Ahhhh

Yes, it’s true, check up time is here again. Thankfully, things look fine. While I am grateful for the good news it is also a motivation for me to stay on track physically and also in things that I want to accomplish. I can’t wait to get going!

Thankful Thursday (already!)

Getting back into the swing of things with a Thankful Thursday, so here we go.

I am thankful for:

1. A cupboard, fridge and freezer stocked with good healthy food.

2. A quiet night at home.

3. Kids that are able to load/unload the dishwasher.

Nothing monumental, but life isn’t just about the big things. 

Every day I am killing cancer!

One step at a time

Okay, so if you are like me you are ready to tackle the world with a list of resolutions a mile long. The problem with that is that it doesn’t stick. So how about a different approach this year? Make a goal for the week. Yes, ONE goal. Now stick to it. It feels great to meet a goal. Not too hard, right?

On another note, stick around this week as I unveil the Healing Agreement a document meant to open up the lines of communication between you and your healthcare providers.
Finally, look for the return of Thankful Thursday.

It was ELEVEN years ago today…

That the doctor sat me down to say…

(This is where the tune falls apart.)

“Get your affairs in order.”

It was on December 17th, 1998 that I found out that I had Stage IV Breast Cancer.  Gotta say it was the worst day I have ever had. 

Turns out I had a little longer than he thought.  I have worked hard to be here, but it has been worth the effort.

So on my anniversary I thought I would share a few things with you.  

NO ONE CAN TELL YOU WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. 

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Have a great day. I plan to.

Quick Update

If you aren’t following me on Facebook, you haven’t heard the good news of yet another stable check up. That allows me to slide right into my 11th anniversary in December.

Lots of good things happening right now. Stay tuned!!!

Thankful Thursday

Okay, let’s see… there must be things to be thankful for in the midst of working alot and weather that has everyone saying that it looks and feels like fall. 

I am thankful that I am working out pain free, my foot feels great.

I am thankful that my kids are at my mom’s house for two nights.

I am thankful for another healthy day. 

What are you thankful for?

Things to Know Tuesday

Thought you might like to read an interview with Dr. Sofia Merajver, who just happens to be my oncologist. 

An interview in the Pink Press (Beast Cancer Research Foundation) http://www.bcrfcure.org/pp_summer09_merajver.html

Monday Musings

So life never goes quite the way you may expect that it would.  I have been absent for awhile, I know.  My dad, age 68, is now living in an assisted living facility because the care was way too much for my mom.  He has coticobasal degeneration, a rare disease that causes a whole set of problems.  We have been there quite often, and this past weekend he went with us up to my brother’s house in the Upper Pennisula.  So my thought for right now is to take life as it comes,  and to keep this in mind.

Faith makes things possible:

It does not make them easy.

Have a good week, I will talk with you soon.

Thankful Thursday

Yes it is Thursday and I am posting!

I am thankful that Syd got up early (8:00 compared to 11:00) to go to the farmenr’s market with me today.

I am thankful that I get the chance to catch with my old neighborhood this weekend at our yearly trip to the cabin.

I am thankful that our neighbors have a pool that my children are welcome to swim in. Hello summer.

What are you thankful for?

Things to Know Tuesday

Check this book out…  Fantastic.

Life Over Cancer by Keith I Block http://www.amazon.com/Life-Over-Cancer-Integrative-Treatment/dp/0553801147/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245710273&sr=1-1

Review
“Life Over Cancer is the compilation of Dr. Block’s three decades of research and development of his optimal model of integrative cancer treatment. As Chief of Surgical Oncology from a major medical institution, I have sent many patients to the Block Center. They experienced less treatment toxicity, improved treatment response, better quality of life, and improved outcomes. In my opinion, Dr. Block’s clinic is unique and what I consider to be the top integrative oncology center in the US. It is where I would go if I was ever diagnosed with cancer.”— N. Joseph Espat, M.D. Professor and Chief, Surgical Oncology Roger Williams Medical Center

“Life Over Cancer is a must- read for anyone combating this disease. It provides genuine hope, as well as the evidence, rationale, and instructions in how to live a healthier, fuller life with cancer, while providing a broader array of treatment options that improve quality of life.”—Nick Vogelzang, M.D., Director, Nevada Cancer Institute Professor of Medicine, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Las Vegas

“Here is cancer care as it should be: person-centered, integrated, individualized and science-based. If you or your loved ones have been touched by cancer, or if you care for those with cancer, read this book.”—Wayne B. Jonas, M.D., President and CEO, Samueli Institute Director (1995-1999), Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health

“Keith Block is one of the great pioneers of integrative oncology. This important book is essential reading for patients and health professionals alike. Block’s approach is indicative of much of the future of this critically important field of medicine.”—Michael Lerner, Ph.D., President, Commonwealth Cofounder, Commonweal Cancer Help Program

“Life Over Cancer provides the reader with an accessible and comprehensive program that combines the best of conventional cancer therapy with effective complementary interventions. It is this ‘whole person’ approach to patient care that Dr. Block brought to the University of Illinois Integrative Medical Education program which he established in the mid-nineties. His dedication and efforts have transformed the school’s medical education curriculum, and inspired future physicians to view integrative medicine as a truly significant component of health care.”—L. J. Sandlow, M.D. Senior Associate Dean for Academic & Educational Affairs Professor and Head, Department of Medical Education University of Illinois College of Medicine

“In Life Over Cancer, Dr. Block demonstrates his huge depth of knowledge of the comprehensive management of patients with cancer and illustrates the wealth of opportunities and choices available to them. This is a book about optimism, soundly grounded in science.”—Stephen M. Sagar, M.D. President, Society for Integrative Oncology Associate Professor Oncology & Medicine, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario

“Life Over Cancer provides countless strategies to enable the patient to regain some of the lost sense of control that a diagnosis often carries, empowering them to be a true partner in their fight for life. Dr. Block’s counsel and guidance have assisted countless medical professionals hoping to provide their own patients with a comprehensive integrative approach to care.” —Donald I. Abrams, M.D., Chief of Hematology-Oncology San Francisco General Hospital Prof. Clinical Medicine, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, UCSF

“How refreshing to come across this thoughtful book.…With the boldness of a carpe diem, this evidence-based integrative approach should serve as a wake-up call for oncologists to overcome their obsession with treating cancer as an isolated target and to pay attention to the cancer patient whose own faculties need to be harnessed as agencies to win this war.”—Azra Raza, M.D. Director of the Myelodysplatic Syndrome Center St. Vincent’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, New York, NY Former Chief Hematology-Oncology University of Massachusetts

“Keith Block is the foremost integrative oncologist in North America. In Life Over Cancer he shares his incomparable depth of knowledge and experience with us and presents a comprehensive, scientific, and practical program for helping people with cancer effectively fight the disease.”—Leo Galland, M.D., Author, Power Healing Director, The Foundation for Integrated Medicine

“Life Over Cancer is a training manual for cancer patients, their families, cancer nurses, oncology pharmacists and oncologists. [It] provides patients with insight and a series of concrete steps to help them live better and longer, despite a cancer diagnosis. —William JM Hrushesky, M.D., Senior Clinician Investigator, Medical Oncology Professor, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of South Carolina , WJB Dorn VA Medical Center, Columbia SC

“Patients who have taken the Life Over Cancer sojourn have generated an impressive track record. While we have much to comprehend about the inner workings of cancer it is reassuring to know that personalized state-of-the-art care is within reach.—Debu Tripathy, M.D. Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine Former Director of the Komen / UT Southwestern Breast Cancer Research Program President and CEO, Physicians Education Resource

“Without doubt, Life Over Cancer can be singled out as the most authoritative book in integrative cancer medicine available for the cancer patient. I highly recommend it for patients and caregivers.”—Jacob Shoham, M.D., PhD, Medical Oncology Professor Emeritus of Life Sciences Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

“Life Over Cancer is the program every cancer patient deserves in order to have the best chance for recovery and restoration of health.”—Andrew Weil, M.D.

“Keith Block is a pioneer and leader in integrative cancer care and one of its premier practitioners. This clear, meticulously documented, practical book is a lifeline for anyone who has cancer. It should be required reading for all oncologists.”—James S. Gordon, M.D., former chair, White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy; author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression

“To this day, the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment remains the best and the only truly comprehensive integrative cancer center in the country. This generous book is the exact blueprint for that program and the recipe for its success: hope and science.”—Mark Renneker, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor, Unviersity of California, San Francisco, Medical School

“Dr. Keith Block shares his decades of research and clinical practice, and presents a powerful, practical, and accessible approach for patients, loved ones, caregivers, and health professionals.  This book beautifully reveals the depth of his dedication and commitment to helping people heal.”—Jeremy Geffen, M.D., medical oncologist and author of The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person
 
“Keith Block, M.D. is the most prominent integrative cancer specialist in the United States. His new book, Life Over Cancer, is the manifesto of the movement for a kinder and more effective form of managing this terrible disease.”—Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., Director, The Moss Reports

Product Description
Dr. Keith Block is at the global vanguard of innovative cancer care. As medical director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, Illinois, he has treated thousands of patients who have lived long, full lives beyond their original prognoses. Now he has distilled almost thirty years of experience into the first book that gives patients a systematic, research-based plan for developing the physical and emotional vitality they need to meet the demands of treatment and recovery.

Based on a profound understanding of how body and mind can work together to defeat disease, this groundbreaking book offers:

• Innovative approaches to conventional treatments, such as “chronotherapy”–chemotherapy timed to patients’ unique circadian rhythms for enhanced effectiveness and reduced toxicity

• Dietary choices that make the biochemical environment hostile to cancer growth and recurrence, and strengthen the immune system’s ability to attack remaining cancer cells

• Precise supplement protocols to tame treatment side effects, relieve disease-related symptoms, and modify processes like inflammation and glycemia that can fuel cancer if left untreated

• A new paradigm for exercise and stress reduction that restores your strength, reduces anxiety and depression, and supports the body’s own ability to heal

• A complete program for remission maintenance–a proactive plan to make sure the cancer never returns

Also included are “quick-start” maps to help you find the information you need right now and many case histories that will support and inspire you. Encouraging, compassionate, and authoritative, Life over Cancer is the guide patients everywhere have been waiting for.