April 2, 2012
They love Lou C's: Boutique changing lives of women
with cancer - News Courier – By Lora Scripps
—
Cassandra Johnson is the type of person many work a lifetime to
become.
A warrior. A mother of three who is chock-full of spirit, rooted
in love and grounded in faith.
It hasn’t been an easy road.
In
2009, at age 38, she had a stroke.
“I had always dealt with high blood
pressure,” she said. “I had the stroke and it took out my left
side.”
She was in the hospital for months. During her stay, doctors
discovered she had breast cancer.
“They ended up having to do a
mastectomy, which took it to a whole other level,” she said. “It had seeped
into my bones. Of course, I didn’t know what was going on.”
She was also
diagnosed with lymphedema — blockage of the lymph nodes — and had to have her
lymph nodes removed.
After being released and able to go home, Cassandra
heard about a lady named Lou Covington from a friend. She told her about Lou
C’s Boutique, a special boutique that’s aim is to help women look and feel
better during their journey with cancer.
Lou C’s
Boutique
Lou C’s Boutique first opened in 2004. Lou and her husband
transformed a house into a unique boutique. It is located at 207 Coman
St.
Lou said her mother gave her the inspiration.
“My mother had
colon cancer,” she said. “But, you know cancer is cancer.”
Her mother
would tell her about friends who would have to travel outside Athens to get the
necessities they needed while working to overcome different forms of
cancer.
Lou thought to herself, “I love people and I try to make people
feel better about themselves, ” why not open a place where she could help
someone else.
“To me mental health is just as important as bone health
or breast care or anything else,” Lou said. “Without your mental health and
strength in God, you can’t get through this.”
At first, Cassandra didn’t
have insurance or Medicaid for the items she needed. So, she didn’t have the
chance to meet Lou right away.
“I had to go through the ropes to get
that in order and working,” she said.
During that time she would travel
to the Athens-Limestone Hospital Wellness Center. There she met another woman
who wanted to introduce her to Lou. Cassandra took her up on the
offer.
It’s no wonder Cassandra and Lou became fast friends. In truth,
the two, simply, share the same attributes.
“When I found her I found a
great lady,” Cassandra said.
She visited the boutique. Lou fit Cassandra
with a compression sleeve. The sleeve would be used to help with blood flow and
circulation in her arm.
Unfortunately, Cassandra’s insurance didn’t
cover the sleeve she needed.
“She helped me anyway,” Cassandra said.
“She was willing to work with me.”
Other items had to
wait.
“Finally, things started coming around for Cassandra,” Lou said,
adding she offered to pay out-of-pocket.
Lou let Cassandra pay what she
could. The rest came from Lou’s Angel Closet.
The Angel Closet, created
by Lou, contains items for women that insurance won’t cover. It is available to
women who are willing to do all they can to pay for their services, but who may
be struggling financially.
Cassandra said her first meeting with Lou
opened up a whole new world to her.
Cassandra has three children, now
ages, 22, 17 and 9. Her health problems brought change for
everyone.
“For me, my whole household, my family — we all came together
in times when we needed to,” a teary-eyed Cassandra said. “We pulled together
and by the grace of God we made it through.”
She admitted she honestly
didn’t know if she was going to make it. “I keep on looking towards Heaven,”
she said. “That gets me through a lot.”
It is a story of faith that
touches Lou’s heart.
Cassandra offered to pay when she couldn’t, said
Lou. “That’s what makes giving so awesome,” she said. “You can tell when
someone is deserving. She said she would save up and do without. That’s not
acceptable to me.
“People say ‘Lou isn’t your job depressing?’ and I say
‘No’ because I meet the most awesome women,” Lou said. “She (Cassandra) is not
in here saying, ‘Poor, pitiful me.’”
Cassandra, a choir and youth
director at Peace Missionary Baptist Church hasn’t let her situation slow her
down.
“I’m determined I’m going to do everything to the best of my
ability,” Cassandra said. “I might operate from a wheelchair, but I’m going to
get there some kind of way. Things are going great for me now.”
Lou said
that attitude and the attitude of so many women she comes in contact with has,
at times, made her feel ashamed of herself.
However, Lou has nothing to
be ashamed of. Like Cassandra, she too, is a warrior — a warrior for other
women who are in the midst of the most trying times in their
lives.
“Cancer is a terrible thing, but it also draws a lot of
miracles,” Lou said. “It pulls people together.
“I want this to be the
best part of their experience that it can be,” she said. “I want to make it a
good time instead of dreading it. A lot of ladies go without.”
The women
Lou helps believe she is special.
“She is such a unique and fabulous
lady who is always willing to help out,” Cassandra said.
Not only does
Lou have the boutique, but she also organizes The Pink Ribbon Hope Chest
survivor group. The group meets at 6 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at
Athens-Limestone Hospital.
Coming
together
Alice Cosco said when the Athens Ladies Civitan group heard
about Lou C’s they wanted to do all they could to help.
As a member of a
group whose main focus is community, she suggested helping Lou to the Ladies
Civitan board. “I felt this was a really good cause to give back to women in
the community,” Alice said.
She told the group about Lou helping others
out of her own pocket.
The group recently gave Lou $700 to help purchase
supplies — supplies so important to breast cancer patients in the recovery
process.
The donation came from the club’s newly formed Helen Hammond
Cancer Fund. Hammond was a member of the club who just last week lost her
three-year battle with lung cancer.
“We really felt strongly about
giving back to deserving women in this community,” Alice said.
“The
Ladies Civitan have many options to give and they chose this one,” Lou
said.
“I am just overwhelmed and speechless.”
Others in the
community have helped as well including the East Limestone Fire Department,
Walk Awhile in my Shoes, and a number of personal donors.
The donations
go directly to the shop and on to people who Stephanie Mitchell said “deserve
to have these types of services.”
“Lou C’s Boutique is a place where
women can go to look and feel better on their journey with cancer,” Stephanie
said.
Stephanie, a certified Zumba instructor, is organizing a Zumba
Party to help support breast cancer fighters. The event will take place from
5:30-7:30 p.m. April 17, at the Valley Event Center. Tickets are $5. Donations
will be given to Lou C’s Boutique. Participants don’t have to participate in
Zumba fitness to attend.
“People pulling together make it all
worthwhile,” Lou said. “In one way or another we are all in this together and
no one should go through this alone. We need to be aware all the
time.
“I will do all I can to help those fighting cancer and with the
help of the community — they should not be alone or be without.”
April
2, 2012
Mastectomy
Lingerie & More is proud to support 2012 Candian Breast Cancer Survivor
Dragon Boat Teams - RushPRnews.com –
MASTECTOMY LINGERIE & MORE – Canada’s Online Mastectomy
Shop is proud to support the 2012 Canadian Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon
Boat Teams. Breast cancer survivor (BCS) dragon boating has been gaining in
popularity worldwide and is emerging as the survivor’s sport of choice.
Dragon Boating originated 2000 years ago in southern China. It has
evolved into a modern sport where teams paddle a boat festooned with colourful
dragon heads and tails. A typical team may consist of one drummer or caller at
the bow, a sweep or steerer at the stern and approximately 20 paddlers
depending on the size of the boat. Dragon boat festivals or races are held
around the world pitting amateur, corporate and professional teams against one
another. Many of these festivals now also include races where breast cancer
survivor teams race for bragging rights against one another too.
The popularity of the sport amongst breast cancer survivors is due to
Dr. Don McKenzie’s pioneering research work at the University of British
Columbia back in the mid 1990’s. McKenzie’s research team wanted to study a
group of survivors participating in a sport involving rigorous arm exercise to
understand how this affected the occurrence or severity of lymphedema in their
arms or hands. As Dr McKenzie was an avid rower, dragon boating was chosen and
the research eventually evolved into the creation of the first 24 woman breast
cancer survivor dragon boat team, Abreast In A Boat. Since that very first team
the sport has been rapidly expanding and there are now more than 40 BCS Teams
nationally, and many more worldwide.
Lymphedema is a condition where lymphatic fluids are retained due to a
compromised lymphatic system. Breast cancer survivors may suffer from
lymphedema in their arms or hands as a result of the removal of lymph nodes
during their surgery. McKenzie’s research was able to determine that there was
a reduced incidence of lymphedema and its effects in the women who were
involved in the dragon boating study and the rest as they say is
history.
BCS dragon boat teams activities are typically funded by team members,
donations, and sponsors. In some cases, teams are registered charities and can
issue tax receipts for donations that they receive. Whether these teams exist
to promote awareness, or raise money as a charity they all foster fitness,
camaraderie, friendship and provide a support network through fellowship with
team members.
According to Sue Teschke, store owner “As a survivor myself supporting
breast cancer survivors is something I feel strongly about. We have staff
members and suppliers who are paddlers on the local dragon boat team
Knot-A-Breast and I have seen first-hand the popularity and fitness benefits of
BCS Dragon Boating. I wanted to help raise awareness of the sport, while at the
same time helping out the teams themselves.” With this in mind the All Up –
Take It Away promotion evolved.
If you are a breast cancer survivor and would like to find more
information on joining a team you can view the teams already registered at www.mlam.ca, or visit
the International Breast Cancer Paddlers commission website to locate
a team near you
April
4, 2012
Komen awards grant money to help fight breast
cancer - ABC NEWS 4 – By Victoria
Hansen
DANIEL
ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) -- It was a big night in the fight against breast cancer,
as Susan G. Komen Lowcountry gave out $6500 dollars in grants
Tuesday.
Eleven local organizations will get the much needed money to
help women and men get mammograms and treatment.
This is the first time
the Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic has gotten a grant from Komen. It
serves people on Johns Island, Wadmalaw and Charleston.
Wanda Weart with
the clinic says the money will not only help with screenings and treatment, but
with education.
"We're going to be networking with St. Johns High School
with the art program and art teacher to be able to help spread the message
about cancer and awareness and prevention methods," said Weart.
The
clinic will get nearly $34,000.
The ALALA Cancer Society will get a
check as well, for $38,000. It helps breast cancer survivors who suffer from
Lymphedema, a swelling of the limbs. More than a third of patients develop the
problem, which is most commonly treated with a compression garment typically
not covered by insurance.
"The grant allows us to provide these items
free of charge to the breast cancer survivors which is absolutely wonderful,"
said Sherry Norris who works for the ALALA Cancer Society.
In all, 11
organizations will get checks from Komen. They are; ALALA Cancer Society,
Allendale County Hospital, Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic, Beaufort Jasper
Hampton Comprehensive Health, Best Chance Network, Hollings Cancer Center/MUSC,
McLeod Health, Regional Medical Center Orangeburg, Roper St. Francis
Healthcare, United Way of BCH and Volunteers in Medicine.
The money
given is raised by Komen through community fundraisers, like the Race for the
Cure.
April
6, 2012
LymphedemaAdvice.com's
Treatment Guide Offers the Key to Help - PR.com –
San
Jose, CA, April 06, 2012 --(PR.com)-- LymphedemaAdvice.com
has released an ebook that helps those suffering from lymphedema discover how
to heal the lymphatic system and reduce swelling caused by
lymphedema.
Lymphedema, also known as lymphatic obstruction, is a
condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling caused by a
compromised lymphatic system. Symptoms of lymphedema can include severe
fatigue, extreme swelling of limbs and localized fluid accumulations.
Lymphedema can be inherited (primary lymphedema) or caused by an injury to the
lymphatic system (secondary lymphedema). Primary lymphedema generally occurs
due to poorly developed or missing lymph nodes and secondary lymphedema often
occurs in both man and women after surgery, especially cancer
surgeries.
Lymphedema can be painful, cause unsightly swelling and is
difficult to manage. Often doctors do not provide the treatment or management
advice necessary for lymphedema.
LymphemaAdvice.com has put together an
effective lymphedema treatment (http://www.lymphedemaadvice.com/) ebook course
to help lymphedema sufferers covering lymphedema diet
(http://www.lymphedemaadvice.com/lymphedema-diet/), exercise and much more.
Titled "Discover How To Heal Your Lymphatic System and Reduce Swelling caused
by Lymphedema", the ebook course describes tested and applied
methods.
"Discover How To Heal Your Lymphatic System and Reduce Swelling
caused by Lymphedema" was put together by a lymphedema sufferer who personally
applied all of the techniques found in the course to heal their lymphatic
system and regain excellent levels of health, energy and optimism.
In
the course, lymphedema sufferers will discover:
The 5 little known, yet
very powerful supplements for healing
The Secret of lymphedema healing
that most doctors don't know
3 proven steps to increasing lymph flow and
clearing blockages
2 simple keys (that are right in front of your eyes)
to living a healthier life
3 things you should never consume when
suffering with lymphedema
6 time tested and proven strategies for having
a healthy, clean, free flowing lymphatic system
7 everyday but often
overlooked foods which will dramatically improve your lymphedema
How to
increase circulation and lymph flow.
Should you exercise? If so, how
often?
How to control bacteria and infections
Increase energy
levels and slow the aging process
This and so much more can be found in
the ebook course. Lymphedema sufferers can learn more by visiting
www.lymphedemaadvice.com and evaluating the ebook course. Although there is no
lymphedema cure (http://www.lymphedemaadvice.com/lymphedema-cure/), lymphedema
can be effectively managed.
Media Contact Information:
Mary
Walters
LymphedemaAdvice.com
E-mail:
[email protected]
Website:
http://www.lymphedemaAdvice.com
April
5, 2012
Cancer Survivor Workshop planned
- Daily Sentinel –
Something
is wrong with this article – it says it was written 2 years ago, it isn’t
current info
April
5, 2012
Physical Therapy for Breast Cancer Patients Minimizes
Side Effects - WCVB-TV – By Joanna Shea
O’Brien
Last
year, an estimated 230,480 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed among
women. Though recovery varies greatly for each patient, and not every one of
these patients with breast cancer will require rehabilitation services post
treatment, swelling and range-of-motion problems following treatment can
prevent them from returning to normal daily activities.
Treatment
for breast cancer, which includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, causes
many patients to experience pain and stiffness in the chest, shoulder and back
muscles, as well as initial swelling and numbness near a surgical incision
site. Other common side effects of breast cancer treatment include nerve
irritation, as radiation and surgery can cause nerves to become swollen, which
can result in numbness, pain or tingling sensations. Fatigue is also common,
and can easily overwhelm a patient.
An
integrated, multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, physical therapists
and social workers can help identify a patient’s rehabilitation needs. The BreastCare Center at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center works closely with Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
to ensure that patients who need rehabilitation receive
proper care.
Kathleen
Shillue, a physical therapist, is the Clinical Services Manager for Outpatient
Rehabilitation Services and has worked with patients with breast cancer for the
last two decades.
“One
of the strengths of our hospital is that it does not have the feel of a big
institution,” she says. “Health care providers work closely together and
communicate about our patients, and I think the patients feel that when they
come in for treatment.”
Shillue
and the Outpatient Rehabilitation team meet with patients to assess their
condition, including their range of motion and pain level, and begin a course
of exercises to regain strength and flexibility.
One
of the most effective ways to treat the side effects of breast cancer treatment
is to begin a provider-approved course of arm exercises. Occupational and
physical therapists can teach patients basic exercises that will stretch and
strengthen the muscles of the chest, back, shoulders and arms, preventing
stiffness and reducing pain. Increased flexibility can improve a patient’s
posture, which helps with pain management. And a supervised, gradual return to
exercise can also reduce both nerve irritation and fatigue.
“Patients
can begin a physical therapy program after adequate healing of the incision,”
Shillue says. “One of the benefits of rehabilitation and physical therapy is
that exercise can help with fatigue, which is a very common complaint among
patients with breast cancer.”
Recognition
and prevention of lymphedema, a post-surgery complication risk, is also
critical in breast cancer rehabilitation. Lymphedema manifests itself as
swelling in one of the arms because of a blockage of lymph passages and the
body’s inability to drain fluid from surrounding tissues.
Shillue
integrates the search for signs of lymphedema into her work with patients. Some
patients first notice a swelling in the fingers or hands, and it can be in the
first year or two after surgery, or as much as ten or twenty years later,
though that is much less common.
The
treatment for lymphedema has four components: education about skin care,
compression, manual lymphatic drainage or massage and exercise. Compression is
really the mainstay, and some patients must continue to wear a compression
garment long term to keep the swelling under control.
“Only
a small percentage of patients are afflicted with lymphedema, but it is
critical to recognize it immediately and begin treatment,” notes Shillue. BIDMC
physicians at the BreastCare Center are working with Shillue to open a
Lymphedema Clinic to make it even easier for lymphedema patients to get
accessible and coordinated care in their recovery process.
If
you would like to schedule an appointment at the BreastCare Center at BIDMC,
please call 617-667-2900.
Above
content provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
For
advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.
April 5,
2012
SouthScape: the South Xtra Bulletin
Board - Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Compiled by Kaitlynn
Riely
TALKS
Bethel Park
--
Lymphedema will be the topic of the meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania
Registered Nurses Club at 9:30 a.m. April 17 at Hamilton Presbyterian Church,
4500 Baptist Road. Information: 412-980-5185.
April
5, 2012
Devon Medical Products Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance
for extriCARE 2400 Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT)
System - MarketWatch
extriCARE™ Weighs Less Than One Pound, Becomes One of the Smallest
NPWT Devices to Market
KING OF
PRUSSIA, Pa., Apr 05, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Devon Medical Products, a global
medical device designer, manufacturer, and distributor, today announced it has
received Food & Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance to market its
extriCARE™ 2400 Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) system. View product
details here.
The
extriCARE™ 2400 pump weighs only 8.6 ounces and offers patients with specific
wounds the ability to live a more active wound-healing lifestyle. The pump
pairs with Devon Medical Products’ easy-to-apply, anatomically fitted bandages
that create tight seals around wounds on various areas of the body. Together
these technologies promote blood flow and remove exudates into a disposable
canister located on the extriCARE™ 2400 pump.
“We
designed and built the extriCARE™ NPWT system with patients and caregivers in
mind after discussions with expert wound care nurses, physicians, and wound
management thought leaders,” says Dr. John A. Bennett, president of Devon
Medical Products. “Ease of application, portability, and bandages creating
airtight seals were deemed the most vital features necessary for safe and
effective wound closure. The extriCARE™ encompasses these traits, and we’re
excited to offer this innovation in negative pressure wound therapy to
healthcare professionals and patients.”
The U.S.
patent pending extriCARE™ 2400 pump is intended for the management of chronic,
acute, traumatic, subacute and dehisced wounds, partial-thickness burns,
diabetic and pressure ulcers, flaps, and grafts. Using the extriCARE™
significantly reduces wound preparation time. The extriCARE™ can be utilized in
acute hospital settings, wound clinics, nursing homes, and inside the home
under supervision of a trained healthcare professional.
Devon
Medical Products will showcase the extriCARE™ 2400 pump at the Medtrade Spring
Conference (booth #848) in Las Vegas from April 11-12 and at the Symposium on
Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society meeting (booth #344) in Atlanta
from April 19-21. The company will also display its CircuFlow™ compression
therapy pumps for the treatment of venous insufficiency and swelling related to
Lymphedema, as well as its ArterioFlow™ 7500 arterial compression pump used to
increase blood circulation and prevent diabetic ulcers.
About
Devon Medical Products
Devon
Medical Products ( www.devonmedicalproducts.com ) is a global medical device
manufacturer, designer, and distributor dedicated to advancing healthcare
treatments and therapies through technological innovation. The company has
cultivated an exclusive line of medical devices, including the CircuFlow™
compression therapy pump series for the treatment of Lymphedema, the
ArterioFlow™ 7500 arterial compression pump for the treatment of ulcers related
to diabetic foot and peripheral arterial disease, and the extriCARE™ Negative
Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) System. Devon Medical Products is headquartered
in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and has international offices staffed with
bilingual engineers, product development teams, and regulatory experts.
SOURCE:
Devon Medical Products
April
5, 2012
Indian River County Community Calendar, Updated April
5 – TCPalm –
Lymphedema
Talk: Lectures on swelling & edema management. Lymphedema Therapy Center,
787 37th St., Ste. E-100, Vero Beach, 11 a.m., April 3, 10, 17, 24.
772-569-9747; [email protected].
April
8, 2012
BUSINESS SCENE: DCH Physical Rehabilitation reopens in
new location - Tuscaloosa
News
DCH
Physical Rehabilitation has moved into a new facility on the south end of the
DCH Medical Plaza on Ruby Tyler Parkway.
The
SpineCare Center and DCH Imaging also are located in the medical
plaza.
“We’re
excited about being able to offer physicians and their patients this
state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility,” said Tim Holbrook, physical
therapist and director of DCH Physical Rehabilitation.
The
therapy area includes five private therapy rooms, a new cardio theater and a
large heated pool. The aquatic area will have a separate exterior entrance and
a privacy wall separates the pool from therapy areas.
Therapy
programs include physical therapy, hand therapy, aquatic therapy and lymphedema
therapy. DCH Physical Rehabilitation also offers specialty programs, including
industrial therapy, spinal decompression therapy, functional capacity
evaluations, pre-hire testing, “Slender U” nutritional classes and the “Back to
Life” education program.
“The
Back to Life program will be a big component of DCH Physical Rehabilitation
therapy services,” Holbrook said. “Patients may go through weeks of therapy
their physician ordered, and when they’re through, they may ask, ‘Now what?’
Back to Life gives patients the option to continue exercising at DCH Physical
Rehabilitation once they have completed a therapy program.”
The
facility also will offer wellness-based programs after hours, including
exercise programs such as yoga, Pilates and tai chi.
April
8, 2012
Center offers hope for
lymphedema - News Chief –
WINTER
HAVEN - Not on a dare and not on a whim, Francis Beveren (name changed to
protect patient identity) jumped out of a plane 2 miles above earth and fell at
a rate of 120 mph for 50 seconds. To skydive was on her bucket list. She did
not know that this short jump would start her on a long journey of enduring a
chronic condition called lymphedema.
"Lymphedema
is a very common and serious condition affecting at least three million
Americans," said Joe Zuther, physical therapist, author of, "Lymphedema
Management,"
and founder and educational director of the Academy of Lymphatic Studies. He
reports that the highest incidence of lymphedema in the United States is
observed following breast cancer surgery, particularly among those patients who
undergo radiation therapy following the removal of axillary lymph nodes.
"Many
of these individuals will be affected by upper extremity lymphedema following
these procedures. However, there are also a large number of individuals
affected by lymphedema of the legs following surgery for prostate or
gynecologic cancers. In other cases, lymphedema may develop in the upper and
lower extremities due to malformations of the lymphatic system," said
Zuther.
The
lymphatic system is a network of specialized vessels throughout the body whose
purpose is to collect excess lymph fluid from the tissues. This fluid is then
filtered by the lymph system where waste products are eliminated by
infection-fighting cells called lymphocytes. The excess fluid in the lymph
vessels is eventually returned to the bloodstream. When lymph vessels are
blocked or unable to carry lymph fluid away from the tissues, the result is
localized extremity swelling overload into the lymphatic system.
Beveren
didn't know the intricacies of lymphedema. She is a retired schoolteacher from
Ohio and has made her home in south Florida for the last 13 years. After 30
years of teaching, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and shortly thereafter
she retired. She had to undergo breast and lymph node removal but refused to
undergo chemotherapy and radiation.
"Had
I known that I would live so long, I would still be teaching," states Beveren,
"but after surgery, my prognosis was so dire that I decided to make up a bucket
list. "
After
Beveren's bucket list flight and skydive, she started to notice swelling and
heaviness. The changes were slow and progressive until one day she noticed that
her sleeves and rings were too small for her left arm.
According
to the National Lymphedema Network's (NLN) website, an exacerbation of
lymphedema may result when the cabin pressure that is experienced during air
flight is less than the atmospheric pressure on the ground. As the plane's
cabin pressure decreases during flight, changes in limb fluid occur. Then the
external pressures exerted on the limb are changed. Diminished pressure in the
airplane cabin will result in a decrease in the fluid moved into the lymphatic
system. The fluid will remain in the affected limb.
As
in many cases, people at risk for lymphedema are individuals who have not yet
displayed signs and symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of lymphedema but have
a known insufficiency of their lymphatic system. The NLN reports that this
includes people who have undergone removal of lymph nodes or radiation therapy,
which increases the risk for developing lymphedema. At-risk individuals have
altered lymphatic function that may impede the body's ability to take up excess
fluids that escape into the tissues. The NLN's website further notes that
individuals at risk should pay close attention to changes in sensations of
their extremities. Signs of heaviness, fullness and aching of the extremity may
signal the onset of lymphedema.
Shortly
after Beveren's flight she was diagnosed with lymphedema and referred to a
therapist. Beveren went to therapy for 8 months. Beveren would come in for a
massage to her left arm three times per week. She states that she trusted her
therapist but that her arm was not reducing enough for her to notice.
Zuther
reports that in order to treat lymphedema successfully, each component of
complete decongestive therapy (CDT) has to be applied. CDT consists of a
combination of treatment techniques – manual lymph drainage, compression
therapy, skin and nail care, and exercises.
"Properly
trained lymphedema therapists should provide all materials necessary for
effective lymphedema therapy, such as compression bandages and garments.
Unfortunately, at the current time there are no mandatory training standards
for lymphedema therapists and some health care professionals claim to be
lymphedema therapists, but have not actually attended and successfully
graduated from a recognized training program. Patients searching for qualified
therapists should make sure that the therapist attended a recognized lymphedema
program consisting of 135 hours of training," Zuther advises. He further notes
that (massage) manual lymph drainage is not enough to decongest an
extremity.
As
in the case of Beveren, she was not treated with the mandated standards among
the lymphatic therapy world. Three years after her initial start with massage
therapy, her arm continued to swell. Her doctor then referred her to a clinic
with trained therapists from the Academy of Lymphatic Studies.
Beveren
believes that if she had originally gone to a place like Spring Lake
Rehabilitation Center she would not have wasted her time and money.
"Under
most medicare plans, manual lymph drainage is a reimbursable treatment," states
Tino Manco, administrator for Spring Lake Rehabilitation Center.
Call
863-294-3055 to schedule your free lymphedema screening at Spring Lake
Rehabilitation Center, at 1540 6th St.N.W., Winter Haven.
April
9, 2012
Breast cancer patients suffer treatment-related side
effects long after completing care -
EurekAlert –
Expert panel
recommends model for monitoring survivors to prevent and treat physical
complications
PHILADELPHIA – More
than 60 percent of breast cancer survivors report at least one
treatment-related complication even six years after their diagnosis, according
to a new study led by a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the
University of Pennsylvania. The findings are part of a special issue of Cancer
devoted to exploring the physical late effects of breast cancer treatment and
creating strategies to prevent, monitor for, and treat these conditions in the
nation's 2.6 million survivors of the disease.
"Our work provides
the first accounting of the true magnitude of the post-treatment problems
suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves as a call to action for proper
monitoring and rehabilitation services to care for them," said Kathryn Schmitz,
PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology who serves
as a senior scientist on the committee overseeing creation of a surveillance
model for breast cancer survivors. "We can no longer pretend that the side
effects of breast cancer treatment end after patients finish active treatment.
The scope of these complications is shocking and upsetting, but a ready
solution for many of them already exists in rehabilitative
exercise."
Schmitz, a member
of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, points out that previous studies to determine
the prevalence of post-treatment complications typically examined just one
issue. The new findings, instead, provide a full snapshot of the complications
women may experience following the chemotherapy, surgery, radiation treatment
and hormonal therapy to cure their disease and keep it from returning. The
results reveal that these problems rarely exist in isolation: Many women with
the painful limb-swelling condition lymphedema, for instance, may also struggle
with fatigue and bone health challenges.
Schmitz
collaborated with an Australian research team to follow 287 Australian women
with invasive, unilateral breast cancer for a median of 6.6 years,
prospectively assessing the women for treatment-related physical and functional
complications at set points throughout the study. Areas of study included
postsurgical complications, skin reactions to radiation therapy, upper-body
symptoms and functional limitations, lymphedema, weight gain, and fatigue.
Sixty percent of the women were still experiencing one of these problems at six
years after their diagnosis, and 30 percent were still struggling with at least
two issues. Most of the problems appeared within the first year patients were
assessed, but the prevalence of most impairments – except lymphedema and weight
gain -- decreased over the course of the study.
Writing in the lead
editorial of the special issue of Cancer, Schmitz and her
colleagues outline the myriad barriers that lay in the way of properly
monitoring breast cancer survivors for the problems uncovered in the new study.
Patients may have fragmented care, receiving different prongs of their
treatment at different hospitals; patients and providers may believe certain
problems are "expected" and "normal" and not appropriate for treatment; and
unlike orthopedists and cardiologists who frequently send patients for physical
rehabilitation to ensure their complete recovery, oncologists and surgeons are
often poorly linked to physical therapy professionals, limiting the number of
patients who are aware of or referred for these services.
In the face of
these challenges, an expert panel laid out a model for prospectively surveying
breast cancer survivors and formally incorporating rehabilitation and exercise
experts into cancer survivorship programs. Research increasingly shows that
post-treatment complications can be minimized – and even prevented altogether –
when caught early and addressed through various rehabilitation regimens. "When
early signs of impairment are noted and that impairment has a high probability
of worsening if allowed to progress, which ultimately may result in a worse,
permanent disability, there is an ethical obligation to treat the condition,"
they write.
The question of how
best to implement the proposed rehabilitation and surveillance remains to be
addressed. The panel plans to work through the American Cancer Society with
stakeholder groups to answer questions about how to educate patients and
clinicians about the plan and fully implement it. The American College of
Surgeons Commission on Cancer has published guidelines that will require that
all accredited cancer treatment centers provide treatment summaries and
survivorship health care plans to all their patients by 2015. The proposed
surveillance and rehabilitation model could serve as a framework for meeting
those pending guidelines. "In the meantime," Schmitz says, "breast cancer
survivors should be empowered to ask their doctor for a referral to physical
therapy and exercise programs."
###
Penn Medicine is
one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related
missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient
care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's
first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which
together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School
of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of
research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the
nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with
$479.3 million awarded in the 2011 fiscal year.
The University of
Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of
the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top 10
hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center;
and Pennsylvania Hospital — the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn
Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services
throughout the Philadelphia region.
Penn Medicine is
committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based
programs and activities. In fiscal year 2011, Penn Medicine provided $854
million to benefit our community.
April
9, 2012
Breast cancer treatment issues may linger for
years - Nurse.com –
More
than 60% of breast cancer survivors report at least one treatment-related
complication as long as six years after their diagnosis, according to a new
study.
"Our work provides the first accounting of the true magnitude of
the post-treatment problems suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves as a
call to action for proper monitoring and rehabilitation services to care for
them," Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, Perelman School of Medicine, University of
Pennsylvania, an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology who
serves as a senior scientist on a committee overseeing creation of a
surveillance model for breast cancer survivors, said in a news
release.
"We can no longer pretend that the side effects of breast
cancer treatment end after patients finish active treatment. The scope of these
complications is shocking and upsetting, but a ready solution for many of them
already exists in rehabilitative exercise."
Schmitz, a member of Penn’s
Abramson Cancer Center, said previous studies to determine the prevalence of
post-treatment complications typically examined only one issue. The new
findings provide a full snapshot of the complications women may experience
following chemotherapy, surgery, radiation treatment and hormonal therapy.
The results revealed these problems rarely exist in isolation. For
example, many women with lymphedema also may struggle with fatigue and
bone-health challenges.
Schmitz collaborated with an Australian research
team to follow 287 Australian women with invasive, unilateral breast cancer for
a median of 6.6 years, prospectively assessing the women for treatment-related
physical and functional complications at set points throughout the study. Areas
of study included post-surgical complications, skin reactions to radiation
therapy, upper-body symptoms and functional limitations, lymphedema, weight
gain and fatigue.
At six years after diagnosis, 60% of the women
continued to experience one of the problems, and 30% were struggling with at
least two issues. Most of the problems appeared within the first year of
assessment, with the prevalence of most impairments — except lymphedema and
weight gain — decreasing over the course of the study.
Writing in the
lead editorial of a special issue of the journal Cancer, Schmitz and her
colleagues outlined the myriad barriers that lie in the way of properly
monitoring breast cancer survivors for the problems uncovered in the new study.
Patients may have fragmented care, receiving different prongs of their
treatment at different hospitals; patients and providers may believe certain
problems are "expected" and "normal" and not appropriate for treatment; and,
unlike orthopedists and cardiologists who frequently send patients for physical
rehabilitation to ensure their complete recovery, oncologists and surgeons are
often poorly linked to physical therapy professionals, limiting the number of
patients who are aware of or referred for these services.
In the face of
these challenges, an expert panel laid out a model for prospectively surveying
breast cancer survivors and formally incorporating rehabilitation and exercise
experts into cancer survivorship programs. Research increasingly shows that
post-treatment complications can be minimized or prevented altogether when
caught early and addressed through various rehabilitation regimens.
The
American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer has published guidelines that
will require all accredited cancer treatment centers to provide treatment
summaries and survivorship health care plans to all patients by 2015. The
proposed surveillance and rehabilitation model could serve as a framework for
meeting those pending guidelines, the researchers said.
"In the
meantime," Schmitz said, "breast cancer survivors should be empowered to ask
their doctor for a referral to physical therapy and exercise
programs."
April
9, 2012
Founder of non-profit for breast cancer patients is
honored - Lexington Herald Leader – By Mary Meehan
Vickie
Blevins deals every day with what she calls "the dirty little secret" about
breast cancer.
It's
difficult to find someone who doesn't have a pink ribbon in support of breast
cancer survivors on something — a key chain, a T-shirt, a bumper sticker. But
Blevins said the sea of pink promoting the importance of mammograms sometimes
overshadows the needs of thousands of Kentuckians receiving
treatment.
These
women are in what Blevins, founder of the Kentucky Pink Connection, calls "the
ditch" — between finding out they have the disease and completing treatment.
Between
the first sign of a lump or a symptom and the end of treatment, they face a
host of complicated and often overwhelming obstacles relating to breast cancer.
Blevins' shoestring operation is helping 300 to 400 women at any given time and
has served 3,000 across the state since she founded it in 2008.
"That's
the severe need that we have," she said.
Blevins
was honored Monday by the Board of Health of the Lexington-Fayette County
Health Department as a "Health Hero" for her work with the non-profit, but she
said the everyday heroes in her life are the women she tries to
help.
"Transportation, help with medicine, wigs, hats, mastectomy items,"
Blevins says, rattling off a short list of needs of Kentucky Pink Connection
clients. The goal is to link women throughout the state with the resources
available in their communities. They might be access to a specialist or a gas
card to help cover the cost of traveling to chemotherapy treatments. Kentucky
Pink Connection also has some money available for unmet needs — a tire, for
example, when getting it would allow a woman to get to her doctor without other
assistance.
The pitch
Blevins gives to potential donors is this: We are local, we are part of the
community, you can decide where you want to target your money and we will honor
your wishes, and we can show you how we help.
In
announcing the award, the health department cited Blevins' work in talking to
women at health fairs, fund-raisers and doctors' offices, and her involvement
in the creation of a grass-roots group working to create a mobile mammography
van for Central and Eastern Kentucky. Blevins, though, said she thinks it's her
one-to-one work that matters most.
"People
are so relieved to have someone to talk to, knowing that someone cares," she
said.
Zelda
Amburgey of Hindman agreed.
"It's
just so refreshing to talk to someone who actually listens to your concerns and
tries so very hard to help," said Amburgey, who has used Kentucky Pink
Connection to obtain help with information and equipment to treat her
lymphedema. (Lymphedema is a swelling caused by the lack of lymph nodes and is
a common side effect of breast cancer surgery, Blevins said.)
Blevins
sees the job of Kentucky Pink Connection — which consists of her, two part-time
staffers and volunteers — as helping people navigate the complicated system of
treatment.
The
Lexington native said that as the oldest of seven children, she comes by these
skills naturally. She helped wrangle her brother and sisters while her mother
worked. "When you are getting the oatmeal on the table and getting people to
school," she said, laughing, "you navigate."
She moved
to Nicholasville as a child and graduated from Jessamine County High School.
She married, had three children and went to back to school when her youngest
entered the first grade. She eventually studied business at Midway College. In
1998, she and three friends decided to start a boutique to sell mastectomy
supplies including bras, wigs, scarves and hats after a number of women they
knew were diagnosed with the disease.
It was
the stories she heard in the fitting room of that boutique, she said, that
prompted her to start Kentucky Pink Connection. She said she was shocked and
saddened by the number of women who felt alone and unsupported following the
diagnosis. She was especially touched by the story of single mothers who were
struggling to get better and to care for their children.
"A lot of
them felt like they had no support," she said. (Sometimes, she said, it was
true, because the husband or boyfriend left after the initial diagnosis.)
The
profile of breast cancer has changed tremendously in the past decade, she said,
due to the efforts of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and other education groups.
(Komen is a financial supporter of Kentucky Pink Connection.)
However,
the many deeply ingrained fears continue, she said. Many women feel shame in
the diagnosis, fear that losing their breasts will mean losing their husband,
or are afraid of what people might think if they find out they have cancer.
Also, she said, women in some parts of Eastern Kentucky are afraid that if
their cancer is known in the community, it will make them a target for addicts
seeking painkillers. She knows of one woman whose mobile home was ransacked by
addicts looking for pills while she was at chemotherapy.
Blevins
said the average annual income of the women she serves is about $25,000, but
she increasingly sees middle-class women who have always had insurance and
steady incomes who find themselves thrown into crisis by the double whammy of a
cancer diagnosis and the loss of a job.
"These
women have never had to ask for help and find themselves needing it for the
first time," she said.
At 59,
Blevins said, retirement is in sight but not in the works. She might slow down
a bit to spend time with her children and eight grandchildren. But she said she
can't imagine leaving behind the cause that's so close to her heart.
If you
work for a non-profit, she said, "you can never really separate
yourself."
KEYWORDS
DOCS (YAHOO ALERTS):
March 29,
2012
Researchers
identify genetic basis of tropical foot and leg
lymphedema
- National Institutes of Health –
Wearing
shoes and genomics are tied together in strategy to eliminate
podoconiosis
Farmers
in the highlands of southern Ethiopia scratch out a subsistence living from the
region’s volcanic red clay. The soil supports the farms, but fine-grained,
volcanic rock particles in the dirt threaten the farmers and their families.
Continual exposure of bare feet to the volcanic soil causes 1 in 20 people to
develop a painful inflammation of the lower extremities that, over time, leads
to foot disfigurement. Doctors call it podoconiosis. The locals call it mossy
foot. And those affected suffer social stigma as well as debilitating
discomfort.
Now,
researchers think they know why some 4 million people in at least 10 countries
worldwide develop this incapacitating condition. One-fifth carry genetic
variants that cause their immune system to react to the volcanic dust. This
disease-producing response, triggered by exposure from the lack of shoes,
provides a dramatic example of the interaction between genes and the
environment.
Writing
in the March 29, 2012 New England Journal of Medicine, an international team
that includes researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute
(NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, describes the genetic link
that turns dirt into a toxin.
"This
study draws attention to a neglected tropical disease with a devastating impact
on poor people and their communities," said NHGRI Scientific Director Dan
Kastner, M.D., Ph.D. "It demonstrates the global reach of genomics research
into the lives of people in parts of the world where endemic diseases very
often go unchecked."
Doctors
have known for a long time that podoconiosis runs in families and that
continual exposure to volcanic soil triggers it. Wearing shoes and socks, or
even washing off the dirt, prevents the condition. But doctors have been
perplexed that only some people develop the disease, while others with the same
environmental exposure are spared.
To sort
this out, the international collaborators conducted a genome-wide association
study — or GWAS — analyzing DNA from 194 volunteers from the Ethiopian
highlands affected by podoconiosis, along with DNA from another 203 unaffected
individuals from the same region. The researchers collaborated with field
workers from the non-profit Mossy Foot Treatment and Prevention Association in
southern Ethiopia to collect the data and samples.
The
researchers generated a dataset from study-participant DNA, screening more than
550,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are sites in an
individual’s DNA that contain a different chemical base when compared to a
standard reference human genome sequence. They found significant podoconiosis
association for eight SNPs within or nearby a stretch of DNA on chromosome 6,
called the HLA class II locus.
The
researchers performed a second validation step, called a family-based
association study, using DNA samples from 202 sets of child-parent trios from
affected families. The researchers detected six SNPs that showed significant
association — those that mapped to HLA class II region genes and most strongly
associated with podoconiosis in the GWAS, validating the GWAS
results.
Further
analysis of direct HLA tests of 94 affected persons and 94 controls confirmed
that podoconiosis susceptibility is increased by inheriting altered DNA in the
HLA class II locus from one or both parents. The researchers estimated that the
SNPs found through the GWAS — which alone comprise a portion of the genetic
factors in podoconiosis — explained about 16 percent of the variance in the
disease occurrence. They also found that individuals with those gene variants
were 2 to 3 times as likely to become affected if exposed to the volcanic rock
soil.
"This is
the first study of a non-communicable disease to have used genome-wide
association for any African population, and it is the first study that has
attempted to use a systematic genomic approach to shed light on the genetic
basis of podoconiosis," said Charles Rotimi, Ph.D., co-author and senior
investigator in NHGRI's Inherited Disease Research Branch and director of the
trans-NIH Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health (CRGGH).
The HLA
class II locus is also particularly associated with T cell-mediated immunity,
according to co-author Adebowale Adeyemo, M.D., NHGRI staff scientist and CRGGH
deputy director. The research findings point to the fact that podoconiosis is
likely to be a T cell-mediated inflammatory disease. Mineral particles are
absorbed through the skin of the foot and build up in the lymphatic system,
causing inflammation and scarring that can obstruct blood vessels in an
affected individual’s feet.
"We
found a result that is consistent with the clinical observations of
inflammation and provides a way forward for scientific study of the disease,"
Adeyemo said. "Our hope is that other studies will follow, including a gene
expression and immunology study, and a study of the soil."
Fasil
Tekola Ayele, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a CRGGH post-doctoral fellow,
coordinated the field work in the Ethiopian villages, where he said it is very
common to see people with podoconiosis. “It may even be more prevalent than
other diseases, like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria,” he said.
"One
aspect that makes podoconiosis disturbing is that it is almost 100 percent
preventable by wearing shoes. So it is a disease of poverty to a very large
extent," Dr. Rotimi said. Public health campaigns are underway to encourage use
of footwear in endemic areas. Philanthropic groups distribute free shoes for
children in impacted communities and make shoes to fit affected
adults.
Depending on the
stage, podoconiosis can be reversible to a large extent with basic foot hygiene
that includes regularly washing off the dirt and wearing shoes and socks. "At
the later stage, surgery may be the only remedy," Dr. Adeyemo said. "In time,
it becomes a very hopeless situation." Doctors can surgically remove prominent
skin nodules, but ongoing exposure to the soil can lead to recurrence that is
sometimes worse for the person with podoconiosis.
Researchers in
NHGRI’s Social and Behavioral Research Branch (SBRB) are among groups engaged
in research to learn about the social and behavioral factors that perpetuate
the disease. SBRB and its collaborators are launching a study of public health
interventions, including measuring the effectiveness of intervention strategies
and messages that promote foot health, including foot hygiene and shoe
use.
In
addition to the NIH researchers who conducted the GWAS, the study team included
members from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and the Clinical
Transplantation Laboratory in the United Kingdom and the Armauer Hansen
Research Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Part of the team led by senior
authors Gail Davey, M.D., and Melanie Newport, M.D, Ph.D., of the Brighton and
Sussex Medical School, conducted preliminary epidemiology work in the Ethiopian
highlands and also had developed a clinical staging system for people with the
condition — from early to late stages.
In
addition to his role at CRGGH, Dr. Rotimi is president of the African Society
of Human Genetics. He considers this study of podoconiosis to be a step toward
addressing health disparities. "So far, 95 percent of what has been done in
GWAS research has been on European populations and some Asian populations," Dr.
Rotimi said. “This study is a wonderful example of the mission of CRGGH,
including training African scientists, applying state-of-the-art science and
answering questions about diseases that would otherwise not be dealt
with.”
To
download images of podoconiosis, go to: www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20265,
www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20266
and http://www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20267.
NHGRI is
one of the 27 institutes and centers at the NIH, an agency of the Department of
Health and Human Services. The NHGRI Division of Intramural Research develops
and implements technology to understand, diagnose and treat genomic and genetic
diseases. Additional information about NHGRI can be found at its website, www.genome.gov.
About the National
Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH,
the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is
a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the
primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and
translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments,
and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
April 10, 2012
Woman with swollen legs upset about hospital
experience - CBC.ca –
A
woman suffering a debilitating condition says she was refused medical treatment
in Saskatoon.
Tamara
Whitford's legs are badly swollen from lymphedema, a chronic disease caused by
blocked lymph passages.
"The
joy of simply going for a walk ... over the years, that's been taken from me,"
she said.
One
of the few treatments available involves wrapping her legs in special
compression bandages to reduce the swelling.
Whitford
checked into St. Paul's Hospital recently to have that done, but says after a
few wraps, nurses refused to do the treatment, saying it was too much
work.
"Right
away I felt unworthy, and angry, appalled, that they could say that," she
said.
Whitford
will get the treatments she needs in Prince Albert, but she is demanding an
apology.
"It
wouldn't take away the hurt but at least it would show some respect to me."
Saskatoon's Health Region will not talk about Whitford's complaint, citing
privacy concerns.
But
CBC spoke with Dr. Alan Casson, one of the heath region's vice
presidents.
He
said he's never heard of a case where a patient was refused
service.
Casson
said the incident was likely a communications mix-up and that Whitford should
speak with her doctor to determine the appropriate treatment for
her.
April11,
2012
Norma King | End of chemo brings extra joy to
spring - Kansas City Star – By NORMA KING
This will be my
last spring — to be bald, to be radiated, to be able to blame cancer and chemo
for my bad memory, or for the abundance of fatheads still driving on Missouri
roads.
I count nine months
— that’s long enough to produce a baby — since I started my cancer journey. I’ve
chronicled some of my experiences and feelings in this place, boldly declaring
that I have breast cancer and that my lump was the size of a Skittle. (I used
to say the size of an Advil — boor-ing.)
I watched as my
hair fell out, complained about cardboard food and endured sleeping on my back
almost every night because I didn’t want to pop my port or invite lymphedema.
My oncologist would say that I’m very imaginative. (What is a port? It’s a
portacath implanted in the upper chest that connects directly into a vein that
connects to the heart and allows the chemo drugs to be infused through the body
quickly. And it’s about the size of a butterscotch candy gone sci-fi.
)
So now it’s spring.
What a great time to be released from the jowls of the monster cancer! And you
know what’s weird? My zodiac sign is cancer. Nasty sense of humor, that Mr.
Zodiac. It’s also known as the crab. Why? Some say the Latin for crab is
cancer; and others say that Greek physician Galen thought some tumors looked
like crabs. Whatever…I think the zodiac for those of us born June 22-July 22
should be changed to something more positive — like redbud or cardinal or
chocolate.
Let’s talk about
radiation.
Besides being a
cancer-buster, as they tell me, radiation comes with tattoos.
I have five
tattoos. Look at the period at the end of this sentence. That’s about the size
of my tattoos. You’d figure as a reward for four months of chemo and seven
weeks of radiation — not to mention my bald head — I could get a butterfly or
smiley face.
But no, they just
mark you with the dots, then when radiation time comes they line up the dots in
the crosshairs of some green laser beams and zap you while you hold perfectly
still, gazing at the Lucy and Snoopy Band-Aid above you on the linear
accelerator machine.
I needed 35
radiation treatments. The first five weeks were spent having invisible, buzzing
photons shower down on me from above. Then I had a week of electrons zapping
just my scar on the left breast. The final week was a reunion with photons.
Here’s a description of the process which I sent my sister-in-law,
Debbie:
Radiation is weird.
I have to lay on this hard table, naked from the waist up (don’t like) and this
gigantor machine moves around me — it’s not claustrophobic — and beams
radiation into my left breast. There are usually 3-4 radiation therapists — all
women — who assist, but of course, they all run out when it’s time to radiate me
— and they leave me there. What does that tell you about the safety of
radiation? The actual radiating is done from two different “fields”: 38 seconds
on one, 40 seconds on the other. I’m in and out in 15 minutes. But I’m not
liking all this killing-my-cells business.
I figured out later
that not only do the radiation therapists run out, they close an 18-inch-thick
steel door behind them.
Although radiation
is a solo event, the waiting area was not. The waiting area was actually the
best part. I got to know other cancer patients and we bonded in our matching
blue hospital gowns as we waited for our turn behind the steel
door.
Cancer is a bad
zodiac handle, but it’s an equalizer among the special people who agree to suit
up (or down, as the case may be) and fight. And I have no complaints about the
radiation therapists, the radiologist or anyone else in the office. They were
great.
Fortunately, I
didn’t experience the bad “burn” some radiation patients endure. And I’ve heard
some good/bad true stories. My main side effects with radiation were fatigue
and continued tingling in my fingers and toes. I count my
blessings.
Ahead of me are
another six months of Herceptin, an infusion for those of us who are HER2
positive. But that’s another story. Fortunately, Herceptin does not make me
sick, nor make food taste like old baseball gloves.
It’s spring, I’ve
got new friends, wonderful support from husband and others and I get to keep my
tattoos!
To reach Norma
King, send email to [email protected].
Many breast cancer survivors 'suffer post-treatment
issues' - Spire Healthcare –
People
who have undergone breast cancer
treatment are prone to suffer at least one
treatment-related complication in the years following their
diagnosis.
This is according to a new study conducted at the Perelman
School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which revealed that 60
per cent of those who survived the life-threatening disease encountered a
related issue sometime over the following six years.
As part of the
research, the team monitored 287 Australian women with invasive, unilateral
breast cancer for a median of 6.6 years.
Results found that 60 per cent
experienced postsurgical complications, skin reactions to radiation therapy,
upper-body symptoms and functional limitations, lymphedema, weight gain, and
fatigue, while 30 per cent struggled with two of these problems.
Kathryn
Schmitz, an associate professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology who led the
study, commented: "Our work provides the first accounting of the true magnitude
of the post-treatment problems suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves
as a call to action for proper monitoring and rehabilitation services to care
for them."
However, a separate study by Virginia Commonwealth University
recently found that around half of breast cancer survivors died in later years
due to an illness which had no relation to their fight against
cancer.
April
12, 2012
Pink Fair at Backus to focus on women's
health - TheDay.com –
I
had nothing but troubles with this one and it ends April 25th anyway
so gave up, sorry
April
13, 2012
News to use - PennLive.com –
ACMH Hospital will host the class
"Lymphedema: What Every Breast Cancer Survivor Needs to Know" at 6 p.m.
Wednesday in the second floor continuing education classroom. Those attending
are asked to RSVP at 724-543-8658. Light refreshments will be provided.
Lymphedema, the accumulation of lymph fluid in the body, is a common side
effect of breast cancer treatment and affects 20% of breast cancer survivors.
Lymphedema can occur decades after breast cancer treatment ends. Discussion
will include which survivors are at greatest risk, how to recognize early
symptoms, the latest treatment options, and the latest research-based
guidelines on air travel and exercise.
April 11, 2012
Breast
Cancer Treatment Side Effects May Last for Years-
U.S. News & World Report –
Study
finds lingering pain, swelling, fatigue, mobility problems in many
women
WEDNESDAY,
April 11 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment-related complications are common in
breast cancer patients long after their therapy has been completed, a new study
says.
Researchers
looked at 287 Australian breast cancer patients and found that more than 60
percent of them had at least one treatment-related complication up to six years
after their diagnosis, and 30 percent had at least two
complications.
Complications
included skin reactions to radiation therapy, weight gain, fatigue,
surgery-related issues, upper body symptoms and physical limitations, and
lymphedema -- a painful limb-swelling condition.
"Our
work provides the first accounting of the true magnitude of the post-treatment
problems suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves as a call to action for
proper monitoring and rehabilitation services to care for them," study leader
Kathryn Schmitz, associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the
University of Pennsylvania, said in a university news release.
"We
can no longer pretend that the side effects of breast cancer treatment end
after patients finish active treatment. The scope of these complications is
shocking and upsetting, but a ready solution for many of them already exists in
rehabilitative exercise," said Schmitz, who is a member of the university's
Abramson Cancer Center and serves as a senior scientist on a committee
overseeing creation of a surveillance model for breast cancer
survivors.
The
study was published online April 6 in a special issue of the journal
Cancer that focuses on the physical late effects of breast cancer
treatment and ways to prevent, monitor and treat these conditions.
There
are 2.6 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, the authors noted
in the news release.
Many
factors can prevent proper monitoring of breast cancer survivors for the types
of complications identified in the study, Schmitz and her colleagues
said.
Patients
may have fragmented care and receive different types of treatment at different
hospitals; both patients and doctors may believe that certain complications are
"expected" and "normal" and don't warrant treatment; and many breast cancer
patients aren't aware of or referred to physical therapy
professionals.
April
12, 2012
SouthScape:
the South Xtra Bulletin Board-
Pittsburgh Post Gazette –
TALKS
Bethel Park
--
Lymphedema will be the topic of the meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania
Registered Nurses Club at 9:30 a.m. Tuesdayat Hamilton Presbyterian Church,
4500 Baptist Road. Information: 412-980-5185.
Local
breast cancer affiliate awards grant funds-
Fresno Business Journal –
The Central Valley Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure has
awarded six grants totaling $280,000 to programs providing breast cancer
services in the Fresno area.
The six grant recipients named in a news release are Fresno Health
Consumer Center; Hinds Hospice; Disability Legal Rights Center – Cancer Legal
Resource Center; West Fresno Health Care Coalition; California Health
Collaborative and Clovis Community Medical Center – Lymphedema
Clinic.
“We have identified specific, unmet breast health needs within our
community and ‘filled in the gaps,’ delivering the life-saving message of early
detection and providing assistance to medically-underserved breast cancer
patients and their families,” said Sharon Johnson, executive director of the
Komen Central Valley Affiliate, in the release.
Johnson said that disparities in breast healthcare and treatment
are not limited to women of color or the poor. These disparities impact younger
women and elderly women, women in rural and inner-city locations, women with
disabilities and even men.
For more information on the specific grants awarded, visit
komencentralvalley.org.
April
13, 2012
New
Cost-Effective Lymphedema Compression Garment Undergoing
Clinical
Trials - Doctor Tipster –
A
new treatment for leg lymphedema is being tested by scientists from Flinders
University, Australia. This new treatment is believed to bring new hope for
patients that suffer from this condition.
The
new treatment is based on the usage of a novel compression outfit that helps
the patients organism eliminate toxins and other noxious fluids.
Lymphedema
is a medical condition also known as lymphatic obstruction. It’s defined by the
fluid retention caused by either a blocked or a damaged lymphatic system. The
accumulation of this fluid can be a risk factor for various infections.
Congenital disorders, obesity, some infections and even different types of
cancer treatments can cause damage to a patients lymphatic system.
The
current treatments for lymphedema include the use of compression garments and
different types of manual lymphatic therapy but these treatments are either
time-consuming for both the therapists and the patients or just too expensive
for most patients.
The
director of the LRU (Lymphedema Research Unit), professor Neil Piller, says
that the new compression garment, called Flexitouch®, has more inflating
chambers than the older models and spans from the abdomen down to the foot. The
older models of compression garments only focused on the lower legs and had 10
inflating chambers, whilst the new Flexitouch® has 28 of those
chambers.
“This new device puts external pressure on
various parts of the leg where the fluid is accumulating, starting in the
abdomen and working down, to promote the natural movement of fluid out of the
tissues and into the lymph system – and eventually out of the body”, said
professor Piller.
The
study conducted by the scientists from Flinders University is also being
conducted at two clinics, in the United Kingdom and in the United States. It is
a clinical trial that requires the 16 participating patients to wear the device
for at least one hour a day, five times a week.
Jan
Douglass, one of the coordinators of the study, says that this new device is
accessible and cost-effective due to the patients being able to use it at home,
instead of having to visit the doctor for each treatment session. This also
allows patients, especially those living far away from therapists, to better
control their own health.
“Lymphedema
needs to be managed on a daily basis so anything patients can do at home is
going to be much more effective than going to a therapist once a week, even if
you can afford it”, notes Jan Douglass.
The
official results of this study will be available later this year, but Jan
Douglass already points out that patients participating in the clinical trial
have already shown positive reactions. They have reported a visible improvement
to their health after using the new Flexitouch® garment.
News
to use – Leader Times
By
Leader Times ACMH Hospital will host the class "Lymphedema: What Every
Breast Cancer ... Lymphedema, the accumulation of lymph fluid in
the body, ...
SORRY
TINA THE ABOVE ONE THE WEBSITE HAS HUNDREDS OF ARTICLES LISTED AND I COULDN’T
FIND ANYTHING SAYING WHAT THE SUMMARY STARTS WITH, I CHECKED
TWICE.
April
16, 2012
Endermologie
More than Pretty Legs - TheAlternativePress.com
– by Beth Geller, Just Be Smooth –
Endermologie is a
lymphatic drainage massage that reduces the appearance of cellulite. But, that
is not all! In fact, that is only a small part of it. By increasing blood flow
and helping the body eliminate toxins and fluids, Endermologie reduces swelling
caused by lymphedema. People that have swollen arms or legs due to fluid
retention find relief almost immediately and with continued treatments can
control the discomfort and pain for weeks at a time.
We have
also found Endermologie works beautifully for post-liposuction care. Many
patients get lumps, bumps, ridging, and swelling after lipo. The rolling and
pulsing motion of the treatment aids in smoothing out the skin that was damaged
by the procedure. It also helps the body get rid of the excess toxins and
fluids associated with the surgical procedure. Patients find they heal faster
and feel better sooner when they come for their twice-weekly
sessions.
If all
you want to do is make your skin look better, drinking lots of water helps. We
suggest that everyone drink half their body weight in ounces every day. For
instance, if you weigh 140 pounds, you should drink 70 ounces of water per day.
That is regular water, not flavored or sparkling—just plain, flat water. Salt
and sodium are also “bad” for your skin—causing water retention and bloating
thus making the skin look lumpier. Both of those tips are a simple way to make
your skin look and feel better.
About Just Be
Smooth
Just Be Smooth is located at 276 Essex Street in
Millburn, NJ 07041--offers Endermologie, Organic Spray Tanning, Universal
Contour Wraps, facials, and waxing. For more information or to schedule a FREE
consultation with one of our certified technicians, call 973-376-8889 or visit
www.JustBeSmooth.com
The
Chamber of Commerce is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization that strives to
bring hundreds of businesses and professional firms together in order to create
and sustain a healthy and viable business and residential community. The dues
investment made annually by each of its members provides a wide variety of
programs dedicated to the betterment of the entire Millburn-Short Hills
community.
Our
office, located at 343 Millburn Avenue, Suite 303, is a resource center
offering information and answers about the business and residential life in our
township. For information about our services and programs, call us at 379-1198
or visit our website www.millburnshorthillschamber.com, e-mail us at
[email protected]. And like us on
Facebook.
The
opinions expressed herein are the writer's alone, and do not reflect the
opinions of TheAlternativePress.com or anyone who works for
TheAlternativePress.com. TheAlternativePress.com is not responsible for the
accuracy of any of the information supplied by the writer.
Not
all cancers call for surgery; slow-growing ones are
watchable
- Palm Beach Post – By Dr.
Melanie Bone
–
Dear
Dr. Bone: My husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer when he went for his
checkup and they found blood in his urine. His tumor is small, and we were told
that it could be watched and not taken out. This makes us nervous. What do you
think? - D.C., Lantana
Dear
D.C.: It always make us nervous to "watch" a cancer. We associate cancer with
death, especially if it isn't diagnosed early. That perception is hard to
change and lags current knowledge about the behavior of certain types of
cancer. Our first instinct when hearing that we have cancer is to want to "get
it out" because we think that it could fester and spread if left inside. While
that is true for some cancers, kidney cancer is a little different. There are
some kidney cancers that can be treated conservatively.
A
study out of University of California Irvine followed 200 kidney cancer
patients over three years and found little change in most of the tumors. Only
one patient died of their cancer. If all these patients had undergone surgery,
there is a higher risk that more than one of them would have had a
complication. Having said that, recent advances in the approach to kidney
cancer now permit minimally invasive surgery to remove the disease.
Laparoscopic and robotic surgery can be used to remove the kidney and there are
now places that use either CAT scan or MRI to guide a probe into the tumor to
destroy it without sacrificing the entire kidney and with minimal down time for
the patient.
I
encourage you and your husband to research the options for his disease and only
agree to treat or not to treat after you are well-educated about his
condition.
Dear
Dr. Bone: I am a long-term breast cancer survivor. Most of the time I forget I
even had it. However, I have pretty bad lymphedema. To give you an idea of how
bad it is, I have to have a seamstress add fabric to the sleeve of every fitted
shirt I buy. I have tried massages, wrapping, and special diets and
supplements, but nothing works. A friend showed me an article about lymph node
transplantation. - H.R., West Palm Beach
Dear
H.R.: Thank you for sharing your frustration. Unless you are in the medical
field, it is hard to understand what it is like to deal with lymphedema day in
and day out. For those who don't know, lymphedema is a condition that develops
when the lymph nodes have been removed. The lymph fluid that normal flows
toward the heart in tiny channels no longer has a way to get out and this
causes swelling. Lymphedema is commonly seen after surgery for breast cancer
when the lymph nodes in the armpit are removed, but it can happen to either men
or women and occurs in the legs or the abdomen when lymph nodes in those areas
have been removed or destroyed. For years, massage and compression wraps have
been the mainstay of treatment for lymphedema.
A
female surgeon from Paris, Dr. Corinne Becker, developed a procedure called
autologous lymph node transfer. Essentially she takes lymph nodes from a
different area of the body, such as the groin, and "transplants" them to the
affected area. She claims a very high success rate. The surgery is delicate and
possible complications include infection and creation of lymphedema in the part
of the body from which the lymph nodes were harvested. It sounds like this idea
has great potential and will be refined over time. If you can live with the
situation a little longer, I suspect that autologous lymph node transfer will
prove to be a great solution for you in the not-too-distant
future.
Dr.
Melanie Bone is a cancer survivor and gynecologist who practices in West Palm
Beach. To send questions for her column, go to www.CancerSensibilityFoundation.org
or PalmBeachPost.com/health (click on the "ask a question" link). Any questions
submitted to Dr. Bone will be considered for her column. You may also visit
www.CancerShopUSA.com
April
17, 2012
HEALTH
HAPPENINGS: Free or low-cost health-related events open to the public in
Manatee and Sarasota counties- Bradenton Herald –
Information:
Winnie Schroeder, 941-792-7204. n Lymphedema Support: meets by
appointment. Information: Marsha Shuford, 941-798-2141
April
19, 2012
The
Lingering Effects of Breast Cancer
– dailyRx – By: Laurie
Stoneham
(dailyRx)
Just
because cancer has been beaten doesn't mean the battle is over. Side effects
can - and often do - linger for years. Yet many women who are living beyond
breast cancer aren't getting adequate care for these late effects.
Recent
research finds that more than 60 percent of women suffer at least one
treatment-related side effect six years after their breast cancer
diagnosis.
These
findings will provide the foundation for developing strategies to prevent,
monitor and treat these troublesome conditions experienced by 2.6 million
breast cancer winners in the United States.
Kathryn
Schmitz, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania led the
research.
"We
can no longer pretend that the side effects of breast cancer treatment end
after patients finish active treatment. The scope of these complications is
shocking and upsetting, but a ready solution for many of them already exists in
rehabilitative exercise," Schmitz said.
Schmitz,
who is a member of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, worked with a team of
Australian researchers. They followed 287 Australian women who had been
diagnosed with invasive in one breast cancer for about 6 1/2 years. Throughout
the study, researchers assessed the women for treatment-related
complications.
Breast
cancer complications can range from lymphedema (painful swelling of limbs) to
fatigue and weight gain. And 30 percent of women struggle with at least two
issues years after active treatment is completed, according to this
research.
Most
of the complications appeared within the first year following treatment and
resolve on their own. However, weight gain and lymphedema can be troublesome
for years.
Part
of the problem in treating these issues is the fragmented care women receive
following their cancer journey, and the fact that few oncologists and surgeons
refer patients to physical therapy, according to the researchers.
dailyRx
asked Schmitz what women can do to overcome these limitations. "They can
educate themselves about the various persistent negative effects of treatment
that commonly occur among breast cancer survivors, including chemotherapy
induced peripheral neuropathy [numbness], bone health, heart effects (heart
failure and arrhythmias), weight gain, upper body symptoms, fatigue, and
lymphedema, among others," she said.
Here
are other suggestions, Schmitz offered, when asked about actions women can
take:
·"They
can ask for regular and ongoing evaluation of these issues by their health care
professionals.
·They
can start and maintain a regular program of exercise to help reduce, prevent,
rehabilitate, attenuate, or treat many of these effects.
·Ditto
for eating a healthy diet and achieving and maintaining a healthy body
weight.
·They
can demand that their doctors take these issues seriously … there is a tendency
on the part of some oncology clinicians to dismiss persistent adverse effects
of treatment, given that having these problems is clearly vastly preferable to
being dead. I don’t think that women should accept this attitude
anymore.
·They
can find well educated clinical exercise professionals and oncology
nutritionists to help them."
In
light of the challenges breast cancer patients face, a model has been developed
for surveying patients and formally including rehabilitation and exercise
specialists in cancer survivorship programs.
Schmitz
and colleagues will work through the American Cancer Society with various
groups to implement this plan.
This
research was published in the April issue of Cancer, which is dedicated to
examining and exploring ways to abate the late effects of breast
cancer.
No
funding information was provided.
Andersen
Jones Builds Lymphedema Awareness with an Award-Winning
Video Production -MarketWatch –
SAN JUAN
CAPISTRANO, Calif., Apr 19, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Andersen Jones Marketing
Medicine has won a prestigious Silver Telly award with its video production
partner, Beard Boy Productions, for an educational video, "Breast Cancer's
Dirty Little Secret." The seven-minute production was created for agency client
LymphConnect.com, an online community dedicated to promoting awareness and
providing educational resources for women about lymphedema.
Lymphedema is an
unwelcome and all-too-frequent side effect of breast cancer treatment. Women
who undergo a surgical biopsy with lymph node dissection are at heightened risk
of developing the condition. Lymphedema is recognized by a disfiguring swelling
of the affected limb and often means a lifetime of discomfort and expensive
surgical treatment. The good news, however, is that there is now an affordable
and effective aid in the clinical assessment of unilateral lymphedema of the
arm in women. This new technology is called Bioimpedance Spectroscopy and is
discussed by both clinicians and their patients in the new video.
According to agency
principal Rick Andersen, "Breast Cancer's Dirty Little Secret is a powerful
video because it showcases patients who live with lymphedema every day, along
with their caregivers who have discovered an effective way to assess this
condition. Every breast cancer patient in the world can access this vital
information on the LymphConnect.com educational resource site. We're very proud
to have contributed to the creation of a global community for sharing
lymphedema resources."
Headquartered in
San Juan Capistrano, Andersen Jones is a West Coast leader in medical device
and diagnostics advertising. The agency has a long track record in women's
health, particularly in the breast cancer space. To learn more, contact Rick
Andersen at 949-240-6802 or [email protected].
SOURCE: Andersen
Jones Marketing Medicine
April
23, 2012
Lymphedema
Support Group to Feature Surgeon Dr. Shawn Steen
- Ventura County Star –
This
was a one-time event that is over now sorry
What
You Don't Know About Cancer -- Hope On The Horizon
- Huffington Post –
This
is a Marlo Thomas (the actress) blog so by her
Cancer is such a
dreaded and scary word, and most of us have experienced its wrath at some point
in ours lives -- whether through a family member or friend, or through our own
struggle with it.
So this being Cancer Awareness Month, I thought it
might make us all sleep a little better to ask some of the top cancer
scientists in the country to tell us some things (or even one thing) that makes
them optimistic about the ongoing battle with cancer.
The exciting news
is: they are all optimistic. And at the center of this optimism is DNA.
We all know by now that when DNA is brought into the courtroom it can
help prove whether a person is the culprit or not. That's because every
person's DNA is unique to that individual -- like our fingerprints.
Well, DNA works the same way in the lab. The "investigator" looks at
the normal DNA of the patient, and then compares it with the DNA of the cancer
cell in that patient. Typically, these two samples are going to look more than
99.99 percent the same. But it is that tiny difference that holds the secret to
what is causing the cancer. What is needed then is a drug that can correct the
problems caused by that DNA damage.
Ten
years ago, scientists didn't have the technology even to find the DNA damage in
each patient's cancer. They used common microscopes to look deep into the cell
-- but they couldn't see deep enough. Now, thanks to giant leaps in the science
of DNA sequencing, these same scientists can go millions of times deeper into a
cell than with a standard microscope -- and whole new worlds of information
have opened up before their eyes.
"Just five years ago, these
classifications of cancer were invisible to us," the renowned scientific
investigator, Dr. Charles Sawyers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center, told me. "Now that they are visible, we can create new drugs to target
what we can see. It's why I rush to work every day."
Dr. Sawyers is not
alone in his passion. All of the scientists I spoke to expressed excitement
about DNA's emerging role in the fight against cancer as well as their hope
that the public will ultimately grasp the concept of fighting cancer
genetically, in order to appreciate these new possibilities.
Pharmacogenomics expert and CEO of St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital, Dr. Bill Evans, explained DNA science this way:
"It's
like when you build a house. The architect draws up a blueprint, and if that
blueprint is faulty and the house starts to lean -- or even fall down -- then
obviously the architect has made a mistake. So you must go back to the
blueprint and find out where that mistake was made so you can fix the
damage."
"DNA sequencing is the blueprint of a cell," Dr. Evans
continues. "It helps the investigator look at every letter to find out what
went wrong and what caused the damage. And so our optimism comes from our
ability to look deeper into the cell to see the 'blueprint' for the first time,
and lead us to the cause."
Beyond DNA science, the doctors and
scientists I spoke to also celebrated the bold steps being taken on the many
different frontlines of the war against cancer. Dr. Judy Garber of the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who specializes in breast cancer, expressed
hopefulness about doctors' increased ability to treat cancer effectively
without leaving the patient debilitated through invasive surgery.
"Less
surgery is being done," Dr. Garber told me, "and when it is, surgeons are
taking only one to two lymph nodes where they used to take them all. This
lesser amount gives women better movement in their arms and less swelling. And,
of course, we have discovered much better treatments."
Dr. Bob
Wiltrout, Director of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer
Institute, National Institutes of Health, is equally enthusiastic about the
great strides being made in the treatment of prostate cancer -- which is
currently the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men.
"One of our most exciting breakthroughs is the use of precision
approaches to detect even very small tumors with exquisite sensitivity," Dr.
Wiltrout told me. "Not all prostate cancers actually require treatment, and
many men are treated needlessly, or end up getting the wrong treatment for
their tumors. But with these new techniques, in the future it should be
possible to predict which tumors actually require treatment, and which patients
can be safely monitored without needless surgery or radiation."
All of
the doctors I spoke to pointed to the increased survival numbers -- the holy
grail of all medical science statistics -- as evidence that we are gaining
ground in this fight. "We are saving 350 more people per day in the U.S. than
we did in 1991," Dr. John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society,
told me. "And what's even more encouraging is that we could get to 1000 per
day, if we all did our part -- with screenings, diet, exercise, quitting
smoking and controlling obesity."
As someone who has spent many years
marveling at the brilliant and painstaking work of the doctors, scientists and
researchers at St. Jude, I can attest firsthand to the bone-deep commitment
these men and women have made in their fight against disease. They are at it
around the clock -- every hour of the day, every day of the year. And so when I
hear them speak with such optimism, it fills me with great hope for all of us
and our loved ones.
"I believe we are entering a golden era in cancer
therapeutics," said Dr. William G. Kaelin of Dana-Farber and the Harvard
Medical School, whose expertise in cancer research runs the gamut from the use
of "smart drugs" to the current "renaissance" in cancer immunotherapy. "But
maintaining this momentum will require that both the public and private sector
efforts to eradicate cancer remain vibrant. Science -- especially science that
transforms the way we think -- does not lend itself to predetermined
timelines."
I hope that you'll join me in remaining as committed to the
battle against cancer as Dr. Kaelin implores us to be. We have come too far to
let up now, and are closer than ever to that long-awaited
cure.
April 24, 2012
Business Profile - Carbondale
News – By TOM
FONTANA –
Amy
Witko and Judith Slocum, physical therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy,
are celebrating National Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the
public aware of treatment services available.
Every April,
occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students in
practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long celebration
showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational
therapy treatment sessions are created for each individual based on their
unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs offered by the
occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is Lymphedema
management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t control on
their own even by elevation may benefit from our lymphedema management
program,” Amy said.
For
more information on the services at Comprehensive Physical Therapy, call Amy L.
Witko MS, OTR/L, CLT and Judith Slocum COTA/L. Locations include: Carbondale
(282-3302), Forest City (785-2018), Hawley (226-7303), and Dunmore
(342-5333)
May
12, 2012
Second nightmare operation for first Scots woman to
get faulty PIP - Scottish Daily Record - by Janice Burns –
THE
first Scots woman to have faulty breast implants removed on the NHS is facing a
second nightmare operation to have her lymph glands cut out.
Jenny
Brown, 41, told of her devastation at finding out that industrial silicone from
the controversial French-made PIP implants had burst. The chemicals leaked into
the nodes under her right arm.
Speaking
for the first time since the implants were removed in February, Jenny said: “I
thought that my nightmare would be over when I had them removed but now I feel
it will never be over. I feel I have a ticking timebomb in my
body.”
Jenny,
a nurse, wept as she held the dodgy implants in her hands and added: “I cannot
believe these things were in my body.
“When
I look at them, all yellow and completely burst, I get very upset and angry
because I still have this silicone inside me.
“In
two weeks, surgeons will remove two or three of the nodes but not all of them
because it will cause too many other complications.
“I
will have some of this stuff in my body for the rest of my life.
“The
most frightening thing is that no one really knows what is inside these
implants and there was talk of them causing cancer at one point.
“This
is industrial silicone used in mattresses and for weather-proofing bricks, it
was not meant for medical use. Not enough research has been done on the risks
associated with these implants.”
Jenny
said that when she asked the surgeon if he was going to test the implants, he
replied that they were going to be thrown in the bin.
So
she took them home. She said: “I can’t understand why no one is testing
ruptured implants.”
Jenny
added: “I take painkillers every day and, even after the operation, I may have
to keep taking them.
“The
past five months have been the toughest of my life and my family have been to
hell and back with me.
“For
thousands of women out there, their ordeal is just beginning because only those
with ruptured implants are getting them removed free of charge.”
Lymph
nodes help to drain the body of toxins and are vital to the immune system. The
main risks of having lymph nodes removed are infection and lymphedema – a
build-up of fluid.
Mum–of-four
Jenny, from Edinburgh, said she had become “increasingly frustrated” by the
lack of information and the failure to test faulty implants.
She
had her implants put in at the private clinic Transform, in Glasgow, in 2005 to
rectify a dent in her breast caused by the removal of a large
mole.
And
she was the first woman in Scotland to have them removed by the NHS in February
8 at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. Jenny will have her lymph nodes
removed at the same hospital on May 23.
She
is one of more than 4000 Scots women who found out they had been given the
dodgy implants when it hit the news headlines on January 13 this
year.
Since
then, thousands like Jenny have joined a Facebook campaign for justice and a
support group for victims called “PIP Implants Scotland”.
They
are fighting for a public inquiry into the scandal and calling on the
Government to take action to help the thousands of women get their lives
back.
Jenny
said: “I think the Government should force these private companies to pay for
the implants to be removed because they have a duty of care to their
patients.
“There
are people out there who feel we don’t deserve the same rights and care as
others because they think we all got implants out of vanity.
“Many
victims have had this done for medical reasons. But even if they did do it to
make themselves feel better, they shouldn’t be punished for that and denied the
same rights to life as anyone else.
“I
get the feeling everyone thinks we are all getting them removed and that it has
been resolved. It is far from being sorted out. We still have a long fight
ahead of us and we need the support of the public.”
We're
fighting for justice
A
firm of lawyers in Glasgow represent more than 60 women involved in the scandal
– and they are urging others to get on board.
Patrick
McGuire, of Thompsons Solicitors , said: “Over five months after this scandal
became public, the victims are still suffering and fighting for
justice.
“The
battle for fair treatment from the clinics goes on and the Government report
into the scandal is being delayed. This is simply not good
enough.”
Help
is available at Thompsons’ website www.pip-breast-implants.co.uk, the Facebook
page “PIP Implants Scotland” or on the free advice line 0800 081 29
24.
May
29, 2012
Lymphedema Support Group: Nurse Navigator (Guest
Speaker) - Ventura
County Star –
There
are many clinical professionals who interact with the cancer patient. The
newest one to become integrated into the cancer patient’s care is the Nurse
Navigator.
The
Nurse Navigator is the 411 of cancer care and can answer many questions
regarding cancer screening, treatment, follow-up and resources available in the
community.
It’s
quite often overwhelming to deal with the enormity of managing cancer. With so
many components for the cancer patient to manage, the Nurse Navigator helps
coordinate the cancer patient’s continuity of care, alleviating the stress of
not knowing where to turn, what specialists to see, and what course of action
to take.
To
understand how a Nurse Navigator can assist a patient and family, join Cathy
J.F. Cole, NP, MPH, CHES, Breast Health Navigator at Los Robles Hospital &
Medical Center, as she speaks on “The Role of the Nurse Navigator: From Breast
Cancer Diagnosis through Treatment.”
The
event is sponsored by Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center’s Lymphedema
Support Group which is led by Catherine Hines, P.T., C.L.T., and is for
patients with lymphedema, their loved ones and caretakers. It will be held
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the cafeteria at Los Robles
Hospital’s East Campus, 150 Via Merida, Westlake Village.
To
make a reservation or obtain additional information regarding the program,
please contact the Los Robles Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation Department at
(805) 370-4001
Read
more:
http://www.vcstar.com/events/2012/may/30/10876/#ixzz1xQydVQpL
-
vcstar.com
May 29,
2012
Community Extra: Calendar –
HeraldNet –
Lymphedema
Support Group Meeting: 6 to 8 p.m. the third Thursday of the month, conference
room B, Providence Regional Medical Center, Pacific Campus, 916 Pacific Ave.,
Everett. For more information, email [email protected].
May 28,
2012
St. Francis and affiliates offer support
groups - Monroe News Star – Amy
Witko and Judith Slocum, physical therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy,
are celebrating National Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the public aware
of treatment services available.
Every April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and
students in practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long
celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational therapy treatment sessions are created for each
individual based on their unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs
offered by the occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is
Lymphedema management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t
control on their own even by elevation may benefit fromAmy Witko and Judith
Slocum, physical therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy, are celebrating
National Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the public aware
of treatment services available.
Every April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and
students in practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long
celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational therapy treatment sessions are created for each
individual based on their unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs
offered by the occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is
Lymphedema management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t
control on their own even by elevation may benefit from our lymphedema
management program,” Amy said.
For more information on the services at
Comprehensive Physical Therapy, call Amy L. Witko MS, OTR/L, CLT and Judith
Slocum COTA/L. Locations include: Carbondale (282-3302), Forest City
(785-2018), Hawley (226-7303), and Dunmore (342-5333).
LYMPH
TALK
Support group for those living with lymphedema (not exclusive to
breast cancer); education and ideals for successful management of lymphedema.
5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month at Kitty DeGree Breast
Health Center, 3421 Medical Park Drive
May 28,
2012
Healthy Life Series Continues At
Phelps- Westchester.com –
Tuesday, June 12
-Treatment for Lymphedema The lymphatic
system plays an important role in your circulation system. When the lymphatic
system is unable to return fluid to your circulatory system (such as after lymph
node removal), a protein-rich fluid accumulates under the skin and causes
swelling, a condition known as "lymphedema." Learn about
how lymphedema therapy can help move the fluid and decrease swelling. Presented
by Jennifer Teyfel-Freestone, Outpatient Physical Therapy Supervisor, at Phelps
Memorial Hospital Center, 701 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow. 5 - 6 pm in the
Auditorium. Call (914) 366-3220 to register
Sunday, May 27,
2012
Local Art Exhibit Showcases Work By Those With
Disabilities - KYW Newsradio – By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — “All About Art” is MossRehab’s annual art exhibition that showcases
hundreds of work by artists with disabilities.
“I do see the glass as half full. I always have. And that’s what
making art is all about,” says artist Daphne La Croix, who has chronic
lymphedema of the left arm, a damaged retina of the left eye and is a stage
three breast cancer survivor of 16 years.
She uses her art as therapy and decided to put her pain on
canvas.
“Producing art turns any unhappiness you have into joy.
So I say everyone is an artist,” La Croix explains.
Curator Nancy Pageau says the exhibition includes work for sale from
more than 82 artists with a range of disabilities:
“We have traumatic brain injury patients,
we have muscular dystrophy patients, MS, and we have blind artists who do
sculpture…”
Pageau says that viewing the artwork is inspiring.
“It’s hard to believe that these are artists that had to overcome
many, many disabilities to create their work.”
For more info on the free exhibit, go to www.MossRehab.com
May 24,
2012
Wausau dentists win SBA small businesspeople of
year - Bizjournals.com -
A
group of Wausau pediatric dentists
has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s small businesspeople of
the year.
Drs.
Thomas
Turner, Carl
Hash, Corey
Brimacombe and Joshua
Spiegl of First Impressions SC will receive the award at
the annual SBA breakfast June 1 in Milwaukee. The practice is the state’s
largest provider of pediatric dentistry to Medicaid patients. It has offices in
Wausau, Rhinelander, Medford, Stevens Point, Weston and Shawano.
Kyle
Weatherly, president of West Allis-based Solaris Inc.,
has won honorable mention small businessperson of the year. Solaris makes
medical garments, specializing in garments for the treatment of
lymphedema.
Wendy
Baumann, president of the Wisconsin Women’s Business
Initiative Corp., will accept the award for “women’s business center excellence
award” for the Midwest region at an event May 30. Jeff
Bowman, president of First American Capital Corp., West
Allis, has won the regional award for minority small business
champion.
Other
local winners include:
Stacy Vogel Davis covers small business and retail for The Business
Journal
May 23, 2012Amy Witko and Judith Slocum, physical
therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy, are celebrating National
Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the public aware
of treatment services available.
Every April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and
students in practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long
celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational therapy treatment sessions are created for each
individual based on their unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs
offered by the occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is
Lymphedema management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t
control on their own even by elevation may benefit from our lymphedema
management program,” Amy said.
For more information on the services at
Comprehensive Physical Therapy, call Amy L. Witko MS, OTR/L, CLT and Judith
Slocum COTA/L. Locations include: Carbondale (282-3302), Forest City
(785-2018), Hawley (226-7303), and Dunmore (342-5333
Younger Age, Recent Surgery, and
Lymphedema Influence Decision for Repeat
mammogram in breast cancer survivors – OncLive – by Jill
Stein
Breast cancer
survivors who are younger, closer to the time of surgery, or have
upper-extremity lymphedema may be less likely to undergo repeat mammography,
new data suggest.
Rebecca A. Shelby,
PhD, with Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and
colleagues prospectively examined the factors that predicted sustained
adherence to surveillance mammography in 204 stage I to IIIA breast cancer
survivors who had completed surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy within the
past two to 10 years. Women who had completed or were receiving adjuvant
hormonal therapy were eligible for inclusion in the study.
The investigators
said that earlier studies of mammography adherence have focused on women
without a history of cancer, and that variables that might influence sustained
mammography use in breast cancer survivors may not be the same as variables in
women without a cancer history.
Study participants
completed questionnaires that assessed anticipatory anxiety about the
mammogram, persistent breast pain, mammography pain, and catastrophic thoughts
about mammography pain.
A review of medical
records showed that 173 women (84.8%) had a subsequent mammogram during the 12
months after the start of the study.
Forty percent of
women reported moderate-to- severe mammography pain on the 10-point Brief Pain
Inventory. The study also found that higher levels of anticipatory anxiety and
pain catastrophizing were associated with poorer anxiety adherence (P
< .05). The impact of anticipatory anxiety on mammography adherence was
mediated by pain catastrophizing (indirect effect, P
< .05).
Shelby, who is
assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and coauthors said
that the use of behavioral techniques or anti-anxiety medications may be useful
in women with high levels of anxiety or catastrophic thoughts related to
mammography. Physicians should also consider reminding some patients about the
value of mammography in women with a history of breast cancer.
The authors
cautioned that the study’s nonexperimental design means that it is not possible
to make “causal attributions about the relationships between anxiety,
catastrophizing, and adherence.” In addition, because the study was conducted
at a university medical center, the findings may not necessarily apply to
community practice.
The authors also
noted that their study population was followed by oncologists. Earlier research
has shown that breast cancer survivors are more likely to undergo mammography
when they are followed by an oncologist than a primary care
physician.
Finally, the
authors said that it is possible that mammography-related anxiety and
catastrophizing might represent women’s level of general anxiety. Future
research should determine the impact of general anxiety and mammography-related
anxiety on adherence.
May 17,
2012
Devon Medical Products Announces Strategic Alliance
with PKUcare BeiYi Pharmaceutical co to distribute
US-made medical products in China – MarketWatch –
KING OF
PRUSSIA, Pa., May 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Devon Medical Products, a global
medical device manufacturer and distributor, today announced PKUcare BeiYi
Pharmaceutical Co. (PKU) as a strategic distribution partner in the People's
Republic of China.
Under the
agreement, PKU will distribute Devon Medical Products' line of medical devices
and equipment, including its extriCARE(TM) Negative Pressure Wound Therapy
(NPWT) system, in China. Devon Medical Products will also identify U.S. medical
device companies that manufacture products domestically and connect them with
PKU to jumpstart distribution in China.
Devon
Medical Products and PKU teamed up last year to help Vycor Medical receive
regulatory approval and increase its distribution channels in China for its
ViewSite(TM) Brain Access System (VBAS) neurosurgery device.
"Devon
Medical Products strives to develop innovative medical devices that both
enhance patient treatments worldwide but also bolster our economy here in the
United States," says Dr. John A. Bennett, president and CEO of Devon Medical
Products. "This strategic alliance with the renowned PKU BeiYi Pharmaceutical
company will serve to help our business and other U.S. companies expand exports
and distribution abroad, increase revenue, and stimulate job growth. We look
forward to continuing our mutually beneficial relationship with PKU both in the
United States and in China."
PKUcare
BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Peking University
International Healthcare Group, a large healthcare organization in China.
Peking University International Healthcare Group owns and operates various
companies spanning healthcare management, healthcare information systems,
medical device distribution, and pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing, and
logistics.
About
Devon Medical Products
Devon
Medical Products ( www.devonmedicalproducts.com ) is a global medical device
manufacturer and distributor dedicated to advancing healthcare treatments and
therapies through technological innovation. The company has cultivated an
exclusive line of medical devices, including the CircuFlow(TM) compression
therapy pump series for the treatment of Lymphedema, the ArterioFlow(TM) 7500
arterial compression pump for the treatment of ulcers related to diabetic foot
and peripheral arterial disease, and the extriCARE(TM) Negative Pressure Wound
Therapy (NPWT) System. Devon Medical Products is headquartered in King of
Prussia, Pennsylvania, and has international offices staffed with bilingual
engineers, product development teams, and regulatory experts.
About
PKUcare BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
PKUcare
BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is a specialized pharmaceutical logistics company
providing medicine, chemical raw medicine, drug preparation services, and
medical instruments. The company is a subsidiary of the PKU International
HealthCare Group, which was established in 2003 to leverage the rich resources
of the Founder Group as well as the medical science department of PKU.
Presently, it has developed into a group enterprise covering the healthcare and
pharmaceutical industries. Taking the projects of PKU International HealthCare
Group as the development focus and strategic platform, the Group has a complete
healthcare industry group integrating healthcare management, medical
information systems, medical nursery, health
management and logistics services for healthcare as well
as a complete pharmaceutical industry group integrating drug research and
development, medicine manufacturing, medicine logistics and medicine sale
platforms. It is now an industry shareholding group company with complete
healthcare and pharmacy industry chains.
SOURCE:
Devon Medical Products
May 22,
2012
Fury of pensioner's family as her care home fees are
more than doubled to L125,000 a year - Daily Mail –
Mrs Watts ,76, has until July to decide whether to pay
the increased fees - or move out
Care home says Mrs Watts receives 13 hours extra
additional care compared to other residents
The family of a pensioner
are furious after her care home fees were more than doubled to a staggering
£125,000 a year.
Pamela Watts, 76, is currently paying £3,543 a month out of her
savings to live at a care home in Sandford Station Retirement Village in
Somerset.
But her fees are now being increased to £10,355 per month, of which
the Government contributes just £432.
The home, run by the St Monica Trust, says Mrs Watts’ fees have
increased because of her complex and challenging needs.
She has been given until July to decide whether to pay the increased
fees - or move out.
Her daughter Jacquie Heal, 44, said her mother will now have to sell
her home in Bristol to meet the astronomical costs.
Mrs Heal, a housewife, is calling on the Government put a cap on fees
at care homes, which are currently free to charge what they like.
She said: 'It seems as when you are a privately funded patient, care
homes can charge what they like.
'There seems to be no regulatory body controlling the fees or putting
a cap on them.
'These fees are extortionate - you could enjoy an all-year luxury
cruise or pay three live-in carers a week for the same
money.'
Mrs Watts suffers from lymphedema, a condition that causes swelling in
the body’s tissue, and cannot walk.
She moved into Sherwood Lodge in December as she requires a
specialist track hoist to move her around.
But her daughter says she is still able to carry out everyday tasks
herself such as eating and drinking.
Mrs Heal added: 'Mum’s only problem is with her lymphedema which
causes swollen legs and makes it impossible for her to walk.
'She is articulate and can feed herself, brush her hair and give
herself a drink. I think it is outrageous that the fees have risen so much as
mum’s needs have not changed.'
Mrs Heal, who lives in Cleeve, North Somerset, applied to the
government for Continuing Healthcare Funding for help in paying the
fees.
But the application
was refused - as Mrs Watts’ has savings of more than £23,000 and therefore does
not qualify for help.
Mrs Heal has now written to North Somerset MP Dr Liam Fox and health
secretary Andrew Lansley asking for support, as well as appealing to the St
Monica Trust.
A spokeswoman for St Monica Trust said the price increase will only
cover the actual cost Mrs Watts’ care - which is 91 additional staff hours
every week, costing £1,365.
She said: 'The trust has been very concerned to provide a long-term
care solution for Mrs Watts, despite her extremely complex care needs which has
arisen as a consequence of various health conditions, weight and lack of
mobility.
'The care requirements for Mrs Watts are considerably greater than for
all other residents.
'She currently receives an additional 13 hours of dedicated care every
day.
'The trust has been providing this additional care, without question,
and at its own cost since early December, but we hope people understand that,
as a not-for-profit organisation, we cannot continue
to do this on an indefinite basis.'
But a spokesman for the National Pensioners Convention said the cost
was “astronomical”.
He said: 'These are astronomical fees. The care home usually charges
around £1,000 each week - so this is more than double the average
cost.
'There is no cap on fees, no minimum or maximum that care homes have
to adhere to. They can charge what they like and what they think they can get
away with.
'It is worse than a postcode lottery, it is a home by home lottery
with each charging something different.
'It is pretty despicable and an areas that desperately needs to be
controlled. In a way it is exploiting an individual who simply cannot afford to
sustain such a high cost.
'If she cannot pay, she will be forced to move out and find other
care, something that places a great deal of stress and strain on a
person.'
May
20, 2012
Elephantiasis woman from Peru to receive free
treatment in Taiwan - Focus Taiwan News Channel –
By
Nancy Liu
Taipei, May 20 (CNA) A Peruvian woman suffering from
elephantiasis is expected to arrive in Taiwan next month for treatment, with
her expenses being paid by the Taiwan government and a hospital, one of the
doctors to operate on her said Sunday.
Thanks
to Taiwan, Mercedes Ordinola will finally receive proper treatment, Pedro
Ciudad, a Peruvian doctor on a fellowship study at China Medical
University in Taiwan, told CNA in a telephone interview.
Though a full assessment of Ordinola's condition
will be made after she arrives on June 2, Ciudad said that Ordinola was
diagnosed with congenital lymphedema, commonly known as elephantiasis.
The doctor explained that Ordinola has not received
medical attention due to the extreme costs for treatment. The delay in seeking
help has not only caused severe malformation in her foot, but also seriously
impeded her mobility.
Months ago, her story caught the attention of
Taiwan's de-facto embassy in Peru, which passed a request for assistance back
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
With
free round-trip tickets from the Taiwan government, Ciudad said he is set to
fly back to Peru and bring Ordinola to Taiwan for a planned four-month surgical
and medical treatment at his hospital.
While all medical expenses will be covered by
Ciudad's hospital, some overseas Taiwanese residing in Peru also made
individual donations upon learning of Ordinola's condition, he added.
Last year, another Peruvian woman suffering from the
same disease also came to Taiwan for medical treatment. Her
expenses
April
25, 2012
Early detection of lymphedema crucial,
says Regina woman - Regina Leader-Post –
By Pamela Cowan
REGINA
— Unable to lift her arm and wrap her fingers around her beloved violin, Glenda
Cook’s life hit a melancholy note soon after she was diagnosed with breast
cancer.
Shortly
after surgery in 2008, Cook developed lymphedema in her left arm. The abnormal
build up of fluid in tissue causes swelling — often in the arms or legs, but it
can occur anywhere in the body.
Cook
went to Tracy Gardikiotis, a physical therapist with the Regina Qu’Appelle
Health Region (RQHR), who is a certified lymphedema therapist and has
specialized breast cancer training.
“I
was pretty lucky that it was caught early,” Cook said.
Still,
lymphedema stole one of her great passions — playing second violin in the
Regina Symphony Orchestra — something she had done for 32 years.
The
56-year-old president of the Lymphedema Association of Saskatchewan said more
awareness is needed of the warning signs of lymphedema.
“The
arm might feel heavy or achy and swelling is a major symptom, but often the
early signs manifest before there is any swelling,” Cook said. “The main thing
about lymphedema is that the earlier it is treated, the fewer problems there
are down the road.”
Lymphedema
is a specialized area that is not well understood by some health-care
professionals and patients, Gardikiotis said.
To
educate patients, health-care workers and policy-makers about the chronic
condition, the association, in conjunction with the Continuing Physical Therapy
Education department at the University of Saskatchewan and the RQHR held a
Lymphedema Management Symposium last week that featured experts from the Mayo
Clinic, the Toronto area and Montreal.
Experts
at the symposium strongly promoted exercise and reinforced the importance of
using compression garments.
Patients
diagnosed early often require just a compression garment to contain the
swelling, Gardikiotis said.
For
three years, Cook religiously wore a compression garment, did self massage and
had manual lymph drainage — a light progressive massage to encourage
drainage.
Since
September, her arm has improved so she doesn’t require a compression garment
during the day, but wears a Reid Sleeve nightly and does compression
wrapping.
Cook
lamented that lymphedema treatment across Saskatchewan is spotty and said more
specialists are required.
“We
are so blessed in Regina to have Tracy,” Cook said.
Currently,
Gardikiotis treats about 300 lymphedema patients in southern Saskatchewan. Some
people are born with lymphedema while others experience it after cancer
treatment.
There
is no cure, but if caught early, the impact can be significantly minimized,
Gardikiotis said.
“In
the later stage, there is some tissue damage and some of those changes are
irreversible and they require much more treatment to maintain their limb at a
stable point and minimize infection and keep them functioning,” Gardikiotis
said. “If not treated properly, it can have significant physical, psychosocial
and financial implications on patients’ lives so we’re really striving to
increase lymphedema awareness and education to ensure that we can improve the
care that we are offering patients.”
[email protected]
©
Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
May
18, 2012
Devon Medical Products opens door to distribution in
China - Philadelphia Business Journal – by John George
Devon
Medical Products entered into an
agreement Friday with PKUcare BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. to distribute Devon’s
medical devices and equipment in China.
Financial
terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Under
the agreement, Devon Medical Products of King of Prussia will also identify
other U.S. medical device companies that manufacture products domestically and
connect them with PKU to “jump-start” distribution of those products in
China.
“This
strategic alliance with PKU BeiYi Pharmaceutical will serve to help our
business and other U.S. companies expand exports and distribution abroad,
increase revenue and stimulate job growth,” said Dr. John
A. Bennett, president and CEO of Devon Medical
Products.
Devon’s
products include CircuFlow compression therapy pumps used for the treatment of
Lymphedema, the ArterioFlow 7500 arterial compression pump for the treatment of
ulcers related to diabetic
foot and peripheral arterial disease, and the extriCare negative pressure wound
therapy system.
PKU
is a subsidiary of Peking University International Healthcare
Group.
May
17, 2012
Dream comes true for longtime friends with launch of
clinic - Royal Gazette – By Lindsay Kelly
Long-time
friends have realised their professional dreams with the grand opening of
InTouch Therapy, a rehabilitation
clinic in Hamilton.
Life
has come full circle for Tanaeya Burch, a certified physical therapist (PT) and
Morrisa Rogers, a certified occupational therapist (OT), who met in the same
place where they have opened their office: the Hamilton Seventh-day Adventist
Church.
“We’ve
been friends for at least 20 years,” said Ms Rogers. “We met at church and have
been friends ever since.”
The
new private practice, which opened in April, offers a wide range of services
including oncology rehabilitation and hand therapy, providing treatment for
various diagnoses, such as lymphedema, obesity, pelvic rehabilitation, complex
traumatic injuries and post-surgical procedures, as well as more common
problems involving the upper and lower extremities.
The
women, both in their early 30s, are part of the new generation of healthcare
practitioners setting up shop in Bermuda.
Both
attended Andrews University in Michigan where Ms Burch graduated with Master’s
Degree
in physical therapy. Ms Rogers went on to graduate from
University of Indianapolis in Indiana with a Master’s Degree in occupational therapy
.
Ms
Burch is also STAR Clinician certified, which is internationally recognised
training in oncology rehabilitation and is the deputy chairman of the Bermuda
Physiotherapy Association.
Ms
Burch and Ms Rogers returned to Bermuda in 2004 and 2008, respectively,
reconnected once again and began working at King Edward Memorial Hospital just
down the hall from each other.
Combining
their skill sets, the pair struck off on their own and opened the doors to
InTouch Therapy last month.
The
clinicians started receiving patients just six weeks ago but much to their
surprise, their docket of patients has quickly filled. For the last two weeks,
Ms Burch’s schedule has almost been booked solid.
“It’s
been going better than expected,” said Ms Rogers, adding that word-of-mouth and
strong physician referrals have helped bolster their business. “We were always
cautious but we have been surprised and excited with how fast things have
picked up.”
Ms
Rogers, who is the chairman of the Bermuda Occupational Therapy Association and
registered OT in the US, provides her occupational therapy services before and
after business hours (4:30 to 7:30pm) and on the weekends upon request.
“We’re
trying to be as accommodating as possible,” she said.
Their
new office, at 45 King Street, was already outfitted as a doctor’s office and
the location, they say, is ideal.
“It’s
central but not in the middle of Hamilton which can be congested and close to
the Hospital,” said Ms Rogers, adding that the practice has three parking
spaces, which was a must for people with injuries.
Ms
Burch, who proposed and initiated the current Lymphedema Clinic in 2007 at
KEMH, said the goal of the practice was to be “in touch” with the
community.
“Our
main mission is to provide services and treatments that aren’t already offered
on the Island and meet the needs of our patients,” she said, adding that they
are happy to hear about new services that aren’t available in Bermuda which
they may be able to incorporate into their treatment offerings.
Patients
do not need a referral to set up an appointment and the clinic accepts all
insurance.
InTouch
Therapy can be contact at 238-6824 or by e-mail [email protected].
May
20, 2012
business people 5/20 - Bismarck
Tribune –
Smith
with clinic
Megan
Smith, OTR/L recently joined the hand therapy department at Mid Dakota
Clinic.
Smith
earned a master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Mary
and is certified in lymphedema.
May
16, 2012
Malpractice suit claims wrong type of treatment given
to breast cancer treatment- Southeast Texas
Record – By David Yates
Houston resident Addie Akins has filed suit against Dr. Gaylon
Gonzales, alleging the Beaumont physician failed to administer the correct type
of care for her breast cancer.
According to the petition filed May 10 in
Jefferson County District Court, Akins was referred to Gonzales in September
2010 for evaluation of a right breast mass. On Dec. 9, 2010, Akins underwent a
right breast lumpectomy and axillary lymph node dissection.
Pathology
showed low-grade invasive ductal carcinoma, according to the suit. Thirteen
lymph nodes were negative for malignancy. Post-operatively, Akins developed
lymphedema and continues to undergo treatment, which includes lymphatic
drainage, vasopneumatic pumping, exercise, diet and nutritional counseling, the
suit states.
"The standard of care for breast cancer patients with
clinically negative lymph nodes is to perform sentinel lymph node biopsy at the
time of the lumpectomy ... instead of an axillary lymph node dissection," the
suit states.
Akins alleges Dr. Gonzales did not adequately observe,
diagnose and treat her and the failure to perform the correct procedure has
caused her personal damages.
The plaintiff is suing for her alleged past
and future medical expenses, mental anguish, pain, impairment, disfigurement
and lost wages, plus all court costs.
Houston attorney Steven Davis of
Davis & Davis represents her.
Judge Donald Floyd, 172nd District
Court, is assigned to the case.
Case No. E192-433
May
11, 2012
All-natural soaps and body care products made in
Edmonton - Edmonton Journal – By
Marta Gold
EDMONTON
- Amy Beaith grows mint in her garden, picks wild rosehips from the river valley
and gathers lilacs around her neighbourhood to use in her own, hyper-local line
of natural soaps and body products.
What she
can’t grow or find in the wild, she buys from local producers or retailers.
What she can’t find locally, she tries to buy from fair trade, organic
suppliers.
The
result is a line of body care and cleaning products that is all-natural,
friendly to sensitive and allergic skin and supportive of Edmonton’s
economy.
“It’s
really nice to include other local ingredients, whether they’re wild or from a
farm nearby because then when a customer’s buying it, not only are they
supporting me, they’re supporting all these other people as well to keep things
local and keep the money local,” says Beaith.
The
former librarian first began making her own lotions and soaps because she
suffers from lymphedema, a chronic impairment of the lymphatic system that can
result in fluid buildup, cracked skin and infection without careful, gentle
skin care.
Growing
up in a small, rural town in Ontario, her mother made her own beeswax-based
cream to treat the condition. Beaith later learned to make it
herself.
Friends
began requesting her products and urged her to sell them, which she did as a
hobby. Last year, she turned her attention full-time to making her Ameya
Studio line of products and selling them at craft shows,
the city farmers
market, Sabrina
Butterfly Designs and online.
When
she’s not brewing up body products, she’s picking and preserving her own fruits
and vegetables as the volunteer director of Operation
Fruit Rescue, a local group that harvests unwanted or
excess produce from local gardens. She also teaches canning classes to pass
that knowledge on to others.
While
some think her two passions incongruous, she sees them as
complementary.
“I see
it all tying back to traditional skills or lost skills; it’s just a simpler way
of living, learning how to make stuff and share those skills with other people,
learning how to use what grows in your own environment,” she says.
For last
weekend’s Slow Food Canada conference in Edmonton, she was commissioned to make
gift soaps, which she did from local ingredients, including hemp, canola and
flax oil from Mighty Trio
Organics, oats from Gold
Forest Grain and Lola
Canola’s honey and beeswax. To scent the soap, she chose
three essential oils reminiscent of the boreal forest — lavender, rosemary and
pine. She called it the Farm to City soap.
Most of
her soaps are made from olive oil, which isn’t made here of course, but which
she buys from the Italian
Centre just a few blocks from her home. The essential
oils she uses are pure and non-synthetic. Other ingredients used to give
texture, scent and visual interest to her soaps like herbs and edible flowers
are often bought locally.
Her line
of olive-oil soaps and beeswax body creams has grown into include lip balm,
bath salts and exfoliating scrubs for the face and body, which include
ingredients like sugar, salt, coffee grounds and cocoa. Beaith also makes
felted soaps, which are wrapped in colourful, raw wool to act as a washcloth
and prolong the life of the soap.
In
response to requests for all-natural cleaners and laundry detergents, she used
soap nuts — a fruit from Nepal that contains natural soap — to make laundry
detergent, all-purpose cleaner, vegetable wash and yoga-mat spray. Because soap
nuts are plant based, they’re biodegradable, biocompatible and safe for grey
water use.
Beaith
makes unscented versions for those with strong sensitivities, as well as soap
nuts products scented with blends like lavender and lemon grass, earl grey (a
blend of bergamot, grapefruit and orange) or lemon, sage and pine.
She
changes her products regularly to include scents like vanilla Rooibos tea,
chocolate mint, Edmonton rosehips and pomegranate, yerba mate and
coffee.
This
weekend, Beaith will be at the
Make It craft show, which runs Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6
p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alberta Aviation Hangar on
Kingsway. She’ll also be at the City Farmers Market on 104th Street every
Saturday this spring and summer and will be teaching food preservation course
through Metro Continuing
Education this fall.
[email protected]
twitter.com/MartaGold1
To
read Marta Gold and Amanda Ash’s blog, The New Black, go to
edmontonjournal.com/blogs
©
Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
May
10, 2012
Powerful Combo Reducing
Lymphedema - First Coast News –
It's
an unsightly side effect of breast cancer many survivors have to live with.
Now, a new way to deliver cancer treatment is reducing the risk of
lymphedema.
This
is all there was to this article except a video
May
31, 2012
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc. Launches Their New
Website Spectrumhealthcare.net - PR Web –
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc. has recently launched their brand new
website . Located at http://www.Spectrumhealthcare.net,
the new site gives consumers a fast, easy way to access information about
Spectrum Healthcare’s vast array of compression therapy products online and
even purchase them.
The company deals in compression
therapy equipment, and has just recently launched a new
website for patients, doctors, nurses, etc. to browse the products they offer,
and even features step by step assistance by Spectrum Healthcare agents to
assist in the selection of the appropriate equipment. At one time, compression
therapy was administered exclusively in hospitals and clinics, but with
compression pumps, sleeves and other equipment now available to the public and
doubling as a very convenient and highly effective home remedy for poor
circulation and other vascular ailments, Spectrum Healthcare Inc has made it a
point to follow the signs of the times and offer the convenience of searching
for these products from home. The products are non-invasive and user friendly,
and many have a far reaching history of successfully treating the varied
painful symptoms that are attributed to vascular and circulatory
disorders.
About Compression therapy:
Most compression therapy equipment is
covered by health
insurance and Medicare
plans . Compression treatment is a simple, yet effective
and inexpensive method for treatment for many conditions that feature chronic
and severe swelling as symptoms such as Chronic edema and Lymphedema, as well
as other disorders where the vascular system is affected (including those that
inhibit wound healing, such as venous insufficiency).
About Spectrum Healthcare, Inc:
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc. has a
quarter of a century of combined experience in compression therapy. They are a
leading compression therapy device provider known for staying abreast of the
latest in technology and patient education. The compression therapy products
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc offers are used by across the country in clinics and
hospitals as well as in the home for a variety of patients with a broad range
of conditions from chronic edema and lymphedema to chronic venous
insufficiency, venous stasis ulcers, peripheral vascular disease, and an array
of other serious circulatory disorders.
Spectrum Healthcare is not simply staffed with experts in compression
therapy products, but also their application. They have a record of helping
patients, doctors and nurses navigate through the wide variety of product
options they offer to match those individuals with the compression therapy
solution best suited to their specific area and particular ailment.
In
addition to the new online guidance Spectrum Healthcare has recently rolled
out, they also make sure patients have the appropriate compression treatment as
well as set up any compression therapy equipment. The company makes sure their
product is working properly, and provides individualized instruction for use
until patients are comfortable operating their compression therapy equipment on
their own.
May
30, 2012
Lymphedema Tied to
Obesity - MedPage Today – By
Todd Neale
Obesity
may contribute to the development of lymphedema, a small study
showed.
Among
15 obese patients with enlargement of the legs, the average body mass
index was significantly greater for those with confirmed lymphedema (70.1
versus 42.0 kg/m2, P<0.001),
according to Arin Greene, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, and
colleagues.
"Our
findings suggest that obesity ... may be a cause of lower-extremity
lymphedema," they wrote in a letter to the editor in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
"As
the amount of adipose tissue increases in the lower extremity, lymphatic
vessels may become dysfunctional (possibly because of compression or
inflammation), thereby reducing proximal lymphatic flow," they
explained.
"Alternatively,
elevated production of lymph from an enlarging limb may overwhelm the capacity
of a normal lymphatic system to remove the fluid from the extremity," they
continued. "Although lymphedema is typically progressive, we speculate that
major weight loss (e.g., after a bariatric procedure) might reverse lymphatic
insufficiency in obese patients with this condition."
All
of the patients in the study were referred for bilateral enlargement of the
lower extremities; 12 were women, the mean age was 58, and the mean BMI was
51.4 kg/m2. None of the patients had a history of primary
(idiopathic) lymphedema, inguinal lymphadenectomy or radiation, or ulceration
of a lower extremity.
All
of the patients underwent evaluation with lymphoscintigraphy. Five showed
abnormal lymphatic draining consistent with lymphedema and the rest had normal
results.
The
BMI was greater than 59 kg/m2 for all of the patients with
lymphedema and less than 54 kg/m2 for all of those with normal
lymphatic function.
"As
BMI increases, there might be a threshold above which lymphatic flow becomes
impaired," Greene and colleagues wrote. "Proximal transport of lymphatic fluid
from the extremity is dependent on the function of the lymphatic vasculature
(clearance) and the volume of lymph produced by the tissues
(load)."
Sex
and age did not differ based on lymphedema status.
May
31, 2012
Obesity linked to lower-extremity
lymphedema - Clinical Advisor –
HealthDay
News -- Extreme obesity may contribute to lower-extremity lymphedema,
results from a small study suggest.
Average
BMI was significantly greater for those with confirmed
lymphedema (70.1 versus 42.0 kg/m2, P<0.001)
among 15 obese patients with enlargement of the legs, Arin K. Greene, MD, from
Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues reported in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
"Our
findings suggest that obesity, which affects one-third of the population in the
United States, may be a cause of lower-extremity lymphedema. As BMI increases,
there might be a threshold above which lymphatic flow becomes impaired," the
researchers wrote.
All
patients included in the study were referred for bilateral enlargement of the
lower extremities. Twelve were women, the mean age was 58 and the mean BMI was
51.4 kg/m2. No patients had a history of primary (idiopathic)
lymphedema, inguinal lymphadenectomy or radiation, or ulceration of a lower
extremity.
Patients
underwent lymphoscintigraphy, which has a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity
of 92%, to detect lymphedema. Abnormal lymphatic draining consistent with
lymphedema was detected in five patients.
All patients with a BMI higher than 59 kg/m² had lymphedema, while
lymphatic function was normal for all those with a BMI below 54 kg/m².
"Although
lymphedema is typically progressive, we speculate that major weight loss (e.g.,
after a bariatric procedure) might reverse lymphatic insufficiency in obese
patients with this condition," the researchers wrote.
Greene A et al. N
Engl J Med.
2012; 366: 2136-2137.
May
31, 2012
Link Between Obesity and Lower-Extremity
Lymphedema Explored - Doctors Lounge –
Lymphedema
is a disease caused by the anomalous development of the lymphatic system or
injury to the lymphatic vasculature; millions of people are affected
worldwide.1 In this condition,
fluid accumulates in the interstitial space, causing enlargement of the
affected area. Complications include functional disability, psychosocial
disorders, infection, skin changes, and, rarely, malignant transformation.
Primary (idiopathic) lymphedema is rare, with an incidence of 1.2 cases per
100,000 persons younger than 20 years of age.2
Secondary lymphedema is more common and results from injury (e.g., infection or
radiation) or the removal of lymph
nodes or lymphatic vasculature.
We
report on 15 obese patients (body-mass index [BMI; the weight in kilograms
divided by the square of the height in meters], >30)3
with bilateral lower-extremity enlargement who were referred to our center.
Twelve of the 15 were women, and the mean age was 57.9 years (range, 34 to 78);
the mean BMI was 51.4 (range, 30.7 to 88.1). None of the patients had a history
of primary lymphedema, inguinal lymphadenectomy or radiation, or ulceration of
a lower extremity. All patients underwent lymphoscintigraphy, which has been
reported to be 100% specific and 92% sensitive for lymphedema.4,5
Five
patients had abnormal results on lymphoscintigraphy that showed impaired
lymphatic function consistent with lymphedema; 10 had normal results (Table
1Table
1Patients'
Age, BMI, and Lymphoscintigraphic Results.;
and see the figure in the Supplementary
Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at
NEJM.org). The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema (70.1 [range, 59.7
to 88.1]) was significantly greater than the BMI of obese patients without
lymphedema (42.0 [range, 30.7 to 53.3]) (P<0.001). All patients with a BMI
above 59 had lymphedema, whereas each patient with a BMI less than 54 had
normal lymphatic function. There was no difference between the groups with
respect to sex (P=1.00) or age (P=0.29).
Our findings suggest that obesity, which
affects one third of the population in the United States,3
may be a cause of lower-extremity lymphedema. As BMI increases, there might be
a threshold above which lymphatic flow becomes impaired. Proximal transport of
lymphatic fluid from the extremity is dependent on the function of the
lymphatic vasculature (clearance) and the volume of lymph produced by the
tissues (load). As the amount of adipose tissue increases in the lower
extremity, lymphatic vessels may become dysfunctional (possibly because of
compression or inflammation), thereby reducing proximal lymphatic flow.
Alternatively, elevated production
of lymph from an enlarging limb may overwhelm the
capacity of a normal lymphatic system to remove the fluid from the extremity.
Although lymphedema is typically progressive, we speculate that major weight loss
(e.g., after a bariatric procedure) might reverse lymphatic insufficiency in
obese patients with this condition.
Arin
K. Greene, M.D.
Frederick D. Grant, M.D.
Sumner A. Slavin,
M.D.
Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA
arin. greene@childrens. harvard.
edu
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full
text of this letter at NEJM.org.
May 31,
2012
Link Between Obesity and Lower-Extremity
Lymphedema Explored - MD News –
Duplicate of above
article
May 10,
2012
Powerful Combo Reducing
Lymphedema - WFMY News 2 –
It's an unsightly
side effect of breast cancer many survivors have to live with. Now, a new way
to deliver cancer treatment is reducing the risk of lymphedema
May 15, 2012
Montgomery's Snider reflects on year at helm
of American Society of Breast Surgeons -
Montgomery Advertiser – by
Allison
Griffin
Dr. Howard Snider has treated breast disease patients for 36 years in
his Montgomery practice, and has been a part of trends both in patient care and
professional development for other surgeons.
Snider
just completed his yearlong term as the president of the board of directors of
the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS), the primary leadership
organization for general surgeons who treat patients with breast
disease.
Snider
served as president of the board while still treating patients in his practice
at Alabama Surgical Consultants. This past year, it wasn’t unusual for him to
finish a case in the operating room and come out to find 20 emails of ASBS
business to tend to.
“It’s
been a busy year, but very rewarding,” Snider said.
Asked to
talk about some of those rewards, Snider points to the position statements that
the ASBS periodically issues to help guide surgeons in how they take care of
their patients.
One
example is the controversial recommendation from the U.S. Preventative Services
Task Force in late 2009 that women should start mammography screenings at age
50 and should only have them performed every two years. The recommendation was
widely reported in the media.
The ASBS
issued a position statement in August affirming the long-held standard that
women should begin annual mammography screenings at age 40.
It comes
down to a cost issue, Snider said; the task force is correct in its finding
that fewer screenings save money. “By their calculations, it’s not
cost-effective to do it annually starting in the 40s,” he said.
“They
acknowledge that, yes, some women are going to die as a result of not screening
it, but they look at the other side of it, and the unnecessary biopsies and
trauma that women go through, and weigh those two things, and come down on the
side of, it’s not worth it.”
It’s a
societal issue, Snider said, “but there’s no question you’re going to find more
cancers if you screen starting at age 40 and doing it annually.”
Quality
measures
The ASBS
has also taken a leading role in helping to define the quality measures that
are used to evaluate breast surgeons.
Such
publicly reported quality measures are going to be used to judge the
performance of a surgeon and will actually be used to determine reimbursements
in the future. “So to get those quality measures right is a big factor,” Snider
said.
The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) had been using measures that
weren’t very good, Snider said. The ASBS came up with three new breast-specific
quality measures and submitted them to the CMMS, which approved
them.
The ASBS
also started a voluntary Mastery of Breast Surgery Program, which helps
surgeons document their performance of breast procedures as well as care of
their patients.
Helping
patients
In his
own practice, Snider has long worked toward better ways to manage the axilla,
or the lymph nodes under the arm. The surgical removal of lymph nodes from the
armpit was at one time routine in the treatment of early breast
cancer.
One of
the problems with taking out many lymph nodes is the high chance of lymphedema,
or permanent swelling of the arm.
Up until
the mid-1990s, surgeons had to take out all the lymph nodes to determine the
course of therapy, Snider said.
In 1997,
Snider started doing just a sentinel node biopsy. A sentinel lymph node is the
first node to which cancer is most likely to spread from a tumor; taking out
just the sentinel nodes cut down on the risk of lymphedema.
“My
question was, when the node is positive, whether you should remove the rest of
the nodes, or treat the lymph nodes with radiation.” At the time, the standard
of care was still to remove all the lymph nodes.
In
patients who were going to get radiation to the breast anyway, it made sense to
Snider to just treat the remaining lymph nodes under the arm, instead of
removing them.
“I
reviewed the literature at the time, (and) it looked to me like there were
advantages to doing radiation, instead of removing it all,” Snider said. “I
started at that time offering patients a choice” — removing all the lymph
nodes, or radiation.
To
prepare for his ASBS presidential address, Snider reviewed his data from 1997
to 2011, with 880 He found that the risk of lymphedema with the removal of the
lymph nodes was 30 percent in his series, and seven percent with radiation — a
marked decrease.
Snider
said a large randomized trial from the Netherlands is due next year that he
thinks will confirm a lower risk of lymphedema with patients who received
radiation, as opposed to those who had a removal.
“So next
year, radiation will go from being just an acceptable alternative to probably
the preferred alternative, after that study is published,” Snider said. “That’s
what I think it’s going to show.”
That
continues a trend, Snider said, of moving toward doing less and less surgery.
“Everything is getting less invasive.”
In
addition to the clinical part of his practice, Snider and his wife, Pam, who is
a clinical psychologist, started a support group for patients with breast
disease back in 1986. Snider said the group still has some patients who started
attending back in the late 1980s.
“That’s a
very fulfilling thing, to treat not only the physical condition, but the
emotional part as well,” he said.
May
9, 2012
38 stone man stranded in Middlesbrough
home - Gazette Live – by Andy Passant
A 38-STONE man says he has been left housebound and depressed after
the axing of a vital bus service.
Dad-of-two David Brown, 64, of Middlesbrough, relied on the Dial A
Ride service to get out and about.
But the service has fallen victim to Middlesbrough Council’s
cutbacks.
Former warehouseman David, of Hazel Court, is 6ft tall and has a
medical condition called lymphedema which affects his legs. He is unsteady on
his feet and can’t walk very far.
Wife Margaret said: “The nurses have to come in and massage his legs.
His legs keep filling up with fluid. It just stops him getting
about.”
Margaret, 59, herself fighting breast cancer, said the Dial A Ride
service had been “been like a lifeline”. She said: “He is stuck in the house
24/7. His mood is very low.”
She said the service had been replaced with taxis but this was “no
good.” She explained: “He is 38 stone. He can’t fit into ordinary
taxis.”
It is not the first time David has suffered because of his
size.
In 2006, when he weighed 29 stone, he missed a sunshine holiday
because airline staff told him he was too big to fit into the seats of a
plane.
At the time, David told the Gazette: “I was made to stand there and
look a fool.”
The couple later sued travel agents Thomas Cook for alleged distress
and breach of contract but lost their claim for compensation.
Now Margaret fears her husband is again sinking into depression and
admitted: “I am not coping at the moment.
“I haven’t got the strength to push him in a
wheelchair.”
David said the Dial A Ride service “really brought me out of my
depression”.
But now he says he is “just stuck on the sofa all day. It’s the
company I miss. I can go nowhere.”
He says he can’t walk very far. “If I fall over, because of the way I
am, they have to phone the fire brigade.
“I did fall outside the Legion Club about a year ago. It took about
eight people to get me up.”
David admits he used to eat and drink too much - at one point
drinking up to 25 pints a night - but says he is now trying to bring his weight
down.
A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: “All Dial A Ride members were
written to in early April to advise them of the closure of the service, with
the offer of additional support to anyone with particular needs.
“A social worker from Middlesbrough Council’s physical disability
team has been assigned to Mr Brown’s case and a review will be undertaken of
his and his carer’s needs.”
May
4, 2012,
Health Wise: Summertime heat and
Lymphedema - Calaveras Enterprise –
By Patricia Oliver
Summertime
temperatures can be uncomfortable, but for those with Lymphedema, the rise in
ambient temperature can increase symptoms and discomfort. Lymphedema is
swelling in your arms, legs, fingers and toes caused by a blockage. Managing
care of the affected extremity becomes more challenging as the numbers on the
thermometer rise – particularly when the treatment requires tight fitting body
wraps.
The
lymphatic system is a network of vessels, nodes, and lymphocytes that circulate
protein rich fluid throughout the body and flushes out wastes. When this system
is impaired, fluid buildup occurs impacting an arm, leg, fingers or toes. The
result is painful swelling of the impacted area, a feeling of tightness or
heaviness, recurring infections and hardening or thickening of the
skin.
It
frequently is a side effect of cancer treatment, but Lymphedema is also found
in people who have had surgery, infection, or a history of lymph system issues.
Obesity can also be a trigger.
Symptoms
of Lymphedema:
Symptoms
may include unexpected painless swelling of the trunk, arms, or legs. Skin
changes in the area may include thickening or discoloration. Particularly
troubling is the inability of a skin infection to heal. Symptoms may increase
with changes of outdoor temperature such as a hot summer day, using a hot tub,
pressure changes such as using a blood-pressure cuff or flying in an airplane;
or some symptoms may appear without warning.
The
management of Lymphedema can vary from a massage technique to increase the
re-absorption of the lymph fluid (manual lymph drainage) to exercises that
increase circulation. During summer when people prefer loose-fitting clothing,
treatment of Lymphedema often includes wrapping the affected limb in tight
bandaging to increase uptake of the fluid. Special garments can be worn to
maintain compression and some even include a pneumatic compression pump to
apply constant pressure.
Wound
Treatment:
Like
Lymphedema, there are other conditions that may result in chronic or
non-healing wounds. Without proper treatment, wounds can be debilitating and
hinder a person’s quality of life.
Examples
of some of the wounds that are treated in our center include: acute and chronic
non-healing wounds, pressure ulcers, venous stasis wounds/ulcers, and arterial
ulcers.
There
are three objectives in wound care – treatment, education and prevention.
Naturally, treating the wound to speed healing and prevent infection is the
first step. Partnering with patients is important so they can identify what
they can do at home to care for a wound and how to recognize when help is
needed. Finally, the patient needs to understand how they can prevent a future
wound.
Treating
Lymphedema and wounds sometimes requires a specialist. Mark Twain St. Joseph’s
Hospital offers the only outpatient Wound Care Center in the three county area
devoted to wounds and Lymphedema. Our Wound Care Center sees one patient at a
time by appointment, allowing for room sterilization between patients to
prevent cross-contamination between patients. The Wound Care Center is
conveniently located next to the lab should patients require lab work or wound
cultures.
If
you or someone that you know is fighting a chronic wound or swelling condition,
please contact us.
Patricia
Oliver is an occupational therapist, wound care consultant, and Lymphedema
therapist at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Physical Therapy Department.
Contact her at 754-2609.
May
1, 2012,
St. Francis -
Monroe News Star –
Lyymphedema
is an accumulation of lymphatic fluid that causes swelling, ...
While there is no cure for lymphedema, specialized therapy can
help relieve ...
Unfortunately
it said this page not found, sorry
April
30, 2012
North
American Seminars, Inc, Introduces Advanced Management of - DigitalJournal.com
This
was a two day course that is passed
April
25, 2012
Southwest, Columbus to meet in
final - MiamiHerald.com – BY WALTER
VILLA
Zach
Gonzalez’s right leg is twice as big as his left.
His
heart, in baseball terms at least, is bigger than both his legs
combined.
Gonzalez
proved that Wednesday afternoon, when he pitched a three-hitter to lead
Southwest to a 1-0 win over host Ferguson in a District 15-8A semifinal.
The
Eagles advanced to play Columbus in Friday’s district final. Columbus defeated
visiting Sunset on Wednesday night on a walk-off single by Frank Navarette to
right field.
Gonzalez,
a senior, has a rare condition called congenital lymphedema, which is
characterized by swelling in one or more extremities. There is no known cure,
but the condition is not life-threatening, and Gonzalez said he is not in any
pain.
“His
immune system is not great,” said his mother, Daisy Vega. “But he practices
every day. He’s very active.”
That
was certainly the case on Wednesday, when Gonzalez struck out eight and allowed
just two walks, including one intentional pass.
He
also beat Ferguson in last year’s GMAC final.
“We
have a lot of confidence in him,” Southwest coach Jose Torres said of Gonzalez,
who is his No. 2 starter. “He’s a tough kid.”
Southwest
(15-9) scored its only run in the first, when Carlos Pena singled, advanced to
third on a pair of walks and came home on a one-out sacrifice fly to deep
center by Bryan Carreras.
Ferguson
(13-10) had several chances to score, getting leadoff doubles in the second and
fourth innings. In the sixth, Ferguson used an error and two wild pitches to
put a runner on third, but Gonzalez struck out the final three batters in the
inning.
“My
slider was pinpoint,” Gonzalez said. “I was able to put it wherever I
wanted.”
Of
the last 13 batters Gonzalez faced, the only two that reached were on the error
and on a strikeout/wild pitch.
“Pitching
is not the problem with us,” Torres said of his team, which lost 1-0 in last
year’s district semifinal to Sunset. “We’re pretty deep.”
•
Columbus 4, Sunset 3: Sunset took a stunning 3-1 lead with three
runs in the top of the sixth but couldn’t hold off a the Explorers’ comeback.
Columbus
rallied with two runs in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a passed ball and
a wild pitch.
“The
catcher and pitcher got crossed up in their signals,” said Sunset assistant
head coach J.C. Diaz.
In
the bottom of the seventh, Chris Perez and Kevin Suarez drew walks, and Laz
Rivera advanced them with a sacrifice bunt. Navarette nearly struck out on a
close pitch at 2-2 and then fouled off a pair of fastballs before going the
opposite way for his game-winner.
Columbus
improved to 22-4. Sunset finished 11-14.
April 30,
2012
Medicine's deadly gender
gap - Macleans.ca –
New
research on pain, medical devices and even PMS reveals big holes in our
knowledge of the female body.
In 2004,
Barbara Colbourn began experiencing pain in her legs when walking. The
61-year-old London, Ont., office manager tried to ignore the discomfort at
first. Six months later, she went to her doctor, who diagnosed peripheral
artery disease, or PAD. Colbourn had never heard of it—and was shocked to learn
it was a chronic disease caused by atherosclerosis, or hardening of the
arteries, of the legs, feet or arms that puts people at higher risk of stroke,
heart attack and death. When she was asked to participate in a 24-week
international treatment trial organized by London clinical trials nurse Marge
Lovell, a PAD awareness advocate, she agreed. Like many women over 60,
Colbourn’s health concerns were fixated on breast cancer and heart disease.
“Hardening of the arteries was something my grandma had,” she
says.
Now 69,
Colbourn takes baby aspirin and a cholesterol-lowering drug and exercises daily
to prevent the disease’s progression and stave off invasive surgery. There were
warning signs she ignored, she says. She had to give up curling in her 50s
because her feet were always cold. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it
could be serious.” Just how serious was made clear in a study in the January
2012 American Heart Association journal Circulation:
it called PAD an unsung “pandemic” that afflicts more women than men, contrary
to previous assumptions. Research in women has lagged behind, says cardiologist
Alan Hirsch, a professor at the University of Minnesota medical school who
chaired the study. Just as heart disease manifests itself differently in women,
so does PAD, says Hirsch, whose study revealed that women with PAD, which
afflicts some 800,000 Canadians, are more likely than men to have a limb
amputated.
Diagnosed by a
simple test that compares arm blood pressure to leg blood pressure, PAD is the
“most common, deadly and costly cardiovascular disease that the public hasn’t
heard of,” says Hirsch; in 90 per cent of cases, it’s asymptomatic. That so few
women have heard of PAD doesn’t surprise Hirsch, who says women have been
routinely overlooked in vascular research: “It is embarrassing how many
hypertension, lipid studies, and stent trials were done with low [female]
enrolment. Every vascular disease I know of except aortic aneurysm is more
common in women—venous diseases, lymphedema, PAD—yet we don’t know why and we
don’t talk about it.”
A
lot of recent research exposes how little we know about the XX body. A report
in the February 2010 Annals
of Internal Medicine found that women with implantable
cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are more likely than men to develop
complications. The reason? Testing was done primarily on men, who tend to be
physically larger. Stephanie Brister, a surgeon at Toronto’s Peter Munk Cardiac
Centre, would like to see women-only randomized clinical trials for ICDs,
though she’s not optimistic. “It’s not cost-effective,” she says. “More likely
we’ll try to increase the number of women, then hopefully we’ll have a
substantial representation with real information.”
It may
not seem that surprising to many that women have been so overlooked in vascular
research. After all, it wasn’t until 2003 that the American Heart Association
issued separate guidelines for women based on the fact that heart disease
manifests itself differently in each sex. More shocking are the holes in our
fundamental knowledge. A Stanford University School of Medicine study in the
January Journal
of Pain, for instance, found women reported more intense pain than
men in virtually every disease category, and recommended stronger efforts to
recruit women in clinical studies to find out why. And the biggest eye-opener:
emerging research suggests our entrenched assumption about PMS transforming
women into erratic harridans is based on research that didn’t even use women.
Rather, to peg hormone levels to mood, most researchers have used theoretical
“menstrual cycle phases” which can be wildly imprecise given vast differences
between individual women, says neuroscientist Gillian Einstein, a professor at
the University of Toronto. Einstein is one of six female authors of a study,
“The Role of Ovarian Hormones in Daily Mood,” which was presented as an
abstract at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington last
November. Measuring women’s reported moods directly with their estrus cycles,
they found a correlation between mood and hormonal levels exists, but that mood
fluctuations are more linked to stress levels and general physical health. The
research, which has yet to be published, could be groundbreaking—and not only
in ending PMS jokes. It paves the way for a new understanding of half of the
population.
The
female body has been subject to rapt scrutiny for millennia—in painting,
poetry, even beer commercials. But in terms of scientific research, women
remain an unmapped continent. That may seem improbable given the seemingly
relentless focus on “women’s health”: nine editions of Our
Bodies, Ourselves, pink-ribbon campaigns, advances in breast-cancer
screening technology, an HPV vaccine, government-funded studies. Yet female
under-representation in scientific research mirrors that in politics and
executive suites, with two significant differences: it puts women’s health
directly at risk; and it limits our scientific knowledge.
The
imbalance has been discussed for decades, notably in Rebecca Dresser’s landmark
1992 essay, “Wanted: Single, White Male for Medical Research” (one of her
examples is a pilot project studying the role of obesity in breast and uterine
cancer that featured only white men). The bias is “nakedly discriminatory,”
Dresser wrote, given the knowledge that even “gender-neutral” conditions—heart
disease, depression, AIDS—manifest differently in men and women. Twenty years
later, the gap remains, despite legislation in the U.S. and less enforceable
“guidelines” in Canada. As Anne Zajicek, a clinical pharmacologist at the U.S.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), put it in 2010: “Things have been tested
in 70-kilo, 22-year-old men since forever, basically.”
Back in
the 1980s, the NIH established a policy that all research it funds must include
female subjects when appropriate; Congress made it law in 1994. In 2000, when
Canada’s scientific funding body, the Canadian Institute of Health Research
(CIHR), was founded, so too was an Institute for Gender and Health. Joy
Johnson, scientific director of the latter institute, says there’s a long way
to go in terms of educating people about the importance of studying differences
in sex and gender, but she’s optimistic: “My experience has been that once you
make the case and explain that this is not ideologically driven, that this is
about good science, then people get it.”
Yet even
with more women being included in trials, we don’t have good data, Johnson
says, because sex-specific results don’t have to be reported separately. That’s
also the case in the U.S., where a 2010 Institute of Medicine report concluded
that progress in women’s health has been slowed as a result. A 2011 study from
George Washington University spells it out: average enrolment of women in
clinical trials rose to 37 per cent between 1995 and 2010. But only 28 per cent
of publications referred to sex/gender-specific results.
Hirsch
blames an entrenched status quo for some of the bias: “Middle-aged white male
physicians have not made the effort to make clinical trials
representative—whether it’s women, Native Americans, immigrants. We tend as
clinicians to recruit people who look like us and speak the language we speak.”
Ruth Faden, executive director of the John Hopkins Berman Institute of
Bioethics, has put it more bluntly: “Scientists need to realize women are not
men without penises.”
Even the
influx of female doctors and scientists hasn’t made a dent in some fields.
Stephanie Brister says that when she started as a cardiac surgeon 25 years ago,
only 20 per cent of her patients were female. That hasn’t changed, despite
awareness campaigns. “It’s retrograde,” says Brister. “For 25 years we’ve been
trying to get the message out that more women should be [given] more aggressive
treatment because if they are, they do well. Yes, the risk might be higher than
for men, but it’s not so high that it negates the benefit [for women].” A
similar gender imbalance exists in surgery referrals for osteoarthritis, a
condition afflicting far more women than men. A 2008 study in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal that sent a man and a woman with moderate
osteoarthritis to 67 different physicians found that orthopaedic surgeons were
22 times more likely to recommend surgery to a man than a woman and that GPs
were twice as likely to recommend surgery to a man.
The
issue is complex, Brister says. One of the limitations of her ICD study was
that researchers couldn’t determine whether doctors use different criteria to
refer men and women to cardiologists. “It’s hard to sort out whether it’s a
referral bias or a protocol bias, even in drug trials,” she says. “Perhaps
women aren’t interested in participating—maybe they have too many demands. Or
they’re not available for follow-up. It’s not clear.”
Janine
Austin Clayton, the acting director of the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s
Health in Bethesda, Md., sees the medical gender gap as systemic. “I don’t
believe it’s a malevolent exclusion in most cases,” she says. It begins in
basic science, she adds, where tissues and animals studied are predominately
male. A 2009 report in Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews looked at nearly 2,000 animal studies and
found a bias toward the use of male animals in eight of 10 disciplines:
neuroscientists used 5.5 males for every one female, pharmacologists used five
and physiologists used 3.7. And though women are twice as likely to be
diagnosed with major depression, fewer than 45 per cent of animal studies on
these disorders used females.
The
reason? Using male rats is easier, faster and less expensive. They don’t have
an estrus cycle, they don’t get pregnant, they cost less than female rats and
they offer more bang for the buck by providing both Y and X chromosomes.
Testing on females is not commensurate with doing science as science is set up,
Einstein says—where you have one variable and everything else is kept constant.
To properly figure out where a female lab rat is in her estrus cycle, for
example, a researcher must go into the rodent colony and do a vaginal smear
every single day.
The
biggest complication women bring, of course, is also the biggest sex
difference: pregnancy. After DES and thalidomide given to pregnant women in the
1950s and ’60s caused birth defects, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
banned any woman who could become pregnant from participating in clinical
trials in 1977, then revoked the ruling in 1993 under pressure from women’s
groups. Yet unless a trial specifically mandates female participation—say,
testing a new birth control pill—pharmaceutical companies have little
motivation to recruit women due to fear of litigation related to pregnancy or
breastfeeding risks. As a result, women remain unknowing medical guinea pigs in
some areas. One problem is the fact that a “standard” dose for a man can be
excessive in a woman. Also, female QT, or heart rhythm, is slower (we don’t
know why), which makes certain drugs—antipsychotics, antibiotics, even heart
medications—that prolong the QT rate more dangerous for women. The FDA removed
10 drugs from the market for safety reasons between 1997 and 2001; eight posed
greater risks to women.
Yet
women are routinely prescribed more drugs than men. A study presented last
month at Women’s Health 2012: The 20th Annual Congress in Washington found that
women are prescribed an average of five medications, compared to 3.7 for men,
even after accounting for prescription contraceptives. It also found women are
less likely to be prescribed drugs according to clinical guidelines, or
“off-label.”
Attitudes to
studying sex and gender in medicine are changing, says Einstein, pointing to
the example of high-profile scientist Irving Zucker decrying the male-animal
bias in the June 2010 Nature.
“When it was just women talking about it, it didn’t make a difference,” she says
wryly. Governments are also making noise. Last December, the FDA released a
draft guideline recommending sex-specific analyses and calling for more women
in clinical studies. Canada, which takes its regulatory cues from the U.S.,
followed suit. Last year, the CIHR ruled all funding applicants must say
whether they’re investigating both sex- and gender-related factors in the
research and, if not, why not. In January, Health Canada sent out a draft of a
policy paper, “Considerations for Inclusion of Women in Clinical Trials and
Analysis of Data by Sex,” for feedback. The first update of the paper since
1997 has broadened its scope to include women of all ages, as well as more
therapeutic products. Still, critics contend it’s toothless. “It’s not enough,”
says scientist Abby Lippman, a professor emeritus at McGill University. “Plans
to ‘suggest’ but not make mandatory the inclusion of women and the treatment of
all data with intersectional analyses are not likely to fill the holes that
need filling in our knowledge.”
One of
the biggest gaps surrounds pregnant women, says Françoise Baylis, a professor
of bioethics and philosophy at Dalhousie University and an advocate for
including pregnant women in clinical trials. “Pregnant women get sick and sick
women get pregnant,” she says. “And we have a moral obligation to recognize
that women are as entitled to health care while they’re pregnant as when
they’re not.” Without research, you can’t give good advice, she says, citing
the H1N1 vaccine as an example of pregnant women being prescribed a medication
that hadn’t been tested on pregnant women. “If you were pregnant and your
doctor told you to take it, wouldn’t you have rather been told ‘This works’ or
‘This doesn’t work?’ ” she asks. Baylis is working on proposals that would
allow pregnant women to be integrated into trials after safety and efficacy
have been established, though getting regulators, scientists, corporations and
women on side will be a challenge, she says, noting Health Canada’s new draft
guidelines provide vague “initial guidance” on the inclusion of pregnant and
breastfeeding women in trials.
Pregnant
women use a swath of medications, many of which are untested on them, says
Barbara Mintzes, an assistant professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at the
University of British Columbia. Mintzes, who believes testing on pregnant women
is ethical but urges caution, is concerned about creating an incentive to
extend the marketing of unnecessary products. “There should be good suggestive
evidence that a treatment is going to have a real benefit in pregnancy before
starting a randomized trial,” she says, noting that 12 per cent of pregnant
women are prescribed selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for
depression “off-label,” even though limited scientific evidence suggests that
neither pregnant women nor their babies benefit.
Studying
sex differences provides new insight into disease, says the NIH’s Clayton, an
ophthalmologist. Women comprise two-thirds of the visually impaired or blind
population worldwide, she says: “We know autoimmune eye diseases are more
common in women. What’s less known is that retinal diseases are too. We don’t
know why. Age is a risk factor for ocular diseases, but that doesn’t account
for all of the difference.”
Mapping
the female brain is also rich uncharted terrain, says Einstein, that could
provide vital clues into Alzheimer’s, which afflicts more women than men.
Wilder Penfield’s famous “homunculus” brain map is based only on men; a
corresponding “her-munculus” doesn’t exist. “We don’t know how the female brain
changes with the ovulatory cycle and age,” she says. “We’re already seeing
evidence that ovaries are playing a protective role, even post-menopause.”
Walter Rocca, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic, has
found women who have their ovaries removed prior to natural menopause have a
higher risk of all causes of death.
The
power of estrogens has been vastly underrated, says Einstein, who believes
they’ve been given a “bum rap” by science, especially after hormone replacement
(HRT) trials were shut down in 2002 when estrogen and progestin taken together
were found to increase the risks for heart disease and breast cancer.
Subsequent studies, including one in the April 2011 Journal
of the American Medical Association, found estrogen-only HRT
actually reduced the risks of heart attack and breast cancer. Yet getting
funding to study estrogens remains difficult, she says: “They’re treated like a
toxic chemical.” It’s an attitude based on ignorance, she adds. “It irks me
when people say that estrogen is a female hormone. It’s also incredibly
important in males.”
Einstein’s
currently at work on a “re-theorizing” of women’s health, investigating
biological and societal factors. The biomedical model in place now is a
car-mechanic model, she says: “If something’s wrong with the carburetor, you
replace it.” But that approach doesn’t work as well on chronic “autoimmune”
conditions—multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis—which are far more
common in women. Studying women can teach us a lot about the treatment of and
care for chronic diseases, which place far more of a burden on the health care
system, she says.
It could
also yield new measurements for subjective complaints dismissed as
“psychological” because they don’t match objective measures based on men, such
as poor sleep. “More women than men complain of poor sleep, but when they have
[a sleep study], their sleep architecture is fine, so people interpret it as
women just complaining when maybe the measurement isn’t what it should
be.”
A call
to action is required, says Hirsch, who cites PAD as an example: “If women got
the message, attitudes would change within one or two years because women would
demand it.” Women’s risk of breast cancer is one in 11, and women can’t imagine
not being screened, he says. “But the risk of PAD is higher and no one is
warning them. Women should be aghast.” He has a point. But for women—and men—to
be aghast requires knowing what we don’t know. Barbara Colbourn, for one, says
her PAD diagnosis has made her more militant about her health. “We don’t know
enough,” she says. Even knowing that is a starting point.
April
26, 2012
Early detection of lymphedema
is crucial - Regina Leader-Post – By
Pamela Cowan
Unable
to lift her arm and wrap her fingers around her beloved violin, Glenda Cook's
life hit a melancholy note soon after she was diagnosed with breast
cancer.
Shortly
after surgery in 2008, Cook developed lymphedema in her left arm. The abnormal
build-up of fluid in tissue causes swelling - often in the arms or legs, but it
can occur anywhere in the body.
Cook
went to Tracy Gardikiotis, a physical therapist with the Regina Qu'Appelle
Health Region (RQHR), who is a certified lymphedema therapist and has
specialized breast cancer training.
"I
was pretty lucky that it was caught early," Cook said.
Still,
lymphedema stole one of her great passions - playing second violin in the
Regina Symphony Orchestra - something she had done for 32 years.
The
56-year-old president of the Lymphedema Association of Saskatchewan said more
awareness is needed of the warning signs of lymphedema.
"The
arm might feel heavy or achy and swelling is a major symptom, but often the
early signs manifest before there is any swelling," Cook said. "The main thing
about lymphedema is that the earlier it is treated, the fewer problems there
are down the road."
Lymphedema
is a specialized area that is not well understood by some health-care
professionals and patients, Gardikiotis said.
To
educate patients, health-care workers and policy-makers about the chronic
condition, the association, in conjunction with the Continuing Physical Therapy
Education department at the University of Saskatchewan and the RQHR held a
Lymphedema Management Symposium last week that featured experts from the Mayo
Clinic, the Toronto area and Montreal.
Experts
at the symposium strongly promoted exercise and reinforced the importance of
using compression garments.
Patients
diagnosed early often require just a compression garment to contain the
swelling, Gardikiotis said.
For
three years, Cook religiously wore a compression garment, did self massage and
had manual lymph drainage - a light progressive massage to encourage
drainage.
Since
September, her arm has improved so she doesn't require a compression garment
during the day, but wears a Reid Sleeve nightly and does compression
wrapping.
Cook
lamented that lymphedema treatment across Saskatchewan is spotty and said more
specialists are required.
"We
are so blessed in Regina to have Tracy," Cook said.
Currently,
Gardikiotis treats about 300 lymphedema patients in southern Saskatchewan. Some
people are born with lymphedema while others experience it after cancer
treatment.
There
is no cure, but if caught early, the impact can be significantly minimized,
Gardikiotis said.
"In
the later stage, there is some tissue damage and some of those changes are
irreversible and they require much more treatment to maintain their limb at a
stable point and minimize infection and keep them functioning," Gardikiotis
said. "If not treated properly, it can have significant physical, psychosocial
and financial implications on patients' lives so we're really striving to
increase lymphedema awareness and education to ensure that we can improve the
care that we are offering patients."
[email protected]
April
29, 2012
FYI 4-29-12 -
Southeast Missourian –
Southeast
Hospice seeks volunteers
This
year, you can resolve to comfort terminally ill patients and their families by
joining the Southeast Hospice team. The team provides care, understanding and
appreciation of terminally ill patients and their families. Southeast Hospice
will train new volunteers this spring. For more information, call 335-6208 or
1-888-397-0646.
HealthPoint to hold
Turning Point program
Turning
Point, a free program for anyone diagnosed with breast cancer within the past
year, will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, starting May 1, at HealthPoint
Fitness in Cape Girardeau. Weekly programs will cover a variety of topics
including benefits of exercise, lymphedema, nutrition, spirituality, emotions
surrounding breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiation. Participants will
receive six-month memberships to HealthPoint Fitness and a personal fitness
assessment with an appropriate exercise prescription. Class size is limited. To
register, call the Southeast Cancer Center at 573-519-4847.
We Can
Weekend held for cancer patients
The
annual We Can Weekend retreat for cancer patients and their families will be
held May 18 to 20. Southeast Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society
sponsor the retreat, which is held annually at the Sunnen Center bordering
Sunnen Lake at the YMCA of the Ozarks near Potosi, Mo. There is a requested $50
registration fee per family, which includes the cost of lodging and meals. The
fee is refunded shortly after the conclusion of the weekend. The registration
deadline is May 4. For more information, call the Southeast Cancer Center at
519-4754 or contact the American Cancer Society's local office at
334-9197.
Lynwood
to host interdenominational service
In
recognition of the 61st annual observance of the National Day of Prayer,
Lynwood Baptist Church is hosting an interdenominational prayer service From
6:30 to 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance
held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for
the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress, and
signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. The NDP Task Force is a privately
funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National
Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate to every individual the need for
personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials and to mobilize
the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families.
For more information, call Susan Clarke at 334-4600 or email [email protected].
More information about the National Day of Prayer can be found at www.nationaldayofprayer.org.
©
Copyright
2012 Southeast Missourian.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.
May
30, 2012
Obesity may raise odds for painful leg
condition - Medical Xpress – By Denise
Mann
Excess
weight can lead to fluid backup called lymphedema.
(HealthDay)
-- The health risks associated with being overweight and obese are well
publicized, but new research may add another condition to this list: leg
lymphedema, pain and swelling due to blockage of the lymph nodes in the groin
area.
Lymphedema in the
arms traditionally is associated with breast
cancer surgery that involves removal of or damage to the lymph
nodes. A blockage in the lymphatic
system can prevent proper drainage of lymph
fluid. As fluid builds up, pain and swelling
can occur.
In a
letter published in the May 31 issue of the New
England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Arin Greene and
colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston reported on 15 obese
individuals with swelling in both legs. They diagnosed five of
these individuals with leg lymphedema, and the cause of the condition was
obesity.
"We now
believe that obesity is a risk factor for lymphedema if the body-mass index
becomes greater than 60," Greene said. "It only seems to affect the legs, but
we have not investigated the arms."
Individuals in the
study who had a body-mass index (BMI) lower than 54 had normal lymphatic
function. The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema was 70; BMI of 30 or
greater is considered obese. BMI is a measure of body fat based on an
individual's height and weight.
Other
risk factors for leg lymphedema include injury to the lymph nodes in the groin
because of infection, surgery or radiation. In addition, people can be born
with the condition. Regardless of the cause, leg lymphedema can cause pain,
swelling and infections.
Although
there is no cure for lymphedema, compression and significant weight loss may
help relieve the pain and swelling, Greene said.
Lymphedema in the
legs manifests itself as swelling, pain, discomfort, tightness in the skin,
decreased flexibility and difficulty walking, said Cathy Kleinman-Barnett, a
lymphedema specialist at the Lymphedema/Edema Management Program at Northwest
Medical Center in Margate, Fla.
"Obesity
causes lymphedema because the sheer additional weight puts too much pressure on
the lymph nodes
in the groin area, compromising the system," she said. "This causes a fluid
backup like a clogged drain. Skin can thicken, harden and become red, dry and
warm to touch."
It's
important to treat the condition, she added, because "it can really interfere
with a person's quality of life in a physical and a psychosocial way as people
may be less inclined to go out and interact with others."
Kleinman-Barnett
said lymphedema therapists can prescribe a program of manual lymphatic
drainage, which helps direct lymph flow out of the congested areas.
Recommendations on skin care, compression bandaging and exercises also can
help, she said.
More
than 35 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Obesity already is known to increase the risk of heart
disease, diabetes, arthritis and certain types of cancer.
More
information:
Get tips for preventing lymphedema at the National
Lymphedema Network.
Journal
reference:New
England Journal of Medicine
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay.
All rights reserved.
April
27, 2012,
Breast
cancer survivor looking forward to ENCORE program - Western Star
– by Diane Crocker –
CORNER BROOK — As a breast cancer survivor Shirley Porter believes in
doing whatever it takes to keep herself healthy.
For the
60-year-old Mount Moriah woman that includes exercising regularly.
Porter
was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and has been cancer free now for
almost five years.
“Thank
God,” she said.
Porter
said she had had fibrous lumps in her breast for awhile.
“The
lumps never got any better and it went from there,” she said.
A
mammogram showed an abnormality and a biopsy detected the cancer.
“And the
story went from there,” said Porter.
She had
six rounds of chemotherapy in Corner Brook, which was followed by surgery to
remove her right breast on Aug. 31, 2007.
That was
followed by 28 treatments of radiation.
“At the
time they were so overbooked in St. John’s that I requested to go to Ontario
where I had more family,” said Porter.
She left
home on Nov. 13 and returned on Dec. 21.
Porter
couldn’t take any other treatment medication after the radiation because she
was diagnosed with triple negative cancer.
In the
last five years though she has been feeling good, attends TOPS regularly and is
an avid walker.
She said
a determination to get better and be there to raise her grandchildren is what
helped her to face the disease.
“I take
it one day at a time and thank God every morning when I wake up.”
‘Not
going through it alone’
To help
her along the way Porter joined the local Breast Friends group.
“And it’s
just wonderful,” she said. “It’s uplifting. I just wait for that last Thursday
of the month, because you get to meet other women and try to help other women
that go through the same process that you went through.
“You know
you are not going through it alone.”
Besides
the support she gets from Breast Friends, Porter found going back to work
therapeutic.
She’s a
student assistant at St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove.
Since her
surgery and treatment, Porter has developed lymphedema in her right arm. This
results in fluid retention and tissue swelling.
“Mine is
not too too bad,” said Porter “It is a discomfort and I do wear a compression
sleeve to work and when I’m driving I wear it and if I fly I wear
it.”
She also
goes to massage therapy at least twice a month and exercises her arm at
home.
“If you
don’t keep up with your exercising your arm will get very stiff and
sore.”
She’ll
get to learn more about keeping healthy and exercises to help with lymphedema
when she takes part in the YMCA ENCORE Program.
The
eight-week program, which starts on May 3, is being offered free of charge by
the Humber Community YMCA.
The
program is designed specifically for women who have experienced mastectomy,
lumpectomy or breast reconstruction surgery at any time in their
lives.
It is
based around floor and relaxation techniques that are safe, fun and
therapeutic.
The floor
exercises will can help women strengthen and tone their arms, shoulders and
chests, and aid in regaining mobility.
Porter
said she was excited to get involved when she heard about the program through
Breast Friends.
“I’m
looking forward to getting out with the girls and exercising,” she
said.
“It’ll
show us more exercising and new exercising that we can do here at home when
we’re not going there. And it’ll give an opportunity to meet other people,
probably other women that don’t go to our Breast Friends chapter will go to the
exercising.”
She was
especially pleased to learn the program would be free.
“There is
so much other things that we need and it becomes expensive.”
She said
from compression sleeves every six months, to prostheses, bras and specialty
clothing, the costs can get high and some people may not be able to pay to go
to a fitness centre.
“Because
your other essential needs come first. Even though that is so much
essential.”
Anyone
interested in taking part in the program can contact the Y at
639-9676.
April
26, 2012
Pottstown YMCA presents Pink
Confetti - Boyertown Berk Montgomery Newspapers –
By Sue Erickson
Nearly
a year ago, staff members at the Freedom Valley YMCA, which includes branches
in Phoenixville, Spring Valley, Audobon and Pottstown, met to discuss the
growing need to address the issues surrounding breast cancer and more
specifically, what they could do to help survivors.
Six months ago, with
the help of local hospitals and cancer treatment centers, the Pink Confetti
program was introduced in Phoenixville and Spring Valley and will be launched
in Pottstown this week.
“The Pink Confetti program is a celebration of
life and healing,” said Lynn Seponski, Physical Director for the Freedom Valley
Pottstown YMCA. “It was designed exclusively for breast cancer survivors that
are close to or have completed their treatment as a way to safely reenter
living healthy through fitness and education.”
“And it’s all done in a
safe and caring group environment that includes trained instructors and women
that have been going through the same issues.”
Pink
Confetti is a free program that is designed to ease breast cancer survivors
back into exercise.
“Whether it’s as a result of surgery or treatment or
because they are drained and tired from the toll that breast cancer has taken
on them, breast cancer survivors sometimes have less mobility and range of
motion,” Lynn explained. “The Pink Confetti program takes all of that into
consideration and works with individuals to ease them back into working out,
both for their physical and mental well-being.”
Two of Pottstown’s YMCA
instructors, Renee Falcone and Margie Polansky, have been trained by outside
instructors specializing in breast cancer exercise and programs, to become
certified in helping survivors with their exercise goals and needs.
The
Pottstown YMCA Pink Confetti program officially begins on Thursday, April 26.
The program is free and lasts for seven weeks and includes a one-hour exercise
session every Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. Classes include: flexibility and
stretching in Week 1; core training in Week 2; yoga in Week 3; belly dancing in
Week 4; cardio and Zumba in Week 5; strength training in Week 6 and cycling in
Week 7.
So far, more than 25 women have taken advantage of the Pink
Confetti program in Phoenixville and Spring Valley and Lynn hopes that women in
the Pottstown area will register, as well.
“The program is free to
breast cancer survivors,” Lynn said. “In addition to a free seven-week program
that’s just for them, participants also get a Pink Confetti t-shirt, as well as
unlimited access to the Pottstown YMCA and everything it has to offer. It’s a
free seven-week pass to come in and enjoy everything we have!”
The
Pottstown YMCA will also be offering the PALS for Life program. PALS for Life
offers individual or group personal training for breast cancer survivors, based
on the program developed by the University of Pennsylvania PAL protocol. The
program targets survivors that have developed or are at the risk of developing
lymphedema.
Registration for the Pink Confetti program is free; however,
participants must register in advance. To register or to find out more about
the Pink Confetti program, call the Pottstown YMCA at 610-323-7300, ext. 13 and
speak with Lynn.
“We’re concerned with women’s health, especially women
that have been affected by breast cancer,” said Lynn. “The Pink Confetti
program was designed especially for them so that they know that they’re not
alone and that there are people they can reach out to to show them how to
safely become active again.”
“But we’re also here for our community, as
a whole,” she continued. “We want everyone in the Pottstown area to know -- no
matter what their physical or health limitations may be -- that health and
exercise is an important part of life and we can offer something for
everyone.”
For more information on the Freedom Valley YMCA at Pottstown
and to see what programs and services are offered, please visit the website at
www.fvymca.org.
Follow
the Community Connection om Twitter at @commconn.
June
5, 2012
Obesity May Raise Odds for Painful Leg
Condition - U.S. News & World Report –
By Denise Mann
Excess
weight can lead to fluid backup called lymphedema
WEDNESDAY,
May 30 (HealthDay News) -- The health risks associated with being overweight
and obese are well publicized, but new research may add another condition to
this list: leg lymphedema, pain and swelling due to blockage of the lymph nodes
in the groin area.
Lymphedema
in the arms traditionally is associated with breast cancer surgery that
involves removal of or damage to the lymph nodes. A blockage in the lymphatic
system can prevent proper drainage of lymph fluid. As fluid builds up, pain and
swelling can occur.
In
a letter published in the May 31 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine, Dr. Arin Greene and colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston
reported on 15 obese individuals with swelling in both legs. They diagnosed
five of these individuals with leg lymphedema, and the cause of the condition
was obesity.
"We
now believe that obesity is a risk factor for lymphedema if the body-mass index
becomes greater than 60," Greene said. "It only seems to affect the legs, but
we have not investigated the arms."
Individuals
in the study who had a body-mass index (BMI) lower than 54 had normal lymphatic
function. The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema was 70; BMI of 30 or
greater is considered obese. BMI is a measure of body fat based on an
individual's height and weight.
Other
risk factors for leg lymphedema include injury to the lymph nodes in the groin
because of infection, surgery or radiation. In addition, people can be born
with the condition. Regardless of the cause, leg lymphedema can cause pain,
swelling and infections.
Although
there is no cure for lymphedema, compression and significant weight loss may
help relieve the pain and swelling, Greene said.
Lymphedema
in the legs manifests itself as swelling, pain, discomfort, tightness in the
skin, decreased flexibility and difficulty walking, said Cathy
Kleinman-Barnett, a lymphedema specialist at the Lymphedema/Edema Management
Program at Northwest Medical Center in Margate, Fla.
"Obesity
causes lymphedema because the sheer additional weight puts too much pressure on
the lymph nodes in the groin area, compromising the system," she said. "This
causes a fluid backup like a clogged drain. Skin can thicken, harden and become
red, dry and warm to touch."
It's
important to treat the condition, she added, because "it can really interfere
with a person's quality of life in a physical and a psychosocial way as people
may be less inclined to go out and interact with others."
Kleinman-Barnett
said lymphedema therapists can prescribe a program of manual lymphatic
drainage, which helps direct lymph flow out of the congested areas.
Recommendations on skin care, compression bandaging and exercises also can
help, she said.
More
than 35 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Obesity already is known to increase the risk of heart
disease, diabetes, arthritis and certain types of cancer.
More
information
Get
tips for preventing lymphedema at the National
Lymphedema Network.
Copyright
© 2012 HealthDay.
All rights reserved.
June
4, 2012
People on the Move, June 3,
2012 - Scranton Times-Tribune –
Pennstar
Anthony Piestrak
has joined the bank as a mortgage originator. In this position he is
responsible for developing and servicing loan requests for residential
mortgages. He will assist applicants in Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties. A
resident of Olyphant, Mr. Piestrak has a bachelor's degree in business
administration and marketing from Kings College.
Allied Services
Integrated Health System
Lori
Ashman-Williams, M.S.P.T., O.T., I.M.T.C., has had an article titled "The
Effects of Integrative Manual Therapy and Compression Bandaging on Lower
Extremity Lymphedema" published in the Journal of Integrative Manual Therapy
Association. Ms. Ashman-Williams earned a bachelor's degree in OT from Utica
College of Syracuse University and bachelor's and master's degrees in physical
therapy from the University of Pittsburgh. She is certified in integrative
manual therapy from CenterIMT, and in lymphedema from the Academy of Lymphatic
Studies. Ms. Ashman-Williams lives in Jefferson Twp. with her husband, Joe,
son, Drew, and mother-in-law, Betsy.
PRO Rehabilitation
Services
Lindsay Coulter,
P.T., D.P.T., joined the staff at PRO Rehabilitation Services. She will provide
physical therapy and aquatic therapy to patients at the PRO Rehabilitation
Services clinic located in the Birney Plaza, Moosic. Dr. Coulter graduated with
honors from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., with a Bachelor of
Science in psychology. She received her doctorate in physical therapy from the
Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Dr. Coulter resides with
her husband in Kingston.
Long Financial
Management Group
Dana M. Lawrence of
Taylor obtained the General Securities Representative Exam, Series 7, and
Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam, Series 63. She is a graduate of
Riverside High School. She received her Bachelor of Science in finance from
Shippensburg University. Ms. Lawrence is an administrative representative at
the management group and transacts securities business through Cadaret Grant
& Co. Inc.
ABC Eastern
Pennsylvania Chapter
Jeff Zeh is
retiring after 13 years as president and CEO from Associated Builders and
Contractors Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter (ABC). Mr. Zeh, a resident of Blue
Bell, graduated from the George Washington School of Law and Rutgers
University. Mary Tebeau of Blue Bell has been selected as president and
CEO.
Hall-Mihalos-Straub
& Co. LLP
Marilyn A. Derolf,
C.P.A., a partner with the Wilkes-Barre company, received a Volunteer Service
Award from the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. Ms. Derolf received the award for outstanding service and
demonstrated contributions to the chapter and the PICPA through active
participation in volunteer opportunities. She is a partner with
Hall-Mihalos-Straub & Co. LLP in Wilkes-Barre, and received her bachelor's
degree in accounting from King's College.
The Palumbo
Group
Jonathan R.
Loiselle, A.I.A., N.C.A.R.B., joined as vice president. Mr. Loiselle will work
with the firm's founder and president, John S. Palumbo, on marketing and
project development. A graduate of Drexel University, Mr. Loiselle is currently
studying at the Boston Architectural College in its Master Design Studies
program.
First National
Community Bank
Joseph A.
Castrogiovanni has been promoted to senior vice president, commercial lending
manager, where he is responsible for developing new business and managing a
group of lenders in the Lackawanna County market area. Mr. Castrogiovanni is a
graduate of Dunmore High School and Bloomsburg University, where he earned a
Bachelor of Science in finance. He received a master's in finance from Marywood
University. He is also a graduate of the ABA Graduate Commercial Lending
School. He resides in Moscow with his wife, Judy, and children, Brian and
Jason.
Donna M. Czerw has
been promoted to senior vice president, where she supervises the community
banking operational functions for 21 branch locations and the Retail Training
Department. Ms. Czerw received a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a
master's in finance from the University of Scranton. She resides in
Moosic.
Kendrick C. Smith,
C.F.A., has been promoted to senior vice president, treasury officer, where he
is responsible for overseeing the treasury operations and investments of the
bank, implementing strategies to increase capital, establishing financial goals
and executing money-managing activities. Mr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science
in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a Master of
Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He also earned his
Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Kendrick and his wife, Kim, have two
children, Ryan and Shane. He currently resides in Dunmore.
Northeast
Anesthesiology
John Giglio,
C.R.N.A., was awarded Clinician of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of
Nurse Anesthetists. Mr. Giglio was chosen by students from La Salle University,
Frank J. Tornetta School of Anesthesia. He is a clinical instructor of Cardiac
Anesthesia at Regional Hospital of Scranton and trains future nurse
anesthetists in the cardiothoracic area.
SUBMIT PEOPLE ON
THE MOVE items to [email protected] or The Times-Tribune, 149 Penn
Ave., Scranton, PA 18503.
June
7, 2012
Health Matters: Turning up the heat on
lymphedema - NBC2 News – by Amy
Oshier
FORT MYERS, FL -
Breast cancer
survivor Carol Thisted is now living with lymphedema. Commonly a consequence of
lymph node removal, she has extreme, painful swelling in her arms.
"It was the lymph
nodes that were taken from underneath my arm, were not letting this fluid move
through my body anymore," says Thisted.
Lymphedema is a
chronic condition with no cure. The treatment is to wear compression garments
and wraps to encourage circulation.
"When we treat
lymphedema we train people how to control it themselves so they know how to do
all their self-care," says Jackie Speas, a certified lymphedema therapist with
Lee Memorial Health System.
The condition is
more challenging during the summer.
"Anything too hot
or too cold will aggravate a lymphedema," says Speas.
As the temperature
rises, people may be less inclined to wear tight fitting body garments, but
someone who is prone to swelling needs to keep it under wraps.
"I do have friends
that went through therapy and then they just stopped. I can see the difference.
They should be wearing their arm covers and they're not," says
Thisted.
"If you just let it
go it tends to progressively get worse. If you treat it, it gets better and
then stays at a better stage," says Speas.
So rain or shine
Carol sticks with her routine.
"I wear this during
the day and then at night I take this off and then I rewrap it and put the band
aid bandaged on again. I would just assume do it so that I feel
better."
Any discomfort
pales in comparison to letting her lymphedema bloom out of control.
'Amy
Oshier Health Matters' is now on facebook
June
7, 2012
Lifestyle Matters: Specific
Recommendations – dailyRx – By: Laurie
Stoneham
Lifestyle
impacts different cancers differently. While healthydiet,
regular exercise and ideal weight generally improve the outlook for most cancer
warriors, current research offers specific advice for specific types of the
disease.
In this
installment of Lifestyle Matters, we look at these research-based
recommendations for men and women living through and beyond breast, colorectal
and prostate
cancer.
This
series is based on the recently published American Cancer Society
Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Survivors, which
summarizes the latest findings on lifestyle choices.
Breast
cancer dancers
Weight is
the key issue for women who have been diagnosed with breast
cancer. Achieving and maintaining a normal weight remains
absolutely the best thing a woman can do to thrive today and for many
tomorrows.
Here's
the skinny - while being overweight or obese before and after a breast cancer
diagnosis is very common, it's not good. Why?
Carrying
too many pounds increases the risk of lymph node involvement and lymphedema
(swelling of the arm closest to the involved breast). A higher body mass index
(BMI) of 25+ is also associated with life-threatening events, such as cancer
appearing in the other breast, recurrence and shorter lifespan.
Here are
some more facts and figures.
·According
to the Nurses' Health Study, increasing BMI by .5 to 2 units following
treatment pumps up the likelihood of recurrence by 40 percent, compared to
those who didn't gain weight.
·With
increases of more than 2 units in BMI, the risk of recurrence expands to 53
percent.
·The same
study found that womenwho
lost weight following treatment "did not experience significantly poorer
outcomes." Translated - losing weight helps improve outcome.
Now there
are plenty of flaws relating to the BMI scales. So it's important for anyone
affected by breast cancer to work closely with their healthcare providers to
determine an ideal weight and come up with plans for achieving those
numbers.
Even
small losses help
Having
many pounds to shed can feel - and in fact is - a daunting task. The good news
is that even modest weight loss - of say 5-10 percent - over six months to a
year helps.
Recent
reviews of scientific literature find that small to modest amounts of weight
loss improve breast -cancer specific factors, including circulating estrogens
and inflammation. Estrogen, the female hormone, drives the majority of breast
cancers
and it likes to set up residence in adipose fat.
Changing
the mix
Unfortunately, chemotherapy and hormonal (estrogen blocking)
treatments can decrease lean body mass and replace it with - you guessed it -
fat.
So,
what's a girl to do? Whether you're in active treatment or have finished that
phase, start doing some resistance training - lift some weights or use the
weight of your limbs to get the muscles churning and building.
Moving
on
Really
and truly, as much as most of us hate it, exerciseis
really one of the best things people who are dealing with breast cancer or its
aftermath can do to feel and function better.
A
meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials involving 717 breast cancer
victors found that physical activity improved quality of life, physical
functioning and energy levels.
Another
study review, which included more than 12,000 breast cancer thrivers showed
that physical activity following diagnosis was seen with a 24 percent lower
rate of recurrence and a 34 percent lower risk of succumbing to the disease and
a 41 percent mortality from all causes.
Exercise
- and weight loss - are also known to reduce lymphedema.
Trained
exercise therapists are available to help design a movement plan and provide
guidance and/or accountability all along the way.
Food
choices
Studies
looking at specific food choices have been inconsistent over the years. Eating
more fruits and vegetables hasn't been proven to benefit women with a history
of breast cancer. That said, some research has shown that diets high in
colorful foods from nature which are rich in carotenoids are likely to delay
the reappearance of breast cancer.
Soy and
flaxseed, both of which are great sources of phytoestrogens, are safe to eat
according to three large studies. And there is some evidence these foods may
even be beneficial for patients who are taking tamoxifen.
To drink
or not to drink alcohol
Studies
regarding drinking alcohol have been a totally mixed bag. The benefit of
moderate consumption is lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is a
common condition in women who've had breast cancer. On the other hand, alcohol
has also been associated with an increased risk of new breast cancers,
recurrences and even death.
Talking
with a health professional about specific risks and benefits - along with an
approach of "moderation in all things" - is probably a wise strategy for
most.
Colorectal cancer warriors
Interestingly, a recent American Cancer Society study uncovered that
obesity prior to a colorectal cancer diagnosis was linked to higher risk of not
making it due to all causes, the cancer itself and cardiovascular disease.
However, one's BMI following diagnosis didn't seem to impact
lifespan.
As with
breast cancer, physical activity improves quality of life, functioning and
helps to alleviate fatigue. Folks who have a history of this cancer and are
physically active
have lower risks of recurrence, perishing from the cancer and/or all other
causes.
Dietary
influences
Diet is
known to play a role in developing colorectal cancer, but very little research
has been conducted on the effects of diet on living beyond the
disease.
The
largest study of Stage III colorectal cancer patients found that a Western diet
(high fat, starch, sugar) resulted in worse outcomes. Eating lots of fruits and
vegetables, poultry and fish wasn't associated with cancer recurrence or
mortality.
People
who have chronic bowel problems or have issues affecting nutrient absorption
should see a registered dietician for guidance.
Take care
with supplements
Low
vitamin D levels, as measured in the blood, are known to increase the risk of
developing colorectal cancer. Vitamin D may also influence outcome; research in
this area is ongoing.
Research
has failed to show any benefit of vitamin and fiber
supplements or modest diet changes in reducing polyp recurrence.
Folate slightly increases the risk of having multiple benign tumors (adenomas),
and calcium supplements may provide a slight benefit in preventing polyps from
recurring.
Prostate
cancer champions
Body
weight and obesity need to be the number one concern of men
with a history of prostate cancer. Too much weight is associated with more
aggressive forms of the disease that tends to progress with time. Men who are
obese after diagnosis are at significantly higher risk of the disease cutting
short their lives.
Some
points to ponder:
·Saturated
fat (eggs, meat, dairy sources), but not total fat intake, seems linked to
worse outcomes.
·Monounsaturated fats (olives, nuts, peanut/olive/canola oils,
avocados) are associated with a better outlook.
·Fish and
tomato sauce consumption are related to lower risks of recurrence.
·Ground
flaxseed and omega-3 fatty acid consumption is linked to lower tumor growth and
proliferation.
·Calcium
supplements have been linked to aggressive disease.
·Men who
engaged in at least three hours of vigorous activity a week, in one study, had
a 60 percent decreased risk of prostate
cancer taking their lives.
The
common theme
If you, a
friend or a loved one have been diagnosed with cancer, the best self-care
techniques remain pretty similar - achieve and maintain an ideal weight, stay
physically active and eat a diet that's rich in natural nutrients and low in
saturated fats and processed foods.
Ask for
help to make and stick with a plan to make these recommendations a part of your
healthy
lifestyle.
Dietary
influences
Diet is
known to play a role in developing colorectal cancer, but very little research
has been conducted on the effects of diet on living beyond the
disease.
The
largest study of Stage III colorectal cancer patients found that a Western diet
(high fat, starch, sugar) resulted in worse outcomes. Eating lots of fruits and
vegetables, poultry and fish wasn't associated with cancer recurrence or
mortality.
People
who have chronic bowel problems or have issues affecting nutrient absorption
should see a registered dietician for guidance.
Take care
with supplements
Low
vitamin D levels, as measured in the blood, are known to increase the risk of
developing colorectal cancer. Vitamin D may also influence outcome; research in
this area is ongoing.
Research
has failed to show any benefit of vitamin and fiber
supplements or modest diet changes in reducing polyp recurrence.
Folate slightly increases the risk of having multiple benign tumors (adenomas),
and calcium supplements may provide a slight benefit in preventing polyps from
recurring.
Prostate
cancer champions
Body
weight and obesity need to be the number one concern of men
with a history of prostate cancer. Too much weight is associated with more
aggressive forms of the disease that tends to progress with time. Men who are
obese after diagnosis are at significantly higher risk of the disease cutting
short their lives.
Some
points to ponder:
·Saturated
fat (eggs, meat, dairy sources), but not total fat intake, seems linked to
worse outcomes.
·Monounsaturated fats (olives, nuts, peanut/olive/canola oils,
avocados) are associated with a better outlook.
·Fish and
tomato sauce consumption are related to lower risks of recurrence.
·Ground
flaxseed and omega-3 fatty acid consumption is linked to lower tumor growth and
proliferation.
·Calcium
supplements have been linked to aggressive disease.
·Men who
engaged in at least three hours of vigorous activity a week, in one study, had
a 60 percent decreased risk of prostate
cancer taking their lives.
The
common theme
If you, a
friend or a loved one have been diagnosed with cancer, the best self-care
techniques remain pretty similar - achieve and maintain an ideal weight, stay
physically active and eat a diet that's rich in natural nutrients and low in
saturated fats and processed foods.
Ask for
help to make and stick with a plan to make these recommendations a part of your
healthy lifestyle
June 8, 2012
Providing
Patients and Survivors with Help and Support - Tri
City Voice –
HERS
Breast Cancer Foundation
Providing
Patients and Survivors with Help and Support
Women who are
fighting breast cancer face multiple struggles. The most important, of course,
is to beat the disease and survive. But treatments for breast cancer can
actually create other struggles, including the emotional impact of dealing with
physical scars or deformities after surgery and the hair loss often associated
with chemotherapy. Helping women overcome those struggles is the mission of the
HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, located in the Washington Women's Center at
2500 Mowry Avenue in
Fremont.
"When you are facing something as devastating as breast
cancer, you need every bit of help and support you can get," says HERS Breast
Cancer Foundation Executive Director Vera Packard, M.D. "We offer a
comprehensive array of services to help breast cancer patients and survivors
feel good about themselves again after they've experienced the pitfalls of
breast cancer."
Services offered by the foundation include:
*
Bras for Body and Soul - Private fittings for attractive post-surgery bras,
camisoles and prostheses in a comfortable setting and compassionate
environment. All fittings are provided by one of the program's four
professional breast-care specialists.
* Hair with Care - A wide
selection of wigs to help breast cancer patients and other women going through
chemotherapy to cope with disconcerting hair loss. The wigs can be
custom-styled by the program's two wig consultants to suit each woman's style
preferences.
* Lymphedema Project - This project provides upper-body
compression garments to treat the swelling caused by lymphedema, which can
result from removing lymph glands during breast cancer surgeries. Some
insurance companies, including Medicare, do not cover these garments, so we
offer them at a substantial discount to breast cancer survivors.
* We
Support, You Survive - A program to provide post-mastectomy undergarments to
underserved women who are not covered by health insurance or cannot afford
these products because of other circumstances.
"Our breast-care
specialists, wig consultants and other staff and volunteers all have great
compassion for our patients and know how to make them feel at ease," says
Program Director Polly Sherman, a registered nurse who also serves as one of
the breast-care specialists. "For our staff, this isn't just a job - it's a
labor of love. It's amazing for us to see the transformation of a patient's
spirit when she's trying on beautiful undergarments or a wig. We try to get fun
items in pretty colors so that our patients can go out feeling pretty
again.
"Another important aspect of our programs is that we are a
non-profit organization, and we work with women to sort through the red tape of
their insurance coverage," she adds. "We also offer assistance to women who
have no insurance coverage. There are a few commercial stores that provide some
of these services, but none that provides the emotional and financial
assistance that we do, and that's why we like to say that we are a soft place
to fall."
Dr. Packard notes that Washington Hospital has provided free
space for the foundation at the Women's Center since 2004, which helps the
foundation provide its services at low- or no-cost. "We are grateful to
Washington Hospital for providing us with facilities for our programs and their
support of our two main fundraising efforts - the annual KEEP ABREAST Walk each
September and the People With Purpose awards luncheon in April," she says.
"This year we received more than $35,000 from our People with Purpose
luncheon, and last year's KEEP ABREAST Walk raised close to $100,000," she
adds. "The support from the community and from other organizations that conduct
fundraisers for us has been very gratifying. With insurance plans cutting back
on coverage and the high rate of unemployment, our job has become more
difficult, but so far we haven't had to turn anyone away."
Dr. Packard
has directed the foundation's efforts for the past four years, but she views
her current role as a continuation of a lifetime commitment.
"I spent 20
years as a breast cancer surgeon in Brazil, and then I moved to America after I
met my true love and got married," she recalls. "I came to the foundation
because I was looking for a way to continue following my passion of caring for
women with breast cancer. As a doctor, I cared for one patient at a time.
Today, our dedicated staff and volunteers now serve over 700 women each year.
We all feel that this is the work we were meant to do."
Appointments
for HERS Breast Center Foundation services are strongly encouraged,
510-790-1911. For more information about the foundation, including the KEEP
ABREAST Walk scheduled for September 29, visit
www.hersbreastcancerfoundation.org. People interested in serving on the
foundation's board of directors may call Dr. Packard at
510-790-1954
Photo Caption: The Staff and volunteers of the HERS
Breast Cancer Foundation provide emotional and financial assistance to women
fighting breast cancer. They strive to be "a soft place to fall" for the women
they help.
June
8, 2012
Hernando
Business Digest - Tampabay.com
–
Dawn Fisher
Warner
recently accepted the position of certified occupational therapy assistant at
the Ultimate Hand and Lymphedema Center, 17222 Hospital Drive, Suite
346, Brooksville.
Warner is a recent
graduate of Keiser University and will begin her career specializing on
injuries to the upper extremities, including the hand, elbow and shoulder, as
well as the management of lymphedema.
For information,
call (352) 593-4919.
June 10, 2012
YOUR VIEW: Medicare should treat
lymphedema early - al.com
(blog) –
Medicare
currently spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year treating largely
preventable complications from a disease called lymphedema. Why? Because
Medicare does not cover the far less costly treatments to prevent progression
of this disease.
Lymphedema
is a medical condition that results in swelling of any part of the body when
the lymphatic vessels and/or lymph nodes are damaged or inadequate. Lymphedema
affects an estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans, with 1.5 million to 3
million of them being Medicare beneficiaries who receive substandard treatment
from Medicare according to the current medical standard of care for this
disease.
Untreated
or undertreated, lymphedema is progressive and leads to infection,
disfigurement, disability and, in some cases, even death. Thus, prognosis for
the patient is far worse and treatment more costly when the disease is not
identified and treated in the earlier stages. This shortsighted policy of
saving a dollar today, even if it means spending two (or in this case many
more) tomorrow, must end.
There
is a common-sense piece of legislation in Congress that aims to correct this.
More information about the Lymphedema Diagnosis and Treatment Cost Saving Act
can be found at www.LymphedemaTreatmentAct.org. You can submit a letter to your
members of Congress through this site, asking them to change this harmful and
wasteful policy.
Deborah
Walker
Double
Springs
June 11, 2012
Kitty
DeGree Breast Health Center receives national recognition - Monroe News Star –
June
12, 2012
Liposuction
for the management of submental lymphedema in the head and
neck cancer patient - EurekAlert
Contact:
Mary Stewart
[email protected]
703-535-3762
American
Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck
Surgery
Alexandria, VA — Liposuction is a novel and
minimally invasive procedure for treating persistent submental lymphedema in
patients with previous head and neck cancer, according to an article published
in the June 2012 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.
"Submental lymphedema is a common problem
encountered by patients following treatment of head and neck cancer," the
authors state.
It causes fluid deposition and persistent
swelling of the soft tissues of the neck, leading to disfigurement and
functional deficits. The aim of the study is to introduce the
otolaryngologist–head and neck surgeon to the authors' new surgical technique:
the use of liposuction to treat patients with submental
lymphedema.
The
surgical technique involves making an incision into the neck and using
liposuction to remove fat and fluid from the treatment area. In the authors'
small study on 10 patients, the surgery was well-tolerated by patients
suffering submental lymphedema. The cohort had at least one year of cancer-free
follow-up prior to the procedure. No patients in the cohort developed a
recurrence in the neck, and there have been no complications. All 10 patients
were satisfied with the results of their procedure and would recommend it to
other patients, the authors' state.
The authors conclude, "The procedure is well
tolerated under local anesthesia and in our hands has proven to be very
effective, resulting in high patient satisfaction. We plan to continue to offer
this to our head and neck cancer patients with submental lymphedema and
encourage others to consider it as part of their treatment strategy."
They love Lou C's: Boutique changing lives of women
with cancer - News Courier – By Lora Scripps
—
Cassandra Johnson is the type of person many work a lifetime to
become.
A warrior. A mother of three who is chock-full of spirit, rooted
in love and grounded in faith.
It hasn’t been an easy road.
In
2009, at age 38, she had a stroke.
“I had always dealt with high blood
pressure,” she said. “I had the stroke and it took out my left
side.”
She was in the hospital for months. During her stay, doctors
discovered she had breast cancer.
“They ended up having to do a
mastectomy, which took it to a whole other level,” she said. “It had seeped
into my bones. Of course, I didn’t know what was going on.”
She was also
diagnosed with lymphedema — blockage of the lymph nodes — and had to have her
lymph nodes removed.
After being released and able to go home, Cassandra
heard about a lady named Lou Covington from a friend. She told her about Lou
C’s Boutique, a special boutique that’s aim is to help women look and feel
better during their journey with cancer.
Lou C’s
Boutique
Lou C’s Boutique first opened in 2004. Lou and her husband
transformed a house into a unique boutique. It is located at 207 Coman
St.
Lou said her mother gave her the inspiration.
“My mother had
colon cancer,” she said. “But, you know cancer is cancer.”
Her mother
would tell her about friends who would have to travel outside Athens to get the
necessities they needed while working to overcome different forms of
cancer.
Lou thought to herself, “I love people and I try to make people
feel better about themselves, ” why not open a place where she could help
someone else.
“To me mental health is just as important as bone health
or breast care or anything else,” Lou said. “Without your mental health and
strength in God, you can’t get through this.”
At first, Cassandra didn’t
have insurance or Medicaid for the items she needed. So, she didn’t have the
chance to meet Lou right away.
“I had to go through the ropes to get
that in order and working,” she said.
During that time she would travel
to the Athens-Limestone Hospital Wellness Center. There she met another woman
who wanted to introduce her to Lou. Cassandra took her up on the
offer.
It’s no wonder Cassandra and Lou became fast friends. In truth,
the two, simply, share the same attributes.
“When I found her I found a
great lady,” Cassandra said.
She visited the boutique. Lou fit Cassandra
with a compression sleeve. The sleeve would be used to help with blood flow and
circulation in her arm.
Unfortunately, Cassandra’s insurance didn’t
cover the sleeve she needed.
“She helped me anyway,” Cassandra said.
“She was willing to work with me.”
Other items had to
wait.
“Finally, things started coming around for Cassandra,” Lou said,
adding she offered to pay out-of-pocket.
Lou let Cassandra pay what she
could. The rest came from Lou’s Angel Closet.
The Angel Closet, created
by Lou, contains items for women that insurance won’t cover. It is available to
women who are willing to do all they can to pay for their services, but who may
be struggling financially.
Cassandra said her first meeting with Lou
opened up a whole new world to her.
Cassandra has three children, now
ages, 22, 17 and 9. Her health problems brought change for
everyone.
“For me, my whole household, my family — we all came together
in times when we needed to,” a teary-eyed Cassandra said. “We pulled together
and by the grace of God we made it through.”
She admitted she honestly
didn’t know if she was going to make it. “I keep on looking towards Heaven,”
she said. “That gets me through a lot.”
It is a story of faith that
touches Lou’s heart.
Cassandra offered to pay when she couldn’t, said
Lou. “That’s what makes giving so awesome,” she said. “You can tell when
someone is deserving. She said she would save up and do without. That’s not
acceptable to me.
“People say ‘Lou isn’t your job depressing?’ and I say
‘No’ because I meet the most awesome women,” Lou said. “She (Cassandra) is not
in here saying, ‘Poor, pitiful me.’”
Cassandra, a choir and youth
director at Peace Missionary Baptist Church hasn’t let her situation slow her
down.
“I’m determined I’m going to do everything to the best of my
ability,” Cassandra said. “I might operate from a wheelchair, but I’m going to
get there some kind of way. Things are going great for me now.”
Lou said
that attitude and the attitude of so many women she comes in contact with has,
at times, made her feel ashamed of herself.
However, Lou has nothing to
be ashamed of. Like Cassandra, she too, is a warrior — a warrior for other
women who are in the midst of the most trying times in their
lives.
“Cancer is a terrible thing, but it also draws a lot of
miracles,” Lou said. “It pulls people together.
“I want this to be the
best part of their experience that it can be,” she said. “I want to make it a
good time instead of dreading it. A lot of ladies go without.”
The women
Lou helps believe she is special.
“She is such a unique and fabulous
lady who is always willing to help out,” Cassandra said.
Not only does
Lou have the boutique, but she also organizes The Pink Ribbon Hope Chest
survivor group. The group meets at 6 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at
Athens-Limestone Hospital.
Coming
together
Alice Cosco said when the Athens Ladies Civitan group heard
about Lou C’s they wanted to do all they could to help.
As a member of a
group whose main focus is community, she suggested helping Lou to the Ladies
Civitan board. “I felt this was a really good cause to give back to women in
the community,” Alice said.
She told the group about Lou helping others
out of her own pocket.
The group recently gave Lou $700 to help purchase
supplies — supplies so important to breast cancer patients in the recovery
process.
The donation came from the club’s newly formed Helen Hammond
Cancer Fund. Hammond was a member of the club who just last week lost her
three-year battle with lung cancer.
“We really felt strongly about
giving back to deserving women in this community,” Alice said.
“The
Ladies Civitan have many options to give and they chose this one,” Lou
said.
“I am just overwhelmed and speechless.”
Others in the
community have helped as well including the East Limestone Fire Department,
Walk Awhile in my Shoes, and a number of personal donors.
The donations
go directly to the shop and on to people who Stephanie Mitchell said “deserve
to have these types of services.”
“Lou C’s Boutique is a place where
women can go to look and feel better on their journey with cancer,” Stephanie
said.
Stephanie, a certified Zumba instructor, is organizing a Zumba
Party to help support breast cancer fighters. The event will take place from
5:30-7:30 p.m. April 17, at the Valley Event Center. Tickets are $5. Donations
will be given to Lou C’s Boutique. Participants don’t have to participate in
Zumba fitness to attend.
“People pulling together make it all
worthwhile,” Lou said. “In one way or another we are all in this together and
no one should go through this alone. We need to be aware all the
time.
“I will do all I can to help those fighting cancer and with the
help of the community — they should not be alone or be without.”
April
2, 2012
Mastectomy
Lingerie & More is proud to support 2012 Candian Breast Cancer Survivor
Dragon Boat Teams - RushPRnews.com –
MASTECTOMY LINGERIE & MORE – Canada’s Online Mastectomy
Shop is proud to support the 2012 Canadian Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon
Boat Teams. Breast cancer survivor (BCS) dragon boating has been gaining in
popularity worldwide and is emerging as the survivor’s sport of choice.
Dragon Boating originated 2000 years ago in southern China. It has
evolved into a modern sport where teams paddle a boat festooned with colourful
dragon heads and tails. A typical team may consist of one drummer or caller at
the bow, a sweep or steerer at the stern and approximately 20 paddlers
depending on the size of the boat. Dragon boat festivals or races are held
around the world pitting amateur, corporate and professional teams against one
another. Many of these festivals now also include races where breast cancer
survivor teams race for bragging rights against one another too.
The popularity of the sport amongst breast cancer survivors is due to
Dr. Don McKenzie’s pioneering research work at the University of British
Columbia back in the mid 1990’s. McKenzie’s research team wanted to study a
group of survivors participating in a sport involving rigorous arm exercise to
understand how this affected the occurrence or severity of lymphedema in their
arms or hands. As Dr McKenzie was an avid rower, dragon boating was chosen and
the research eventually evolved into the creation of the first 24 woman breast
cancer survivor dragon boat team, Abreast In A Boat. Since that very first team
the sport has been rapidly expanding and there are now more than 40 BCS Teams
nationally, and many more worldwide.
Lymphedema is a condition where lymphatic fluids are retained due to a
compromised lymphatic system. Breast cancer survivors may suffer from
lymphedema in their arms or hands as a result of the removal of lymph nodes
during their surgery. McKenzie’s research was able to determine that there was
a reduced incidence of lymphedema and its effects in the women who were
involved in the dragon boating study and the rest as they say is
history.
BCS dragon boat teams activities are typically funded by team members,
donations, and sponsors. In some cases, teams are registered charities and can
issue tax receipts for donations that they receive. Whether these teams exist
to promote awareness, or raise money as a charity they all foster fitness,
camaraderie, friendship and provide a support network through fellowship with
team members.
According to Sue Teschke, store owner “As a survivor myself supporting
breast cancer survivors is something I feel strongly about. We have staff
members and suppliers who are paddlers on the local dragon boat team
Knot-A-Breast and I have seen first-hand the popularity and fitness benefits of
BCS Dragon Boating. I wanted to help raise awareness of the sport, while at the
same time helping out the teams themselves.” With this in mind the All Up –
Take It Away promotion evolved.
If you are a breast cancer survivor and would like to find more
information on joining a team you can view the teams already registered at www.mlam.ca, or visit
the International Breast Cancer Paddlers commission website to locate
a team near you
April
4, 2012
Komen awards grant money to help fight breast
cancer - ABC NEWS 4 – By Victoria
Hansen
DANIEL
ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) -- It was a big night in the fight against breast cancer,
as Susan G. Komen Lowcountry gave out $6500 dollars in grants
Tuesday.
Eleven local organizations will get the much needed money to
help women and men get mammograms and treatment.
This is the first time
the Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic has gotten a grant from Komen. It
serves people on Johns Island, Wadmalaw and Charleston.
Wanda Weart with
the clinic says the money will not only help with screenings and treatment, but
with education.
"We're going to be networking with St. Johns High School
with the art program and art teacher to be able to help spread the message
about cancer and awareness and prevention methods," said Weart.
The
clinic will get nearly $34,000.
The ALALA Cancer Society will get a
check as well, for $38,000. It helps breast cancer survivors who suffer from
Lymphedema, a swelling of the limbs. More than a third of patients develop the
problem, which is most commonly treated with a compression garment typically
not covered by insurance.
"The grant allows us to provide these items
free of charge to the breast cancer survivors which is absolutely wonderful,"
said Sherry Norris who works for the ALALA Cancer Society.
In all, 11
organizations will get checks from Komen. They are; ALALA Cancer Society,
Allendale County Hospital, Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic, Beaufort Jasper
Hampton Comprehensive Health, Best Chance Network, Hollings Cancer Center/MUSC,
McLeod Health, Regional Medical Center Orangeburg, Roper St. Francis
Healthcare, United Way of BCH and Volunteers in Medicine.
The money
given is raised by Komen through community fundraisers, like the Race for the
Cure.
April
6, 2012
LymphedemaAdvice.com's
Treatment Guide Offers the Key to Help - PR.com –
San
Jose, CA, April 06, 2012 --(PR.com)-- LymphedemaAdvice.com
has released an ebook that helps those suffering from lymphedema discover how
to heal the lymphatic system and reduce swelling caused by
lymphedema.
Lymphedema, also known as lymphatic obstruction, is a
condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling caused by a
compromised lymphatic system. Symptoms of lymphedema can include severe
fatigue, extreme swelling of limbs and localized fluid accumulations.
Lymphedema can be inherited (primary lymphedema) or caused by an injury to the
lymphatic system (secondary lymphedema). Primary lymphedema generally occurs
due to poorly developed or missing lymph nodes and secondary lymphedema often
occurs in both man and women after surgery, especially cancer
surgeries.
Lymphedema can be painful, cause unsightly swelling and is
difficult to manage. Often doctors do not provide the treatment or management
advice necessary for lymphedema.
LymphemaAdvice.com has put together an
effective lymphedema treatment (http://www.lymphedemaadvice.com/) ebook course
to help lymphedema sufferers covering lymphedema diet
(http://www.lymphedemaadvice.com/lymphedema-diet/), exercise and much more.
Titled "Discover How To Heal Your Lymphatic System and Reduce Swelling caused
by Lymphedema", the ebook course describes tested and applied
methods.
"Discover How To Heal Your Lymphatic System and Reduce Swelling
caused by Lymphedema" was put together by a lymphedema sufferer who personally
applied all of the techniques found in the course to heal their lymphatic
system and regain excellent levels of health, energy and optimism.
In
the course, lymphedema sufferers will discover:
The 5 little known, yet
very powerful supplements for healing
The Secret of lymphedema healing
that most doctors don't know
3 proven steps to increasing lymph flow and
clearing blockages
2 simple keys (that are right in front of your eyes)
to living a healthier life
3 things you should never consume when
suffering with lymphedema
6 time tested and proven strategies for having
a healthy, clean, free flowing lymphatic system
7 everyday but often
overlooked foods which will dramatically improve your lymphedema
How to
increase circulation and lymph flow.
Should you exercise? If so, how
often?
How to control bacteria and infections
Increase energy
levels and slow the aging process
This and so much more can be found in
the ebook course. Lymphedema sufferers can learn more by visiting
www.lymphedemaadvice.com and evaluating the ebook course. Although there is no
lymphedema cure (http://www.lymphedemaadvice.com/lymphedema-cure/), lymphedema
can be effectively managed.
Media Contact Information:
Mary
Walters
LymphedemaAdvice.com
E-mail:
[email protected]
Website:
http://www.lymphedemaAdvice.com
April
5, 2012
Cancer Survivor Workshop planned
- Daily Sentinel –
Something
is wrong with this article – it says it was written 2 years ago, it isn’t
current info
April
5, 2012
Physical Therapy for Breast Cancer Patients Minimizes
Side Effects - WCVB-TV – By Joanna Shea
O’Brien
Last
year, an estimated 230,480 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed among
women. Though recovery varies greatly for each patient, and not every one of
these patients with breast cancer will require rehabilitation services post
treatment, swelling and range-of-motion problems following treatment can
prevent them from returning to normal daily activities.
Treatment
for breast cancer, which includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, causes
many patients to experience pain and stiffness in the chest, shoulder and back
muscles, as well as initial swelling and numbness near a surgical incision
site. Other common side effects of breast cancer treatment include nerve
irritation, as radiation and surgery can cause nerves to become swollen, which
can result in numbness, pain or tingling sensations. Fatigue is also common,
and can easily overwhelm a patient.
An
integrated, multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, physical therapists
and social workers can help identify a patient’s rehabilitation needs. The BreastCare Center at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center works closely with Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
to ensure that patients who need rehabilitation receive
proper care.
Kathleen
Shillue, a physical therapist, is the Clinical Services Manager for Outpatient
Rehabilitation Services and has worked with patients with breast cancer for the
last two decades.
“One
of the strengths of our hospital is that it does not have the feel of a big
institution,” she says. “Health care providers work closely together and
communicate about our patients, and I think the patients feel that when they
come in for treatment.”
Shillue
and the Outpatient Rehabilitation team meet with patients to assess their
condition, including their range of motion and pain level, and begin a course
of exercises to regain strength and flexibility.
One
of the most effective ways to treat the side effects of breast cancer treatment
is to begin a provider-approved course of arm exercises. Occupational and
physical therapists can teach patients basic exercises that will stretch and
strengthen the muscles of the chest, back, shoulders and arms, preventing
stiffness and reducing pain. Increased flexibility can improve a patient’s
posture, which helps with pain management. And a supervised, gradual return to
exercise can also reduce both nerve irritation and fatigue.
“Patients
can begin a physical therapy program after adequate healing of the incision,”
Shillue says. “One of the benefits of rehabilitation and physical therapy is
that exercise can help with fatigue, which is a very common complaint among
patients with breast cancer.”
Recognition
and prevention of lymphedema, a post-surgery complication risk, is also
critical in breast cancer rehabilitation. Lymphedema manifests itself as
swelling in one of the arms because of a blockage of lymph passages and the
body’s inability to drain fluid from surrounding tissues.
Shillue
integrates the search for signs of lymphedema into her work with patients. Some
patients first notice a swelling in the fingers or hands, and it can be in the
first year or two after surgery, or as much as ten or twenty years later,
though that is much less common.
The
treatment for lymphedema has four components: education about skin care,
compression, manual lymphatic drainage or massage and exercise. Compression is
really the mainstay, and some patients must continue to wear a compression
garment long term to keep the swelling under control.
“Only
a small percentage of patients are afflicted with lymphedema, but it is
critical to recognize it immediately and begin treatment,” notes Shillue. BIDMC
physicians at the BreastCare Center are working with Shillue to open a
Lymphedema Clinic to make it even easier for lymphedema patients to get
accessible and coordinated care in their recovery process.
If
you would like to schedule an appointment at the BreastCare Center at BIDMC,
please call 617-667-2900.
Above
content provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
For
advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.
April 5,
2012
SouthScape: the South Xtra Bulletin
Board - Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Compiled by Kaitlynn
Riely
TALKS
Bethel Park
--
Lymphedema will be the topic of the meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania
Registered Nurses Club at 9:30 a.m. April 17 at Hamilton Presbyterian Church,
4500 Baptist Road. Information: 412-980-5185.
April
5, 2012
Devon Medical Products Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance
for extriCARE 2400 Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT)
System - MarketWatch
extriCARE™ Weighs Less Than One Pound, Becomes One of the Smallest
NPWT Devices to Market
KING OF
PRUSSIA, Pa., Apr 05, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Devon Medical Products, a global
medical device designer, manufacturer, and distributor, today announced it has
received Food & Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance to market its
extriCARE™ 2400 Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) system. View product
details here.
The
extriCARE™ 2400 pump weighs only 8.6 ounces and offers patients with specific
wounds the ability to live a more active wound-healing lifestyle. The pump
pairs with Devon Medical Products’ easy-to-apply, anatomically fitted bandages
that create tight seals around wounds on various areas of the body. Together
these technologies promote blood flow and remove exudates into a disposable
canister located on the extriCARE™ 2400 pump.
“We
designed and built the extriCARE™ NPWT system with patients and caregivers in
mind after discussions with expert wound care nurses, physicians, and wound
management thought leaders,” says Dr. John A. Bennett, president of Devon
Medical Products. “Ease of application, portability, and bandages creating
airtight seals were deemed the most vital features necessary for safe and
effective wound closure. The extriCARE™ encompasses these traits, and we’re
excited to offer this innovation in negative pressure wound therapy to
healthcare professionals and patients.”
The U.S.
patent pending extriCARE™ 2400 pump is intended for the management of chronic,
acute, traumatic, subacute and dehisced wounds, partial-thickness burns,
diabetic and pressure ulcers, flaps, and grafts. Using the extriCARE™
significantly reduces wound preparation time. The extriCARE™ can be utilized in
acute hospital settings, wound clinics, nursing homes, and inside the home
under supervision of a trained healthcare professional.
Devon
Medical Products will showcase the extriCARE™ 2400 pump at the Medtrade Spring
Conference (booth #848) in Las Vegas from April 11-12 and at the Symposium on
Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society meeting (booth #344) in Atlanta
from April 19-21. The company will also display its CircuFlow™ compression
therapy pumps for the treatment of venous insufficiency and swelling related to
Lymphedema, as well as its ArterioFlow™ 7500 arterial compression pump used to
increase blood circulation and prevent diabetic ulcers.
About
Devon Medical Products
Devon
Medical Products ( www.devonmedicalproducts.com ) is a global medical device
manufacturer, designer, and distributor dedicated to advancing healthcare
treatments and therapies through technological innovation. The company has
cultivated an exclusive line of medical devices, including the CircuFlow™
compression therapy pump series for the treatment of Lymphedema, the
ArterioFlow™ 7500 arterial compression pump for the treatment of ulcers related
to diabetic foot and peripheral arterial disease, and the extriCARE™ Negative
Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) System. Devon Medical Products is headquartered
in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and has international offices staffed with
bilingual engineers, product development teams, and regulatory experts.
SOURCE:
Devon Medical Products
April
5, 2012
Indian River County Community Calendar, Updated April
5 – TCPalm –
Lymphedema
Talk: Lectures on swelling & edema management. Lymphedema Therapy Center,
787 37th St., Ste. E-100, Vero Beach, 11 a.m., April 3, 10, 17, 24.
772-569-9747; [email protected].
April
8, 2012
BUSINESS SCENE: DCH Physical Rehabilitation reopens in
new location - Tuscaloosa
News
DCH
Physical Rehabilitation has moved into a new facility on the south end of the
DCH Medical Plaza on Ruby Tyler Parkway.
The
SpineCare Center and DCH Imaging also are located in the medical
plaza.
“We’re
excited about being able to offer physicians and their patients this
state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility,” said Tim Holbrook, physical
therapist and director of DCH Physical Rehabilitation.
The
therapy area includes five private therapy rooms, a new cardio theater and a
large heated pool. The aquatic area will have a separate exterior entrance and
a privacy wall separates the pool from therapy areas.
Therapy
programs include physical therapy, hand therapy, aquatic therapy and lymphedema
therapy. DCH Physical Rehabilitation also offers specialty programs, including
industrial therapy, spinal decompression therapy, functional capacity
evaluations, pre-hire testing, “Slender U” nutritional classes and the “Back to
Life” education program.
“The
Back to Life program will be a big component of DCH Physical Rehabilitation
therapy services,” Holbrook said. “Patients may go through weeks of therapy
their physician ordered, and when they’re through, they may ask, ‘Now what?’
Back to Life gives patients the option to continue exercising at DCH Physical
Rehabilitation once they have completed a therapy program.”
The
facility also will offer wellness-based programs after hours, including
exercise programs such as yoga, Pilates and tai chi.
April
8, 2012
Center offers hope for
lymphedema - News Chief –
WINTER
HAVEN - Not on a dare and not on a whim, Francis Beveren (name changed to
protect patient identity) jumped out of a plane 2 miles above earth and fell at
a rate of 120 mph for 50 seconds. To skydive was on her bucket list. She did
not know that this short jump would start her on a long journey of enduring a
chronic condition called lymphedema.
"Lymphedema
is a very common and serious condition affecting at least three million
Americans," said Joe Zuther, physical therapist, author of, "Lymphedema
Management,"
and founder and educational director of the Academy of Lymphatic Studies. He
reports that the highest incidence of lymphedema in the United States is
observed following breast cancer surgery, particularly among those patients who
undergo radiation therapy following the removal of axillary lymph nodes.
"Many
of these individuals will be affected by upper extremity lymphedema following
these procedures. However, there are also a large number of individuals
affected by lymphedema of the legs following surgery for prostate or
gynecologic cancers. In other cases, lymphedema may develop in the upper and
lower extremities due to malformations of the lymphatic system," said
Zuther.
The
lymphatic system is a network of specialized vessels throughout the body whose
purpose is to collect excess lymph fluid from the tissues. This fluid is then
filtered by the lymph system where waste products are eliminated by
infection-fighting cells called lymphocytes. The excess fluid in the lymph
vessels is eventually returned to the bloodstream. When lymph vessels are
blocked or unable to carry lymph fluid away from the tissues, the result is
localized extremity swelling overload into the lymphatic system.
Beveren
didn't know the intricacies of lymphedema. She is a retired schoolteacher from
Ohio and has made her home in south Florida for the last 13 years. After 30
years of teaching, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and shortly thereafter
she retired. She had to undergo breast and lymph node removal but refused to
undergo chemotherapy and radiation.
"Had
I known that I would live so long, I would still be teaching," states Beveren,
"but after surgery, my prognosis was so dire that I decided to make up a bucket
list. "
After
Beveren's bucket list flight and skydive, she started to notice swelling and
heaviness. The changes were slow and progressive until one day she noticed that
her sleeves and rings were too small for her left arm.
According
to the National Lymphedema Network's (NLN) website, an exacerbation of
lymphedema may result when the cabin pressure that is experienced during air
flight is less than the atmospheric pressure on the ground. As the plane's
cabin pressure decreases during flight, changes in limb fluid occur. Then the
external pressures exerted on the limb are changed. Diminished pressure in the
airplane cabin will result in a decrease in the fluid moved into the lymphatic
system. The fluid will remain in the affected limb.
As
in many cases, people at risk for lymphedema are individuals who have not yet
displayed signs and symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of lymphedema but have
a known insufficiency of their lymphatic system. The NLN reports that this
includes people who have undergone removal of lymph nodes or radiation therapy,
which increases the risk for developing lymphedema. At-risk individuals have
altered lymphatic function that may impede the body's ability to take up excess
fluids that escape into the tissues. The NLN's website further notes that
individuals at risk should pay close attention to changes in sensations of
their extremities. Signs of heaviness, fullness and aching of the extremity may
signal the onset of lymphedema.
Shortly
after Beveren's flight she was diagnosed with lymphedema and referred to a
therapist. Beveren went to therapy for 8 months. Beveren would come in for a
massage to her left arm three times per week. She states that she trusted her
therapist but that her arm was not reducing enough for her to notice.
Zuther
reports that in order to treat lymphedema successfully, each component of
complete decongestive therapy (CDT) has to be applied. CDT consists of a
combination of treatment techniques – manual lymph drainage, compression
therapy, skin and nail care, and exercises.
"Properly
trained lymphedema therapists should provide all materials necessary for
effective lymphedema therapy, such as compression bandages and garments.
Unfortunately, at the current time there are no mandatory training standards
for lymphedema therapists and some health care professionals claim to be
lymphedema therapists, but have not actually attended and successfully
graduated from a recognized training program. Patients searching for qualified
therapists should make sure that the therapist attended a recognized lymphedema
program consisting of 135 hours of training," Zuther advises. He further notes
that (massage) manual lymph drainage is not enough to decongest an
extremity.
As
in the case of Beveren, she was not treated with the mandated standards among
the lymphatic therapy world. Three years after her initial start with massage
therapy, her arm continued to swell. Her doctor then referred her to a clinic
with trained therapists from the Academy of Lymphatic Studies.
Beveren
believes that if she had originally gone to a place like Spring Lake
Rehabilitation Center she would not have wasted her time and money.
"Under
most medicare plans, manual lymph drainage is a reimbursable treatment," states
Tino Manco, administrator for Spring Lake Rehabilitation Center.
Call
863-294-3055 to schedule your free lymphedema screening at Spring Lake
Rehabilitation Center, at 1540 6th St.N.W., Winter Haven.
April
9, 2012
Breast cancer patients suffer treatment-related side
effects long after completing care -
EurekAlert –
Expert panel
recommends model for monitoring survivors to prevent and treat physical
complications
PHILADELPHIA – More
than 60 percent of breast cancer survivors report at least one
treatment-related complication even six years after their diagnosis, according
to a new study led by a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the
University of Pennsylvania. The findings are part of a special issue of Cancer
devoted to exploring the physical late effects of breast cancer treatment and
creating strategies to prevent, monitor for, and treat these conditions in the
nation's 2.6 million survivors of the disease.
"Our work provides
the first accounting of the true magnitude of the post-treatment problems
suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves as a call to action for proper
monitoring and rehabilitation services to care for them," said Kathryn Schmitz,
PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology who serves
as a senior scientist on the committee overseeing creation of a surveillance
model for breast cancer survivors. "We can no longer pretend that the side
effects of breast cancer treatment end after patients finish active treatment.
The scope of these complications is shocking and upsetting, but a ready
solution for many of them already exists in rehabilitative
exercise."
Schmitz, a member
of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, points out that previous studies to determine
the prevalence of post-treatment complications typically examined just one
issue. The new findings, instead, provide a full snapshot of the complications
women may experience following the chemotherapy, surgery, radiation treatment
and hormonal therapy to cure their disease and keep it from returning. The
results reveal that these problems rarely exist in isolation: Many women with
the painful limb-swelling condition lymphedema, for instance, may also struggle
with fatigue and bone health challenges.
Schmitz
collaborated with an Australian research team to follow 287 Australian women
with invasive, unilateral breast cancer for a median of 6.6 years,
prospectively assessing the women for treatment-related physical and functional
complications at set points throughout the study. Areas of study included
postsurgical complications, skin reactions to radiation therapy, upper-body
symptoms and functional limitations, lymphedema, weight gain, and fatigue.
Sixty percent of the women were still experiencing one of these problems at six
years after their diagnosis, and 30 percent were still struggling with at least
two issues. Most of the problems appeared within the first year patients were
assessed, but the prevalence of most impairments – except lymphedema and weight
gain -- decreased over the course of the study.
Writing in the lead
editorial of the special issue of Cancer, Schmitz and her
colleagues outline the myriad barriers that lay in the way of properly
monitoring breast cancer survivors for the problems uncovered in the new study.
Patients may have fragmented care, receiving different prongs of their
treatment at different hospitals; patients and providers may believe certain
problems are "expected" and "normal" and not appropriate for treatment; and
unlike orthopedists and cardiologists who frequently send patients for physical
rehabilitation to ensure their complete recovery, oncologists and surgeons are
often poorly linked to physical therapy professionals, limiting the number of
patients who are aware of or referred for these services.
In the face of
these challenges, an expert panel laid out a model for prospectively surveying
breast cancer survivors and formally incorporating rehabilitation and exercise
experts into cancer survivorship programs. Research increasingly shows that
post-treatment complications can be minimized – and even prevented altogether –
when caught early and addressed through various rehabilitation regimens. "When
early signs of impairment are noted and that impairment has a high probability
of worsening if allowed to progress, which ultimately may result in a worse,
permanent disability, there is an ethical obligation to treat the condition,"
they write.
The question of how
best to implement the proposed rehabilitation and surveillance remains to be
addressed. The panel plans to work through the American Cancer Society with
stakeholder groups to answer questions about how to educate patients and
clinicians about the plan and fully implement it. The American College of
Surgeons Commission on Cancer has published guidelines that will require that
all accredited cancer treatment centers provide treatment summaries and
survivorship health care plans to all their patients by 2015. The proposed
surveillance and rehabilitation model could serve as a framework for meeting
those pending guidelines. "In the meantime," Schmitz says, "breast cancer
survivors should be empowered to ask their doctor for a referral to physical
therapy and exercise programs."
###
Penn Medicine is
one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related
missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient
care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's
first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which
together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School
of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of
research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the
nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with
$479.3 million awarded in the 2011 fiscal year.
The University of
Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of
the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top 10
hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center;
and Pennsylvania Hospital — the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn
Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services
throughout the Philadelphia region.
Penn Medicine is
committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based
programs and activities. In fiscal year 2011, Penn Medicine provided $854
million to benefit our community.
April
9, 2012
Breast cancer treatment issues may linger for
years - Nurse.com –
More
than 60% of breast cancer survivors report at least one treatment-related
complication as long as six years after their diagnosis, according to a new
study.
"Our work provides the first accounting of the true magnitude of
the post-treatment problems suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves as a
call to action for proper monitoring and rehabilitation services to care for
them," Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, Perelman School of Medicine, University of
Pennsylvania, an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology who
serves as a senior scientist on a committee overseeing creation of a
surveillance model for breast cancer survivors, said in a news
release.
"We can no longer pretend that the side effects of breast
cancer treatment end after patients finish active treatment. The scope of these
complications is shocking and upsetting, but a ready solution for many of them
already exists in rehabilitative exercise."
Schmitz, a member of Penn’s
Abramson Cancer Center, said previous studies to determine the prevalence of
post-treatment complications typically examined only one issue. The new
findings provide a full snapshot of the complications women may experience
following chemotherapy, surgery, radiation treatment and hormonal therapy.
The results revealed these problems rarely exist in isolation. For
example, many women with lymphedema also may struggle with fatigue and
bone-health challenges.
Schmitz collaborated with an Australian research
team to follow 287 Australian women with invasive, unilateral breast cancer for
a median of 6.6 years, prospectively assessing the women for treatment-related
physical and functional complications at set points throughout the study. Areas
of study included post-surgical complications, skin reactions to radiation
therapy, upper-body symptoms and functional limitations, lymphedema, weight
gain and fatigue.
At six years after diagnosis, 60% of the women
continued to experience one of the problems, and 30% were struggling with at
least two issues. Most of the problems appeared within the first year of
assessment, with the prevalence of most impairments — except lymphedema and
weight gain — decreasing over the course of the study.
Writing in the
lead editorial of a special issue of the journal Cancer, Schmitz and her
colleagues outlined the myriad barriers that lie in the way of properly
monitoring breast cancer survivors for the problems uncovered in the new study.
Patients may have fragmented care, receiving different prongs of their
treatment at different hospitals; patients and providers may believe certain
problems are "expected" and "normal" and not appropriate for treatment; and,
unlike orthopedists and cardiologists who frequently send patients for physical
rehabilitation to ensure their complete recovery, oncologists and surgeons are
often poorly linked to physical therapy professionals, limiting the number of
patients who are aware of or referred for these services.
In the face of
these challenges, an expert panel laid out a model for prospectively surveying
breast cancer survivors and formally incorporating rehabilitation and exercise
experts into cancer survivorship programs. Research increasingly shows that
post-treatment complications can be minimized or prevented altogether when
caught early and addressed through various rehabilitation regimens.
The
American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer has published guidelines that
will require all accredited cancer treatment centers to provide treatment
summaries and survivorship health care plans to all patients by 2015. The
proposed surveillance and rehabilitation model could serve as a framework for
meeting those pending guidelines, the researchers said.
"In the
meantime," Schmitz said, "breast cancer survivors should be empowered to ask
their doctor for a referral to physical therapy and exercise
programs."
April
9, 2012
Founder of non-profit for breast cancer patients is
honored - Lexington Herald Leader – By Mary Meehan
Vickie
Blevins deals every day with what she calls "the dirty little secret" about
breast cancer.
It's
difficult to find someone who doesn't have a pink ribbon in support of breast
cancer survivors on something — a key chain, a T-shirt, a bumper sticker. But
Blevins said the sea of pink promoting the importance of mammograms sometimes
overshadows the needs of thousands of Kentuckians receiving
treatment.
These
women are in what Blevins, founder of the Kentucky Pink Connection, calls "the
ditch" — between finding out they have the disease and completing treatment.
Between
the first sign of a lump or a symptom and the end of treatment, they face a
host of complicated and often overwhelming obstacles relating to breast cancer.
Blevins' shoestring operation is helping 300 to 400 women at any given time and
has served 3,000 across the state since she founded it in 2008.
"That's
the severe need that we have," she said.
Blevins
was honored Monday by the Board of Health of the Lexington-Fayette County
Health Department as a "Health Hero" for her work with the non-profit, but she
said the everyday heroes in her life are the women she tries to
help.
"Transportation, help with medicine, wigs, hats, mastectomy items,"
Blevins says, rattling off a short list of needs of Kentucky Pink Connection
clients. The goal is to link women throughout the state with the resources
available in their communities. They might be access to a specialist or a gas
card to help cover the cost of traveling to chemotherapy treatments. Kentucky
Pink Connection also has some money available for unmet needs — a tire, for
example, when getting it would allow a woman to get to her doctor without other
assistance.
The pitch
Blevins gives to potential donors is this: We are local, we are part of the
community, you can decide where you want to target your money and we will honor
your wishes, and we can show you how we help.
In
announcing the award, the health department cited Blevins' work in talking to
women at health fairs, fund-raisers and doctors' offices, and her involvement
in the creation of a grass-roots group working to create a mobile mammography
van for Central and Eastern Kentucky. Blevins, though, said she thinks it's her
one-to-one work that matters most.
"People
are so relieved to have someone to talk to, knowing that someone cares," she
said.
Zelda
Amburgey of Hindman agreed.
"It's
just so refreshing to talk to someone who actually listens to your concerns and
tries so very hard to help," said Amburgey, who has used Kentucky Pink
Connection to obtain help with information and equipment to treat her
lymphedema. (Lymphedema is a swelling caused by the lack of lymph nodes and is
a common side effect of breast cancer surgery, Blevins said.)
Blevins
sees the job of Kentucky Pink Connection — which consists of her, two part-time
staffers and volunteers — as helping people navigate the complicated system of
treatment.
The
Lexington native said that as the oldest of seven children, she comes by these
skills naturally. She helped wrangle her brother and sisters while her mother
worked. "When you are getting the oatmeal on the table and getting people to
school," she said, laughing, "you navigate."
She moved
to Nicholasville as a child and graduated from Jessamine County High School.
She married, had three children and went to back to school when her youngest
entered the first grade. She eventually studied business at Midway College. In
1998, she and three friends decided to start a boutique to sell mastectomy
supplies including bras, wigs, scarves and hats after a number of women they
knew were diagnosed with the disease.
It was
the stories she heard in the fitting room of that boutique, she said, that
prompted her to start Kentucky Pink Connection. She said she was shocked and
saddened by the number of women who felt alone and unsupported following the
diagnosis. She was especially touched by the story of single mothers who were
struggling to get better and to care for their children.
"A lot of
them felt like they had no support," she said. (Sometimes, she said, it was
true, because the husband or boyfriend left after the initial diagnosis.)
The
profile of breast cancer has changed tremendously in the past decade, she said,
due to the efforts of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and other education groups.
(Komen is a financial supporter of Kentucky Pink Connection.)
However,
the many deeply ingrained fears continue, she said. Many women feel shame in
the diagnosis, fear that losing their breasts will mean losing their husband,
or are afraid of what people might think if they find out they have cancer.
Also, she said, women in some parts of Eastern Kentucky are afraid that if
their cancer is known in the community, it will make them a target for addicts
seeking painkillers. She knows of one woman whose mobile home was ransacked by
addicts looking for pills while she was at chemotherapy.
Blevins
said the average annual income of the women she serves is about $25,000, but
she increasingly sees middle-class women who have always had insurance and
steady incomes who find themselves thrown into crisis by the double whammy of a
cancer diagnosis and the loss of a job.
"These
women have never had to ask for help and find themselves needing it for the
first time," she said.
At 59,
Blevins said, retirement is in sight but not in the works. She might slow down
a bit to spend time with her children and eight grandchildren. But she said she
can't imagine leaving behind the cause that's so close to her heart.
If you
work for a non-profit, she said, "you can never really separate
yourself."
KEYWORDS
DOCS (YAHOO ALERTS):
March 29,
2012
Researchers
identify genetic basis of tropical foot and leg
lymphedema
- National Institutes of Health –
Wearing
shoes and genomics are tied together in strategy to eliminate
podoconiosis
Farmers
in the highlands of southern Ethiopia scratch out a subsistence living from the
region’s volcanic red clay. The soil supports the farms, but fine-grained,
volcanic rock particles in the dirt threaten the farmers and their families.
Continual exposure of bare feet to the volcanic soil causes 1 in 20 people to
develop a painful inflammation of the lower extremities that, over time, leads
to foot disfigurement. Doctors call it podoconiosis. The locals call it mossy
foot. And those affected suffer social stigma as well as debilitating
discomfort.
Now,
researchers think they know why some 4 million people in at least 10 countries
worldwide develop this incapacitating condition. One-fifth carry genetic
variants that cause their immune system to react to the volcanic dust. This
disease-producing response, triggered by exposure from the lack of shoes,
provides a dramatic example of the interaction between genes and the
environment.
Writing
in the March 29, 2012 New England Journal of Medicine, an international team
that includes researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute
(NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, describes the genetic link
that turns dirt into a toxin.
"This
study draws attention to a neglected tropical disease with a devastating impact
on poor people and their communities," said NHGRI Scientific Director Dan
Kastner, M.D., Ph.D. "It demonstrates the global reach of genomics research
into the lives of people in parts of the world where endemic diseases very
often go unchecked."
Doctors
have known for a long time that podoconiosis runs in families and that
continual exposure to volcanic soil triggers it. Wearing shoes and socks, or
even washing off the dirt, prevents the condition. But doctors have been
perplexed that only some people develop the disease, while others with the same
environmental exposure are spared.
To sort
this out, the international collaborators conducted a genome-wide association
study — or GWAS — analyzing DNA from 194 volunteers from the Ethiopian
highlands affected by podoconiosis, along with DNA from another 203 unaffected
individuals from the same region. The researchers collaborated with field
workers from the non-profit Mossy Foot Treatment and Prevention Association in
southern Ethiopia to collect the data and samples.
The
researchers generated a dataset from study-participant DNA, screening more than
550,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are sites in an
individual’s DNA that contain a different chemical base when compared to a
standard reference human genome sequence. They found significant podoconiosis
association for eight SNPs within or nearby a stretch of DNA on chromosome 6,
called the HLA class II locus.
The
researchers performed a second validation step, called a family-based
association study, using DNA samples from 202 sets of child-parent trios from
affected families. The researchers detected six SNPs that showed significant
association — those that mapped to HLA class II region genes and most strongly
associated with podoconiosis in the GWAS, validating the GWAS
results.
Further
analysis of direct HLA tests of 94 affected persons and 94 controls confirmed
that podoconiosis susceptibility is increased by inheriting altered DNA in the
HLA class II locus from one or both parents. The researchers estimated that the
SNPs found through the GWAS — which alone comprise a portion of the genetic
factors in podoconiosis — explained about 16 percent of the variance in the
disease occurrence. They also found that individuals with those gene variants
were 2 to 3 times as likely to become affected if exposed to the volcanic rock
soil.
"This is
the first study of a non-communicable disease to have used genome-wide
association for any African population, and it is the first study that has
attempted to use a systematic genomic approach to shed light on the genetic
basis of podoconiosis," said Charles Rotimi, Ph.D., co-author and senior
investigator in NHGRI's Inherited Disease Research Branch and director of the
trans-NIH Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health (CRGGH).
The HLA
class II locus is also particularly associated with T cell-mediated immunity,
according to co-author Adebowale Adeyemo, M.D., NHGRI staff scientist and CRGGH
deputy director. The research findings point to the fact that podoconiosis is
likely to be a T cell-mediated inflammatory disease. Mineral particles are
absorbed through the skin of the foot and build up in the lymphatic system,
causing inflammation and scarring that can obstruct blood vessels in an
affected individual’s feet.
"We
found a result that is consistent with the clinical observations of
inflammation and provides a way forward for scientific study of the disease,"
Adeyemo said. "Our hope is that other studies will follow, including a gene
expression and immunology study, and a study of the soil."
Fasil
Tekola Ayele, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a CRGGH post-doctoral fellow,
coordinated the field work in the Ethiopian villages, where he said it is very
common to see people with podoconiosis. “It may even be more prevalent than
other diseases, like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria,” he said.
"One
aspect that makes podoconiosis disturbing is that it is almost 100 percent
preventable by wearing shoes. So it is a disease of poverty to a very large
extent," Dr. Rotimi said. Public health campaigns are underway to encourage use
of footwear in endemic areas. Philanthropic groups distribute free shoes for
children in impacted communities and make shoes to fit affected
adults.
Depending on the
stage, podoconiosis can be reversible to a large extent with basic foot hygiene
that includes regularly washing off the dirt and wearing shoes and socks. "At
the later stage, surgery may be the only remedy," Dr. Adeyemo said. "In time,
it becomes a very hopeless situation." Doctors can surgically remove prominent
skin nodules, but ongoing exposure to the soil can lead to recurrence that is
sometimes worse for the person with podoconiosis.
Researchers in
NHGRI’s Social and Behavioral Research Branch (SBRB) are among groups engaged
in research to learn about the social and behavioral factors that perpetuate
the disease. SBRB and its collaborators are launching a study of public health
interventions, including measuring the effectiveness of intervention strategies
and messages that promote foot health, including foot hygiene and shoe
use.
In
addition to the NIH researchers who conducted the GWAS, the study team included
members from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and the Clinical
Transplantation Laboratory in the United Kingdom and the Armauer Hansen
Research Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Part of the team led by senior
authors Gail Davey, M.D., and Melanie Newport, M.D, Ph.D., of the Brighton and
Sussex Medical School, conducted preliminary epidemiology work in the Ethiopian
highlands and also had developed a clinical staging system for people with the
condition — from early to late stages.
In
addition to his role at CRGGH, Dr. Rotimi is president of the African Society
of Human Genetics. He considers this study of podoconiosis to be a step toward
addressing health disparities. "So far, 95 percent of what has been done in
GWAS research has been on European populations and some Asian populations," Dr.
Rotimi said. “This study is a wonderful example of the mission of CRGGH,
including training African scientists, applying state-of-the-art science and
answering questions about diseases that would otherwise not be dealt
with.”
To
download images of podoconiosis, go to: www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20265,
www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20266
and http://www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20267.
NHGRI is
one of the 27 institutes and centers at the NIH, an agency of the Department of
Health and Human Services. The NHGRI Division of Intramural Research develops
and implements technology to understand, diagnose and treat genomic and genetic
diseases. Additional information about NHGRI can be found at its website, www.genome.gov.
About the National
Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH,
the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is
a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the
primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and
translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments,
and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
April 10, 2012
Woman with swollen legs upset about hospital
experience - CBC.ca –
A
woman suffering a debilitating condition says she was refused medical treatment
in Saskatoon.
Tamara
Whitford's legs are badly swollen from lymphedema, a chronic disease caused by
blocked lymph passages.
"The
joy of simply going for a walk ... over the years, that's been taken from me,"
she said.
One
of the few treatments available involves wrapping her legs in special
compression bandages to reduce the swelling.
Whitford
checked into St. Paul's Hospital recently to have that done, but says after a
few wraps, nurses refused to do the treatment, saying it was too much
work.
"Right
away I felt unworthy, and angry, appalled, that they could say that," she
said.
Whitford
will get the treatments she needs in Prince Albert, but she is demanding an
apology.
"It
wouldn't take away the hurt but at least it would show some respect to me."
Saskatoon's Health Region will not talk about Whitford's complaint, citing
privacy concerns.
But
CBC spoke with Dr. Alan Casson, one of the heath region's vice
presidents.
He
said he's never heard of a case where a patient was refused
service.
Casson
said the incident was likely a communications mix-up and that Whitford should
speak with her doctor to determine the appropriate treatment for
her.
April11,
2012
Norma King | End of chemo brings extra joy to
spring - Kansas City Star – By NORMA KING
This will be my
last spring — to be bald, to be radiated, to be able to blame cancer and chemo
for my bad memory, or for the abundance of fatheads still driving on Missouri
roads.
I count nine months
— that’s long enough to produce a baby — since I started my cancer journey. I’ve
chronicled some of my experiences and feelings in this place, boldly declaring
that I have breast cancer and that my lump was the size of a Skittle. (I used
to say the size of an Advil — boor-ing.)
I watched as my
hair fell out, complained about cardboard food and endured sleeping on my back
almost every night because I didn’t want to pop my port or invite lymphedema.
My oncologist would say that I’m very imaginative. (What is a port? It’s a
portacath implanted in the upper chest that connects directly into a vein that
connects to the heart and allows the chemo drugs to be infused through the body
quickly. And it’s about the size of a butterscotch candy gone sci-fi.
)
So now it’s spring.
What a great time to be released from the jowls of the monster cancer! And you
know what’s weird? My zodiac sign is cancer. Nasty sense of humor, that Mr.
Zodiac. It’s also known as the crab. Why? Some say the Latin for crab is
cancer; and others say that Greek physician Galen thought some tumors looked
like crabs. Whatever…I think the zodiac for those of us born June 22-July 22
should be changed to something more positive — like redbud or cardinal or
chocolate.
Let’s talk about
radiation.
Besides being a
cancer-buster, as they tell me, radiation comes with tattoos.
I have five
tattoos. Look at the period at the end of this sentence. That’s about the size
of my tattoos. You’d figure as a reward for four months of chemo and seven
weeks of radiation — not to mention my bald head — I could get a butterfly or
smiley face.
But no, they just
mark you with the dots, then when radiation time comes they line up the dots in
the crosshairs of some green laser beams and zap you while you hold perfectly
still, gazing at the Lucy and Snoopy Band-Aid above you on the linear
accelerator machine.
I needed 35
radiation treatments. The first five weeks were spent having invisible, buzzing
photons shower down on me from above. Then I had a week of electrons zapping
just my scar on the left breast. The final week was a reunion with photons.
Here’s a description of the process which I sent my sister-in-law,
Debbie:
Radiation is weird.
I have to lay on this hard table, naked from the waist up (don’t like) and this
gigantor machine moves around me — it’s not claustrophobic — and beams
radiation into my left breast. There are usually 3-4 radiation therapists — all
women — who assist, but of course, they all run out when it’s time to radiate me
— and they leave me there. What does that tell you about the safety of
radiation? The actual radiating is done from two different “fields”: 38 seconds
on one, 40 seconds on the other. I’m in and out in 15 minutes. But I’m not
liking all this killing-my-cells business.
I figured out later
that not only do the radiation therapists run out, they close an 18-inch-thick
steel door behind them.
Although radiation
is a solo event, the waiting area was not. The waiting area was actually the
best part. I got to know other cancer patients and we bonded in our matching
blue hospital gowns as we waited for our turn behind the steel
door.
Cancer is a bad
zodiac handle, but it’s an equalizer among the special people who agree to suit
up (or down, as the case may be) and fight. And I have no complaints about the
radiation therapists, the radiologist or anyone else in the office. They were
great.
Fortunately, I
didn’t experience the bad “burn” some radiation patients endure. And I’ve heard
some good/bad true stories. My main side effects with radiation were fatigue
and continued tingling in my fingers and toes. I count my
blessings.
Ahead of me are
another six months of Herceptin, an infusion for those of us who are HER2
positive. But that’s another story. Fortunately, Herceptin does not make me
sick, nor make food taste like old baseball gloves.
It’s spring, I’ve
got new friends, wonderful support from husband and others and I get to keep my
tattoos!
To reach Norma
King, send email to [email protected].
Many breast cancer survivors 'suffer post-treatment
issues' - Spire Healthcare –
People
who have undergone breast cancer
treatment are prone to suffer at least one
treatment-related complication in the years following their
diagnosis.
This is according to a new study conducted at the Perelman
School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which revealed that 60
per cent of those who survived the life-threatening disease encountered a
related issue sometime over the following six years.
As part of the
research, the team monitored 287 Australian women with invasive, unilateral
breast cancer for a median of 6.6 years.
Results found that 60 per cent
experienced postsurgical complications, skin reactions to radiation therapy,
upper-body symptoms and functional limitations, lymphedema, weight gain, and
fatigue, while 30 per cent struggled with two of these problems.
Kathryn
Schmitz, an associate professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology who led the
study, commented: "Our work provides the first accounting of the true magnitude
of the post-treatment problems suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves
as a call to action for proper monitoring and rehabilitation services to care
for them."
However, a separate study by Virginia Commonwealth University
recently found that around half of breast cancer survivors died in later years
due to an illness which had no relation to their fight against
cancer.
April
12, 2012
Pink Fair at Backus to focus on women's
health - TheDay.com –
I
had nothing but troubles with this one and it ends April 25th anyway
so gave up, sorry
April
13, 2012
News to use - PennLive.com –
ACMH Hospital will host the class
"Lymphedema: What Every Breast Cancer Survivor Needs to Know" at 6 p.m.
Wednesday in the second floor continuing education classroom. Those attending
are asked to RSVP at 724-543-8658. Light refreshments will be provided.
Lymphedema, the accumulation of lymph fluid in the body, is a common side
effect of breast cancer treatment and affects 20% of breast cancer survivors.
Lymphedema can occur decades after breast cancer treatment ends. Discussion
will include which survivors are at greatest risk, how to recognize early
symptoms, the latest treatment options, and the latest research-based
guidelines on air travel and exercise.
April 11, 2012
Breast
Cancer Treatment Side Effects May Last for Years-
U.S. News & World Report –
Study
finds lingering pain, swelling, fatigue, mobility problems in many
women
WEDNESDAY,
April 11 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment-related complications are common in
breast cancer patients long after their therapy has been completed, a new study
says.
Researchers
looked at 287 Australian breast cancer patients and found that more than 60
percent of them had at least one treatment-related complication up to six years
after their diagnosis, and 30 percent had at least two
complications.
Complications
included skin reactions to radiation therapy, weight gain, fatigue,
surgery-related issues, upper body symptoms and physical limitations, and
lymphedema -- a painful limb-swelling condition.
"Our
work provides the first accounting of the true magnitude of the post-treatment
problems suffered by breast cancer patients, and serves as a call to action for
proper monitoring and rehabilitation services to care for them," study leader
Kathryn Schmitz, associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the
University of Pennsylvania, said in a university news release.
"We
can no longer pretend that the side effects of breast cancer treatment end
after patients finish active treatment. The scope of these complications is
shocking and upsetting, but a ready solution for many of them already exists in
rehabilitative exercise," said Schmitz, who is a member of the university's
Abramson Cancer Center and serves as a senior scientist on a committee
overseeing creation of a surveillance model for breast cancer
survivors.
The
study was published online April 6 in a special issue of the journal
Cancer that focuses on the physical late effects of breast cancer
treatment and ways to prevent, monitor and treat these conditions.
There
are 2.6 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, the authors noted
in the news release.
Many
factors can prevent proper monitoring of breast cancer survivors for the types
of complications identified in the study, Schmitz and her colleagues
said.
Patients
may have fragmented care and receive different types of treatment at different
hospitals; both patients and doctors may believe that certain complications are
"expected" and "normal" and don't warrant treatment; and many breast cancer
patients aren't aware of or referred to physical therapy
professionals.
April
12, 2012
SouthScape:
the South Xtra Bulletin Board-
Pittsburgh Post Gazette –
TALKS
Bethel Park
--
Lymphedema will be the topic of the meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania
Registered Nurses Club at 9:30 a.m. Tuesdayat Hamilton Presbyterian Church,
4500 Baptist Road. Information: 412-980-5185.
Local
breast cancer affiliate awards grant funds-
Fresno Business Journal –
The Central Valley Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure has
awarded six grants totaling $280,000 to programs providing breast cancer
services in the Fresno area.
The six grant recipients named in a news release are Fresno Health
Consumer Center; Hinds Hospice; Disability Legal Rights Center – Cancer Legal
Resource Center; West Fresno Health Care Coalition; California Health
Collaborative and Clovis Community Medical Center – Lymphedema
Clinic.
“We have identified specific, unmet breast health needs within our
community and ‘filled in the gaps,’ delivering the life-saving message of early
detection and providing assistance to medically-underserved breast cancer
patients and their families,” said Sharon Johnson, executive director of the
Komen Central Valley Affiliate, in the release.
Johnson said that disparities in breast healthcare and treatment
are not limited to women of color or the poor. These disparities impact younger
women and elderly women, women in rural and inner-city locations, women with
disabilities and even men.
For more information on the specific grants awarded, visit
komencentralvalley.org.
April
13, 2012
New
Cost-Effective Lymphedema Compression Garment Undergoing
Clinical
Trials - Doctor Tipster –
A
new treatment for leg lymphedema is being tested by scientists from Flinders
University, Australia. This new treatment is believed to bring new hope for
patients that suffer from this condition.
The
new treatment is based on the usage of a novel compression outfit that helps
the patients organism eliminate toxins and other noxious fluids.
Lymphedema
is a medical condition also known as lymphatic obstruction. It’s defined by the
fluid retention caused by either a blocked or a damaged lymphatic system. The
accumulation of this fluid can be a risk factor for various infections.
Congenital disorders, obesity, some infections and even different types of
cancer treatments can cause damage to a patients lymphatic system.
The
current treatments for lymphedema include the use of compression garments and
different types of manual lymphatic therapy but these treatments are either
time-consuming for both the therapists and the patients or just too expensive
for most patients.
The
director of the LRU (Lymphedema Research Unit), professor Neil Piller, says
that the new compression garment, called Flexitouch®, has more inflating
chambers than the older models and spans from the abdomen down to the foot. The
older models of compression garments only focused on the lower legs and had 10
inflating chambers, whilst the new Flexitouch® has 28 of those
chambers.
“This new device puts external pressure on
various parts of the leg where the fluid is accumulating, starting in the
abdomen and working down, to promote the natural movement of fluid out of the
tissues and into the lymph system – and eventually out of the body”, said
professor Piller.
The
study conducted by the scientists from Flinders University is also being
conducted at two clinics, in the United Kingdom and in the United States. It is
a clinical trial that requires the 16 participating patients to wear the device
for at least one hour a day, five times a week.
Jan
Douglass, one of the coordinators of the study, says that this new device is
accessible and cost-effective due to the patients being able to use it at home,
instead of having to visit the doctor for each treatment session. This also
allows patients, especially those living far away from therapists, to better
control their own health.
“Lymphedema
needs to be managed on a daily basis so anything patients can do at home is
going to be much more effective than going to a therapist once a week, even if
you can afford it”, notes Jan Douglass.
The
official results of this study will be available later this year, but Jan
Douglass already points out that patients participating in the clinical trial
have already shown positive reactions. They have reported a visible improvement
to their health after using the new Flexitouch® garment.
News
to use – Leader Times
By
Leader Times ACMH Hospital will host the class "Lymphedema: What Every
Breast Cancer ... Lymphedema, the accumulation of lymph fluid in
the body, ...
SORRY
TINA THE ABOVE ONE THE WEBSITE HAS HUNDREDS OF ARTICLES LISTED AND I COULDN’T
FIND ANYTHING SAYING WHAT THE SUMMARY STARTS WITH, I CHECKED
TWICE.
April
16, 2012
Endermologie
More than Pretty Legs - TheAlternativePress.com
– by Beth Geller, Just Be Smooth –
Endermologie is a
lymphatic drainage massage that reduces the appearance of cellulite. But, that
is not all! In fact, that is only a small part of it. By increasing blood flow
and helping the body eliminate toxins and fluids, Endermologie reduces swelling
caused by lymphedema. People that have swollen arms or legs due to fluid
retention find relief almost immediately and with continued treatments can
control the discomfort and pain for weeks at a time.
We have
also found Endermologie works beautifully for post-liposuction care. Many
patients get lumps, bumps, ridging, and swelling after lipo. The rolling and
pulsing motion of the treatment aids in smoothing out the skin that was damaged
by the procedure. It also helps the body get rid of the excess toxins and
fluids associated with the surgical procedure. Patients find they heal faster
and feel better sooner when they come for their twice-weekly
sessions.
If all
you want to do is make your skin look better, drinking lots of water helps. We
suggest that everyone drink half their body weight in ounces every day. For
instance, if you weigh 140 pounds, you should drink 70 ounces of water per day.
That is regular water, not flavored or sparkling—just plain, flat water. Salt
and sodium are also “bad” for your skin—causing water retention and bloating
thus making the skin look lumpier. Both of those tips are a simple way to make
your skin look and feel better.
About Just Be
Smooth
Just Be Smooth is located at 276 Essex Street in
Millburn, NJ 07041--offers Endermologie, Organic Spray Tanning, Universal
Contour Wraps, facials, and waxing. For more information or to schedule a FREE
consultation with one of our certified technicians, call 973-376-8889 or visit
www.JustBeSmooth.com
The
Chamber of Commerce is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization that strives to
bring hundreds of businesses and professional firms together in order to create
and sustain a healthy and viable business and residential community. The dues
investment made annually by each of its members provides a wide variety of
programs dedicated to the betterment of the entire Millburn-Short Hills
community.
Our
office, located at 343 Millburn Avenue, Suite 303, is a resource center
offering information and answers about the business and residential life in our
township. For information about our services and programs, call us at 379-1198
or visit our website www.millburnshorthillschamber.com, e-mail us at
[email protected]. And like us on
Facebook.
The
opinions expressed herein are the writer's alone, and do not reflect the
opinions of TheAlternativePress.com or anyone who works for
TheAlternativePress.com. TheAlternativePress.com is not responsible for the
accuracy of any of the information supplied by the writer.
Not
all cancers call for surgery; slow-growing ones are
watchable
- Palm Beach Post – By Dr.
Melanie Bone
–
Dear
Dr. Bone: My husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer when he went for his
checkup and they found blood in his urine. His tumor is small, and we were told
that it could be watched and not taken out. This makes us nervous. What do you
think? - D.C., Lantana
Dear
D.C.: It always make us nervous to "watch" a cancer. We associate cancer with
death, especially if it isn't diagnosed early. That perception is hard to
change and lags current knowledge about the behavior of certain types of
cancer. Our first instinct when hearing that we have cancer is to want to "get
it out" because we think that it could fester and spread if left inside. While
that is true for some cancers, kidney cancer is a little different. There are
some kidney cancers that can be treated conservatively.
A
study out of University of California Irvine followed 200 kidney cancer
patients over three years and found little change in most of the tumors. Only
one patient died of their cancer. If all these patients had undergone surgery,
there is a higher risk that more than one of them would have had a
complication. Having said that, recent advances in the approach to kidney
cancer now permit minimally invasive surgery to remove the disease.
Laparoscopic and robotic surgery can be used to remove the kidney and there are
now places that use either CAT scan or MRI to guide a probe into the tumor to
destroy it without sacrificing the entire kidney and with minimal down time for
the patient.
I
encourage you and your husband to research the options for his disease and only
agree to treat or not to treat after you are well-educated about his
condition.
Dear
Dr. Bone: I am a long-term breast cancer survivor. Most of the time I forget I
even had it. However, I have pretty bad lymphedema. To give you an idea of how
bad it is, I have to have a seamstress add fabric to the sleeve of every fitted
shirt I buy. I have tried massages, wrapping, and special diets and
supplements, but nothing works. A friend showed me an article about lymph node
transplantation. - H.R., West Palm Beach
Dear
H.R.: Thank you for sharing your frustration. Unless you are in the medical
field, it is hard to understand what it is like to deal with lymphedema day in
and day out. For those who don't know, lymphedema is a condition that develops
when the lymph nodes have been removed. The lymph fluid that normal flows
toward the heart in tiny channels no longer has a way to get out and this
causes swelling. Lymphedema is commonly seen after surgery for breast cancer
when the lymph nodes in the armpit are removed, but it can happen to either men
or women and occurs in the legs or the abdomen when lymph nodes in those areas
have been removed or destroyed. For years, massage and compression wraps have
been the mainstay of treatment for lymphedema.
A
female surgeon from Paris, Dr. Corinne Becker, developed a procedure called
autologous lymph node transfer. Essentially she takes lymph nodes from a
different area of the body, such as the groin, and "transplants" them to the
affected area. She claims a very high success rate. The surgery is delicate and
possible complications include infection and creation of lymphedema in the part
of the body from which the lymph nodes were harvested. It sounds like this idea
has great potential and will be refined over time. If you can live with the
situation a little longer, I suspect that autologous lymph node transfer will
prove to be a great solution for you in the not-too-distant
future.
Dr.
Melanie Bone is a cancer survivor and gynecologist who practices in West Palm
Beach. To send questions for her column, go to www.CancerSensibilityFoundation.org
or PalmBeachPost.com/health (click on the "ask a question" link). Any questions
submitted to Dr. Bone will be considered for her column. You may also visit
www.CancerShopUSA.com
April
17, 2012
HEALTH
HAPPENINGS: Free or low-cost health-related events open to the public in
Manatee and Sarasota counties- Bradenton Herald –
Information:
Winnie Schroeder, 941-792-7204. n Lymphedema Support: meets by
appointment. Information: Marsha Shuford, 941-798-2141
April
19, 2012
The
Lingering Effects of Breast Cancer
– dailyRx – By: Laurie
Stoneham
(dailyRx)
Just
because cancer has been beaten doesn't mean the battle is over. Side effects
can - and often do - linger for years. Yet many women who are living beyond
breast cancer aren't getting adequate care for these late effects.
Recent
research finds that more than 60 percent of women suffer at least one
treatment-related side effect six years after their breast cancer
diagnosis.
These
findings will provide the foundation for developing strategies to prevent,
monitor and treat these troublesome conditions experienced by 2.6 million
breast cancer winners in the United States.
Kathryn
Schmitz, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania led the
research.
"We
can no longer pretend that the side effects of breast cancer treatment end
after patients finish active treatment. The scope of these complications is
shocking and upsetting, but a ready solution for many of them already exists in
rehabilitative exercise," Schmitz said.
Schmitz,
who is a member of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, worked with a team of
Australian researchers. They followed 287 Australian women who had been
diagnosed with invasive in one breast cancer for about 6 1/2 years. Throughout
the study, researchers assessed the women for treatment-related
complications.
Breast
cancer complications can range from lymphedema (painful swelling of limbs) to
fatigue and weight gain. And 30 percent of women struggle with at least two
issues years after active treatment is completed, according to this
research.
Most
of the complications appeared within the first year following treatment and
resolve on their own. However, weight gain and lymphedema can be troublesome
for years.
Part
of the problem in treating these issues is the fragmented care women receive
following their cancer journey, and the fact that few oncologists and surgeons
refer patients to physical therapy, according to the researchers.
dailyRx
asked Schmitz what women can do to overcome these limitations. "They can
educate themselves about the various persistent negative effects of treatment
that commonly occur among breast cancer survivors, including chemotherapy
induced peripheral neuropathy [numbness], bone health, heart effects (heart
failure and arrhythmias), weight gain, upper body symptoms, fatigue, and
lymphedema, among others," she said.
Here
are other suggestions, Schmitz offered, when asked about actions women can
take:
·"They
can ask for regular and ongoing evaluation of these issues by their health care
professionals.
·They
can start and maintain a regular program of exercise to help reduce, prevent,
rehabilitate, attenuate, or treat many of these effects.
·Ditto
for eating a healthy diet and achieving and maintaining a healthy body
weight.
·They
can demand that their doctors take these issues seriously … there is a tendency
on the part of some oncology clinicians to dismiss persistent adverse effects
of treatment, given that having these problems is clearly vastly preferable to
being dead. I don’t think that women should accept this attitude
anymore.
·They
can find well educated clinical exercise professionals and oncology
nutritionists to help them."
In
light of the challenges breast cancer patients face, a model has been developed
for surveying patients and formally including rehabilitation and exercise
specialists in cancer survivorship programs.
Schmitz
and colleagues will work through the American Cancer Society with various
groups to implement this plan.
This
research was published in the April issue of Cancer, which is dedicated to
examining and exploring ways to abate the late effects of breast
cancer.
No
funding information was provided.
Andersen
Jones Builds Lymphedema Awareness with an Award-Winning
Video Production -MarketWatch –
SAN JUAN
CAPISTRANO, Calif., Apr 19, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Andersen Jones Marketing
Medicine has won a prestigious Silver Telly award with its video production
partner, Beard Boy Productions, for an educational video, "Breast Cancer's
Dirty Little Secret." The seven-minute production was created for agency client
LymphConnect.com, an online community dedicated to promoting awareness and
providing educational resources for women about lymphedema.
Lymphedema is an
unwelcome and all-too-frequent side effect of breast cancer treatment. Women
who undergo a surgical biopsy with lymph node dissection are at heightened risk
of developing the condition. Lymphedema is recognized by a disfiguring swelling
of the affected limb and often means a lifetime of discomfort and expensive
surgical treatment. The good news, however, is that there is now an affordable
and effective aid in the clinical assessment of unilateral lymphedema of the
arm in women. This new technology is called Bioimpedance Spectroscopy and is
discussed by both clinicians and their patients in the new video.
According to agency
principal Rick Andersen, "Breast Cancer's Dirty Little Secret is a powerful
video because it showcases patients who live with lymphedema every day, along
with their caregivers who have discovered an effective way to assess this
condition. Every breast cancer patient in the world can access this vital
information on the LymphConnect.com educational resource site. We're very proud
to have contributed to the creation of a global community for sharing
lymphedema resources."
Headquartered in
San Juan Capistrano, Andersen Jones is a West Coast leader in medical device
and diagnostics advertising. The agency has a long track record in women's
health, particularly in the breast cancer space. To learn more, contact Rick
Andersen at 949-240-6802 or [email protected].
SOURCE: Andersen
Jones Marketing Medicine
April
23, 2012
Lymphedema
Support Group to Feature Surgeon Dr. Shawn Steen
- Ventura County Star –
This
was a one-time event that is over now sorry
What
You Don't Know About Cancer -- Hope On The Horizon
- Huffington Post –
This
is a Marlo Thomas (the actress) blog so by her
Cancer is such a
dreaded and scary word, and most of us have experienced its wrath at some point
in ours lives -- whether through a family member or friend, or through our own
struggle with it.
So this being Cancer Awareness Month, I thought it
might make us all sleep a little better to ask some of the top cancer
scientists in the country to tell us some things (or even one thing) that makes
them optimistic about the ongoing battle with cancer.
The exciting news
is: they are all optimistic. And at the center of this optimism is DNA.
We all know by now that when DNA is brought into the courtroom it can
help prove whether a person is the culprit or not. That's because every
person's DNA is unique to that individual -- like our fingerprints.
Well, DNA works the same way in the lab. The "investigator" looks at
the normal DNA of the patient, and then compares it with the DNA of the cancer
cell in that patient. Typically, these two samples are going to look more than
99.99 percent the same. But it is that tiny difference that holds the secret to
what is causing the cancer. What is needed then is a drug that can correct the
problems caused by that DNA damage.
Ten
years ago, scientists didn't have the technology even to find the DNA damage in
each patient's cancer. They used common microscopes to look deep into the cell
-- but they couldn't see deep enough. Now, thanks to giant leaps in the science
of DNA sequencing, these same scientists can go millions of times deeper into a
cell than with a standard microscope -- and whole new worlds of information
have opened up before their eyes.
"Just five years ago, these
classifications of cancer were invisible to us," the renowned scientific
investigator, Dr. Charles Sawyers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center, told me. "Now that they are visible, we can create new drugs to target
what we can see. It's why I rush to work every day."
Dr. Sawyers is not
alone in his passion. All of the scientists I spoke to expressed excitement
about DNA's emerging role in the fight against cancer as well as their hope
that the public will ultimately grasp the concept of fighting cancer
genetically, in order to appreciate these new possibilities.
Pharmacogenomics expert and CEO of St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital, Dr. Bill Evans, explained DNA science this way:
"It's
like when you build a house. The architect draws up a blueprint, and if that
blueprint is faulty and the house starts to lean -- or even fall down -- then
obviously the architect has made a mistake. So you must go back to the
blueprint and find out where that mistake was made so you can fix the
damage."
"DNA sequencing is the blueprint of a cell," Dr. Evans
continues. "It helps the investigator look at every letter to find out what
went wrong and what caused the damage. And so our optimism comes from our
ability to look deeper into the cell to see the 'blueprint' for the first time,
and lead us to the cause."
Beyond DNA science, the doctors and
scientists I spoke to also celebrated the bold steps being taken on the many
different frontlines of the war against cancer. Dr. Judy Garber of the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who specializes in breast cancer, expressed
hopefulness about doctors' increased ability to treat cancer effectively
without leaving the patient debilitated through invasive surgery.
"Less
surgery is being done," Dr. Garber told me, "and when it is, surgeons are
taking only one to two lymph nodes where they used to take them all. This
lesser amount gives women better movement in their arms and less swelling. And,
of course, we have discovered much better treatments."
Dr. Bob
Wiltrout, Director of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer
Institute, National Institutes of Health, is equally enthusiastic about the
great strides being made in the treatment of prostate cancer -- which is
currently the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men.
"One of our most exciting breakthroughs is the use of precision
approaches to detect even very small tumors with exquisite sensitivity," Dr.
Wiltrout told me. "Not all prostate cancers actually require treatment, and
many men are treated needlessly, or end up getting the wrong treatment for
their tumors. But with these new techniques, in the future it should be
possible to predict which tumors actually require treatment, and which patients
can be safely monitored without needless surgery or radiation."
All of
the doctors I spoke to pointed to the increased survival numbers -- the holy
grail of all medical science statistics -- as evidence that we are gaining
ground in this fight. "We are saving 350 more people per day in the U.S. than
we did in 1991," Dr. John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society,
told me. "And what's even more encouraging is that we could get to 1000 per
day, if we all did our part -- with screenings, diet, exercise, quitting
smoking and controlling obesity."
As someone who has spent many years
marveling at the brilliant and painstaking work of the doctors, scientists and
researchers at St. Jude, I can attest firsthand to the bone-deep commitment
these men and women have made in their fight against disease. They are at it
around the clock -- every hour of the day, every day of the year. And so when I
hear them speak with such optimism, it fills me with great hope for all of us
and our loved ones.
"I believe we are entering a golden era in cancer
therapeutics," said Dr. William G. Kaelin of Dana-Farber and the Harvard
Medical School, whose expertise in cancer research runs the gamut from the use
of "smart drugs" to the current "renaissance" in cancer immunotherapy. "But
maintaining this momentum will require that both the public and private sector
efforts to eradicate cancer remain vibrant. Science -- especially science that
transforms the way we think -- does not lend itself to predetermined
timelines."
I hope that you'll join me in remaining as committed to the
battle against cancer as Dr. Kaelin implores us to be. We have come too far to
let up now, and are closer than ever to that long-awaited
cure.
April 24, 2012
Business Profile - Carbondale
News – By TOM
FONTANA –
Amy
Witko and Judith Slocum, physical therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy,
are celebrating National Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the
public aware of treatment services available.
Every April,
occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students in
practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long celebration
showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational
therapy treatment sessions are created for each individual based on their
unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs offered by the
occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is Lymphedema
management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t control on
their own even by elevation may benefit from our lymphedema management
program,” Amy said.
For
more information on the services at Comprehensive Physical Therapy, call Amy L.
Witko MS, OTR/L, CLT and Judith Slocum COTA/L. Locations include: Carbondale
(282-3302), Forest City (785-2018), Hawley (226-7303), and Dunmore
(342-5333)
May
12, 2012
Second nightmare operation for first Scots woman to
get faulty PIP - Scottish Daily Record - by Janice Burns –
THE
first Scots woman to have faulty breast implants removed on the NHS is facing a
second nightmare operation to have her lymph glands cut out.
Jenny
Brown, 41, told of her devastation at finding out that industrial silicone from
the controversial French-made PIP implants had burst. The chemicals leaked into
the nodes under her right arm.
Speaking
for the first time since the implants were removed in February, Jenny said: “I
thought that my nightmare would be over when I had them removed but now I feel
it will never be over. I feel I have a ticking timebomb in my
body.”
Jenny,
a nurse, wept as she held the dodgy implants in her hands and added: “I cannot
believe these things were in my body.
“When
I look at them, all yellow and completely burst, I get very upset and angry
because I still have this silicone inside me.
“In
two weeks, surgeons will remove two or three of the nodes but not all of them
because it will cause too many other complications.
“I
will have some of this stuff in my body for the rest of my life.
“The
most frightening thing is that no one really knows what is inside these
implants and there was talk of them causing cancer at one point.
“This
is industrial silicone used in mattresses and for weather-proofing bricks, it
was not meant for medical use. Not enough research has been done on the risks
associated with these implants.”
Jenny
said that when she asked the surgeon if he was going to test the implants, he
replied that they were going to be thrown in the bin.
So
she took them home. She said: “I can’t understand why no one is testing
ruptured implants.”
Jenny
added: “I take painkillers every day and, even after the operation, I may have
to keep taking them.
“The
past five months have been the toughest of my life and my family have been to
hell and back with me.
“For
thousands of women out there, their ordeal is just beginning because only those
with ruptured implants are getting them removed free of charge.”
Lymph
nodes help to drain the body of toxins and are vital to the immune system. The
main risks of having lymph nodes removed are infection and lymphedema – a
build-up of fluid.
Mum–of-four
Jenny, from Edinburgh, said she had become “increasingly frustrated” by the
lack of information and the failure to test faulty implants.
She
had her implants put in at the private clinic Transform, in Glasgow, in 2005 to
rectify a dent in her breast caused by the removal of a large
mole.
And
she was the first woman in Scotland to have them removed by the NHS in February
8 at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. Jenny will have her lymph nodes
removed at the same hospital on May 23.
She
is one of more than 4000 Scots women who found out they had been given the
dodgy implants when it hit the news headlines on January 13 this
year.
Since
then, thousands like Jenny have joined a Facebook campaign for justice and a
support group for victims called “PIP Implants Scotland”.
They
are fighting for a public inquiry into the scandal and calling on the
Government to take action to help the thousands of women get their lives
back.
Jenny
said: “I think the Government should force these private companies to pay for
the implants to be removed because they have a duty of care to their
patients.
“There
are people out there who feel we don’t deserve the same rights and care as
others because they think we all got implants out of vanity.
“Many
victims have had this done for medical reasons. But even if they did do it to
make themselves feel better, they shouldn’t be punished for that and denied the
same rights to life as anyone else.
“I
get the feeling everyone thinks we are all getting them removed and that it has
been resolved. It is far from being sorted out. We still have a long fight
ahead of us and we need the support of the public.”
We're
fighting for justice
A
firm of lawyers in Glasgow represent more than 60 women involved in the scandal
– and they are urging others to get on board.
Patrick
McGuire, of Thompsons Solicitors , said: “Over five months after this scandal
became public, the victims are still suffering and fighting for
justice.
“The
battle for fair treatment from the clinics goes on and the Government report
into the scandal is being delayed. This is simply not good
enough.”
Help
is available at Thompsons’ website www.pip-breast-implants.co.uk, the Facebook
page “PIP Implants Scotland” or on the free advice line 0800 081 29
24.
May
29, 2012
Lymphedema Support Group: Nurse Navigator (Guest
Speaker) - Ventura
County Star –
There
are many clinical professionals who interact with the cancer patient. The
newest one to become integrated into the cancer patient’s care is the Nurse
Navigator.
The
Nurse Navigator is the 411 of cancer care and can answer many questions
regarding cancer screening, treatment, follow-up and resources available in the
community.
It’s
quite often overwhelming to deal with the enormity of managing cancer. With so
many components for the cancer patient to manage, the Nurse Navigator helps
coordinate the cancer patient’s continuity of care, alleviating the stress of
not knowing where to turn, what specialists to see, and what course of action
to take.
To
understand how a Nurse Navigator can assist a patient and family, join Cathy
J.F. Cole, NP, MPH, CHES, Breast Health Navigator at Los Robles Hospital &
Medical Center, as she speaks on “The Role of the Nurse Navigator: From Breast
Cancer Diagnosis through Treatment.”
The
event is sponsored by Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center’s Lymphedema
Support Group which is led by Catherine Hines, P.T., C.L.T., and is for
patients with lymphedema, their loved ones and caretakers. It will be held
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the cafeteria at Los Robles
Hospital’s East Campus, 150 Via Merida, Westlake Village.
To
make a reservation or obtain additional information regarding the program,
please contact the Los Robles Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation Department at
(805) 370-4001
Read
more:
http://www.vcstar.com/events/2012/may/30/10876/#ixzz1xQydVQpL
-
vcstar.com
May 29,
2012
Community Extra: Calendar –
HeraldNet –
Lymphedema
Support Group Meeting: 6 to 8 p.m. the third Thursday of the month, conference
room B, Providence Regional Medical Center, Pacific Campus, 916 Pacific Ave.,
Everett. For more information, email [email protected].
May 28,
2012
St. Francis and affiliates offer support
groups - Monroe News Star – Amy
Witko and Judith Slocum, physical therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy,
are celebrating National Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the public aware
of treatment services available.
Every April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and
students in practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long
celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational therapy treatment sessions are created for each
individual based on their unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs
offered by the occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is
Lymphedema management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t
control on their own even by elevation may benefit fromAmy Witko and Judith
Slocum, physical therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy, are celebrating
National Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the public aware
of treatment services available.
Every April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and
students in practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long
celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational therapy treatment sessions are created for each
individual based on their unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs
offered by the occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is
Lymphedema management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t
control on their own even by elevation may benefit from our lymphedema
management program,” Amy said.
For more information on the services at
Comprehensive Physical Therapy, call Amy L. Witko MS, OTR/L, CLT and Judith
Slocum COTA/L. Locations include: Carbondale (282-3302), Forest City
(785-2018), Hawley (226-7303), and Dunmore (342-5333).
LYMPH
TALK
Support group for those living with lymphedema (not exclusive to
breast cancer); education and ideals for successful management of lymphedema.
5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month at Kitty DeGree Breast
Health Center, 3421 Medical Park Drive
May 28,
2012
Healthy Life Series Continues At
Phelps- Westchester.com –
Tuesday, June 12
-Treatment for Lymphedema The lymphatic
system plays an important role in your circulation system. When the lymphatic
system is unable to return fluid to your circulatory system (such as after lymph
node removal), a protein-rich fluid accumulates under the skin and causes
swelling, a condition known as "lymphedema." Learn about
how lymphedema therapy can help move the fluid and decrease swelling. Presented
by Jennifer Teyfel-Freestone, Outpatient Physical Therapy Supervisor, at Phelps
Memorial Hospital Center, 701 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow. 5 - 6 pm in the
Auditorium. Call (914) 366-3220 to register
Sunday, May 27,
2012
Local Art Exhibit Showcases Work By Those With
Disabilities - KYW Newsradio – By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — “All About Art” is MossRehab’s annual art exhibition that showcases
hundreds of work by artists with disabilities.
“I do see the glass as half full. I always have. And that’s what
making art is all about,” says artist Daphne La Croix, who has chronic
lymphedema of the left arm, a damaged retina of the left eye and is a stage
three breast cancer survivor of 16 years.
She uses her art as therapy and decided to put her pain on
canvas.
“Producing art turns any unhappiness you have into joy.
So I say everyone is an artist,” La Croix explains.
Curator Nancy Pageau says the exhibition includes work for sale from
more than 82 artists with a range of disabilities:
“We have traumatic brain injury patients,
we have muscular dystrophy patients, MS, and we have blind artists who do
sculpture…”
Pageau says that viewing the artwork is inspiring.
“It’s hard to believe that these are artists that had to overcome
many, many disabilities to create their work.”
For more info on the free exhibit, go to www.MossRehab.com
May 24,
2012
Wausau dentists win SBA small businesspeople of
year - Bizjournals.com -
A
group of Wausau pediatric dentists
has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s small businesspeople of
the year.
Drs.
Thomas
Turner, Carl
Hash, Corey
Brimacombe and Joshua
Spiegl of First Impressions SC will receive the award at
the annual SBA breakfast June 1 in Milwaukee. The practice is the state’s
largest provider of pediatric dentistry to Medicaid patients. It has offices in
Wausau, Rhinelander, Medford, Stevens Point, Weston and Shawano.
Kyle
Weatherly, president of West Allis-based Solaris Inc.,
has won honorable mention small businessperson of the year. Solaris makes
medical garments, specializing in garments for the treatment of
lymphedema.
Wendy
Baumann, president of the Wisconsin Women’s Business
Initiative Corp., will accept the award for “women’s business center excellence
award” for the Midwest region at an event May 30. Jeff
Bowman, president of First American Capital Corp., West
Allis, has won the regional award for minority small business
champion.
Other
local winners include:
- Small
Business Exporter: Jeff
Wnuk, S3 International, Milwaukee.
- Jeffrey
Butland Family-Owned Small Business: Tom
Harrington, National Technologies Inc., Oak
Creek.
- Minority
Small Business Person of the Year: Samina
Mahmood, Superior Equipment and Supply, Saint
Francis.
- Women in
Business Champion: Matt
Wagner, S.C. Johnson, & Son Inc.,
Racine.
- Small
Business Legal
Assistance Award: Joseph
Heino, Davis
& Kuelthau SC Davis
& Kuelthau SCLatest from The Business JournalsBando/Chmura
development company files for Chapter 11FDIC
selling off Legacy Bank mortgagesMandel
pushing to get North End dealFollow
this company , Milwaukee
Stacy Vogel Davis covers small business and retail for The Business
Journal
May 23, 2012Amy Witko and Judith Slocum, physical
therapists at Comprehensive Physical Therapy, are celebrating National
Occupational Therapy Month in April by making the public aware
of treatment services available.
Every April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and
students in practice, education, research, and science conduct a month-long
celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.
“Occupational
therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with individuals who may
have experienced an injury, illness or are living with a disability that can
have a negative impact on the quality of their everyday lives,” Amy
explained.
Occupational therapy treatment sessions are created for each
individual based on their unique needs and goals. One of the specialty programs
offered by the occupational therapy staff at Comprehensive Physical Therepy is
Lymphedema management. “Anyone experiencing high levels of swelling they can’t
control on their own even by elevation may benefit from our lymphedema
management program,” Amy said.
For more information on the services at
Comprehensive Physical Therapy, call Amy L. Witko MS, OTR/L, CLT and Judith
Slocum COTA/L. Locations include: Carbondale (282-3302), Forest City
(785-2018), Hawley (226-7303), and Dunmore (342-5333
Younger Age, Recent Surgery, and
Lymphedema Influence Decision for Repeat
mammogram in breast cancer survivors – OncLive – by Jill
Stein
Breast cancer
survivors who are younger, closer to the time of surgery, or have
upper-extremity lymphedema may be less likely to undergo repeat mammography,
new data suggest.
Rebecca A. Shelby,
PhD, with Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and
colleagues prospectively examined the factors that predicted sustained
adherence to surveillance mammography in 204 stage I to IIIA breast cancer
survivors who had completed surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy within the
past two to 10 years. Women who had completed or were receiving adjuvant
hormonal therapy were eligible for inclusion in the study.
The investigators
said that earlier studies of mammography adherence have focused on women
without a history of cancer, and that variables that might influence sustained
mammography use in breast cancer survivors may not be the same as variables in
women without a cancer history.
Study participants
completed questionnaires that assessed anticipatory anxiety about the
mammogram, persistent breast pain, mammography pain, and catastrophic thoughts
about mammography pain.
A review of medical
records showed that 173 women (84.8%) had a subsequent mammogram during the 12
months after the start of the study.
Forty percent of
women reported moderate-to- severe mammography pain on the 10-point Brief Pain
Inventory. The study also found that higher levels of anticipatory anxiety and
pain catastrophizing were associated with poorer anxiety adherence (P
< .05). The impact of anticipatory anxiety on mammography adherence was
mediated by pain catastrophizing (indirect effect, P
< .05).
Shelby, who is
assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and coauthors said
that the use of behavioral techniques or anti-anxiety medications may be useful
in women with high levels of anxiety or catastrophic thoughts related to
mammography. Physicians should also consider reminding some patients about the
value of mammography in women with a history of breast cancer.
The authors
cautioned that the study’s nonexperimental design means that it is not possible
to make “causal attributions about the relationships between anxiety,
catastrophizing, and adherence.” In addition, because the study was conducted
at a university medical center, the findings may not necessarily apply to
community practice.
The authors also
noted that their study population was followed by oncologists. Earlier research
has shown that breast cancer survivors are more likely to undergo mammography
when they are followed by an oncologist than a primary care
physician.
Finally, the
authors said that it is possible that mammography-related anxiety and
catastrophizing might represent women’s level of general anxiety. Future
research should determine the impact of general anxiety and mammography-related
anxiety on adherence.
May 17,
2012
Devon Medical Products Announces Strategic Alliance
with PKUcare BeiYi Pharmaceutical co to distribute
US-made medical products in China – MarketWatch –
KING OF
PRUSSIA, Pa., May 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Devon Medical Products, a global
medical device manufacturer and distributor, today announced PKUcare BeiYi
Pharmaceutical Co. (PKU) as a strategic distribution partner in the People's
Republic of China.
Under the
agreement, PKU will distribute Devon Medical Products' line of medical devices
and equipment, including its extriCARE(TM) Negative Pressure Wound Therapy
(NPWT) system, in China. Devon Medical Products will also identify U.S. medical
device companies that manufacture products domestically and connect them with
PKU to jumpstart distribution in China.
Devon
Medical Products and PKU teamed up last year to help Vycor Medical receive
regulatory approval and increase its distribution channels in China for its
ViewSite(TM) Brain Access System (VBAS) neurosurgery device.
"Devon
Medical Products strives to develop innovative medical devices that both
enhance patient treatments worldwide but also bolster our economy here in the
United States," says Dr. John A. Bennett, president and CEO of Devon Medical
Products. "This strategic alliance with the renowned PKU BeiYi Pharmaceutical
company will serve to help our business and other U.S. companies expand exports
and distribution abroad, increase revenue, and stimulate job growth. We look
forward to continuing our mutually beneficial relationship with PKU both in the
United States and in China."
PKUcare
BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Peking University
International Healthcare Group, a large healthcare organization in China.
Peking University International Healthcare Group owns and operates various
companies spanning healthcare management, healthcare information systems,
medical device distribution, and pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing, and
logistics.
About
Devon Medical Products
Devon
Medical Products ( www.devonmedicalproducts.com ) is a global medical device
manufacturer and distributor dedicated to advancing healthcare treatments and
therapies through technological innovation. The company has cultivated an
exclusive line of medical devices, including the CircuFlow(TM) compression
therapy pump series for the treatment of Lymphedema, the ArterioFlow(TM) 7500
arterial compression pump for the treatment of ulcers related to diabetic foot
and peripheral arterial disease, and the extriCARE(TM) Negative Pressure Wound
Therapy (NPWT) System. Devon Medical Products is headquartered in King of
Prussia, Pennsylvania, and has international offices staffed with bilingual
engineers, product development teams, and regulatory experts.
About
PKUcare BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
PKUcare
BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is a specialized pharmaceutical logistics company
providing medicine, chemical raw medicine, drug preparation services, and
medical instruments. The company is a subsidiary of the PKU International
HealthCare Group, which was established in 2003 to leverage the rich resources
of the Founder Group as well as the medical science department of PKU.
Presently, it has developed into a group enterprise covering the healthcare and
pharmaceutical industries. Taking the projects of PKU International HealthCare
Group as the development focus and strategic platform, the Group has a complete
healthcare industry group integrating healthcare management, medical
information systems, medical nursery, health
management and logistics services for healthcare as well
as a complete pharmaceutical industry group integrating drug research and
development, medicine manufacturing, medicine logistics and medicine sale
platforms. It is now an industry shareholding group company with complete
healthcare and pharmacy industry chains.
SOURCE:
Devon Medical Products
May 22,
2012
Fury of pensioner's family as her care home fees are
more than doubled to L125,000 a year - Daily Mail –
Mrs Watts ,76, has until July to decide whether to pay
the increased fees - or move out
Care home says Mrs Watts receives 13 hours extra
additional care compared to other residents
The family of a pensioner
are furious after her care home fees were more than doubled to a staggering
£125,000 a year.
Pamela Watts, 76, is currently paying £3,543 a month out of her
savings to live at a care home in Sandford Station Retirement Village in
Somerset.
But her fees are now being increased to £10,355 per month, of which
the Government contributes just £432.
The home, run by the St Monica Trust, says Mrs Watts’ fees have
increased because of her complex and challenging needs.
She has been given until July to decide whether to pay the increased
fees - or move out.
Her daughter Jacquie Heal, 44, said her mother will now have to sell
her home in Bristol to meet the astronomical costs.
Mrs Heal, a housewife, is calling on the Government put a cap on fees
at care homes, which are currently free to charge what they like.
She said: 'It seems as when you are a privately funded patient, care
homes can charge what they like.
'There seems to be no regulatory body controlling the fees or putting
a cap on them.
'These fees are extortionate - you could enjoy an all-year luxury
cruise or pay three live-in carers a week for the same
money.'
Mrs Watts suffers from lymphedema, a condition that causes swelling in
the body’s tissue, and cannot walk.
She moved into Sherwood Lodge in December as she requires a
specialist track hoist to move her around.
But her daughter says she is still able to carry out everyday tasks
herself such as eating and drinking.
Mrs Heal added: 'Mum’s only problem is with her lymphedema which
causes swollen legs and makes it impossible for her to walk.
'She is articulate and can feed herself, brush her hair and give
herself a drink. I think it is outrageous that the fees have risen so much as
mum’s needs have not changed.'
Mrs Heal, who lives in Cleeve, North Somerset, applied to the
government for Continuing Healthcare Funding for help in paying the
fees.
But the application
was refused - as Mrs Watts’ has savings of more than £23,000 and therefore does
not qualify for help.
Mrs Heal has now written to North Somerset MP Dr Liam Fox and health
secretary Andrew Lansley asking for support, as well as appealing to the St
Monica Trust.
A spokeswoman for St Monica Trust said the price increase will only
cover the actual cost Mrs Watts’ care - which is 91 additional staff hours
every week, costing £1,365.
She said: 'The trust has been very concerned to provide a long-term
care solution for Mrs Watts, despite her extremely complex care needs which has
arisen as a consequence of various health conditions, weight and lack of
mobility.
'The care requirements for Mrs Watts are considerably greater than for
all other residents.
'She currently receives an additional 13 hours of dedicated care every
day.
'The trust has been providing this additional care, without question,
and at its own cost since early December, but we hope people understand that,
as a not-for-profit organisation, we cannot continue
to do this on an indefinite basis.'
But a spokesman for the National Pensioners Convention said the cost
was “astronomical”.
He said: 'These are astronomical fees. The care home usually charges
around £1,000 each week - so this is more than double the average
cost.
'There is no cap on fees, no minimum or maximum that care homes have
to adhere to. They can charge what they like and what they think they can get
away with.
'It is worse than a postcode lottery, it is a home by home lottery
with each charging something different.
'It is pretty despicable and an areas that desperately needs to be
controlled. In a way it is exploiting an individual who simply cannot afford to
sustain such a high cost.
'If she cannot pay, she will be forced to move out and find other
care, something that places a great deal of stress and strain on a
person.'
May
20, 2012
Elephantiasis woman from Peru to receive free
treatment in Taiwan - Focus Taiwan News Channel –
By
Nancy Liu
Taipei, May 20 (CNA) A Peruvian woman suffering from
elephantiasis is expected to arrive in Taiwan next month for treatment, with
her expenses being paid by the Taiwan government and a hospital, one of the
doctors to operate on her said Sunday.
Thanks
to Taiwan, Mercedes Ordinola will finally receive proper treatment, Pedro
Ciudad, a Peruvian doctor on a fellowship study at China Medical
University in Taiwan, told CNA in a telephone interview.
Though a full assessment of Ordinola's condition
will be made after she arrives on June 2, Ciudad said that Ordinola was
diagnosed with congenital lymphedema, commonly known as elephantiasis.
The doctor explained that Ordinola has not received
medical attention due to the extreme costs for treatment. The delay in seeking
help has not only caused severe malformation in her foot, but also seriously
impeded her mobility.
Months ago, her story caught the attention of
Taiwan's de-facto embassy in Peru, which passed a request for assistance back
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
With
free round-trip tickets from the Taiwan government, Ciudad said he is set to
fly back to Peru and bring Ordinola to Taiwan for a planned four-month surgical
and medical treatment at his hospital.
While all medical expenses will be covered by
Ciudad's hospital, some overseas Taiwanese residing in Peru also made
individual donations upon learning of Ordinola's condition, he added.
Last year, another Peruvian woman suffering from the
same disease also came to Taiwan for medical treatment. Her
expenses
April
25, 2012
Early detection of lymphedema crucial,
says Regina woman - Regina Leader-Post –
By Pamela Cowan
REGINA
— Unable to lift her arm and wrap her fingers around her beloved violin, Glenda
Cook’s life hit a melancholy note soon after she was diagnosed with breast
cancer.
Shortly
after surgery in 2008, Cook developed lymphedema in her left arm. The abnormal
build up of fluid in tissue causes swelling — often in the arms or legs, but it
can occur anywhere in the body.
Cook
went to Tracy Gardikiotis, a physical therapist with the Regina Qu’Appelle
Health Region (RQHR), who is a certified lymphedema therapist and has
specialized breast cancer training.
“I
was pretty lucky that it was caught early,” Cook said.
Still,
lymphedema stole one of her great passions — playing second violin in the
Regina Symphony Orchestra — something she had done for 32 years.
The
56-year-old president of the Lymphedema Association of Saskatchewan said more
awareness is needed of the warning signs of lymphedema.
“The
arm might feel heavy or achy and swelling is a major symptom, but often the
early signs manifest before there is any swelling,” Cook said. “The main thing
about lymphedema is that the earlier it is treated, the fewer problems there
are down the road.”
Lymphedema
is a specialized area that is not well understood by some health-care
professionals and patients, Gardikiotis said.
To
educate patients, health-care workers and policy-makers about the chronic
condition, the association, in conjunction with the Continuing Physical Therapy
Education department at the University of Saskatchewan and the RQHR held a
Lymphedema Management Symposium last week that featured experts from the Mayo
Clinic, the Toronto area and Montreal.
Experts
at the symposium strongly promoted exercise and reinforced the importance of
using compression garments.
Patients
diagnosed early often require just a compression garment to contain the
swelling, Gardikiotis said.
For
three years, Cook religiously wore a compression garment, did self massage and
had manual lymph drainage — a light progressive massage to encourage
drainage.
Since
September, her arm has improved so she doesn’t require a compression garment
during the day, but wears a Reid Sleeve nightly and does compression
wrapping.
Cook
lamented that lymphedema treatment across Saskatchewan is spotty and said more
specialists are required.
“We
are so blessed in Regina to have Tracy,” Cook said.
Currently,
Gardikiotis treats about 300 lymphedema patients in southern Saskatchewan. Some
people are born with lymphedema while others experience it after cancer
treatment.
There
is no cure, but if caught early, the impact can be significantly minimized,
Gardikiotis said.
“In
the later stage, there is some tissue damage and some of those changes are
irreversible and they require much more treatment to maintain their limb at a
stable point and minimize infection and keep them functioning,” Gardikiotis
said. “If not treated properly, it can have significant physical, psychosocial
and financial implications on patients’ lives so we’re really striving to
increase lymphedema awareness and education to ensure that we can improve the
care that we are offering patients.”
[email protected]
©
Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
May
18, 2012
Devon Medical Products opens door to distribution in
China - Philadelphia Business Journal – by John George
Devon
Medical Products entered into an
agreement Friday with PKUcare BeiYi Pharmaceutical Co. to distribute Devon’s
medical devices and equipment in China.
Financial
terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Under
the agreement, Devon Medical Products of King of Prussia will also identify
other U.S. medical device companies that manufacture products domestically and
connect them with PKU to “jump-start” distribution of those products in
China.
“This
strategic alliance with PKU BeiYi Pharmaceutical will serve to help our
business and other U.S. companies expand exports and distribution abroad,
increase revenue and stimulate job growth,” said Dr. John
A. Bennett, president and CEO of Devon Medical
Products.
Devon’s
products include CircuFlow compression therapy pumps used for the treatment of
Lymphedema, the ArterioFlow 7500 arterial compression pump for the treatment of
ulcers related to diabetic
foot and peripheral arterial disease, and the extriCare negative pressure wound
therapy system.
PKU
is a subsidiary of Peking University International Healthcare
Group.
May
17, 2012
Dream comes true for longtime friends with launch of
clinic - Royal Gazette – By Lindsay Kelly
Long-time
friends have realised their professional dreams with the grand opening of
InTouch Therapy, a rehabilitation
clinic in Hamilton.
Life
has come full circle for Tanaeya Burch, a certified physical therapist (PT) and
Morrisa Rogers, a certified occupational therapist (OT), who met in the same
place where they have opened their office: the Hamilton Seventh-day Adventist
Church.
“We’ve
been friends for at least 20 years,” said Ms Rogers. “We met at church and have
been friends ever since.”
The
new private practice, which opened in April, offers a wide range of services
including oncology rehabilitation and hand therapy, providing treatment for
various diagnoses, such as lymphedema, obesity, pelvic rehabilitation, complex
traumatic injuries and post-surgical procedures, as well as more common
problems involving the upper and lower extremities.
The
women, both in their early 30s, are part of the new generation of healthcare
practitioners setting up shop in Bermuda.
Both
attended Andrews University in Michigan where Ms Burch graduated with Master’s
Degree
in physical therapy. Ms Rogers went on to graduate from
University of Indianapolis in Indiana with a Master’s Degree in occupational therapy
.
Ms
Burch is also STAR Clinician certified, which is internationally recognised
training in oncology rehabilitation and is the deputy chairman of the Bermuda
Physiotherapy Association.
Ms
Burch and Ms Rogers returned to Bermuda in 2004 and 2008, respectively,
reconnected once again and began working at King Edward Memorial Hospital just
down the hall from each other.
Combining
their skill sets, the pair struck off on their own and opened the doors to
InTouch Therapy last month.
The
clinicians started receiving patients just six weeks ago but much to their
surprise, their docket of patients has quickly filled. For the last two weeks,
Ms Burch’s schedule has almost been booked solid.
“It’s
been going better than expected,” said Ms Rogers, adding that word-of-mouth and
strong physician referrals have helped bolster their business. “We were always
cautious but we have been surprised and excited with how fast things have
picked up.”
Ms
Rogers, who is the chairman of the Bermuda Occupational Therapy Association and
registered OT in the US, provides her occupational therapy services before and
after business hours (4:30 to 7:30pm) and on the weekends upon request.
“We’re
trying to be as accommodating as possible,” she said.
Their
new office, at 45 King Street, was already outfitted as a doctor’s office and
the location, they say, is ideal.
“It’s
central but not in the middle of Hamilton which can be congested and close to
the Hospital,” said Ms Rogers, adding that the practice has three parking
spaces, which was a must for people with injuries.
Ms
Burch, who proposed and initiated the current Lymphedema Clinic in 2007 at
KEMH, said the goal of the practice was to be “in touch” with the
community.
“Our
main mission is to provide services and treatments that aren’t already offered
on the Island and meet the needs of our patients,” she said, adding that they
are happy to hear about new services that aren’t available in Bermuda which
they may be able to incorporate into their treatment offerings.
Patients
do not need a referral to set up an appointment and the clinic accepts all
insurance.
InTouch
Therapy can be contact at 238-6824 or by e-mail [email protected].
May
20, 2012
business people 5/20 - Bismarck
Tribune –
Smith
with clinic
Megan
Smith, OTR/L recently joined the hand therapy department at Mid Dakota
Clinic.
Smith
earned a master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Mary
and is certified in lymphedema.
May
16, 2012
Malpractice suit claims wrong type of treatment given
to breast cancer treatment- Southeast Texas
Record – By David Yates
Houston resident Addie Akins has filed suit against Dr. Gaylon
Gonzales, alleging the Beaumont physician failed to administer the correct type
of care for her breast cancer.
According to the petition filed May 10 in
Jefferson County District Court, Akins was referred to Gonzales in September
2010 for evaluation of a right breast mass. On Dec. 9, 2010, Akins underwent a
right breast lumpectomy and axillary lymph node dissection.
Pathology
showed low-grade invasive ductal carcinoma, according to the suit. Thirteen
lymph nodes were negative for malignancy. Post-operatively, Akins developed
lymphedema and continues to undergo treatment, which includes lymphatic
drainage, vasopneumatic pumping, exercise, diet and nutritional counseling, the
suit states.
"The standard of care for breast cancer patients with
clinically negative lymph nodes is to perform sentinel lymph node biopsy at the
time of the lumpectomy ... instead of an axillary lymph node dissection," the
suit states.
Akins alleges Dr. Gonzales did not adequately observe,
diagnose and treat her and the failure to perform the correct procedure has
caused her personal damages.
The plaintiff is suing for her alleged past
and future medical expenses, mental anguish, pain, impairment, disfigurement
and lost wages, plus all court costs.
Houston attorney Steven Davis of
Davis & Davis represents her.
Judge Donald Floyd, 172nd District
Court, is assigned to the case.
Case No. E192-433
May
11, 2012
All-natural soaps and body care products made in
Edmonton - Edmonton Journal – By
Marta Gold
EDMONTON
- Amy Beaith grows mint in her garden, picks wild rosehips from the river valley
and gathers lilacs around her neighbourhood to use in her own, hyper-local line
of natural soaps and body products.
What she
can’t grow or find in the wild, she buys from local producers or retailers.
What she can’t find locally, she tries to buy from fair trade, organic
suppliers.
The
result is a line of body care and cleaning products that is all-natural,
friendly to sensitive and allergic skin and supportive of Edmonton’s
economy.
“It’s
really nice to include other local ingredients, whether they’re wild or from a
farm nearby because then when a customer’s buying it, not only are they
supporting me, they’re supporting all these other people as well to keep things
local and keep the money local,” says Beaith.
The
former librarian first began making her own lotions and soaps because she
suffers from lymphedema, a chronic impairment of the lymphatic system that can
result in fluid buildup, cracked skin and infection without careful, gentle
skin care.
Growing
up in a small, rural town in Ontario, her mother made her own beeswax-based
cream to treat the condition. Beaith later learned to make it
herself.
Friends
began requesting her products and urged her to sell them, which she did as a
hobby. Last year, she turned her attention full-time to making her Ameya
Studio line of products and selling them at craft shows,
the city farmers
market, Sabrina
Butterfly Designs and online.
When
she’s not brewing up body products, she’s picking and preserving her own fruits
and vegetables as the volunteer director of Operation
Fruit Rescue, a local group that harvests unwanted or
excess produce from local gardens. She also teaches canning classes to pass
that knowledge on to others.
While
some think her two passions incongruous, she sees them as
complementary.
“I see
it all tying back to traditional skills or lost skills; it’s just a simpler way
of living, learning how to make stuff and share those skills with other people,
learning how to use what grows in your own environment,” she says.
For last
weekend’s Slow Food Canada conference in Edmonton, she was commissioned to make
gift soaps, which she did from local ingredients, including hemp, canola and
flax oil from Mighty Trio
Organics, oats from Gold
Forest Grain and Lola
Canola’s honey and beeswax. To scent the soap, she chose
three essential oils reminiscent of the boreal forest — lavender, rosemary and
pine. She called it the Farm to City soap.
Most of
her soaps are made from olive oil, which isn’t made here of course, but which
she buys from the Italian
Centre just a few blocks from her home. The essential
oils she uses are pure and non-synthetic. Other ingredients used to give
texture, scent and visual interest to her soaps like herbs and edible flowers
are often bought locally.
Her line
of olive-oil soaps and beeswax body creams has grown into include lip balm,
bath salts and exfoliating scrubs for the face and body, which include
ingredients like sugar, salt, coffee grounds and cocoa. Beaith also makes
felted soaps, which are wrapped in colourful, raw wool to act as a washcloth
and prolong the life of the soap.
In
response to requests for all-natural cleaners and laundry detergents, she used
soap nuts — a fruit from Nepal that contains natural soap — to make laundry
detergent, all-purpose cleaner, vegetable wash and yoga-mat spray. Because soap
nuts are plant based, they’re biodegradable, biocompatible and safe for grey
water use.
Beaith
makes unscented versions for those with strong sensitivities, as well as soap
nuts products scented with blends like lavender and lemon grass, earl grey (a
blend of bergamot, grapefruit and orange) or lemon, sage and pine.
She
changes her products regularly to include scents like vanilla Rooibos tea,
chocolate mint, Edmonton rosehips and pomegranate, yerba mate and
coffee.
This
weekend, Beaith will be at the
Make It craft show, which runs Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6
p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alberta Aviation Hangar on
Kingsway. She’ll also be at the City Farmers Market on 104th Street every
Saturday this spring and summer and will be teaching food preservation course
through Metro Continuing
Education this fall.
[email protected]
twitter.com/MartaGold1
To
read Marta Gold and Amanda Ash’s blog, The New Black, go to
edmontonjournal.com/blogs
©
Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
May
10, 2012
Powerful Combo Reducing
Lymphedema - First Coast News –
It's
an unsightly side effect of breast cancer many survivors have to live with.
Now, a new way to deliver cancer treatment is reducing the risk of
lymphedema.
This
is all there was to this article except a video
May
31, 2012
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc. Launches Their New
Website Spectrumhealthcare.net - PR Web –
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc. has recently launched their brand new
website . Located at http://www.Spectrumhealthcare.net,
the new site gives consumers a fast, easy way to access information about
Spectrum Healthcare’s vast array of compression therapy products online and
even purchase them.
The company deals in compression
therapy equipment, and has just recently launched a new
website for patients, doctors, nurses, etc. to browse the products they offer,
and even features step by step assistance by Spectrum Healthcare agents to
assist in the selection of the appropriate equipment. At one time, compression
therapy was administered exclusively in hospitals and clinics, but with
compression pumps, sleeves and other equipment now available to the public and
doubling as a very convenient and highly effective home remedy for poor
circulation and other vascular ailments, Spectrum Healthcare Inc has made it a
point to follow the signs of the times and offer the convenience of searching
for these products from home. The products are non-invasive and user friendly,
and many have a far reaching history of successfully treating the varied
painful symptoms that are attributed to vascular and circulatory
disorders.
About Compression therapy:
Most compression therapy equipment is
covered by health
insurance and Medicare
plans . Compression treatment is a simple, yet effective
and inexpensive method for treatment for many conditions that feature chronic
and severe swelling as symptoms such as Chronic edema and Lymphedema, as well
as other disorders where the vascular system is affected (including those that
inhibit wound healing, such as venous insufficiency).
About Spectrum Healthcare, Inc:
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc. has a
quarter of a century of combined experience in compression therapy. They are a
leading compression therapy device provider known for staying abreast of the
latest in technology and patient education. The compression therapy products
Spectrum Healthcare, Inc offers are used by across the country in clinics and
hospitals as well as in the home for a variety of patients with a broad range
of conditions from chronic edema and lymphedema to chronic venous
insufficiency, venous stasis ulcers, peripheral vascular disease, and an array
of other serious circulatory disorders.
Spectrum Healthcare is not simply staffed with experts in compression
therapy products, but also their application. They have a record of helping
patients, doctors and nurses navigate through the wide variety of product
options they offer to match those individuals with the compression therapy
solution best suited to their specific area and particular ailment.
In
addition to the new online guidance Spectrum Healthcare has recently rolled
out, they also make sure patients have the appropriate compression treatment as
well as set up any compression therapy equipment. The company makes sure their
product is working properly, and provides individualized instruction for use
until patients are comfortable operating their compression therapy equipment on
their own.
May
30, 2012
Lymphedema Tied to
Obesity - MedPage Today – By
Todd Neale
Obesity
may contribute to the development of lymphedema, a small study
showed.
Among
15 obese patients with enlargement of the legs, the average body mass
index was significantly greater for those with confirmed lymphedema (70.1
versus 42.0 kg/m2, P<0.001),
according to Arin Greene, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, and
colleagues.
"Our
findings suggest that obesity ... may be a cause of lower-extremity
lymphedema," they wrote in a letter to the editor in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
"As
the amount of adipose tissue increases in the lower extremity, lymphatic
vessels may become dysfunctional (possibly because of compression or
inflammation), thereby reducing proximal lymphatic flow," they
explained.
"Alternatively,
elevated production of lymph from an enlarging limb may overwhelm the capacity
of a normal lymphatic system to remove the fluid from the extremity," they
continued. "Although lymphedema is typically progressive, we speculate that
major weight loss (e.g., after a bariatric procedure) might reverse lymphatic
insufficiency in obese patients with this condition."
All
of the patients in the study were referred for bilateral enlargement of the
lower extremities; 12 were women, the mean age was 58, and the mean BMI was
51.4 kg/m2. None of the patients had a history of primary
(idiopathic) lymphedema, inguinal lymphadenectomy or radiation, or ulceration
of a lower extremity.
All
of the patients underwent evaluation with lymphoscintigraphy. Five showed
abnormal lymphatic draining consistent with lymphedema and the rest had normal
results.
The
BMI was greater than 59 kg/m2 for all of the patients with
lymphedema and less than 54 kg/m2 for all of those with normal
lymphatic function.
"As
BMI increases, there might be a threshold above which lymphatic flow becomes
impaired," Greene and colleagues wrote. "Proximal transport of lymphatic fluid
from the extremity is dependent on the function of the lymphatic vasculature
(clearance) and the volume of lymph produced by the tissues
(load)."
Sex
and age did not differ based on lymphedema status.
May
31, 2012
Obesity linked to lower-extremity
lymphedema - Clinical Advisor –
HealthDay
News -- Extreme obesity may contribute to lower-extremity lymphedema,
results from a small study suggest.
Average
BMI was significantly greater for those with confirmed
lymphedema (70.1 versus 42.0 kg/m2, P<0.001)
among 15 obese patients with enlargement of the legs, Arin K. Greene, MD, from
Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues reported in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
"Our
findings suggest that obesity, which affects one-third of the population in the
United States, may be a cause of lower-extremity lymphedema. As BMI increases,
there might be a threshold above which lymphatic flow becomes impaired," the
researchers wrote.
All
patients included in the study were referred for bilateral enlargement of the
lower extremities. Twelve were women, the mean age was 58 and the mean BMI was
51.4 kg/m2. No patients had a history of primary (idiopathic)
lymphedema, inguinal lymphadenectomy or radiation, or ulceration of a lower
extremity.
Patients
underwent lymphoscintigraphy, which has a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity
of 92%, to detect lymphedema. Abnormal lymphatic draining consistent with
lymphedema was detected in five patients.
All patients with a BMI higher than 59 kg/m² had lymphedema, while
lymphatic function was normal for all those with a BMI below 54 kg/m².
"Although
lymphedema is typically progressive, we speculate that major weight loss (e.g.,
after a bariatric procedure) might reverse lymphatic insufficiency in obese
patients with this condition," the researchers wrote.
Greene A et al. N
Engl J Med.
2012; 366: 2136-2137.
May
31, 2012
Link Between Obesity and Lower-Extremity
Lymphedema Explored - Doctors Lounge –
Lymphedema
is a disease caused by the anomalous development of the lymphatic system or
injury to the lymphatic vasculature; millions of people are affected
worldwide.1 In this condition,
fluid accumulates in the interstitial space, causing enlargement of the
affected area. Complications include functional disability, psychosocial
disorders, infection, skin changes, and, rarely, malignant transformation.
Primary (idiopathic) lymphedema is rare, with an incidence of 1.2 cases per
100,000 persons younger than 20 years of age.2
Secondary lymphedema is more common and results from injury (e.g., infection or
radiation) or the removal of lymph
nodes or lymphatic vasculature.
We
report on 15 obese patients (body-mass index [BMI; the weight in kilograms
divided by the square of the height in meters], >30)3
with bilateral lower-extremity enlargement who were referred to our center.
Twelve of the 15 were women, and the mean age was 57.9 years (range, 34 to 78);
the mean BMI was 51.4 (range, 30.7 to 88.1). None of the patients had a history
of primary lymphedema, inguinal lymphadenectomy or radiation, or ulceration of
a lower extremity. All patients underwent lymphoscintigraphy, which has been
reported to be 100% specific and 92% sensitive for lymphedema.4,5
Five
patients had abnormal results on lymphoscintigraphy that showed impaired
lymphatic function consistent with lymphedema; 10 had normal results (Table
1Table
1Patients'
Age, BMI, and Lymphoscintigraphic Results.;
and see the figure in the Supplementary
Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at
NEJM.org). The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema (70.1 [range, 59.7
to 88.1]) was significantly greater than the BMI of obese patients without
lymphedema (42.0 [range, 30.7 to 53.3]) (P<0.001). All patients with a BMI
above 59 had lymphedema, whereas each patient with a BMI less than 54 had
normal lymphatic function. There was no difference between the groups with
respect to sex (P=1.00) or age (P=0.29).
Our findings suggest that obesity, which
affects one third of the population in the United States,3
may be a cause of lower-extremity lymphedema. As BMI increases, there might be
a threshold above which lymphatic flow becomes impaired. Proximal transport of
lymphatic fluid from the extremity is dependent on the function of the
lymphatic vasculature (clearance) and the volume of lymph produced by the
tissues (load). As the amount of adipose tissue increases in the lower
extremity, lymphatic vessels may become dysfunctional (possibly because of
compression or inflammation), thereby reducing proximal lymphatic flow.
Alternatively, elevated production
of lymph from an enlarging limb may overwhelm the
capacity of a normal lymphatic system to remove the fluid from the extremity.
Although lymphedema is typically progressive, we speculate that major weight loss
(e.g., after a bariatric procedure) might reverse lymphatic insufficiency in
obese patients with this condition.
Arin
K. Greene, M.D.
Frederick D. Grant, M.D.
Sumner A. Slavin,
M.D.
Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA
arin. greene@childrens. harvard.
edu
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full
text of this letter at NEJM.org.
May 31,
2012
Link Between Obesity and Lower-Extremity
Lymphedema Explored - MD News –
Duplicate of above
article
May 10,
2012
Powerful Combo Reducing
Lymphedema - WFMY News 2 –
It's an unsightly
side effect of breast cancer many survivors have to live with. Now, a new way
to deliver cancer treatment is reducing the risk of lymphedema
May 15, 2012
Montgomery's Snider reflects on year at helm
of American Society of Breast Surgeons -
Montgomery Advertiser – by
Allison
Griffin
Dr. Howard Snider has treated breast disease patients for 36 years in
his Montgomery practice, and has been a part of trends both in patient care and
professional development for other surgeons.
Snider
just completed his yearlong term as the president of the board of directors of
the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS), the primary leadership
organization for general surgeons who treat patients with breast
disease.
Snider
served as president of the board while still treating patients in his practice
at Alabama Surgical Consultants. This past year, it wasn’t unusual for him to
finish a case in the operating room and come out to find 20 emails of ASBS
business to tend to.
“It’s
been a busy year, but very rewarding,” Snider said.
Asked to
talk about some of those rewards, Snider points to the position statements that
the ASBS periodically issues to help guide surgeons in how they take care of
their patients.
One
example is the controversial recommendation from the U.S. Preventative Services
Task Force in late 2009 that women should start mammography screenings at age
50 and should only have them performed every two years. The recommendation was
widely reported in the media.
The ASBS
issued a position statement in August affirming the long-held standard that
women should begin annual mammography screenings at age 40.
It comes
down to a cost issue, Snider said; the task force is correct in its finding
that fewer screenings save money. “By their calculations, it’s not
cost-effective to do it annually starting in the 40s,” he said.
“They
acknowledge that, yes, some women are going to die as a result of not screening
it, but they look at the other side of it, and the unnecessary biopsies and
trauma that women go through, and weigh those two things, and come down on the
side of, it’s not worth it.”
It’s a
societal issue, Snider said, “but there’s no question you’re going to find more
cancers if you screen starting at age 40 and doing it annually.”
Quality
measures
The ASBS
has also taken a leading role in helping to define the quality measures that
are used to evaluate breast surgeons.
Such
publicly reported quality measures are going to be used to judge the
performance of a surgeon and will actually be used to determine reimbursements
in the future. “So to get those quality measures right is a big factor,” Snider
said.
The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) had been using measures that
weren’t very good, Snider said. The ASBS came up with three new breast-specific
quality measures and submitted them to the CMMS, which approved
them.
The ASBS
also started a voluntary Mastery of Breast Surgery Program, which helps
surgeons document their performance of breast procedures as well as care of
their patients.
Helping
patients
In his
own practice, Snider has long worked toward better ways to manage the axilla,
or the lymph nodes under the arm. The surgical removal of lymph nodes from the
armpit was at one time routine in the treatment of early breast
cancer.
One of
the problems with taking out many lymph nodes is the high chance of lymphedema,
or permanent swelling of the arm.
Up until
the mid-1990s, surgeons had to take out all the lymph nodes to determine the
course of therapy, Snider said.
In 1997,
Snider started doing just a sentinel node biopsy. A sentinel lymph node is the
first node to which cancer is most likely to spread from a tumor; taking out
just the sentinel nodes cut down on the risk of lymphedema.
“My
question was, when the node is positive, whether you should remove the rest of
the nodes, or treat the lymph nodes with radiation.” At the time, the standard
of care was still to remove all the lymph nodes.
In
patients who were going to get radiation to the breast anyway, it made sense to
Snider to just treat the remaining lymph nodes under the arm, instead of
removing them.
“I
reviewed the literature at the time, (and) it looked to me like there were
advantages to doing radiation, instead of removing it all,” Snider said. “I
started at that time offering patients a choice” — removing all the lymph
nodes, or radiation.
To
prepare for his ASBS presidential address, Snider reviewed his data from 1997
to 2011, with 880 He found that the risk of lymphedema with the removal of the
lymph nodes was 30 percent in his series, and seven percent with radiation — a
marked decrease.
Snider
said a large randomized trial from the Netherlands is due next year that he
thinks will confirm a lower risk of lymphedema with patients who received
radiation, as opposed to those who had a removal.
“So next
year, radiation will go from being just an acceptable alternative to probably
the preferred alternative, after that study is published,” Snider said. “That’s
what I think it’s going to show.”
That
continues a trend, Snider said, of moving toward doing less and less surgery.
“Everything is getting less invasive.”
In
addition to the clinical part of his practice, Snider and his wife, Pam, who is
a clinical psychologist, started a support group for patients with breast
disease back in 1986. Snider said the group still has some patients who started
attending back in the late 1980s.
“That’s a
very fulfilling thing, to treat not only the physical condition, but the
emotional part as well,” he said.
May
9, 2012
38 stone man stranded in Middlesbrough
home - Gazette Live – by Andy Passant
A 38-STONE man says he has been left housebound and depressed after
the axing of a vital bus service.
Dad-of-two David Brown, 64, of Middlesbrough, relied on the Dial A
Ride service to get out and about.
But the service has fallen victim to Middlesbrough Council’s
cutbacks.
Former warehouseman David, of Hazel Court, is 6ft tall and has a
medical condition called lymphedema which affects his legs. He is unsteady on
his feet and can’t walk very far.
Wife Margaret said: “The nurses have to come in and massage his legs.
His legs keep filling up with fluid. It just stops him getting
about.”
Margaret, 59, herself fighting breast cancer, said the Dial A Ride
service had been “been like a lifeline”. She said: “He is stuck in the house
24/7. His mood is very low.”
She said the service had been replaced with taxis but this was “no
good.” She explained: “He is 38 stone. He can’t fit into ordinary
taxis.”
It is not the first time David has suffered because of his
size.
In 2006, when he weighed 29 stone, he missed a sunshine holiday
because airline staff told him he was too big to fit into the seats of a
plane.
At the time, David told the Gazette: “I was made to stand there and
look a fool.”
The couple later sued travel agents Thomas Cook for alleged distress
and breach of contract but lost their claim for compensation.
Now Margaret fears her husband is again sinking into depression and
admitted: “I am not coping at the moment.
“I haven’t got the strength to push him in a
wheelchair.”
David said the Dial A Ride service “really brought me out of my
depression”.
But now he says he is “just stuck on the sofa all day. It’s the
company I miss. I can go nowhere.”
He says he can’t walk very far. “If I fall over, because of the way I
am, they have to phone the fire brigade.
“I did fall outside the Legion Club about a year ago. It took about
eight people to get me up.”
David admits he used to eat and drink too much - at one point
drinking up to 25 pints a night - but says he is now trying to bring his weight
down.
A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: “All Dial A Ride members were
written to in early April to advise them of the closure of the service, with
the offer of additional support to anyone with particular needs.
“A social worker from Middlesbrough Council’s physical disability
team has been assigned to Mr Brown’s case and a review will be undertaken of
his and his carer’s needs.”
May
4, 2012,
Health Wise: Summertime heat and
Lymphedema - Calaveras Enterprise –
By Patricia Oliver
Summertime
temperatures can be uncomfortable, but for those with Lymphedema, the rise in
ambient temperature can increase symptoms and discomfort. Lymphedema is
swelling in your arms, legs, fingers and toes caused by a blockage. Managing
care of the affected extremity becomes more challenging as the numbers on the
thermometer rise – particularly when the treatment requires tight fitting body
wraps.
The
lymphatic system is a network of vessels, nodes, and lymphocytes that circulate
protein rich fluid throughout the body and flushes out wastes. When this system
is impaired, fluid buildup occurs impacting an arm, leg, fingers or toes. The
result is painful swelling of the impacted area, a feeling of tightness or
heaviness, recurring infections and hardening or thickening of the
skin.
It
frequently is a side effect of cancer treatment, but Lymphedema is also found
in people who have had surgery, infection, or a history of lymph system issues.
Obesity can also be a trigger.
Symptoms
of Lymphedema:
Symptoms
may include unexpected painless swelling of the trunk, arms, or legs. Skin
changes in the area may include thickening or discoloration. Particularly
troubling is the inability of a skin infection to heal. Symptoms may increase
with changes of outdoor temperature such as a hot summer day, using a hot tub,
pressure changes such as using a blood-pressure cuff or flying in an airplane;
or some symptoms may appear without warning.
The
management of Lymphedema can vary from a massage technique to increase the
re-absorption of the lymph fluid (manual lymph drainage) to exercises that
increase circulation. During summer when people prefer loose-fitting clothing,
treatment of Lymphedema often includes wrapping the affected limb in tight
bandaging to increase uptake of the fluid. Special garments can be worn to
maintain compression and some even include a pneumatic compression pump to
apply constant pressure.
Wound
Treatment:
Like
Lymphedema, there are other conditions that may result in chronic or
non-healing wounds. Without proper treatment, wounds can be debilitating and
hinder a person’s quality of life.
Examples
of some of the wounds that are treated in our center include: acute and chronic
non-healing wounds, pressure ulcers, venous stasis wounds/ulcers, and arterial
ulcers.
There
are three objectives in wound care – treatment, education and prevention.
Naturally, treating the wound to speed healing and prevent infection is the
first step. Partnering with patients is important so they can identify what
they can do at home to care for a wound and how to recognize when help is
needed. Finally, the patient needs to understand how they can prevent a future
wound.
Treating
Lymphedema and wounds sometimes requires a specialist. Mark Twain St. Joseph’s
Hospital offers the only outpatient Wound Care Center in the three county area
devoted to wounds and Lymphedema. Our Wound Care Center sees one patient at a
time by appointment, allowing for room sterilization between patients to
prevent cross-contamination between patients. The Wound Care Center is
conveniently located next to the lab should patients require lab work or wound
cultures.
If
you or someone that you know is fighting a chronic wound or swelling condition,
please contact us.
Patricia
Oliver is an occupational therapist, wound care consultant, and Lymphedema
therapist at Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Physical Therapy Department.
Contact her at 754-2609.
May
1, 2012,
St. Francis -
Monroe News Star –
Lyymphedema
is an accumulation of lymphatic fluid that causes swelling, ...
While there is no cure for lymphedema, specialized therapy can
help relieve ...
Unfortunately
it said this page not found, sorry
April
30, 2012
North
American Seminars, Inc, Introduces Advanced Management of - DigitalJournal.com
This
was a two day course that is passed
April
25, 2012
Southwest, Columbus to meet in
final - MiamiHerald.com – BY WALTER
VILLA
Zach
Gonzalez’s right leg is twice as big as his left.
His
heart, in baseball terms at least, is bigger than both his legs
combined.
Gonzalez
proved that Wednesday afternoon, when he pitched a three-hitter to lead
Southwest to a 1-0 win over host Ferguson in a District 15-8A semifinal.
The
Eagles advanced to play Columbus in Friday’s district final. Columbus defeated
visiting Sunset on Wednesday night on a walk-off single by Frank Navarette to
right field.
Gonzalez,
a senior, has a rare condition called congenital lymphedema, which is
characterized by swelling in one or more extremities. There is no known cure,
but the condition is not life-threatening, and Gonzalez said he is not in any
pain.
“His
immune system is not great,” said his mother, Daisy Vega. “But he practices
every day. He’s very active.”
That
was certainly the case on Wednesday, when Gonzalez struck out eight and allowed
just two walks, including one intentional pass.
He
also beat Ferguson in last year’s GMAC final.
“We
have a lot of confidence in him,” Southwest coach Jose Torres said of Gonzalez,
who is his No. 2 starter. “He’s a tough kid.”
Southwest
(15-9) scored its only run in the first, when Carlos Pena singled, advanced to
third on a pair of walks and came home on a one-out sacrifice fly to deep
center by Bryan Carreras.
Ferguson
(13-10) had several chances to score, getting leadoff doubles in the second and
fourth innings. In the sixth, Ferguson used an error and two wild pitches to
put a runner on third, but Gonzalez struck out the final three batters in the
inning.
“My
slider was pinpoint,” Gonzalez said. “I was able to put it wherever I
wanted.”
Of
the last 13 batters Gonzalez faced, the only two that reached were on the error
and on a strikeout/wild pitch.
“Pitching
is not the problem with us,” Torres said of his team, which lost 1-0 in last
year’s district semifinal to Sunset. “We’re pretty deep.”
•
Columbus 4, Sunset 3: Sunset took a stunning 3-1 lead with three
runs in the top of the sixth but couldn’t hold off a the Explorers’ comeback.
Columbus
rallied with two runs in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a passed ball and
a wild pitch.
“The
catcher and pitcher got crossed up in their signals,” said Sunset assistant
head coach J.C. Diaz.
In
the bottom of the seventh, Chris Perez and Kevin Suarez drew walks, and Laz
Rivera advanced them with a sacrifice bunt. Navarette nearly struck out on a
close pitch at 2-2 and then fouled off a pair of fastballs before going the
opposite way for his game-winner.
Columbus
improved to 22-4. Sunset finished 11-14.
April 30,
2012
Medicine's deadly gender
gap - Macleans.ca –
New
research on pain, medical devices and even PMS reveals big holes in our
knowledge of the female body.
In 2004,
Barbara Colbourn began experiencing pain in her legs when walking. The
61-year-old London, Ont., office manager tried to ignore the discomfort at
first. Six months later, she went to her doctor, who diagnosed peripheral
artery disease, or PAD. Colbourn had never heard of it—and was shocked to learn
it was a chronic disease caused by atherosclerosis, or hardening of the
arteries, of the legs, feet or arms that puts people at higher risk of stroke,
heart attack and death. When she was asked to participate in a 24-week
international treatment trial organized by London clinical trials nurse Marge
Lovell, a PAD awareness advocate, she agreed. Like many women over 60,
Colbourn’s health concerns were fixated on breast cancer and heart disease.
“Hardening of the arteries was something my grandma had,” she
says.
Now 69,
Colbourn takes baby aspirin and a cholesterol-lowering drug and exercises daily
to prevent the disease’s progression and stave off invasive surgery. There were
warning signs she ignored, she says. She had to give up curling in her 50s
because her feet were always cold. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it
could be serious.” Just how serious was made clear in a study in the January
2012 American Heart Association journal Circulation:
it called PAD an unsung “pandemic” that afflicts more women than men, contrary
to previous assumptions. Research in women has lagged behind, says cardiologist
Alan Hirsch, a professor at the University of Minnesota medical school who
chaired the study. Just as heart disease manifests itself differently in women,
so does PAD, says Hirsch, whose study revealed that women with PAD, which
afflicts some 800,000 Canadians, are more likely than men to have a limb
amputated.
Diagnosed by a
simple test that compares arm blood pressure to leg blood pressure, PAD is the
“most common, deadly and costly cardiovascular disease that the public hasn’t
heard of,” says Hirsch; in 90 per cent of cases, it’s asymptomatic. That so few
women have heard of PAD doesn’t surprise Hirsch, who says women have been
routinely overlooked in vascular research: “It is embarrassing how many
hypertension, lipid studies, and stent trials were done with low [female]
enrolment. Every vascular disease I know of except aortic aneurysm is more
common in women—venous diseases, lymphedema, PAD—yet we don’t know why and we
don’t talk about it.”
A
lot of recent research exposes how little we know about the XX body. A report
in the February 2010 Annals
of Internal Medicine found that women with implantable
cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are more likely than men to develop
complications. The reason? Testing was done primarily on men, who tend to be
physically larger. Stephanie Brister, a surgeon at Toronto’s Peter Munk Cardiac
Centre, would like to see women-only randomized clinical trials for ICDs,
though she’s not optimistic. “It’s not cost-effective,” she says. “More likely
we’ll try to increase the number of women, then hopefully we’ll have a
substantial representation with real information.”
It may
not seem that surprising to many that women have been so overlooked in vascular
research. After all, it wasn’t until 2003 that the American Heart Association
issued separate guidelines for women based on the fact that heart disease
manifests itself differently in each sex. More shocking are the holes in our
fundamental knowledge. A Stanford University School of Medicine study in the
January Journal
of Pain, for instance, found women reported more intense pain than
men in virtually every disease category, and recommended stronger efforts to
recruit women in clinical studies to find out why. And the biggest eye-opener:
emerging research suggests our entrenched assumption about PMS transforming
women into erratic harridans is based on research that didn’t even use women.
Rather, to peg hormone levels to mood, most researchers have used theoretical
“menstrual cycle phases” which can be wildly imprecise given vast differences
between individual women, says neuroscientist Gillian Einstein, a professor at
the University of Toronto. Einstein is one of six female authors of a study,
“The Role of Ovarian Hormones in Daily Mood,” which was presented as an
abstract at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington last
November. Measuring women’s reported moods directly with their estrus cycles,
they found a correlation between mood and hormonal levels exists, but that mood
fluctuations are more linked to stress levels and general physical health. The
research, which has yet to be published, could be groundbreaking—and not only
in ending PMS jokes. It paves the way for a new understanding of half of the
population.
The
female body has been subject to rapt scrutiny for millennia—in painting,
poetry, even beer commercials. But in terms of scientific research, women
remain an unmapped continent. That may seem improbable given the seemingly
relentless focus on “women’s health”: nine editions of Our
Bodies, Ourselves, pink-ribbon campaigns, advances in breast-cancer
screening technology, an HPV vaccine, government-funded studies. Yet female
under-representation in scientific research mirrors that in politics and
executive suites, with two significant differences: it puts women’s health
directly at risk; and it limits our scientific knowledge.
The
imbalance has been discussed for decades, notably in Rebecca Dresser’s landmark
1992 essay, “Wanted: Single, White Male for Medical Research” (one of her
examples is a pilot project studying the role of obesity in breast and uterine
cancer that featured only white men). The bias is “nakedly discriminatory,”
Dresser wrote, given the knowledge that even “gender-neutral” conditions—heart
disease, depression, AIDS—manifest differently in men and women. Twenty years
later, the gap remains, despite legislation in the U.S. and less enforceable
“guidelines” in Canada. As Anne Zajicek, a clinical pharmacologist at the U.S.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), put it in 2010: “Things have been tested
in 70-kilo, 22-year-old men since forever, basically.”
Back in
the 1980s, the NIH established a policy that all research it funds must include
female subjects when appropriate; Congress made it law in 1994. In 2000, when
Canada’s scientific funding body, the Canadian Institute of Health Research
(CIHR), was founded, so too was an Institute for Gender and Health. Joy
Johnson, scientific director of the latter institute, says there’s a long way
to go in terms of educating people about the importance of studying differences
in sex and gender, but she’s optimistic: “My experience has been that once you
make the case and explain that this is not ideologically driven, that this is
about good science, then people get it.”
Yet even
with more women being included in trials, we don’t have good data, Johnson
says, because sex-specific results don’t have to be reported separately. That’s
also the case in the U.S., where a 2010 Institute of Medicine report concluded
that progress in women’s health has been slowed as a result. A 2011 study from
George Washington University spells it out: average enrolment of women in
clinical trials rose to 37 per cent between 1995 and 2010. But only 28 per cent
of publications referred to sex/gender-specific results.
Hirsch
blames an entrenched status quo for some of the bias: “Middle-aged white male
physicians have not made the effort to make clinical trials
representative—whether it’s women, Native Americans, immigrants. We tend as
clinicians to recruit people who look like us and speak the language we speak.”
Ruth Faden, executive director of the John Hopkins Berman Institute of
Bioethics, has put it more bluntly: “Scientists need to realize women are not
men without penises.”
Even the
influx of female doctors and scientists hasn’t made a dent in some fields.
Stephanie Brister says that when she started as a cardiac surgeon 25 years ago,
only 20 per cent of her patients were female. That hasn’t changed, despite
awareness campaigns. “It’s retrograde,” says Brister. “For 25 years we’ve been
trying to get the message out that more women should be [given] more aggressive
treatment because if they are, they do well. Yes, the risk might be higher than
for men, but it’s not so high that it negates the benefit [for women].” A
similar gender imbalance exists in surgery referrals for osteoarthritis, a
condition afflicting far more women than men. A 2008 study in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal that sent a man and a woman with moderate
osteoarthritis to 67 different physicians found that orthopaedic surgeons were
22 times more likely to recommend surgery to a man than a woman and that GPs
were twice as likely to recommend surgery to a man.
The
issue is complex, Brister says. One of the limitations of her ICD study was
that researchers couldn’t determine whether doctors use different criteria to
refer men and women to cardiologists. “It’s hard to sort out whether it’s a
referral bias or a protocol bias, even in drug trials,” she says. “Perhaps
women aren’t interested in participating—maybe they have too many demands. Or
they’re not available for follow-up. It’s not clear.”
Janine
Austin Clayton, the acting director of the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s
Health in Bethesda, Md., sees the medical gender gap as systemic. “I don’t
believe it’s a malevolent exclusion in most cases,” she says. It begins in
basic science, she adds, where tissues and animals studied are predominately
male. A 2009 report in Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews looked at nearly 2,000 animal studies and
found a bias toward the use of male animals in eight of 10 disciplines:
neuroscientists used 5.5 males for every one female, pharmacologists used five
and physiologists used 3.7. And though women are twice as likely to be
diagnosed with major depression, fewer than 45 per cent of animal studies on
these disorders used females.
The
reason? Using male rats is easier, faster and less expensive. They don’t have
an estrus cycle, they don’t get pregnant, they cost less than female rats and
they offer more bang for the buck by providing both Y and X chromosomes.
Testing on females is not commensurate with doing science as science is set up,
Einstein says—where you have one variable and everything else is kept constant.
To properly figure out where a female lab rat is in her estrus cycle, for
example, a researcher must go into the rodent colony and do a vaginal smear
every single day.
The
biggest complication women bring, of course, is also the biggest sex
difference: pregnancy. After DES and thalidomide given to pregnant women in the
1950s and ’60s caused birth defects, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
banned any woman who could become pregnant from participating in clinical
trials in 1977, then revoked the ruling in 1993 under pressure from women’s
groups. Yet unless a trial specifically mandates female participation—say,
testing a new birth control pill—pharmaceutical companies have little
motivation to recruit women due to fear of litigation related to pregnancy or
breastfeeding risks. As a result, women remain unknowing medical guinea pigs in
some areas. One problem is the fact that a “standard” dose for a man can be
excessive in a woman. Also, female QT, or heart rhythm, is slower (we don’t
know why), which makes certain drugs—antipsychotics, antibiotics, even heart
medications—that prolong the QT rate more dangerous for women. The FDA removed
10 drugs from the market for safety reasons between 1997 and 2001; eight posed
greater risks to women.
Yet
women are routinely prescribed more drugs than men. A study presented last
month at Women’s Health 2012: The 20th Annual Congress in Washington found that
women are prescribed an average of five medications, compared to 3.7 for men,
even after accounting for prescription contraceptives. It also found women are
less likely to be prescribed drugs according to clinical guidelines, or
“off-label.”
Attitudes to
studying sex and gender in medicine are changing, says Einstein, pointing to
the example of high-profile scientist Irving Zucker decrying the male-animal
bias in the June 2010 Nature.
“When it was just women talking about it, it didn’t make a difference,” she says
wryly. Governments are also making noise. Last December, the FDA released a
draft guideline recommending sex-specific analyses and calling for more women
in clinical studies. Canada, which takes its regulatory cues from the U.S.,
followed suit. Last year, the CIHR ruled all funding applicants must say
whether they’re investigating both sex- and gender-related factors in the
research and, if not, why not. In January, Health Canada sent out a draft of a
policy paper, “Considerations for Inclusion of Women in Clinical Trials and
Analysis of Data by Sex,” for feedback. The first update of the paper since
1997 has broadened its scope to include women of all ages, as well as more
therapeutic products. Still, critics contend it’s toothless. “It’s not enough,”
says scientist Abby Lippman, a professor emeritus at McGill University. “Plans
to ‘suggest’ but not make mandatory the inclusion of women and the treatment of
all data with intersectional analyses are not likely to fill the holes that
need filling in our knowledge.”
One of
the biggest gaps surrounds pregnant women, says Françoise Baylis, a professor
of bioethics and philosophy at Dalhousie University and an advocate for
including pregnant women in clinical trials. “Pregnant women get sick and sick
women get pregnant,” she says. “And we have a moral obligation to recognize
that women are as entitled to health care while they’re pregnant as when
they’re not.” Without research, you can’t give good advice, she says, citing
the H1N1 vaccine as an example of pregnant women being prescribed a medication
that hadn’t been tested on pregnant women. “If you were pregnant and your
doctor told you to take it, wouldn’t you have rather been told ‘This works’ or
‘This doesn’t work?’ ” she asks. Baylis is working on proposals that would
allow pregnant women to be integrated into trials after safety and efficacy
have been established, though getting regulators, scientists, corporations and
women on side will be a challenge, she says, noting Health Canada’s new draft
guidelines provide vague “initial guidance” on the inclusion of pregnant and
breastfeeding women in trials.
Pregnant
women use a swath of medications, many of which are untested on them, says
Barbara Mintzes, an assistant professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at the
University of British Columbia. Mintzes, who believes testing on pregnant women
is ethical but urges caution, is concerned about creating an incentive to
extend the marketing of unnecessary products. “There should be good suggestive
evidence that a treatment is going to have a real benefit in pregnancy before
starting a randomized trial,” she says, noting that 12 per cent of pregnant
women are prescribed selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for
depression “off-label,” even though limited scientific evidence suggests that
neither pregnant women nor their babies benefit.
Studying
sex differences provides new insight into disease, says the NIH’s Clayton, an
ophthalmologist. Women comprise two-thirds of the visually impaired or blind
population worldwide, she says: “We know autoimmune eye diseases are more
common in women. What’s less known is that retinal diseases are too. We don’t
know why. Age is a risk factor for ocular diseases, but that doesn’t account
for all of the difference.”
Mapping
the female brain is also rich uncharted terrain, says Einstein, that could
provide vital clues into Alzheimer’s, which afflicts more women than men.
Wilder Penfield’s famous “homunculus” brain map is based only on men; a
corresponding “her-munculus” doesn’t exist. “We don’t know how the female brain
changes with the ovulatory cycle and age,” she says. “We’re already seeing
evidence that ovaries are playing a protective role, even post-menopause.”
Walter Rocca, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic, has
found women who have their ovaries removed prior to natural menopause have a
higher risk of all causes of death.
The
power of estrogens has been vastly underrated, says Einstein, who believes
they’ve been given a “bum rap” by science, especially after hormone replacement
(HRT) trials were shut down in 2002 when estrogen and progestin taken together
were found to increase the risks for heart disease and breast cancer.
Subsequent studies, including one in the April 2011 Journal
of the American Medical Association, found estrogen-only HRT
actually reduced the risks of heart attack and breast cancer. Yet getting
funding to study estrogens remains difficult, she says: “They’re treated like a
toxic chemical.” It’s an attitude based on ignorance, she adds. “It irks me
when people say that estrogen is a female hormone. It’s also incredibly
important in males.”
Einstein’s
currently at work on a “re-theorizing” of women’s health, investigating
biological and societal factors. The biomedical model in place now is a
car-mechanic model, she says: “If something’s wrong with the carburetor, you
replace it.” But that approach doesn’t work as well on chronic “autoimmune”
conditions—multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis—which are far more
common in women. Studying women can teach us a lot about the treatment of and
care for chronic diseases, which place far more of a burden on the health care
system, she says.
It could
also yield new measurements for subjective complaints dismissed as
“psychological” because they don’t match objective measures based on men, such
as poor sleep. “More women than men complain of poor sleep, but when they have
[a sleep study], their sleep architecture is fine, so people interpret it as
women just complaining when maybe the measurement isn’t what it should
be.”
A call
to action is required, says Hirsch, who cites PAD as an example: “If women got
the message, attitudes would change within one or two years because women would
demand it.” Women’s risk of breast cancer is one in 11, and women can’t imagine
not being screened, he says. “But the risk of PAD is higher and no one is
warning them. Women should be aghast.” He has a point. But for women—and men—to
be aghast requires knowing what we don’t know. Barbara Colbourn, for one, says
her PAD diagnosis has made her more militant about her health. “We don’t know
enough,” she says. Even knowing that is a starting point.
April
26, 2012
Early detection of lymphedema
is crucial - Regina Leader-Post – By
Pamela Cowan
Unable
to lift her arm and wrap her fingers around her beloved violin, Glenda Cook's
life hit a melancholy note soon after she was diagnosed with breast
cancer.
Shortly
after surgery in 2008, Cook developed lymphedema in her left arm. The abnormal
build-up of fluid in tissue causes swelling - often in the arms or legs, but it
can occur anywhere in the body.
Cook
went to Tracy Gardikiotis, a physical therapist with the Regina Qu'Appelle
Health Region (RQHR), who is a certified lymphedema therapist and has
specialized breast cancer training.
"I
was pretty lucky that it was caught early," Cook said.
Still,
lymphedema stole one of her great passions - playing second violin in the
Regina Symphony Orchestra - something she had done for 32 years.
The
56-year-old president of the Lymphedema Association of Saskatchewan said more
awareness is needed of the warning signs of lymphedema.
"The
arm might feel heavy or achy and swelling is a major symptom, but often the
early signs manifest before there is any swelling," Cook said. "The main thing
about lymphedema is that the earlier it is treated, the fewer problems there
are down the road."
Lymphedema
is a specialized area that is not well understood by some health-care
professionals and patients, Gardikiotis said.
To
educate patients, health-care workers and policy-makers about the chronic
condition, the association, in conjunction with the Continuing Physical Therapy
Education department at the University of Saskatchewan and the RQHR held a
Lymphedema Management Symposium last week that featured experts from the Mayo
Clinic, the Toronto area and Montreal.
Experts
at the symposium strongly promoted exercise and reinforced the importance of
using compression garments.
Patients
diagnosed early often require just a compression garment to contain the
swelling, Gardikiotis said.
For
three years, Cook religiously wore a compression garment, did self massage and
had manual lymph drainage - a light progressive massage to encourage
drainage.
Since
September, her arm has improved so she doesn't require a compression garment
during the day, but wears a Reid Sleeve nightly and does compression
wrapping.
Cook
lamented that lymphedema treatment across Saskatchewan is spotty and said more
specialists are required.
"We
are so blessed in Regina to have Tracy," Cook said.
Currently,
Gardikiotis treats about 300 lymphedema patients in southern Saskatchewan. Some
people are born with lymphedema while others experience it after cancer
treatment.
There
is no cure, but if caught early, the impact can be significantly minimized,
Gardikiotis said.
"In
the later stage, there is some tissue damage and some of those changes are
irreversible and they require much more treatment to maintain their limb at a
stable point and minimize infection and keep them functioning," Gardikiotis
said. "If not treated properly, it can have significant physical, psychosocial
and financial implications on patients' lives so we're really striving to
increase lymphedema awareness and education to ensure that we can improve the
care that we are offering patients."
[email protected]
April
29, 2012
FYI 4-29-12 -
Southeast Missourian –
Southeast
Hospice seeks volunteers
This
year, you can resolve to comfort terminally ill patients and their families by
joining the Southeast Hospice team. The team provides care, understanding and
appreciation of terminally ill patients and their families. Southeast Hospice
will train new volunteers this spring. For more information, call 335-6208 or
1-888-397-0646.
HealthPoint to hold
Turning Point program
Turning
Point, a free program for anyone diagnosed with breast cancer within the past
year, will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, starting May 1, at HealthPoint
Fitness in Cape Girardeau. Weekly programs will cover a variety of topics
including benefits of exercise, lymphedema, nutrition, spirituality, emotions
surrounding breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiation. Participants will
receive six-month memberships to HealthPoint Fitness and a personal fitness
assessment with an appropriate exercise prescription. Class size is limited. To
register, call the Southeast Cancer Center at 573-519-4847.
We Can
Weekend held for cancer patients
The
annual We Can Weekend retreat for cancer patients and their families will be
held May 18 to 20. Southeast Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society
sponsor the retreat, which is held annually at the Sunnen Center bordering
Sunnen Lake at the YMCA of the Ozarks near Potosi, Mo. There is a requested $50
registration fee per family, which includes the cost of lodging and meals. The
fee is refunded shortly after the conclusion of the weekend. The registration
deadline is May 4. For more information, call the Southeast Cancer Center at
519-4754 or contact the American Cancer Society's local office at
334-9197.
Lynwood
to host interdenominational service
In
recognition of the 61st annual observance of the National Day of Prayer,
Lynwood Baptist Church is hosting an interdenominational prayer service From
6:30 to 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance
held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for
the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress, and
signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. The NDP Task Force is a privately
funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National
Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate to every individual the need for
personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials and to mobilize
the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families.
For more information, call Susan Clarke at 334-4600 or email [email protected].
More information about the National Day of Prayer can be found at www.nationaldayofprayer.org.
©
Copyright
2012 Southeast Missourian.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.
May
30, 2012
Obesity may raise odds for painful leg
condition - Medical Xpress – By Denise
Mann
Excess
weight can lead to fluid backup called lymphedema.
(HealthDay)
-- The health risks associated with being overweight and obese are well
publicized, but new research may add another condition to this list: leg
lymphedema, pain and swelling due to blockage of the lymph nodes in the groin
area.
Lymphedema in the
arms traditionally is associated with breast
cancer surgery that involves removal of or damage to the lymph
nodes. A blockage in the lymphatic
system can prevent proper drainage of lymph
fluid. As fluid builds up, pain and swelling
can occur.
In a
letter published in the May 31 issue of the New
England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Arin Greene and
colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston reported on 15 obese
individuals with swelling in both legs. They diagnosed five of
these individuals with leg lymphedema, and the cause of the condition was
obesity.
"We now
believe that obesity is a risk factor for lymphedema if the body-mass index
becomes greater than 60," Greene said. "It only seems to affect the legs, but
we have not investigated the arms."
Individuals in the
study who had a body-mass index (BMI) lower than 54 had normal lymphatic
function. The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema was 70; BMI of 30 or
greater is considered obese. BMI is a measure of body fat based on an
individual's height and weight.
Other
risk factors for leg lymphedema include injury to the lymph nodes in the groin
because of infection, surgery or radiation. In addition, people can be born
with the condition. Regardless of the cause, leg lymphedema can cause pain,
swelling and infections.
Although
there is no cure for lymphedema, compression and significant weight loss may
help relieve the pain and swelling, Greene said.
Lymphedema in the
legs manifests itself as swelling, pain, discomfort, tightness in the skin,
decreased flexibility and difficulty walking, said Cathy Kleinman-Barnett, a
lymphedema specialist at the Lymphedema/Edema Management Program at Northwest
Medical Center in Margate, Fla.
"Obesity
causes lymphedema because the sheer additional weight puts too much pressure on
the lymph nodes
in the groin area, compromising the system," she said. "This causes a fluid
backup like a clogged drain. Skin can thicken, harden and become red, dry and
warm to touch."
It's
important to treat the condition, she added, because "it can really interfere
with a person's quality of life in a physical and a psychosocial way as people
may be less inclined to go out and interact with others."
Kleinman-Barnett
said lymphedema therapists can prescribe a program of manual lymphatic
drainage, which helps direct lymph flow out of the congested areas.
Recommendations on skin care, compression bandaging and exercises also can
help, she said.
More
than 35 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Obesity already is known to increase the risk of heart
disease, diabetes, arthritis and certain types of cancer.
More
information:
Get tips for preventing lymphedema at the National
Lymphedema Network.
Journal
reference:New
England Journal of Medicine
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay.
All rights reserved.
April
27, 2012,
Breast
cancer survivor looking forward to ENCORE program - Western Star
– by Diane Crocker –
CORNER BROOK — As a breast cancer survivor Shirley Porter believes in
doing whatever it takes to keep herself healthy.
For the
60-year-old Mount Moriah woman that includes exercising regularly.
Porter
was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and has been cancer free now for
almost five years.
“Thank
God,” she said.
Porter
said she had had fibrous lumps in her breast for awhile.
“The
lumps never got any better and it went from there,” she said.
A
mammogram showed an abnormality and a biopsy detected the cancer.
“And the
story went from there,” said Porter.
She had
six rounds of chemotherapy in Corner Brook, which was followed by surgery to
remove her right breast on Aug. 31, 2007.
That was
followed by 28 treatments of radiation.
“At the
time they were so overbooked in St. John’s that I requested to go to Ontario
where I had more family,” said Porter.
She left
home on Nov. 13 and returned on Dec. 21.
Porter
couldn’t take any other treatment medication after the radiation because she
was diagnosed with triple negative cancer.
In the
last five years though she has been feeling good, attends TOPS regularly and is
an avid walker.
She said
a determination to get better and be there to raise her grandchildren is what
helped her to face the disease.
“I take
it one day at a time and thank God every morning when I wake up.”
‘Not
going through it alone’
To help
her along the way Porter joined the local Breast Friends group.
“And it’s
just wonderful,” she said. “It’s uplifting. I just wait for that last Thursday
of the month, because you get to meet other women and try to help other women
that go through the same process that you went through.
“You know
you are not going through it alone.”
Besides
the support she gets from Breast Friends, Porter found going back to work
therapeutic.
She’s a
student assistant at St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove.
Since her
surgery and treatment, Porter has developed lymphedema in her right arm. This
results in fluid retention and tissue swelling.
“Mine is
not too too bad,” said Porter “It is a discomfort and I do wear a compression
sleeve to work and when I’m driving I wear it and if I fly I wear
it.”
She also
goes to massage therapy at least twice a month and exercises her arm at
home.
“If you
don’t keep up with your exercising your arm will get very stiff and
sore.”
She’ll
get to learn more about keeping healthy and exercises to help with lymphedema
when she takes part in the YMCA ENCORE Program.
The
eight-week program, which starts on May 3, is being offered free of charge by
the Humber Community YMCA.
The
program is designed specifically for women who have experienced mastectomy,
lumpectomy or breast reconstruction surgery at any time in their
lives.
It is
based around floor and relaxation techniques that are safe, fun and
therapeutic.
The floor
exercises will can help women strengthen and tone their arms, shoulders and
chests, and aid in regaining mobility.
Porter
said she was excited to get involved when she heard about the program through
Breast Friends.
“I’m
looking forward to getting out with the girls and exercising,” she
said.
“It’ll
show us more exercising and new exercising that we can do here at home when
we’re not going there. And it’ll give an opportunity to meet other people,
probably other women that don’t go to our Breast Friends chapter will go to the
exercising.”
She was
especially pleased to learn the program would be free.
“There is
so much other things that we need and it becomes expensive.”
She said
from compression sleeves every six months, to prostheses, bras and specialty
clothing, the costs can get high and some people may not be able to pay to go
to a fitness centre.
“Because
your other essential needs come first. Even though that is so much
essential.”
Anyone
interested in taking part in the program can contact the Y at
639-9676.
April
26, 2012
Pottstown YMCA presents Pink
Confetti - Boyertown Berk Montgomery Newspapers –
By Sue Erickson
Nearly
a year ago, staff members at the Freedom Valley YMCA, which includes branches
in Phoenixville, Spring Valley, Audobon and Pottstown, met to discuss the
growing need to address the issues surrounding breast cancer and more
specifically, what they could do to help survivors.
Six months ago, with
the help of local hospitals and cancer treatment centers, the Pink Confetti
program was introduced in Phoenixville and Spring Valley and will be launched
in Pottstown this week.
“The Pink Confetti program is a celebration of
life and healing,” said Lynn Seponski, Physical Director for the Freedom Valley
Pottstown YMCA. “It was designed exclusively for breast cancer survivors that
are close to or have completed their treatment as a way to safely reenter
living healthy through fitness and education.”
“And it’s all done in a
safe and caring group environment that includes trained instructors and women
that have been going through the same issues.”
Pink
Confetti is a free program that is designed to ease breast cancer survivors
back into exercise.
“Whether it’s as a result of surgery or treatment or
because they are drained and tired from the toll that breast cancer has taken
on them, breast cancer survivors sometimes have less mobility and range of
motion,” Lynn explained. “The Pink Confetti program takes all of that into
consideration and works with individuals to ease them back into working out,
both for their physical and mental well-being.”
Two of Pottstown’s YMCA
instructors, Renee Falcone and Margie Polansky, have been trained by outside
instructors specializing in breast cancer exercise and programs, to become
certified in helping survivors with their exercise goals and needs.
The
Pottstown YMCA Pink Confetti program officially begins on Thursday, April 26.
The program is free and lasts for seven weeks and includes a one-hour exercise
session every Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. Classes include: flexibility and
stretching in Week 1; core training in Week 2; yoga in Week 3; belly dancing in
Week 4; cardio and Zumba in Week 5; strength training in Week 6 and cycling in
Week 7.
So far, more than 25 women have taken advantage of the Pink
Confetti program in Phoenixville and Spring Valley and Lynn hopes that women in
the Pottstown area will register, as well.
“The program is free to
breast cancer survivors,” Lynn said. “In addition to a free seven-week program
that’s just for them, participants also get a Pink Confetti t-shirt, as well as
unlimited access to the Pottstown YMCA and everything it has to offer. It’s a
free seven-week pass to come in and enjoy everything we have!”
The
Pottstown YMCA will also be offering the PALS for Life program. PALS for Life
offers individual or group personal training for breast cancer survivors, based
on the program developed by the University of Pennsylvania PAL protocol. The
program targets survivors that have developed or are at the risk of developing
lymphedema.
Registration for the Pink Confetti program is free; however,
participants must register in advance. To register or to find out more about
the Pink Confetti program, call the Pottstown YMCA at 610-323-7300, ext. 13 and
speak with Lynn.
“We’re concerned with women’s health, especially women
that have been affected by breast cancer,” said Lynn. “The Pink Confetti
program was designed especially for them so that they know that they’re not
alone and that there are people they can reach out to to show them how to
safely become active again.”
“But we’re also here for our community, as
a whole,” she continued. “We want everyone in the Pottstown area to know -- no
matter what their physical or health limitations may be -- that health and
exercise is an important part of life and we can offer something for
everyone.”
For more information on the Freedom Valley YMCA at Pottstown
and to see what programs and services are offered, please visit the website at
www.fvymca.org.
Follow
the Community Connection om Twitter at @commconn.
June
5, 2012
Obesity May Raise Odds for Painful Leg
Condition - U.S. News & World Report –
By Denise Mann
Excess
weight can lead to fluid backup called lymphedema
WEDNESDAY,
May 30 (HealthDay News) -- The health risks associated with being overweight
and obese are well publicized, but new research may add another condition to
this list: leg lymphedema, pain and swelling due to blockage of the lymph nodes
in the groin area.
Lymphedema
in the arms traditionally is associated with breast cancer surgery that
involves removal of or damage to the lymph nodes. A blockage in the lymphatic
system can prevent proper drainage of lymph fluid. As fluid builds up, pain and
swelling can occur.
In
a letter published in the May 31 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine, Dr. Arin Greene and colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston
reported on 15 obese individuals with swelling in both legs. They diagnosed
five of these individuals with leg lymphedema, and the cause of the condition
was obesity.
"We
now believe that obesity is a risk factor for lymphedema if the body-mass index
becomes greater than 60," Greene said. "It only seems to affect the legs, but
we have not investigated the arms."
Individuals
in the study who had a body-mass index (BMI) lower than 54 had normal lymphatic
function. The average BMI of the patients with lymphedema was 70; BMI of 30 or
greater is considered obese. BMI is a measure of body fat based on an
individual's height and weight.
Other
risk factors for leg lymphedema include injury to the lymph nodes in the groin
because of infection, surgery or radiation. In addition, people can be born
with the condition. Regardless of the cause, leg lymphedema can cause pain,
swelling and infections.
Although
there is no cure for lymphedema, compression and significant weight loss may
help relieve the pain and swelling, Greene said.
Lymphedema
in the legs manifests itself as swelling, pain, discomfort, tightness in the
skin, decreased flexibility and difficulty walking, said Cathy
Kleinman-Barnett, a lymphedema specialist at the Lymphedema/Edema Management
Program at Northwest Medical Center in Margate, Fla.
"Obesity
causes lymphedema because the sheer additional weight puts too much pressure on
the lymph nodes in the groin area, compromising the system," she said. "This
causes a fluid backup like a clogged drain. Skin can thicken, harden and become
red, dry and warm to touch."
It's
important to treat the condition, she added, because "it can really interfere
with a person's quality of life in a physical and a psychosocial way as people
may be less inclined to go out and interact with others."
Kleinman-Barnett
said lymphedema therapists can prescribe a program of manual lymphatic
drainage, which helps direct lymph flow out of the congested areas.
Recommendations on skin care, compression bandaging and exercises also can
help, she said.
More
than 35 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Obesity already is known to increase the risk of heart
disease, diabetes, arthritis and certain types of cancer.
More
information
Get
tips for preventing lymphedema at the National
Lymphedema Network.
Copyright
© 2012 HealthDay.
All rights reserved.
June
4, 2012
People on the Move, June 3,
2012 - Scranton Times-Tribune –
Pennstar
Anthony Piestrak
has joined the bank as a mortgage originator. In this position he is
responsible for developing and servicing loan requests for residential
mortgages. He will assist applicants in Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties. A
resident of Olyphant, Mr. Piestrak has a bachelor's degree in business
administration and marketing from Kings College.
Allied Services
Integrated Health System
Lori
Ashman-Williams, M.S.P.T., O.T., I.M.T.C., has had an article titled "The
Effects of Integrative Manual Therapy and Compression Bandaging on Lower
Extremity Lymphedema" published in the Journal of Integrative Manual Therapy
Association. Ms. Ashman-Williams earned a bachelor's degree in OT from Utica
College of Syracuse University and bachelor's and master's degrees in physical
therapy from the University of Pittsburgh. She is certified in integrative
manual therapy from CenterIMT, and in lymphedema from the Academy of Lymphatic
Studies. Ms. Ashman-Williams lives in Jefferson Twp. with her husband, Joe,
son, Drew, and mother-in-law, Betsy.
PRO Rehabilitation
Services
Lindsay Coulter,
P.T., D.P.T., joined the staff at PRO Rehabilitation Services. She will provide
physical therapy and aquatic therapy to patients at the PRO Rehabilitation
Services clinic located in the Birney Plaza, Moosic. Dr. Coulter graduated with
honors from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., with a Bachelor of
Science in psychology. She received her doctorate in physical therapy from the
Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Dr. Coulter resides with
her husband in Kingston.
Long Financial
Management Group
Dana M. Lawrence of
Taylor obtained the General Securities Representative Exam, Series 7, and
Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam, Series 63. She is a graduate of
Riverside High School. She received her Bachelor of Science in finance from
Shippensburg University. Ms. Lawrence is an administrative representative at
the management group and transacts securities business through Cadaret Grant
& Co. Inc.
ABC Eastern
Pennsylvania Chapter
Jeff Zeh is
retiring after 13 years as president and CEO from Associated Builders and
Contractors Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter (ABC). Mr. Zeh, a resident of Blue
Bell, graduated from the George Washington School of Law and Rutgers
University. Mary Tebeau of Blue Bell has been selected as president and
CEO.
Hall-Mihalos-Straub
& Co. LLP
Marilyn A. Derolf,
C.P.A., a partner with the Wilkes-Barre company, received a Volunteer Service
Award from the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. Ms. Derolf received the award for outstanding service and
demonstrated contributions to the chapter and the PICPA through active
participation in volunteer opportunities. She is a partner with
Hall-Mihalos-Straub & Co. LLP in Wilkes-Barre, and received her bachelor's
degree in accounting from King's College.
The Palumbo
Group
Jonathan R.
Loiselle, A.I.A., N.C.A.R.B., joined as vice president. Mr. Loiselle will work
with the firm's founder and president, John S. Palumbo, on marketing and
project development. A graduate of Drexel University, Mr. Loiselle is currently
studying at the Boston Architectural College in its Master Design Studies
program.
First National
Community Bank
Joseph A.
Castrogiovanni has been promoted to senior vice president, commercial lending
manager, where he is responsible for developing new business and managing a
group of lenders in the Lackawanna County market area. Mr. Castrogiovanni is a
graduate of Dunmore High School and Bloomsburg University, where he earned a
Bachelor of Science in finance. He received a master's in finance from Marywood
University. He is also a graduate of the ABA Graduate Commercial Lending
School. He resides in Moscow with his wife, Judy, and children, Brian and
Jason.
Donna M. Czerw has
been promoted to senior vice president, where she supervises the community
banking operational functions for 21 branch locations and the Retail Training
Department. Ms. Czerw received a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a
master's in finance from the University of Scranton. She resides in
Moosic.
Kendrick C. Smith,
C.F.A., has been promoted to senior vice president, treasury officer, where he
is responsible for overseeing the treasury operations and investments of the
bank, implementing strategies to increase capital, establishing financial goals
and executing money-managing activities. Mr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science
in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a Master of
Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He also earned his
Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Kendrick and his wife, Kim, have two
children, Ryan and Shane. He currently resides in Dunmore.
Northeast
Anesthesiology
John Giglio,
C.R.N.A., was awarded Clinician of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of
Nurse Anesthetists. Mr. Giglio was chosen by students from La Salle University,
Frank J. Tornetta School of Anesthesia. He is a clinical instructor of Cardiac
Anesthesia at Regional Hospital of Scranton and trains future nurse
anesthetists in the cardiothoracic area.
SUBMIT PEOPLE ON
THE MOVE items to [email protected] or The Times-Tribune, 149 Penn
Ave., Scranton, PA 18503.
June
7, 2012
Health Matters: Turning up the heat on
lymphedema - NBC2 News – by Amy
Oshier
FORT MYERS, FL -
Breast cancer
survivor Carol Thisted is now living with lymphedema. Commonly a consequence of
lymph node removal, she has extreme, painful swelling in her arms.
"It was the lymph
nodes that were taken from underneath my arm, were not letting this fluid move
through my body anymore," says Thisted.
Lymphedema is a
chronic condition with no cure. The treatment is to wear compression garments
and wraps to encourage circulation.
"When we treat
lymphedema we train people how to control it themselves so they know how to do
all their self-care," says Jackie Speas, a certified lymphedema therapist with
Lee Memorial Health System.
The condition is
more challenging during the summer.
"Anything too hot
or too cold will aggravate a lymphedema," says Speas.
As the temperature
rises, people may be less inclined to wear tight fitting body garments, but
someone who is prone to swelling needs to keep it under wraps.
"I do have friends
that went through therapy and then they just stopped. I can see the difference.
They should be wearing their arm covers and they're not," says
Thisted.
"If you just let it
go it tends to progressively get worse. If you treat it, it gets better and
then stays at a better stage," says Speas.
So rain or shine
Carol sticks with her routine.
"I wear this during
the day and then at night I take this off and then I rewrap it and put the band
aid bandaged on again. I would just assume do it so that I feel
better."
Any discomfort
pales in comparison to letting her lymphedema bloom out of control.
'Amy
Oshier Health Matters' is now on facebook
June
7, 2012
Lifestyle Matters: Specific
Recommendations – dailyRx – By: Laurie
Stoneham
Lifestyle
impacts different cancers differently. While healthydiet,
regular exercise and ideal weight generally improve the outlook for most cancer
warriors, current research offers specific advice for specific types of the
disease.
In this
installment of Lifestyle Matters, we look at these research-based
recommendations for men and women living through and beyond breast, colorectal
and prostate
cancer.
This
series is based on the recently published American Cancer Society
Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Survivors, which
summarizes the latest findings on lifestyle choices.
Breast
cancer dancers
Weight is
the key issue for women who have been diagnosed with breast
cancer. Achieving and maintaining a normal weight remains
absolutely the best thing a woman can do to thrive today and for many
tomorrows.
Here's
the skinny - while being overweight or obese before and after a breast cancer
diagnosis is very common, it's not good. Why?
Carrying
too many pounds increases the risk of lymph node involvement and lymphedema
(swelling of the arm closest to the involved breast). A higher body mass index
(BMI) of 25+ is also associated with life-threatening events, such as cancer
appearing in the other breast, recurrence and shorter lifespan.
Here are
some more facts and figures.
·According
to the Nurses' Health Study, increasing BMI by .5 to 2 units following
treatment pumps up the likelihood of recurrence by 40 percent, compared to
those who didn't gain weight.
·With
increases of more than 2 units in BMI, the risk of recurrence expands to 53
percent.
·The same
study found that womenwho
lost weight following treatment "did not experience significantly poorer
outcomes." Translated - losing weight helps improve outcome.
Now there
are plenty of flaws relating to the BMI scales. So it's important for anyone
affected by breast cancer to work closely with their healthcare providers to
determine an ideal weight and come up with plans for achieving those
numbers.
Even
small losses help
Having
many pounds to shed can feel - and in fact is - a daunting task. The good news
is that even modest weight loss - of say 5-10 percent - over six months to a
year helps.
Recent
reviews of scientific literature find that small to modest amounts of weight
loss improve breast -cancer specific factors, including circulating estrogens
and inflammation. Estrogen, the female hormone, drives the majority of breast
cancers
and it likes to set up residence in adipose fat.
Changing
the mix
Unfortunately, chemotherapy and hormonal (estrogen blocking)
treatments can decrease lean body mass and replace it with - you guessed it -
fat.
So,
what's a girl to do? Whether you're in active treatment or have finished that
phase, start doing some resistance training - lift some weights or use the
weight of your limbs to get the muscles churning and building.
Moving
on
Really
and truly, as much as most of us hate it, exerciseis
really one of the best things people who are dealing with breast cancer or its
aftermath can do to feel and function better.
A
meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials involving 717 breast cancer
victors found that physical activity improved quality of life, physical
functioning and energy levels.
Another
study review, which included more than 12,000 breast cancer thrivers showed
that physical activity following diagnosis was seen with a 24 percent lower
rate of recurrence and a 34 percent lower risk of succumbing to the disease and
a 41 percent mortality from all causes.
Exercise
- and weight loss - are also known to reduce lymphedema.
Trained
exercise therapists are available to help design a movement plan and provide
guidance and/or accountability all along the way.
Food
choices
Studies
looking at specific food choices have been inconsistent over the years. Eating
more fruits and vegetables hasn't been proven to benefit women with a history
of breast cancer. That said, some research has shown that diets high in
colorful foods from nature which are rich in carotenoids are likely to delay
the reappearance of breast cancer.
Soy and
flaxseed, both of which are great sources of phytoestrogens, are safe to eat
according to three large studies. And there is some evidence these foods may
even be beneficial for patients who are taking tamoxifen.
To drink
or not to drink alcohol
Studies
regarding drinking alcohol have been a totally mixed bag. The benefit of
moderate consumption is lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is a
common condition in women who've had breast cancer. On the other hand, alcohol
has also been associated with an increased risk of new breast cancers,
recurrences and even death.
Talking
with a health professional about specific risks and benefits - along with an
approach of "moderation in all things" - is probably a wise strategy for
most.
Colorectal cancer warriors
Interestingly, a recent American Cancer Society study uncovered that
obesity prior to a colorectal cancer diagnosis was linked to higher risk of not
making it due to all causes, the cancer itself and cardiovascular disease.
However, one's BMI following diagnosis didn't seem to impact
lifespan.
As with
breast cancer, physical activity improves quality of life, functioning and
helps to alleviate fatigue. Folks who have a history of this cancer and are
physically active
have lower risks of recurrence, perishing from the cancer and/or all other
causes.
Dietary
influences
Diet is
known to play a role in developing colorectal cancer, but very little research
has been conducted on the effects of diet on living beyond the
disease.
The
largest study of Stage III colorectal cancer patients found that a Western diet
(high fat, starch, sugar) resulted in worse outcomes. Eating lots of fruits and
vegetables, poultry and fish wasn't associated with cancer recurrence or
mortality.
People
who have chronic bowel problems or have issues affecting nutrient absorption
should see a registered dietician for guidance.
Take care
with supplements
Low
vitamin D levels, as measured in the blood, are known to increase the risk of
developing colorectal cancer. Vitamin D may also influence outcome; research in
this area is ongoing.
Research
has failed to show any benefit of vitamin and fiber
supplements or modest diet changes in reducing polyp recurrence.
Folate slightly increases the risk of having multiple benign tumors (adenomas),
and calcium supplements may provide a slight benefit in preventing polyps from
recurring.
Prostate
cancer champions
Body
weight and obesity need to be the number one concern of men
with a history of prostate cancer. Too much weight is associated with more
aggressive forms of the disease that tends to progress with time. Men who are
obese after diagnosis are at significantly higher risk of the disease cutting
short their lives.
Some
points to ponder:
·Saturated
fat (eggs, meat, dairy sources), but not total fat intake, seems linked to
worse outcomes.
·Monounsaturated fats (olives, nuts, peanut/olive/canola oils,
avocados) are associated with a better outlook.
·Fish and
tomato sauce consumption are related to lower risks of recurrence.
·Ground
flaxseed and omega-3 fatty acid consumption is linked to lower tumor growth and
proliferation.
·Calcium
supplements have been linked to aggressive disease.
·Men who
engaged in at least three hours of vigorous activity a week, in one study, had
a 60 percent decreased risk of prostate
cancer taking their lives.
The
common theme
If you, a
friend or a loved one have been diagnosed with cancer, the best self-care
techniques remain pretty similar - achieve and maintain an ideal weight, stay
physically active and eat a diet that's rich in natural nutrients and low in
saturated fats and processed foods.
Ask for
help to make and stick with a plan to make these recommendations a part of your
healthy
lifestyle.
Dietary
influences
Diet is
known to play a role in developing colorectal cancer, but very little research
has been conducted on the effects of diet on living beyond the
disease.
The
largest study of Stage III colorectal cancer patients found that a Western diet
(high fat, starch, sugar) resulted in worse outcomes. Eating lots of fruits and
vegetables, poultry and fish wasn't associated with cancer recurrence or
mortality.
People
who have chronic bowel problems or have issues affecting nutrient absorption
should see a registered dietician for guidance.
Take care
with supplements
Low
vitamin D levels, as measured in the blood, are known to increase the risk of
developing colorectal cancer. Vitamin D may also influence outcome; research in
this area is ongoing.
Research
has failed to show any benefit of vitamin and fiber
supplements or modest diet changes in reducing polyp recurrence.
Folate slightly increases the risk of having multiple benign tumors (adenomas),
and calcium supplements may provide a slight benefit in preventing polyps from
recurring.
Prostate
cancer champions
Body
weight and obesity need to be the number one concern of men
with a history of prostate cancer. Too much weight is associated with more
aggressive forms of the disease that tends to progress with time. Men who are
obese after diagnosis are at significantly higher risk of the disease cutting
short their lives.
Some
points to ponder:
·Saturated
fat (eggs, meat, dairy sources), but not total fat intake, seems linked to
worse outcomes.
·Monounsaturated fats (olives, nuts, peanut/olive/canola oils,
avocados) are associated with a better outlook.
·Fish and
tomato sauce consumption are related to lower risks of recurrence.
·Ground
flaxseed and omega-3 fatty acid consumption is linked to lower tumor growth and
proliferation.
·Calcium
supplements have been linked to aggressive disease.
·Men who
engaged in at least three hours of vigorous activity a week, in one study, had
a 60 percent decreased risk of prostate
cancer taking their lives.
The
common theme
If you, a
friend or a loved one have been diagnosed with cancer, the best self-care
techniques remain pretty similar - achieve and maintain an ideal weight, stay
physically active and eat a diet that's rich in natural nutrients and low in
saturated fats and processed foods.
Ask for
help to make and stick with a plan to make these recommendations a part of your
healthy lifestyle
June 8, 2012
Providing
Patients and Survivors with Help and Support - Tri
City Voice –
HERS
Breast Cancer Foundation
Providing
Patients and Survivors with Help and Support
Women who are
fighting breast cancer face multiple struggles. The most important, of course,
is to beat the disease and survive. But treatments for breast cancer can
actually create other struggles, including the emotional impact of dealing with
physical scars or deformities after surgery and the hair loss often associated
with chemotherapy. Helping women overcome those struggles is the mission of the
HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, located in the Washington Women's Center at
2500 Mowry Avenue in
Fremont.
"When you are facing something as devastating as breast
cancer, you need every bit of help and support you can get," says HERS Breast
Cancer Foundation Executive Director Vera Packard, M.D. "We offer a
comprehensive array of services to help breast cancer patients and survivors
feel good about themselves again after they've experienced the pitfalls of
breast cancer."
Services offered by the foundation include:
*
Bras for Body and Soul - Private fittings for attractive post-surgery bras,
camisoles and prostheses in a comfortable setting and compassionate
environment. All fittings are provided by one of the program's four
professional breast-care specialists.
* Hair with Care - A wide
selection of wigs to help breast cancer patients and other women going through
chemotherapy to cope with disconcerting hair loss. The wigs can be
custom-styled by the program's two wig consultants to suit each woman's style
preferences.
* Lymphedema Project - This project provides upper-body
compression garments to treat the swelling caused by lymphedema, which can
result from removing lymph glands during breast cancer surgeries. Some
insurance companies, including Medicare, do not cover these garments, so we
offer them at a substantial discount to breast cancer survivors.
* We
Support, You Survive - A program to provide post-mastectomy undergarments to
underserved women who are not covered by health insurance or cannot afford
these products because of other circumstances.
"Our breast-care
specialists, wig consultants and other staff and volunteers all have great
compassion for our patients and know how to make them feel at ease," says
Program Director Polly Sherman, a registered nurse who also serves as one of
the breast-care specialists. "For our staff, this isn't just a job - it's a
labor of love. It's amazing for us to see the transformation of a patient's
spirit when she's trying on beautiful undergarments or a wig. We try to get fun
items in pretty colors so that our patients can go out feeling pretty
again.
"Another important aspect of our programs is that we are a
non-profit organization, and we work with women to sort through the red tape of
their insurance coverage," she adds. "We also offer assistance to women who
have no insurance coverage. There are a few commercial stores that provide some
of these services, but none that provides the emotional and financial
assistance that we do, and that's why we like to say that we are a soft place
to fall."
Dr. Packard notes that Washington Hospital has provided free
space for the foundation at the Women's Center since 2004, which helps the
foundation provide its services at low- or no-cost. "We are grateful to
Washington Hospital for providing us with facilities for our programs and their
support of our two main fundraising efforts - the annual KEEP ABREAST Walk each
September and the People With Purpose awards luncheon in April," she says.
"This year we received more than $35,000 from our People with Purpose
luncheon, and last year's KEEP ABREAST Walk raised close to $100,000," she
adds. "The support from the community and from other organizations that conduct
fundraisers for us has been very gratifying. With insurance plans cutting back
on coverage and the high rate of unemployment, our job has become more
difficult, but so far we haven't had to turn anyone away."
Dr. Packard
has directed the foundation's efforts for the past four years, but she views
her current role as a continuation of a lifetime commitment.
"I spent 20
years as a breast cancer surgeon in Brazil, and then I moved to America after I
met my true love and got married," she recalls. "I came to the foundation
because I was looking for a way to continue following my passion of caring for
women with breast cancer. As a doctor, I cared for one patient at a time.
Today, our dedicated staff and volunteers now serve over 700 women each year.
We all feel that this is the work we were meant to do."
Appointments
for HERS Breast Center Foundation services are strongly encouraged,
510-790-1911. For more information about the foundation, including the KEEP
ABREAST Walk scheduled for September 29, visit
www.hersbreastcancerfoundation.org. People interested in serving on the
foundation's board of directors may call Dr. Packard at
510-790-1954
Photo Caption: The Staff and volunteers of the HERS
Breast Cancer Foundation provide emotional and financial assistance to women
fighting breast cancer. They strive to be "a soft place to fall" for the women
they help.
June
8, 2012
Hernando
Business Digest - Tampabay.com
–
Dawn Fisher
Warner
recently accepted the position of certified occupational therapy assistant at
the Ultimate Hand and Lymphedema Center, 17222 Hospital Drive, Suite
346, Brooksville.
Warner is a recent
graduate of Keiser University and will begin her career specializing on
injuries to the upper extremities, including the hand, elbow and shoulder, as
well as the management of lymphedema.
For information,
call (352) 593-4919.
June 10, 2012
YOUR VIEW: Medicare should treat
lymphedema early - al.com
(blog) –
Medicare
currently spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year treating largely
preventable complications from a disease called lymphedema. Why? Because
Medicare does not cover the far less costly treatments to prevent progression
of this disease.
Lymphedema
is a medical condition that results in swelling of any part of the body when
the lymphatic vessels and/or lymph nodes are damaged or inadequate. Lymphedema
affects an estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans, with 1.5 million to 3
million of them being Medicare beneficiaries who receive substandard treatment
from Medicare according to the current medical standard of care for this
disease.
Untreated
or undertreated, lymphedema is progressive and leads to infection,
disfigurement, disability and, in some cases, even death. Thus, prognosis for
the patient is far worse and treatment more costly when the disease is not
identified and treated in the earlier stages. This shortsighted policy of
saving a dollar today, even if it means spending two (or in this case many
more) tomorrow, must end.
There
is a common-sense piece of legislation in Congress that aims to correct this.
More information about the Lymphedema Diagnosis and Treatment Cost Saving Act
can be found at www.LymphedemaTreatmentAct.org. You can submit a letter to your
members of Congress through this site, asking them to change this harmful and
wasteful policy.
Deborah
Walker
Double
Springs
June 11, 2012
Kitty
DeGree Breast Health Center receives national recognition - Monroe News Star –
June
12, 2012
Liposuction
for the management of submental lymphedema in the head and
neck cancer patient - EurekAlert
Contact:
Mary Stewart
[email protected]
703-535-3762
American
Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck
Surgery
Alexandria, VA — Liposuction is a novel and
minimally invasive procedure for treating persistent submental lymphedema in
patients with previous head and neck cancer, according to an article published
in the June 2012 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.
"Submental lymphedema is a common problem
encountered by patients following treatment of head and neck cancer," the
authors state.
It causes fluid deposition and persistent
swelling of the soft tissues of the neck, leading to disfigurement and
functional deficits. The aim of the study is to introduce the
otolaryngologist–head and neck surgeon to the authors' new surgical technique:
the use of liposuction to treat patients with submental
lymphedema.
The
surgical technique involves making an incision into the neck and using
liposuction to remove fat and fluid from the treatment area. In the authors'
small study on 10 patients, the surgery was well-tolerated by patients
suffering submental lymphedema. The cohort had at least one year of cancer-free
follow-up prior to the procedure. No patients in the cohort developed a
recurrence in the neck, and there have been no complications. All 10 patients
were satisfied with the results of their procedure and would recommend it to
other patients, the authors' state.
The authors conclude, "The procedure is well
tolerated under local anesthesia and in our hands has proven to be very
effective, resulting in high patient satisfaction. We plan to continue to offer
this to our head and neck cancer patients with submental lymphedema and
encourage others to consider it as part of their treatment strategy."