, tragedies of war, and so many other uncertainties. For example, just look at the two examples below. One is from a student survivor of the Sandy Hook Elementary killings and the other a child patient explaining his experience at a hosptial.

Ok, these are both examples from children, but did you know that artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) suffered from childhood polio. Later, in 1925, she was in a traffic accident that left her in pain for the remainder of her life. Her famous series of self-portraits enabled her to objectify her physical sufferings, as well as the emotional turmoil resulting from her turbulent marriage to painter Diego Rivera. Other artists - such as Vincent Van Gogh who struggled with mental illness, Henri Matisse after a serious operation found it too painful to hold a paintbrush and turned to scissors in his final years, and Auguste Renoir taped a paintbrush to his wrist after suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. They all found their "new normal" and adapted to their new limitations in order to continue to thrive after their diseases/illnesses.

I have always been a theater/movie lover as well. Being in the audience and watching a musical production or a dramatic movie takes me away to another world. I forget about my issues for a while and I am lost in the storyline. Sometimes we relate to a specific character and can see our problems in a whole new way...perhaps even find a new way to deal with it.

To read a novel, or watch a play can have the same effect....but many authors attempt to resolve their issues by creating these stories we find so captivating and enveloping. They are healing as they write, and we are healing as we read.

And then their is music...I did used to play two instruments. Never composed anything myself, but simply reading sheet music and playing...allowed me an escape as well. What do you think Kelly Clarkson was writing about in her song "Stronger"? A personal experience of her own? Probably...although you and I may think about something very different. All in all...the effect is the same. The song will help us see our experiences in a new light and we begin to heal.

So seek out the arts when you are trying to or even after you have beaten cancer. It'll do your heart and mind good.

Stay tuned for the last installment - and one last optional ingredient - of the 5 Ingredients of Survivorship.

Blessings to you all,
Lisa

Survivorship Ingredient #5

Ever wonder why you got cancer? I remember way back in High School in health class...my teacher told us that everyone is born with cancer cells in their bodies. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it is because their lifestyle choices activated those cells and produced the disease. Makes sense, right?

As we all know, there are risk factors for certain kinds of cancer....the major one that comes to mind is smoking...which often causes lung cancer. Or excessive alcohol use may lead to liver cancer. Scientific research is ongoing regarding GMO's (genetically modified organisms) in fruits and vegetables, toxins in food colorings, diet soda products where the combination of caffeine and aspartame can be deadly...and the list goes on. Also in the past decade there has been a lot in the news about obesity, lack of exercise, and the health risks associated with those as well.

Early on in my diagnosis with Leukemia, my sister gave me two books that have had a tremendous impact on me. "Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor" and "Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips" both by Kris Carr. You see, Ms. Carr was diagnosed in 2004 with an inoperable, untreatable, incurable type of cancer. She had no other option but to treat herself with good nutrition...and her story has exploded from there, creating a rush on "green" smoothies, healthy eating, and organic growing. She recently turned a very horrific diagnosis into 10 years of "Thrivership." Have I mentioned she's my hero? Check out her site: http://kriscarr.com/ I'm sure you'll be inspired by her, too.

If you haven't guessed by now, my fifth ingredient to Survivorship is HEALTHY LIVING!

I recently had a total knee replacement...which (odd as it may seem) according to my Orthopedic surgeon, was needed because the bones in my knee joint were dead and deteriorated due to....yep, all the medications I had been on after my bone marrow transplant. Wow! That was enough for me to say "Alright, I'm going to start going all-natural, using homeopathic remedies for illnesses, no more chemicals in my hair and skin products, and no more cancer-causing foods, drinks, or anything else that could harm my body and bring me back to all the pain of cancer and that knee replacement surgery. 

I've done a lot of research on this in the past several months and began making changes in what I buy at the grocery store, how we cook our food, product ingredients I now know to avoid, and have begun to exercise more frequently. And you know what? If you make these changes in your lifestyle as well, you will see the benefits, too. Such as 1) feeling better - less headaches, gastro problems, a better immune system; 2) lose weight without those gimmicky diets and supplements; and 3) best of all, reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and so much more. You only get one body, might as well treat it well and make it last as long as you can.

In the words of Spock "Live Long and Prosper."

Blessings,Lisa

For healthy eating and product suggestions check out my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/CancerKaleidoscope

And website's Health & Wellness page: http://www.cancerkaleidoscope.com/health--wellness.html

I update frequently so check back often for the latest in healthy living. 

Ingredient #4 to Cancer Survivorship

If you've been following the posts, we are now onto the next "ingredient" to Cancer Survivorship. You see, I associated my cancer journey and Survivorship to making a cake. If you make a cake from scratch, and leave out just one ingredient, well....let's say, it flops! That is the way I felt about my cancer journey. I've been in remission 4 1/2 years now from Leukemia and after my recovery, I felt that if I was missing just one piece of my "recipe", I don't believe that my situation would have turned out quite as well as it has.

So to refresh your memories, I've covered the first 3 ingredients thus far:
1) a great medical team
2) a great support system
3) faith in God (or whatever higher power you believe in)
and now,
4) a positive attitude.

Now I've always been a glass-half-full kind of gal. Where I got that attitude from I'm not really sure, but I know that I have always been driven by the example set by my parents, friends in high school who had lofty goals, and especially my Aunt...who (without children of her own) took all of her nieces and nephews under her wing to guide them, share special times with them, and loved them unconditionally with the utmost confidence.

So that fateful day when a hematologist/oncologist I had met just once, dropped that bomb on me so frankly and without any bedside manner whatsoever, told me I had Leukemia...I was as stunned as anyone else who had stood before me in the shoes of a patient receiving a similar diagnosis. The one thing I did not do that day, was ask "why me?" Thus began my journey with a positive attitude. Never mind that we were re-directed from the Mayo Clinic to the University of Nebraska Medial Center for treatment. Huh? we said...but isn't Mayo the "best?" Well, not for me it turns out....UNMC is a Leukemia/Lymphoma research facility and it just so happens that we had spent 8 1/2 years there back in the early 1990's as my husband's first military duty station. We still knew friends there...which was a blessing...and my husband could transfer bases...another blessing! All positive vibes...

Fast forward to the first days of my hospital stay (about 8 weeks) with our 3 children left behind in another state being cared for my friends (we were 1500 miles from our nearest relatives). Positivity had kicked in: I HAD to believe they were in good hands, so that I could focus on MY task at hand...to heal. My husband, Chris, was by my side 24/7. I had the best medical team I could ever hope for, and we had found my bone marrow donor. All positive outcomes...again, I was able to focus on getting well. Cards and letters and artwork from my students starting pouring in. My husband posted them on my walls and just to look at all the "get well," "thinking of you," and "we miss you" cards always lifted my spirits and attitude. Without those decorating my walls, my room would have been just a gloomy, grey hospital room with a view of a brick building outside my window.

The second time I was in the hospital, Chris was relieved by my Aunt Leslie for about 10 days. Now she is a big lover of "Life is Good" t-shirts, sweatshirts, PJs, and anything that bears that motto.  The moment she entered my room for the very first time, she slapped a round, blue and green "Life is Good" magnet on my door. That turned out to be very symbolic...from then on, anyone who entered my room knew that they were entering a room where a positive thinking patient, who knew they were going to make it was fighting as hard as she could. I soon adopted "Life is Good" as my own motto. After all, there were so many other people on the floor, in the hospital, in the world, who were much worse off than I was.

Oh yea, I certainly did have my days where the tears would pour down my face, I didn't want to wake up or eat, or would nap most of the day. But as my friend and "Look Good Feel Better" consultant, Peg, reminded me. "It's OK to cry and be down...just allow yourself that 10-15 minute Pity Party, then count your blessings and come back with a smile." That was probably the best advice I received while I was in the hospital...and in life in general.

You see, if you have a "poor me," "I'm going to die," "there's no hope for me" attitude, you mind thinks it and your body feels the signals. A positive attitude is KEY to Survivorship....to meeting your goals, to achieving your dreams, and to anything in life that you want to accomplish.

I'll close now with a poem my best friend and Valedictorian from my High School Class read as part of her Commencement speech. It has stuck with me to this day, and I have it prominently placed where I can read it often.

A few books you  might be interested in if you are in need of developing a strong, positive attitude. By the way, my bookcase wall has a whole shelve devoted to books like this. Enjoy!

"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...and it's all small stuff" by Richard Carlson, PhD.

"Words to Lift Your Spirits" by Dale Brown

"Light from Many Lamps" edited by Lillian Eichler Watson

"50 Things that Really Matter" a Gift Book from Hallmark

"The Ultimate Pocket Positives" compiled by Maggie Pinkey

"Leaves of Gold" edited by Clyde Francis Lytle