Directory of health resources for healthcare professionals.

The time between diagnosis and surgery or the start of treatment can often seem like the longest period of a lifetime. The news of a cancer diagnosis wreaks mayhem with our usually routine and ordered minds, and often women are poorly physically, emotionally and psychologically prepared to start the process of recovery. Thinking through the important issues that have to be dealt with over the next two to three months, and planning the practical issues that need to be dealt with will often ease the worry and allow you to focus on the process of healing body and mind and getting totally well again.
For many, this will be a mammoth task that will require the help of others. It is really important at this stage to surround yourself with people you trust. These might include your doctor, carer, partner or someone you have identified among your networks that is prepared to be your key support person. But whilst we trust these people, we need to identify what the primary role of each will be.
For instance, the doctor’s role would be to lead the medical treatment program; your partner or carer, to attend appointments with you and clarify questions and emotionally connect with you; the key support person may look after the practical aspects of household and professional needs.
Reflect on what is the most important priority in your life, not anybody else’s life; not even your loved one’s life. Your life. For most it will be to continue living a full and healthy normal life after the tumour has gone. The challenge is, then ‘How will I achieve this?’ Thinking through what the most important issues are that need to be dealt with, and knowing the rest does not really matter is a start for many. Many will map out a plan from ideas presented in this book, and put things in order beforehand.
*18/144/5*

While looking at the tape without the intensity of the moment it is clear that he has an unoccupied relationship channel. ‘I can stand up for something. Something . . . went wrong,’ . . . implies that something has happened to him in a relationship which he did not create. Relationship problems happen to him, thus we say that this channel is not occupied.
He must have an edge in that channel since he formulates what he considers to be an impossibility: ‘Speaking, talking things out . . . that doesn’t work.’ When an edge appears, one way to deal with it is to test it directly by saying (whether or not you know the issue), ‘Of course it works.’ Locating the channel of a client’s edge is an important task since this is where their psychological development lies.
I ignore the content of what Sam was trying to say because it was so difficult to comprehend, and relate instead only to the overall disturbance facing Sam.
Amy: It is nice that you came to talk. Sam, what sort of a state are you in, nervous?
Sam, in his excited and agitated state, did not pay attention to my exact question or was not able to understand the meaning of the concept of state, thinking ‘state’ meant ‘place.’
Sam: It is not my place in the house, it is a place where . . . where one works, lives and eats. It is not my place. It is a worker’s house.
I was still trying to make contact with him and therefore switched my theme to his, his ‘home.’
Amy:  Isn’t it nice?
Sam: No, there are aggressive, nasty and addicted people there.
*134\227\8*

The management steps to be taken at this stage for preventing an attack essentially invlolve making the child rest and relax; drink liquids, preferably warm liquids; and take asthma medicines as prescribed.
Rest and Relaxation. Children should be made to rest at the first recognizable sign of asthma.This means making them sit down and relax. Resting reduces the load on the lungs. Helping the children to relax implies making them as comfortable as possible and keeping them that way for a while.
Diaphragmatic or Belly Breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing helps in relaxing as well as making the entire lungs work, rather than just the upper parts. Belly breathing is a form of breathing which uses the diaphragm to help push air into the lungs. The following guidelines can help the child learn the technique of diaphragmatic breathing.
• Make the child lie on the floor, with his knees bent, while keeping his feet flat on the floor.
• Place one hand on the chest, and the other on the stomach.
• Instruct the child to breathe in through the nose and into the stomach, without inflating his chest.
• The stomach should bloat up like a ball.
• Ask him then to blow the air out through his mouth, with lips pursed, with one hand pressing the stomach in, pushing the air out, till his stomach is flat.
Breathing this way makes the child feel better and less tired. It can be practised twice a day.
*97\260\8*

Estrogen supplements (taken either in pill form or vaginally) lessen many unpleasant postmenopausal symptoms, including painful intercourse. Taken long term beginning at menopause, they are also the most effective treatment for preventing osteoporosis – the postmenopausal bone loss that makes women prone to fractures in later life.
But taking estrogen involves problems. It increases a woman’s risk of endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus) from about one in one thousand per year to about four in one thousand. It is associated with high blood pressure, blood clots, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and a slightly higher risk of gallbladder disease.
On the other hand, estrogen does not have the frightening side effects that had previously been feared. The latest studies show that estrogen supplements do not increase the risk of breast cancer; they may even help protect against the disease. Taken long term, they may also decrease the chances of a heart attack.
When its link with endometrial cancer was found about a decade ago, many women stopped taking estrogen. Today estrogen supplements are coming back into favor. Not only are the studies of their effectiveness in preventing osteoporosis encouraging this trend, but new research suggests that the risk of endometrial cancer is reduced (or virtually eliminated) when estrogen is given in cycles of three weeks on and one week off and is combined with the hormone progesterone toward the end of a woman’s cycle. Also, endometrial cancer is relatively rare in any case, even among women who take estrogen. It is also a slow-growing type of cancer, almost always diagnosed while it can still be cured.
Many experts advise not taking estrogen if you have a family history of endometrial or breast cancer, blood clots, strokes, coronary artery disease, severe migraine headaches, liver disease, or unexplained vaginal bleeding. Before starting, they advocate a thorough medical checkup, including a pelvic examination and Pap smear, breast examination and mammogram, tests for blood sugar, liver and thyroid function, and cholesterol levels. Many also recommend an endometrial biopsy (test for endometrial cancer) as an additional precaution.
For you, do estrogen’s benefits outweigh its risks? The Consumers Union consultants recommend, in making a final decision, asking yourself these questions: ‘ ‘Do I need estrogen?” (Am I at high risk for osteoporosis: of small build, a smoker and heavy drinker, sedentary? Are my “change of life” symptoms very upsetting? Is my sex life suffering greatly?) “Do I want to take estrogen despite the risks?”
If your answer is yes, proceed, taking estrogen with progesterone. Get semiannual breast and pelvic exams. Consult your doctor promptly if you have abnormal bleeding. Periodically review new information about estrogen-replacement therapy with your physician.

*3/159/5*

Although most of us continually try to reduce our body fat, there are levels below which we dare not go. A minimal amount of body fat is necessary for insulation of the body, for cushioning between parts of the body and vital organs, and for maintaining body functions. In men, this lower limit is approximately 3 to 4 percent. Women should generally not go below 8 percent. Excessively low body fat in females may lead to amenorrhea, a disruption of the normal menstrual cycle. The critical level of body fat necessary to maintain normal menstrual flow is believed to be between 8 and 13 percent, but there are numerous exceptions to this rule and many additional factors that affect the menstrual cycle. Under extreme circumstances, such as starvation diets and certain diseases, the body often utilizes all available fat reserves and begins to break down muscle tissue as a last-ditch effort to obtain nourishment.
While some of us like to say that we are storing up fat to protect ourselves from the great food shortages of the future, there are limits to the plausibility of this argument! The fact is that too much fat and too little fat are both potentially harmful. The key is to find a level at which you are not at high risk for health problems and at which you are comfortable with your appearance.
*4/277/5*

Homoeopathy for Wind
The science of homoeopathy has been practised in England since the 1850s, and because of disenchantment with highly technological medicine, more and more people are turning to it. Homoeopathy has been well-researched and has proven to be effective, not only in curing illness but also in preventing it. It uses only natural substances which are non-addictive and cheap. While it is better to go to a well-qualified homoeopathic practitioner, if this is not possible a considerable amount of relief can often be gained from reading simple first-aid homoeopathy instructions (see page 181) and buying the remedies from your chemist or health food shop.
Tissue Salts
Some people have also found New Era Tissue Salts very helpful. These are easier to use than homoeopathic remedies because the symptoms they are formulated to soothe are printed on the packages. These salts are made into small moulded tablets and are also homoeopathically prepared. They are very safe but may not be suitable for people with severe milk intolerance because they contain milk sugar.
*19\326\8*

It is essential that your child learns to take their drugs regularly, every day at the right time. Most children are surprisingly cooperative about this. A good aid to memory for anyone, child or adult, who has to take long-term medication is a ‘dosette’ which you can buy from your chemist. This is a container which has seven removable compartments, labelled with the days of the week. Each compartment has four slots, so that it can take four doses of medication. The dosette is filled with the appropriate daily doses of anticonvulsant at the beginning of each week and at any time you can see at a glance whether the child has or has not remembered to take their tablets. If they have to go away for a day or two they simply take the dosette container for those days with them.
All anticonvulsants have some side-effects. But although the drugs your child is given may affect their ability to concentrate, proper treatment with the appropriate drugs should not have a serious effect on your child’s learning or behaviour. If you think your child is being badly affected by their drugs, you must tell your doctor. Although much better drugs with fewer side-effects are now available, phenobarbitone and the related drug primidone (which often cause restlessness, irritability or mental slowing) are still sometimes prescribed for children. If your child has been prescribed one of these anticonvulsants, discuss the possibility of a change with your doctor. If he feels a change is not necessary or advisable seek a second opinion. These drugs should be avoided wherever possible for children of school age.
Whenever a new drug is prescribed for your child, watch carefully for any change in their behaviour and report it to your doctor; the new drug may not suit them.
*68\193\2*

Fallopian Tube Cancer
Fallopian tube cancers usually present in a similar fashion to cancers of the ovary and may be indistinguishable at the time of surgery. In other words, the symptoms responsible for presentation again are non-specific and are outlined above.
The aims of surgery are identical and chemotherapy following surgery is always undertaken.
The cure rate for fallopian tube cancer is similar to that of ovarian cancer.

Tumours of the Placenta
Tumours of the placenta usually present with abnormal bleeding in early pregnancy and the diagnosis is made on ultrasound.
It was my third pregnancy after a full term pregnancy two and a half years before, and a miscarriage. I had no bleeding but was very large for my stage of pregnancy.
I also felt extremely nauseated and extremely tired. The diagnosis of ‘no fetus’ at the tenth week and six months later, of a malignancy requiring chemotherapy came as a huge shock, as my obstetrician had underplayed the incidence of Trophoblast disease.
Clara
There are two premalignant tumours of the placenta seen in early pregnancy . . . complete hydatidiform mole and partial hydatidiform mole. In the complete type, a fetus does not develop. The afterbirth becomes abnormal with the capability of invading the muscle of the womb and/or invading into blood vessels and spreading elsewhere, usually the lungs or top of the vagina. With a partial molar pregnancy, the chance of this happening is present but very rare, perhaps less than 1/1000.
Complete hydatidiform mole in almost all cases only contains chromosomes from the father, whereas with a partial molar pregnancy, there is an extra set of chromosomes.
When a diagnosis of hydatidiform mole is made then a chest x ray is done since this is the most common site of spread of invasive moles and the pregnancy removed by ‘suction curettage’ … A general anesthetic is given and the cervix opened; a plastic tube is then introduced into the womb cavity and the tissue removed.
Once the diagnosis of complete mole is confirmed, then the woman is followed up by measuring the pregnancy hormone either in the blood or urine. If the molar pregnancy continues to grow then the pregnancy hormone (‘HCG’) will rise and chemotherapy commence.
If a partial molar pregnancy is confirmed then a follow up with blood or urine tests are done in some centers but not in others since problems are so rare.
If a cancer occurs following delivery then this is a ‘choriocarcinoma. This is a serious condition, but with chemotherapy the cure rate is very high. Kate who had this condition survived extensive treatment and is living a very fulfilling and healthy life.
Cure rates approximating 100% are now possible in women following a rising hormone level after a hydatidiform mole. The cure rate for choriocarcinoma is also very high.
*17/144/5*

Here are a few things to try (you may like them too!):
Try flavoring milk with a little bit of vanilla extract (or whatever other flavor your child likes), or, if you can’t get away without the sugar, use a bit of flavored syrup. Even better, at the health food store, look for the herb stevia in a powdered form. Stevia is many times sweeter than sugar, but is extremely low in calories. Sprinkle some of the powder in milk or yogurt instead of sugar, honey, or syrup.
Yogurts marketed for kids, especially, are nothing more than desserts, with sprinkles and candies and all kinds of “mix-ins.” That may be fun for a treat, but it isn’t particularly healthy if they are eating one every day. Try to keep it simple. Some kids will eat plain yogurt spruced up with a drop or two of food coloring, or some fruit—avoiding the huge dose of sugar that comes with the packaged kinds. Or let them mix their own with jelly or jam (try the all-fruit varieties)—they’ll still get less sugar than what’s in the prepared containers.
Have grated Parmesan cheese as a regular condiment on your table. It is relatively low in fat—for cheese—and adds a nice bit of flavor to a lot more than a plate of spaghetti (though of course it is good there, too). It’s a much better choice than butter on steamed vegetables, for example, or on a baked potato or rice. And you’ll be sprinkling on a bit of calcium each time you use it.
Let your children cook with you. If they are ever going to eat kale, the odds are greater they’ll try it if they worked to make it.
Even kids who don’t like vegetables might eat “cream of. . .” soups. Make them yourself with low-fat dairy products paired with a high-calcium vegetable. You can’t do much better nutritionally than homemade cream of broccoli soup. Pack shelf-stable milk-in-a-box instead of juice boxes for lunch. Half the fun is in poking the little straw through the hole anyway, so what is inside may matter less than you think even to a finicky child.
Explore the limits of macaroni and cheese. I’ve yet to meet a kid who didn’t like the dish, and he or she might be willing to expand beyond the bright yellow boxed variety. Try mixing part-skim ricotta and grated Parmesan with a little of the pasta cooking water to make a sauce, and toss with the drained noodles. Or make your own baked mac and cheese—old-fashioned comfort food that is also rich in calcium (you’ll have to watch the fat content). Pizza! With vegetable toppings, this reliable favorite is a reasonable choice because of the calcium in the mozzarella. Try making your own, and you can go the Olde Pizza Shoppe one better by using nonfat or low-fat cheese. When you’re in a hurry, the English muffin pizza will be a hit. Bean burritos—assemble your own—are as healthy as they are popular, since both beans and cheese will give you calcium. Use low-fat or nonfat cheese and retried beans to keep the calorie and fat counts down. Try a calcium triple play by including some steamed greens in your tortilla.
Use less water when reconstituting powdered milk, or stir some of the powder into regular nonfat milk, to increase the amount of protein and calcium you get in a glass. Or try adding dried milk to smoothies, milk shakes, baked goods, pancake and waffle batter, or milk-based soups and sauces.
Try serving cottage cheese, yogurt, or salmon salad (from canned salmon, bones in) in an ice cream cone for a fun— and calcium-rich—lunch.
Provide a small cookie cutter along with a slice of cheese, and let your child create fun shapes to eat.
Experiment with different combinations of milk, calcium-fortified soy milk, yogurt, ice, and fruit to perfect the smoothie. For a double shot of calcium, you can mimic an Orange Julius by mixing frozen calcium-fortified orange juice concentrate, milk or calcium-fortified soymilk—plain or vanilla—ice cubes, and (the secret ingredient) a splash of vanilla extract in the blender.
Try freezing regular flavored yogurt to serve instead of commercial frozen yogurt. As I’ve said, packaged yogurt is often more like a dessert anyway, but it is still more nutritious than what they do sell as dessert. If it is too hard for your taste once frozen (though it can be fun to shave it down bit by bit with your spoon), try freezing it in an ice cube tray, then crushing the cubes in a blender or food processor to get a consistency more like that of soft ice cream.
Above all, eat right yourself. Try new things. Your kids are watching.
*26\228\2*

They say age is just a matter of mind; if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Trouble is, a lot of people do mind. They are comforted by articles with headlines like: “LIFE GETS BETTER WHEN WOMEN HIT MIDDLE AGE.” According to a study by one specialist, middle-aged women have become more confident, independent, and organized—better able to cope with life. This researcher said, “Although we didn’t find that life begins at forty for women, we did find that as they get nearer to middle-age, they are more complete human beings.”
I suppose there’s some truth to the man’s findings. What a lot of us would like to tell him, however, is that life begins at forty, all right … it begins to deteriorate!
Women are under incredible pressure to stay looking young and beautiful. Sad to say, they learn that youth is that brief time between buying training bras and wearing surgical stockings. I often say that I’m living somewhere between estrogen and death, but somebody corrected me once and told me to say I’m living somewhere between the Blue Lagoon and Golden Pond.
There are all kinds of ways to tell you’re getting older. For example:
• Everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work.
• Your back goes out more often than you do.
• Dialing long distance tires you out.
And, do you know why women over fifty years old don’t have babies? Because they’d put them down and forget where they left them!
The Power of Making Memories
Some of our best days have been spent with our children, and I’m sure you can say the same thing. I believe a true serendipity of getting older is looking back to the times when our kids gave us so much fun—and maybe a few fits along the way.
Once when speaking to a group, I included a section in my talk about “building laughter in your walls” by making a special effort to have memorable good times with your family. A young woman came up afterward and said: “I read your book about today’s experiences being tomorrow’s memories. When I finished it, I told the kids, ‘We’re going to make some memories!’ I took all kinds of pictures of my kids and put them in scrapbooks, and we even made some videos.”
After describing how she made many wonderful memories, she told me about an incident with her son:
“My son, Jimmy, is seven, and one day he came home from school and said, ‘Oh, I don’t have any homework to do—I’m going skateboarding, then I’m going to watch TV, and I’m just going to have fun because tonight I don’t have any homework.’”
This mom told me she was happy for her son, and let him go skateboarding. After dinner he watched all the TV he wanted, and about 9:00 he went up to bed. She and her husband watched TV until around 11:00 and were just getting ready to turn it off and go to bed themselves. She was congratulating herself on having everything ready for the next day, but as she looked up the stairs, there was little Jimmy, a forlorn figure in his jammies. Jimmy said, pleadingly, “I just remembered—I have to have a salt map of Venezuela for tomorrow.”
Now, almost all parents know “salt maps” are what teachers like to assign their pupils so they can drive mothers crazy. After all, it’s mom who usually winds up helping the kid get his salt map together. So there they were, at eleven o’clock at night. Little Jimmy had spent the evening skateboarding, watching TV, and having a great time and NOW it was salt-map time.
Mom said, “Get the salt, get the flour. Now, where’s Venezuela?” And so they tore around getting all the stuff together. “Where’s the blue paint? Where’s the green paint?” Her husband, of course, had gone up to bed. It was not his problem. He was sound asleep, dreaming of Bermuda, not Venezuela.
Little Jimmy manfully tried to help. He sat there, struggling to stay awake as he drew his version of Venezuela, while Mom scurried around the kitchen, making exasperated sounds. Finally he looked up and tearfully said, “Mom, are we making a memory now?”
As exasperated as that mom was that night, she’ll never forget the salt map of Venezuela and those precious words by her little guy. And it will be a priceless memory, one that she wouldn’t trade for anything. As you get older, memories are like gold. They become more valuable than a lot of antiques and other “things” that you collect. I love the following insight on memories. Somebody sent it to me from a church bulletin. I think it makes a memorable point:
As we go through life, each of us is taking a notebook of memories, whether we put our notes on paper, or only on the pages of the mind. As we write, it is important that we note down some little things each day for that time when those notes may be our highest joy. So note the day the lilacs bloomed, the day your little son picked a dandelion for you, the day the bluebirds found the house you made for them. In this age of bigness, the big things will crush us if we forget the words of One who said to consider the lilies of the field, and be not anxious.
*53\316\2*