Illinois ladies facing bc
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The most difficult thing is the decision to act,
the rest is merely tenacity.
The fears are paper tigers.
You can do anything you decide to do.
You can act to change and control your life;
and the procedure, the process is its own reward.
- Amelia Earhart0 -
When we are aware that each moment of each day, each gesture and step we take, is truly mystical and full of wonder, we will live our lives with greater thought and care. We will also have greater respect and appreciation for the lives of others.
Daisaku Ikeda0 -
All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him,
like a shadow that never leaves him.
– The Buddha0 -
Hope is outreaching desire with expectancy of good. It is characteristic of all living beings. Birds, beasts, and people are always alert and striving for the fulfillment of their hungers. They are impelled forward in a ceaseless quest for satisfaction. The antennae of insects relentlessly explore and feel their way ahead, and the imagination of humans functions in the same manner, ranging through wide areas and far futures in search of the good which hope ever promises. -Edward S. Ames
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Karma isn't luck or destiny--luck suggests randomness; destiny, a lack of choice. Nor is it the voice of the gods trying to keep us in line. Karma is a description of how moral law operates, not a prescription for good behavior.
Joan Duncan Oliver0 -
Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a person who won't cheat, then you know you never will.
John MacDonald0 -
As I experience it, appreciation of beauty is access to the soul. With beauty in our lives, we walk and carry ourselves more lightly and with a different look in our eyes. To look into the eyes of someone beholding beauty is to look through the windows of the soul. Any time we catch a glimpse of soul, beauty is there; any time we catch our breath and feel "How beautiful!," the soul is present.
Jean Shinoda Bolen0 -
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
--Martin Luther King Jr.0 -
Just when summer gets perfect—fresh nights, soft sun, casual breezes, crushingly full and quietly cooling trees, empty beaches, and free weekends—it ends. Life is like that too. Just when we get it right, it starts to change. The job gets easy and we know just how to do it, and they tell us we're retired. The children grow up and get reasonable and they leave home, just when it's nice to have them around . . . . That's life on the edge of autumn. And that's beautiful—if we have the humility for it. -Joan Chittister
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We are all afraid of something. But that shouldn't stop us from going on every day. We should not always walk in fear of the shadow while we are in the light. It is certain we will not know when or how the difficult and bad times will come, but if we accept that they will come, then they are easier to face when they do.
And always remember that anything that causes the shadow is smaller than the source of light.
Joseph M. Marshall III0 -
It is my choice to care deeply about others.
No kindness is too small to be important -
the smile to the bank teller,
the sincere "thank you" for all kindnesses received,
the reassuring hand on the shoulder of a loved one or friend.
There is compassion in selfless generosity,
but there is also compassion in heartfelt empathy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie0 -
No matter what the circumstances, you should never concede defeat.
Never conclude that you've reached a dead end, that everything is
finished. You possess a glorious future. And precisely because of
that, you must persevere and study. Life is eternal. We need to focus
on the two existences of the present and the future and not get caught
up in the past. We must always have the spirit to begin anew "from
this moment," to initiate a new struggle each day.
Daisaku Ikeda0 -
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
--Henry David Thoreau0 -
Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellow the warm sunshine of praise.
Jess Lair0 -
Listening may be one of the most important activities we can choose to participate in in our entire lives. Listening--really good listening-- involves a great deal more than our ears. To listen, we need to empty ourselves for a while. We need to adjourn the committee in our heads and invite its members to take an extended vacation. In order to listen fully, we have to be able to dismiss idle head chatter, criticism, and judgmentalism. Otherwise, our heads are far too crowded to have room for anything new.
Anne Wilson Schaef0 -
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. -Amy Carmichael
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If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you,
if the simple things in nature have a message you understand,
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.
- Eleanora Duse0 -
Walking exercises the whole person. It exercises the body-- it gives the arms and legs a workout. It stimulates the flow of blood; expands the lungs. It is gentle and relaxing. It exercises the mind-- it shakes up the brain cells. It fills them with oxygen; drives out the cobwebs. A famous scientist says he does his best thinking on the two miles of sidewalk between his home and office.
Walking exercises the emotions. It gives you a chance to observe and enjoy the world. Open your eyes to beauty. See the homes, the trees, the gardens. See the shining faces of little children. Listen for the church chimes, singing birds and the laughter of happy people.
Wilferd A. Peterson0 -
What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? -George Eliot
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Any Chicagoland ladies here? I have a lovely oncologist through a NW suburban hospital, but looking to seek a 2nd opinion at Northwestern Mem Hospital. Thought maybe someone here had a rec for someone at Northwestern who is kind, caring, and won't write me off because I am stage 4. Thanks in advance for your insights!
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KelQ,
A gifted oncologist, Dr Keith Block, is in Skokie. He is very experienced... and alongside chemo, rads, and surgery, he also uses a lot of complimentary and naturopathic means to boost the results of chemo. He's brilliant. I would have used him, but I live in CA. He does a lot of special, innovative care for his patients. People come from all over the world to be treated by him. I had a consult with him, but I live in CA and was worried about getting on a plane every 21 days during the winter for my treatment. However, I got a comprehensive consultation, and I followed his diet, supplement, and exercise recommendations to the letter. I had a very good response so I think he walks on water. Very worth looking up. He has his own center, The Block Center.
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Hi, KelQ, from a North Sider. I go to N.Shore Kellogg Cancer Center in Evanston; my MO, Dr. Teresa Law, is wonderful--she focuses on the whole patient (hobbies & passions, relationships, occupations, goals, lifestyles) and not just their cancers or other diseases. She has many Stage IV patients and is very compassionate with them (including approving certain botanical therapies, if you get my drift--in fact, she will do that only for Stege IV or patients with chemo anorexia). Kellogg also has weekly meditation & QiGong classes and can set up appointments with acupuncturists & aromatherapists. A great resource (if you don't mind schlepping up to Northbrook) is the Cancer Wellness Center off Lake-Cook Rd. Yoga, meditation, nutrition, support groups, all sorts of complementary therapies are offered, mostly at no cost. The only onc at Northwestern of whom I know is surgical onc Kevin Bethke.
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When humility enters our souls, we are at last able
to perceive that we do not live alone in the world
but with millions of brothers and sisters, and that hidden
in the heart of each is the same animating spirit.
U.S. Anderson0 -
If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of the human become in its long journey toward the stars?
Gilbert Keith Chesterton0 -
We are all capable of living lives characterized by great joy. Within each of us is an amazing human spirit that is strong enough to overcome pain and disappointment. And no matter what our current situation happens to be, or what beliefs we may currently harbor about ourselves, we can tap into that inner strength and wisdom and move forward to create more joy.
Salle Merrill Redfield0 -
Hi ChiSandy,
I’m just learning my way around this whole site and thankfully stumbled on you. I am 85, diagnosed 2/14/19, will have lumpectomy 3/14, no rad, no chemo, arimidex which terrifies me. I live in Evanston and will go to Kellogg, MO Douglas Merkel. I’m pretty sure at my age I’ll die of something else, (hopefully not Arimidex) but I am confused, sad and scared.
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I've heard wonderful recommendations for Dr. Kevin Bethke at Northwestern. Go to his website. Google. I have an appointment for a second opinion from him on 3/12, which scares me for some reason, but then everything does. Having surgery 3/14 at Evanston Hosp.
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Merkel--and Kathy Albain at Loyola (Bob's fellow resident during their UIC days)--are probably the best BC MOs in the region. Merkel doesn't have the greatest bedside manner (he's slightly "on the spectrum," according to a fellow BCO friend who likewise has mild Asperger's and really "clicks" with him), but he's been very highly-regarded since his "boy-wonder" days. My friend likes him so much that she goes to him even though she had her surgery at St. Francis.
Who's your surgeon? I had Kathy Yao, who is marvelous--she was a pioneer in the use of sentinel node biopsy and nipple/skin-sparing mastectomy (as was Albain in helping develop OncotypeDX). I'd been told by the bra fitters at the late, lamented Schwartz's (n. of Old Orchard) to try her partner David Winchester, but he was booked at least 2 months out. With Yao, I was "under the knife" only 4 wks post-diagnosis. (Winchester did stitch up my sentinel node incision after it popped due to the weight of my "oversized breast"--his words--and spritzed the contents of my armpit seroma all over the place). I was unable to get my annual followup with her till April ("annual" for me is late fall-into-Jan.), so I saw her newest associate, Kate Kopkash--who specializes in oncoplastic surgery. She will be doing my L reduction if my June annual screening mammo remains BIRADS 1 (normal).
The one bummer about Kellogg is that we haven't had a BC support group there in over a year. (The only one in Chicagoland not limited to women of color, LGBTQ, or metastatic is all the way out south at Advocate Christ, where my DH Bob is a cardiologist. And at rush hour, the commute from Edgewater is as long as 2.5 hrs.--even worse from Evanston, since you're further from Lake Shore Dr,). Those "special interest" support groups are at Gilda's Club in the Loop; Cancer Wellness Center in Northbrook has only an "all-cancers" support group.
Best of luck with your surgery--at 85, I'd ask sincerely if even just an aromatase inhibitor is truly necessary, For me, any recurrence at 85 would be after a 21-year remission. At 85, any remaining micromets would grow extremely slowly, if at all!
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Oh, I’m so glad I found you, ChiSandy. With all your warnth and knowledge. I do know who Kathy Yao is, as I was given her name. David Winchester, though, is doing my surgery which he said would be simple( for him) I interviewed him 20 years ago for a splenectomy and thought he was on the spectrum, but he has matured and was easy and responsive. I emailed him about spooky middle of the night thoughts, never thinking he would answer, but he did within the hour and was accommodating about moving the surgery up a week. I have heard that Merkel is quiet and nerdy. I’m married to a scientist so I can probably relate to that. I loved your suggestion about arimidex, but I’m sure I’m stuck. Winchester did say, lumpectomy, no sentinel node, rad or chemo, but a pill for 5 years. Seeing Bethke on the 12th for a 2nd opinion. Scared of this too. Maybe we could start Kellogg support group. I am(was) a social worker. A lot of mourning in this. Basically perfect health before - now so many doctor appointments and fears and sense of loss.
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Actually, it's Douglas Merkel who's on the spectrum, not Winchester. Winchester has published reams of papers and led many studies (and he's sort of easy on the eyes as well). The conventional wisdom used to be a full-first level axillary node dissection (ALND), followed by digging deeper if too many nodes are positive. Then SNB came along. Now, for DCIS and very early IDC, the new thinking is that the potential for lymphedema from SNB outweighs the benefits of finding & removing the sentinel nodes, especially in older or heavier patients.
We used to have a nurse who was a great & popular facilitator (and long-term BC survivor) for our group, but she died only a month after being diagnosed with an unrelated cancer (the center wouldn't say what kind, other than it was not BC mets). The survivorship/lifestyle doc and then the main nurse-navigator took over temporarily, but attendance began to drop. We got a nice young oncology nurse to take over as permanent facilitator, but she had to take a month off to birth and start parenting her first child. Some of us missed a couple of sessions because we were traveling; and there were two "alternative treatment" enthusiasts who sparked more than a few arguments. Only three of us attended the final meeting--when I joined and the original facilitator was still alive, we had as many as a dozen members attend regularly. The remaining members floated the idea of meeting at Panera in Lincolnwood, but it wasn't near the L (for those who didn't drive) and also wasn't kosher.
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