Search Results for: blog how to help if your family or friend has cancer

Exercise for the Breast Cancer Survivor

It is “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” so let’s focus on the benefits of exercise. Studies have shown that there is a reduction in mortality and recurrence for those who participate in regular exercise. The problem is that despite this, too many breast cancer patients don’t keep active. Sometimes it is for physical reasons, the toll of treatment on the body and feeling tired. Other times it is emotional, just not having the motivation to get moving. This is where supervised exercise programs can help, which many hospitals and medical centers offer. The problem is that once the program has ended, … Continue reading →

Green up Your Memorial Day

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Memorial Day is a day to honor all those that have served in the military. It is also a day when a lot of people will have family and friends over and grill out. (This image is from MorgueFile.) But, you can still be green while doing all of this. If you are going to visit a loved one’s grave, take real flowers. I know a lot of people tend to purchase plastic flowers because they last longer, but real flowers will naturally decompose, whereas plastic flowers will eventually have to be removed by the groundskeepers and who knows when … Continue reading →

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – March 25 – 31, 2012

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Once a week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review gives you a quick description of everything that hit the blog in a given week. This is a great way to figure out if you missed anything that you wanted to read. It can also be helpful for those of you who want to scan through it, to find blogs that are specifically relevant to your family’s situation. Oklahoma Judge Rules School Vouchers are Unconstitutional School vouchers seem to be very controversial right now. In Oklahoma, there is a law called the Lindsey Nichole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities … Continue reading →

Too Much Work Can Harm Your Health

Some Americans define themselves by their work, so they work extra long and extra hard to accomplish their goals. Some Americans simply have to work long hours just to get by. Either way, working too much can be bad for your health. One thing it can cause is depression. This seems understandable. WebMD has said that working too many hours may make you less interested in your friends and family as well as neglectful in good care of yourself. Another problem that I worry about myself is sitting too much. I get involved in a web page or a blog … Continue reading →

When a Friend Has Cancer

I found out not long ago one of my oldest friends has cancer. I don’t mean to imply that we are terribly close by saying “oldest friends.” I’ve known him since I was 9. He is two years older than me, the older brother of a friend with whom I took piano lessons. However, he and I had reconnected through Facebook a couple of years ago. We had a shared memory of taking judo lessons together. He was still participating in judo. I gave it up at age 14 when it suddenly became legal to choke me during a tournament. … Continue reading →

Inherited Diseases – Thalassemia

When you get pregnant, especially for the first time, it is easy to get confused by the vast amount of information that comes your way. From your doctors to your friends and family, everyone has something to tell you. The early discussions that many OBGYNs and midwives have with their newly pregnant patients often contain information regarding genetic testing. There are different types of tests and the reasons for suggesting each test are different. Some specific tests many be suggested based upon your family history and ethnic heritage. Today, I learned from my mother that a fairly distant relative of … Continue reading →

The Movie “Five” on Lifetime part 3

Hello again, I am continuing talking about the movie “Five” on Lifetime. The next film was called Lili it followed a strong independent woman who wanted to face the cancer diagnosis on her own; or so she thought. She wanted to go to the surgery to have the lumpectomy without any family or friends to be there. When she was waiting in the waiting room prior to surgery and saw a man waiting. Now when they first focused on him you thought he was there waiting on a friend or family but when Lili asked he said that he too … Continue reading →

Who’s Who in Psychology?

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When I first started teaching psychology I assumed that students knew the differences between psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists. I was pretty shocked when I discovered how many were getting a degree in psychology but had no idea what each meant. When you start adding in social workers, counselors, addictions specialist, etc one can see how the average consumer would not know where to start. As I was reading a blog today about psychiatrists having to assess patients in 15 minutes it got me thinking about the different roles we all play in the mental health world. I consider myself a … Continue reading →

Another Suggestion How to Help

When you have a family member or friend who is going through treatments you may think that when the chemo lines are removed or the radiation is done for the day that your loved one should feel back to normal. Reality is the treatment takes a lot out of you and it takes a while to get back to normal. The normal that cancer patients have may never be back to what it was before they heard the cancer diagnosis. As I mentioned in a previous blog I was told that when you get the cancer diagnosis it is like … Continue reading →

Radiation Therapy

Did you know when you are getting ready to go through radiation therapy they have to give you tattoo’s? No not the cool tattoo’s just little blue freckle tattoos. They use the tattoos to line up the radiation machine to give you the dosage in the exact same spots each and every time. I am not going to lie to you I do have a tattoo already and that is much larger than a freckle and hurt a lot less than the freckles do. I think the reason that it hurt so much is because the area where they put … Continue reading →