Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series: Breast Cancer: Important Facts, Inspiring Stories
By Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
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About this ebook
Each book will also contain source notes and a resources section for more information and support. The goal is to give people the information they need in a new format that is interesting, heartfelt, personal and ultimately uplifting. Many people buy medicine for their bodies; the Chicken Soup Healthy Living series is medicine for the soul.
Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is the cocreator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series, which includes forty New York Times bestsellers, and coauthor with Gay Hendricks of You've GOT to Read This Book! An internationally renowned corporate trainer, Jack has trained and certified over 4,100 people to teach the Success Principles in 115 countries. He is also a podcast host, keynote speaker, and popular radio and TV talk show guest. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.
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Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series - Jack Canfield
Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series:
Breast Cancer
Jack Canfield
Mark Victor Hansen
Mary Olsen Kelly
Edward Creagan, M.D.
CANCER SPECIALIST, MAYO CLINIC
Backlist, LLC, a unit of
Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC
Cos Cob, CT
www.chickensoup.com
Contents
Introduction: You Can Survive Any Diagnosis
Edward T. Creagan, M.D., Mayo Clinic
The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me
Vicki Rackner, M.D
Think about... what breast cancer means to me
No Mountain Too High
Michele V. Price
Nine Essential Steps to Thriving with Breast Cancer
Think about... my treatment goal
Leave ’em Laughing
Lillie Shockney, R.N., M.A.S.
Think about... what to ask my doctor
Barney
Mary Ellen Barney
LaFavers
Talking About Breast Cancer . . .
A Simple Door
Lisa McPherson Robinson
Share the Cancer Journey with Your Children
Sisters at Last
Sandra Goldberg
Helping People Tips for Caregivers
Breast Friends
Becky M. Olson and Sharon M. Henifin
Think about... my caregiving team
Think about... who can I count on to...
Divine Inspiration
Mary Anne Breen
Create a Mind-Body Focus
Heart Massage
Pandora Kurth
Think about... coping with change
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Kay Ryan, R.N., Ph.D
The Long Journey
Bonnie Seibert
The A-B-Cs of Breast Forms
Angel Hugh
Lolly Susi
More Than the Blues
A Cancer Therapist’s Story
Stephanie Koraleski, Ph.D
Think about . . .is a support group for me?
How to Find a Support Group
You’re Gonna Eat That?
Jami Bernard
Essential Truths About Healthy Eating
Think about... side effects
Diagnosis: Canceritis
Lori Misicka
The Continuing Challenge: Fearing Cancer’s Return
The Alchemist
Monica Traystman, Ph.D.
Its Back, Now What?
Close the Door When You Leave
Michael Hayes Samuelson
Abreast in a Boat
Fern Carness, R.N., M.P.H.
What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Breast Cancer’s Mysterious Complication
Sometimes You Just Get Lucky
Arlette Braman
Resources
Fear less, hope more,
eat less, chew more,
whine less, breathe more,
talk less, say more,
love more,
and all good things
will be yours.
—Swedish Proverb
Introduction:
Introduction: You Can Survive Any Diagnosis
My world turned upside down at seven o’clock on the morning of March 8 as I stood in the shower.
A lump in the breast. A moment of panic. So begins a journey that every woman fears.
We all know the statistics; we all know the numbers. More women die of heart disease than breast cancer. But no disease strikes a dagger into the soul of a woman like breast cancer.
"I finally mustered the courage to call my husband at work. He was stunned. Neither of us knew what to do. As the day wore on, I again felt my breast and realized my worst fears. Yes, the mass was still there. Like most of us, I rationalized, I bargained, I willed it to go away: This must be due to my period. It must be a cyst. It must be an injury while cleaning the house.
I called my doctor who agreed to see me several days down the road. Obviously, this was unacceptable. I told his office staff that I was on my way over, and I would sit in his office until he examined me and decided what to do. Thus began one of the most painful, challenging, and yet liberating, experiences of my life.
Liberating, you ask?
How can getting a life-threatening disease such as breast cancer be liberating?
I have seen this liberating power in my clinical practice. My breast cancer patients view life with new lenses. Time takes on new meaning. What’s important in life takes center stage—even if that means changing jobs, dumping a husband, marrying the long-time boyfriend, moving up a wedding date or launching children who have been hanging around the house too long.
Breast cancer brings insight into the real meaning and purpose of life. Breast cancer opens chapters for each of us as we take the journey—each in our different ways. I learn from my patients about optimism, hope, dedication and love every day.
Patients ask me why. Why did I get breast cancer?
Rather than waste precious moments wondering whether your illness was caused by something you did or didn’t do, or worrying that your mother, sister or daughter will develop breast cancer if yours is a new case in the family, spend your time wisely looking forward and moving on. Only 5 to 10 percent of breast cancer has a genetic origin. For the rest, don’t ask why, because there simply is no why.
The stories we have collected here will inspire you. You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, but above all, you will feel empowered to make responsible and thoughtful decisions for the most important race of your life and the lives of women you love.
The race for health and wellness is winnable, and it is achievable, but none of us can do it alone. Without friends and family and companions and, above all, information, we are wandering in the medical and spiritual wilderness. In your treatment journey and to sustain you each wonderful day after diagnosis, you will want to use some of the tools we present, including social support, humor, chanting, visual imagery and even the magical healing power of your pet.
The bottom line is simple: health is our most precious gift. To preserve it, as patients, we need to be active, we need to be assertive, and we need to partner with our health care providers and our loved ones. The information in this book may well save your life, may indeed increase the quality of your life and is certainly the best investment you will ever make. I promise.
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
American Cancer Society Professor of Clinical Oncology
John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine
Professor, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me
My cancer scare changed my life.
I’m grateful for every new, healthy day I have.
It has helped me prioritize my life.
—OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN, SINGER
It was late afternoon. I was catching up with my dictation after a busy day of operating, seeing my hospitalized postoperative patients, and evaluating the young and old in my clinic. I am a surgeon, and my mission, as taught in medical school and surgical residency, is to cure by cutting out disease.
Maxine, my office manager, poked her head in the door. Claire just got through seeing her oncologist and stopped in to say hi. Is this a good time?
Claire and I have a deep connection. I have accompanied her on an arduous journey with painful twists and turns.
About two years earlier, Claire found out her husband was having