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I am a cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in March 2005, and it is now nearly two years since I underwent treatment.
As I was getting good test results last week - my CAT scan was all clear - I received emails from two friends. One was also diagnosed with cervical cancer with additional tumours in her ovaries. She is having her tubes and ovaries removed and being scheduled for radiation and chemotherapy treatment. My other friend let me know her mother has been diagnosed with cancer on her gall bladder that has spread to her liver and intestines. She is undergoing surgery at this moment.
What struck me was that even though I am out of the woods with my own cancer and feel fit and healthy, others are just starting their journey. I realised what I went through and what I learned might be of use to others.
If you have been diagnosed with cancer recently, or have a loved one who has, then this article is for you.
My story
I was diagnosed in March 2005 with cervical cancer, just 4 days after getting engaged. The treatment recommended initially was a full hysterectomy. Luckily there was a new surgery called a radical trachelectomy available to younger women who wanted to maintain fertility. This involved the removal of the cervix, but left the uterus and ovaries - most of the reproductive equipment. Of the 100 or so women who have had the surgery about 70% were able to conceive and deliver, through caesarean section. So baby-making is still possible for me, though I am not yet out of the 2 year clearing time the doctor recommended.
After surgery they discovered additional tumours in the lymph nodes they removed. The doctors recommended four courses of chemotherapy, cysplatin to be precise, just to be sure that they knock any remaining cancer on its head. Cysplatin is a pretty heavy drug, and had some serious effects - I felt nauseous and horrible for a good ten days after each round. My last treatment was on August 8th 2005. I ran a marathon 7 months later. This sounds surreal to me now, but at the time, running a marathon was exactly what I needed for a new focus on living and life.
However, dealing with a diagnosis was the first step. It is my intention that this article and the accompanying audio helps anyone else who is facing a diagnosis get through the first few weeks.
Here is a whole bunch of stuff you can do and think and experience to help you - pick what feels right to you. The first thing to do is to try and reduce all the stress in your life as much as possible. You need to be calm, relaxed to cope with what is ahead of you.
How to cope?
First of all, know that as long as you are breathing, you are OK. Start from there. Breathe. Affirm you are alive and you are OK. Breathe.
Eat right. I saw a nutritionist very soon after my diagnosis. I already had a pretty good diet: I was a vegetarian and a runner, but knew that I wanted to do everything I could to promote healing. It also gave me some sort of control over the process as my life got taken over by medical appointments, test results, and treatments.
Eat plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. Eliminate anything that is a stressor on your system - reduce or eliminate alcohol, sugar, cigarettes, and caffeine. See a nutritionist or go to a health food store for which vitamins to take. Extra doses of Vitamin B, C, selenium, were all good for me. Make sure you consult a professional for the correct dosages.
Exercise. Keep your body moving gently as much as you are able with your surgery and treatments. Gentle stretching is good - keep connected to your body. Exercise helps the lymph system to operate, helps the lungs and heart to do their jobs and pump out toxins. It also helps you connect with your body, to feel alive. Movement gives you energy as well.
Meditate. Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I always knew that meditation was supposed to be good for you, but I never did anything about it. Willing to give everything a go to promote my healing, I started meditating. This was such a blessing -it helped me release a lot of emotional stress and I felt so calm and relaxed and peaceful afterwards. You can use relaxation tapes, or meditation CDs, whether this is just nice music, or a guided visualisation, or just lying down and relaxing. The idea is to center yourself and calm yourself down - feel connected to the source of life energy that is in all of us, in all of the world around us.
Visualise. This was a great way to stay focussed. After surgery I could barely walk two steps, whereas the week before I had run 38km. This could have discouraged me, but instead I chose to focus on what I wanted my body to do for me. I imagined myself running again, feeling fit, free, and full of energy. This helped me get out of bed every day and shuffle a few more feet down the corridor. Even though my current body was not capable of much, in my mind's eye I felt myself running and bounding about the hills, feeling full of life. Every day I got stronger, and every day I visualised my body the way I intended to be. Like I said, 7 months later I ran a marathon.
Read some good books. One of the first things I did was go to the bookstore. I wanted to educate myself about my disease and learn from people who had gone through similar experiences. I bought a ton of books on how to heal yourself, cancer journeys etc. The best ones I found were Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike," Brandon Bays's "The Journey," Louise Hay's "You Can Heal Your Life," Paul Kraus's "Living with Cancer," Petrea King's "Quest for Life," Petrea King's "Your Life Matters." Each of these had something different to teach me. Just go to the bookstore and go the health section or self-help section and buy the books that appeal to you.
Get a massage, often. Massage is another way to relax and helps the body to heal itself by moving fluid, lymph, and releasing stored emotional energy. You can also use another type of healing energy practitioner - maybe a kinesiologist, or cranial sacral therapist, or reiki practitioner. Find someone you trust and enjoy. The whole point is to feel good.
Use a Journal. There is so much that goes on in your head and heart with a cancer diagnosis. Some of it you may want to share, and a lot you probably do not. In any case, purging your head and heart of the all the thoughts that are going around and around and screaming at you inside your head allows you to release a lot of energy and turmoil. Write everything you feel and think down. The worst thing you can do is let it all run around in your head - this makes everything worse. Writing gives a relief and a release to your thoughts and emotions. Get them out - let them go.
Let people know what is going on. People who love you want to help. They really do. Tell them how to - to call you if you want to talk, to visit. Let their love in to your life - let them bring flowers, cookies, books - whatever - feel their love and appreciation of you. Be grateful for all of this.
Feel Gratitude. The moment I started to look around and appreciate what I saw and experienced, then my cancer journey started to change for me. It happened when I was going through chemotherapy. I had a lot of time at home on my own. I looked out the window every day and just watched the sunlight on the trees. Then the sky. Then the birds. And I started to feel grateful for seeing them, and having the time to appreciate them. Then I started to think about all the wonderful things that happened to me, all the beautiful people in my life, all the great adventures I had had. And I started to feel this amazing flood of good feelings. I started to realise that cancer had opened me up to all this wonderful good stuff that had been there all along, but I had not necessarily appreciated before. Then I started to feel grateful for all the things cancer was doing for me: it allowed me to slow down and take a time out for six months, it allowed me to really choose how I wanted to live going forward, it helped me clarify what was most important to me. I realised that it was a terrific gift. The process was arduous, and yet the gifts were golden.
Practice and feel grateful for the little and big things. Notice the beauty around you. Notice the sunlight on the trees. Be grateful for that. Find joy and delight in the life around you.
Stop doing anything that does not support you. Stop doing things that are 'shoulds' in your life. Do only what gives you pleasure and joy.
Watch funny movies. Laugh your guts out. Rent all the Leslie Neilsen (Police Academy) etc. you can handle. Laugh laugh laugh! Laughter actually produces some chemicals in your body that promote healing. It also feels really really good.
Get yourself a copy of the Secret DVD - available at www.wildlywealthy.com in Australia and at amazon.com elsewhere. This is a VERY powerful movie. There is a woman on it who healed herself of breast cancer through self-love.
Don't give up your doctors. As you embrace the healing journey you are on, take their form of healing along with the spiritual side of things. All forms of healing have a place and can help you to return to health.
It is OK to be scared. It is OK to be sad. It is OK to be angry. Let yourself feel all of this and more - just let yourself feel. Let it pass through you and drain from you. It will leave you feeling purged and cleansed. Get in touch with who you really are - you are love and pure energy at the core. Feel that. Love that.
Cancer is not a death sentence - it is a call to live. It is a call for you to love yourself and to feel yourself healed from all your past wrongs, all your past regrets, all your past mistakes. Cancer gives you permission to let go of all the crap in your life and acknowledge all of the good things.
Cancer can be a gift for you, if you choose it to be so. Give yourself permission to take a break. Give yourself permission to slow right down, to pause, and to just simply be.
It is my sincere wish for you that you discover once more your joy, health, and love of life. I don't know what will happen on your journey; no one knows how long each of us has, with cancer or without. The most important thing is that we savour it. Remember, life is for living.
All good wishes for you.
Most nursing mothers start working as soon as they possibly can after childbirth and using a breastfeeding pump provides them with the flexibility that enables them to go about their daily routine without neglecting the nutritional needs of their babies. When mothers are away from their babies for a long period of time, they can easily use a breast feeding pump before going out and storing their milk so that their babies don't have to depend upon formula milk for their feeds.
Types Of Breastfeeding Pumps
Basically there are two types of breastfeeding pumps that you can choose from depending upon your need and lifestyle. You can either go in for a hand- operated pump or you can choose an electrically operated one. Moreover, you can opt for a pump that operates on one breast at a time or for a breastfeeding pump that can draw milk from both breasts at the same time.
Hand-operated breastfeeding pumps are ideal for infrequent usage when you might need a pump only once in a while. Being small and uncomplicated, these pumps do not cost much and you can get them at most baby stores and drug stores at less than . All that you need to do is to squeeze the handle after fixing the pump on the breast and you can store the milk. You can also use the pump on one breast and feed your baby on the other breast simultaneously.
On the other hand, electric breastfeeding pumps are very useful for those mothers who are working full time and stay away from their babies for eight hours or more. Before going out for work, you can use this pump to extract all the milk from your breasts and store the same for feeding your baby throughout the day. Electric breastfeeding pumps are better stimulators of the breasts so that they are more effective and faster in drawing the milk.
How Much Time Does A Breastfeeding Pump Take To Draw Milk
Obviously, an electric pump is faster than a hand-operated pump and it should be used if you have very little time for this purpose. Moreover, if you are at work and can squeeze in very little time for this purpose, then you can use a double breastfeeding pump that will allow you to pump milk from both the breasts at the same time and allow you to get the required milk in half the time. Hand-operated pumps would naturally take more time than the electric ones.
You can buy a breastfeeding pump from any medical store or from baby stores. The electrically operated breastfeeding pumps are costlier than the hand-operated ones since they are more complicated and are provided with a carrying case and have an insulated milk storage container. The cost of a hand-operated pump is about whereas the cost of an electric pump would be in the region of 0.
A breastfeeding pump is personal equipment and care should be taken to use your own pump and not to rent or borrow it so that you don't catch any infection. Your baby is your most prized possession and looking after its needs should be your first priority and here a breastfeeding pump plays an important role.
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The ultimate in medical-grade breast pumps for performance and durability! This electric, piston- driven breast pump by Ameda uses micro-processor technology to deliver your vacuuum and piston cycle choice. Connect the HygieniKit Milk Collection System (not included) to its piston for expression and collection of your breast milk. Designed for multiple users and operational frequency. Used by many maternity hospitals, pharmacies, birthing & lactation centers. Product Benefits • Microchip technology allows independent adjustment of suction levels and cycle speed to accommodate mother's personal comfort level and to closely simulate baby's nursing patterns. • Use in conjunction with any Ameda HygieniKit Milk Collection System. • Easy to carry, clean and operate due to its sleek, lightweight design. Product Features • Infinitely Adjustable Suction Levels and Cycle Speeds. • Microprocessor Controlled, Piston Driven. • Lightweight and Portable. • Works great with the Elite Rental Kit. • Includes 12V Car Power Adapter. • Bottle Holders for Bottles/Freezer Bags. The product referenced on this detail page is sold be Each.
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| Price : $1,254.00Symphony is Medela's latest innovation in hospital-grade electric double pumps. With breakthrough 2-Phase Expression pumping, Symphony is proven to reduce pumping time through faster let-down and milk flow and remove as much milk as a breastfeeding baby. Symphony implements the results of extensive research on electric breastpumps initiated by Medela and conducted by internationally renowned lactation researcher Peter Hartmann, Ph.D.What's IncludedSymphony 2.0 Program Card - EnglishAvailable in Spanish and French alsoContainer StandProtector for Card/CordSymphony® BreastpumpModel: 0240108Features and Benefits2-Phase Expression PumpingLong Term Daily UseDouble or Single PumpMulti-User, with personal double pumping system #67099 or #67116Chosen for you and your baby - All parts that come into contact with breastmilk are BPA/DEHP Free.
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