Best Life After Cancer

This podcast, written and recorded in June, talks about my husband and my journey with his recurrent head and neck cancer, as we waited for testing and surgery, and how I dealt with the struggles of managing my worries while we waited for testing, biopsies, and our surgical date. Waiting sucks, but there are things you can do to improve your experience.

After loosing my son, Miles in a car accident, my mom unexpectedly from complications of endocarditis, dealing with my oldest son's depression and flashbacks to the accident, and navigating the diagnosis of a vocal cord cancer in my husband, I was struggling to navigate working as well. I talk today about how to know you need to take time off and what to do with that time.

Rita was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of melanoma, that rapidly spread to her nodes, then to her liver and elsewhere. Today, her scans are clear. Hear her story, with all of the challenges and triumphs that came along the way. She is an inspiration!

I share some of the concrete steps I took to make it through the first five months after losing my 13 yo son, Miles. These same techniques will help newly diagnosed cancer patients in surviving their first months as well. I hope it helps you stay afloat, navigate the unpredictable currents, and eventually reach the shore.

This podcast talks about grief - that it is normal and necessary. I talk about the stages of grief as I see them in my oncology patients, and as I experience them as a grieving parent.

So often we ask food to be more than just the sustenance our bodies need. But when we do this, there are ALWAYS negative consequences. Understand why you are doing this and some insight on how to stop.

Whether it is a death in the family, a cancer diagnosis or another trauma, what well-meaning family and friends say can be challenging. Today, I talk about both my experience with this, and share a letter from a follower of the podcast. Keep sending my messages about what you all want to hear about!

Michelle went through mastectomies with implant reconstruction, and developed a significant capsular contraction, in part from radiation. She went on to have a latissimus flap reconstruction to repair this, and is now feeling great and enjoying life. This podcast was recorded the week before I lost Miles, and it is nice to hear me sounding happy, relaxed and care free.

The news is buzzing with all sorts of speculation on the Delta Variant, and social media is abuzz with both those pushing others to get the vaccine and those trumpeting vaccine horror stories. Who to believe? In this podcast, I summarize the two things I read and heard lately that I found most useful. The first is a NYT podcast by Ezra Klein, interviewing NYU medical school epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder (listen here:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-celine-gounder.html) and the other is a CNN article by Peter Bregman and Howard Jacobson (read here:https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/opinions/how-to-move-people-from-hesitant-to-vaccinated-bregman-jacobson/index.html)

Meredith got triple negative breast cancer in her 30's, when her daughter was 19 months old. She had a goal of seeing her daughter go to kindergarten. Now, she is 15 years out, and watched her daughter strike out the top softball recruit in the US! She tells us her 2 week rule, and why she thinks you need to balance quality of life in treatment decisions.

This episode goes through options for many of the side effects of perimenopause: hot flashes, vaginal dryness, sexual changes, and more. If post cancer, you have been thrust into menopause, help is here!

Shannon, a long time nurse, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, was planning for a clinical trial, then also found to have thyroid cancer. She took all of this in stride, had chemotherapy with a pathologic complete response, mastectomies and thyroid surgery. She shares her tips for feeling good at the end of treatment, and some of the insights from a healthcare worker turned patient!

This is part of one of the classes in my Best Life After Cancer's Weight Loss program. It helps you to really dig into why you want to lose weight or decrease alcohol, and leverage those reasons to help follow your plan. This work is so important if you want to permanently change habits and create new, healthy ones!

Our brains have so much wisdom. We can ask ourselves who we would be if we were at our goals, and then make decisions from that place. I call this "living as your ideal self" but a client calls it "fake it til you make it". Either way, it is a technique in your toolkit to help you follow your plans and achieve your goals.

This is Pauline's story - as always, uplifting and motivating, with a bit of a twist with a discussion of the cyber attack on the Irish Medical System!

There is so much good to know here - the havoc chronic fear wreaks on our bodies, why we tell patients to avoid blogs, and how some people use fear to their advantage!

Understanding how our brains and bodies experience fear can help us know how to manipulate and work with it. Learn the neuroscience and chemistry of fear in this episode, along with how and why cancer patients in particular struggle with fear.

Not many people make a pact with themselves to walk 30 minutes every single day of their cancer treatment and run whenever they are able. Janet proves what is possible during chemo, and what's more, that our mental wellbeing is often linked to our physical wellbeing. You will love hearing how she stayed positive, even after the devastating finding of a significant lymph node recurrence!

Weight loss is not just calories in less than calories out. There is so much more. Listen to this episode to understand the role of insulin and weight set point.

Recently, I have heard from more and more patients that they feel empty after treatment. Why is this so? Today, I try to unpack this and give some tips to help you recover your " joi de vivre".

Elisa has some of the greatest tips so far on how to manage the overwhelm that comes when one is newly diagnosed with cancer. I love how she set up a system to have all of the contact from friends and family organized and screened ahead - it is something I will recommend to patients in the future! She is also an amazing success story in how coaching helps after cancer! Enjoy!

Olivia was in her 30's when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she found that a bit of dark humor helped her get through this, but also made her feel even more alone. Did others find parts of their cancer treatment funny? She now runs a nonprofit, helping to spread joy and laughter to patients with her group, Humor Beats Cancer, where young people with cancer are invited to connect and share support and stories.

DCIS is a less aggressive type of breast cancer, but still comes with challenges. This week is part science, and part mindset, to help patients have the best experience and outcomes with this diagnosis.

Today we have the privilege of hearing from Dr. Faryal Michaud, from the "Write Your Last Chapter" podcast and Blog. She is a palliative care doctor and life coach working with physicians on living intentionally. If these things seem like polar opposites, she will tell you how this came to be. She shares her wisdom on having conversations early with family about the "plan b" in treatment, why we should live our bucket lists sooner rather than later, and how to live a life intentionally.

This episode is near and dear to my heart. It is my sweet Dad's story. He has survived and thrived through an acoustic neuroma (benign brain tumor), a rare kidney tumor, non-hodgkin's lymphoma and a basal cell carcinoma of the eyelid. He is also now struggling with worsening Alzheimer's. We talk about his mindset, how we talked to my kids about his illness, and what he especially loves about his family. I adore this man.

All life is composed of some good, some bad and some boring. But if we try to force it to all be good, paradoxically, we increase the bad! This is something we can work on and change, along with living in victim mentality.

In this episode, I attempted to review all of the recent literature on pregnancy after cancer. This needs to be run by your primary team but can be used as a resource to understand the options.

What is the best way to get what you want from life? By deciding what you want, and planning for it to happen. This podcast talks about why we should all make a bucket list TODAY.

This is Alex's story. This man, who came to the US at 7 when his family fled Vietnam. Through perseverance and hard work, he was accepted to medical school, becoming a respected anesthesiologist. He was diagnosed with a renal cell carcinoma in his 30's, less than a week after finding out that his wife was pregnant with their third child. He then got the news that he had a genetic mutation leading to extremely aggressive cancers, called HLRCC. His cancer recurred quickly after his initial surgery, and then metastasized to his liver. Yet, through clinical trials, targeted treatments and a lot of prayer, he is a 10 year survivor and currently without any evidence of disease! This story is SO uplifting and inspiring. I know you will love it!

There are is so much fear and incorrect information surrounding the diagnosis of metastatic disease in cancer treatment. This podcast will help you understand how it happens, what it means, and some of the common treatments.

This is a relatively new diagnosis, and may be overlooked by both clinicians and patients themselves, but treating it can improve outcomes, along with compliance to treatment protocols. Listen to learn more about what PTSD can look like, who it is most likely to affect, and how I personally dealt with PTSD and flashbacks after an accident in our family.

Today we talk all things reconstruction: DIEP Flaps, Implants, 3D Nipple Tattooing and more. With special guest, Dr. Alex Au.

We know what we should be doing, but we are not. Why is that? Listen to this episode to understand 3 of the most common things keeping us stuck where we are.

This is an oncologist's overview of Covid, testing, vaccines, who qualifies and should get them.

Imposter syndrome is something that many high achieving women face at some point during their career, and I believe it is likely worse for many women following treatment. Learn what it is, and how I deal with this in my life. Yep, you guessed it, I have experienced it, too!

So many people think a diagnosis of metastatic disease is a 6 months to dead death sentence. She is here to help you see what is possible, and is living her best life despite liver and brain mets!

If our thoughts are optional, why do we choose one that create misery? How do we recognize the original thought? What is the process to change them? Listen to this podcast to find out.

The holidays are a challenging time emotionally for many people. It is in part because we have grand expectations, and reality doesn't meet them, leading to disappointment. Work through some of these thought challenges in this episode.
Please note - it discusses that I am away. We have travelled responsibly, and are taking social distancing seriously!

As a rad Onc, I do this all day. But this is something completely new for most patients. Here is all the explanation, everything you wanted to know without even having to ask it!

Michelle, a client and friend, told me that after cancer she was searching for a way to thrive, not just survive. I loved this so much, I dedicated an entire podcast to it. I think it is important. Just surviving is NOT enough. We want to be thriving. In this podcast, I describe both, and how to take steps to become a thriver. Michelle, this one is for you - thank you for the inspiration!

Thanksgiving week seems like the perfect time to tell everyone about the myriad of benefits from a gratitude practice. Have a lovely holiday!

I am so excited to be able to bring you this chat with the former Chairman of the Board of the American Cancer Society. Hear where breast cancer treatment started and where it is going!

This month I challenged myself to be an example of what coaching can do. I wanted to go from hating fall to loving it, and I wanted to stop feeling like life was on hold waiting for Covid to pass. In this podcast, I teach you how to do it, and what you can create in your life. If you are living thinking you have to hate your job, your marriage, having a history of cancer, then let's create a new path.

Shana's story is heartfelt, and honest. It touches on so many of the fears of the TNBC community, and how she made it through and is thriving in her current life. I am so happy she was willing to share this story with us!

For all of those who asked me to do a podcast specifically on triple negative breast cancer, here it is. I went over what it is, the normal treatment of this and I dispel some myths along the way. I hope you find it helpful!