Tuesday, December 1, 2009

“Breast Cancer and Attitude” plus 4 more

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“Breast Cancer and Attitude” plus 4 more

Breast Cancer and Attitude

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 12:54 PM PST

I always wondered if my breast cancer was a result of negative attitude that I had in my life in the past.

Your attitude determines your altitude.

Your altitude is not determined by your aptitude, but by your attitude.

Don't underestimate the fact that your attitude is the key to any success in your life.

Don't underestimate that you have all the power and own the key to change your future.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on my life. I believe that my breast cancer was a result of negative attitude that I carried with me for many years.

Attitude to me is more important than facts.

It is more important than the past.

It's more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, or skill.

Attitudes can make or break families, relationships, and health. The remarkable thing is that we have the choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day, for that incident, for every moment in our life.

Can we change the past? No.

Can we change the fact that other people will act in a certain way? No.

But we can change our attitudes, which will ultimately affect our life.

To paraphrase Maya Angelou who said:

"If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."

So I decided not to complain about my breast cancer, but instead to accept it and embrace it as part of me.

"Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." --William James

What would you do if you were in my situation?

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Breast Cancer and Intuition

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 12:53 PM PST

The word intuition comes from the Latin intueri, meaning to consider, look on. This intuitive "look on" implies something deeper than simple awareness and is best described as PERCEPTION, the ability to "take hold of" knowledge in one glance.

My breast cancer discovery definitely fits the definition of intuition.

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary sums up intuition as "the immediate knowing or learning of something without the conscious use of reasoning; instantaneous apperception."

Simply stated, intuition is direct knowledge.Many may consider it a sixth sense, a second sight, or a form of clairvoyance; others would just prefer to call it 'common-sense'. Intuition comes in the form of a hunch, feeling, inkling, suspicion, premonition, or gut feeling. It is all these and more.

Quoting C.G. Jung: "The term intuition does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside of the province of reason." One consideration is that intuition is a tool that uses the knowledge you have in both your conscious and subconscious minds. Most people have had instances where they said, "I should have gone with my instinct." Wow! The very implication is that intuition has a huge value.

One of the more famous philosophers on this subject, Baruch Spinoza, is quoted as saying:

"Intuition is the highest form of knowledge, surpassing both empirical knowledge derived from the senses and scientific knowledge derived from reasoning on the basis of experience."

Another philosopher, Henri Bergson, regarded intuition as the 'purest form of instinct.' Bergson also said that, "intelligence on the other hand can only over analyze; and this analysis is suspect in some individuals."

Here is what Albert Einstein has to say about intuition: "The really valuable thing is intuition. The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why."

After reading this array of definitions of the word intuition and quotes from many known philosopher about the word intuition, I feel that it is a shame that we do not rely more on our intuition. So, what is your intuition about this subject? In my humble opinion, I feel that injustice has been done by the society for not adapting our intuition as one of our highest senses.

How unfortunate, that intuition, an awesome gift that we all are blessed with naturally is misused sense. It is not secret that people who lack one of the five senses that we recognize in our society as; see, touch, feel, test and speak, their sense of intuition sharpens. They rely more on their sense of intuition.

The way I discovered my breast cancer was through my intuition, knowingness. I did not discover it by any of the other senses because I did not have any of the symptoms of the five senses.The more important is the fact that the more we use our intuition the sharper it gets.

Do not deny your intuition; rely upon it!

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Breast Cancer and Praise

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 12:52 PM PST

What breast cancer has in common with praise and gratitude?

This is a very good question.

As breast cancer survivor, I value praise since it is the greatest way to display my gratitude to the universe that I am still alive.

I attribute the speedy recovery from my beast cancer to the fact that I was using gratitude and affirmations on a daily basis.

Repeat affirmations as often as possible throughout the "nows" of your day.

"I always honor where I am in my life process without judgment".

"I always honor my.........."

Apply this "phrase of praise" to all the nouns you encounter throughout your day. Write it on a piece of paper & keep it where you'll repeatedly see it & it'll re-mind you to remember to "spend your days in praise." You will feel yourself filling up with the energy of gratitude as you consistently use this phrase throughout your day. Fill your nows with "wows" by routinely using this phrase of praise.

Use this "phrase of praise" as a mantra in the "nows" throughout your day. Concentrate on your breath as you visualize filling up with the essence of this phrase and then breathe out and release all that is NOT who you truly are - returning it to source with gratitude.

The reason that the pursuit of joy, or as some have said in such perfect words, "following your bliss," is so valuable, is that when you are looking for the thought, word or action that feels joyful - what you are actually doing is holding yourself in vibrational harmony with Source Energy. Holding yourself in a place where you're letting in joy: Clarity, wellness, abundance, all things that you consider to be good. "And so, today, no matter where I'm going, no matter what I'm doing, and no matter who I'm doing it with - it is my dominant intent to look for those things that feel good." This process of allowing the Well-being to flow to you is not difficult. It is as simple as wanting enough to feel good, that I'm looking for something that makes me feel good.

With much Love, Laughter, Joy and Praise.

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Breast Cancer and What Can You Do About it

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 12:51 PM PST

Breast cancer is even more devastating when you lose a breast due to mastectomy.

You look in the mirror and do not recognize yourself with one breast or none.

Now, you are in a dilemma and ask yourself "What can you do about it"? Where do I go from here? Fear settles in. All legitimate questions and concerns.

Here is what I learned from my breast cancer and mastectomy that, I would like to impart them to you.

1. Be selfish and love yourself.
2. Accept your new image.
3. Fall in love with your new image.

You say, "I wish I could do that. But I can't." Sometimes the thing you desire seems most evasive and elusive to you. You may seem to think that you need something else that is external to you for you to be able to achieve self-love. Moreover, because this external thing is away from you and you do not have it, you think that you are doomed because even that seems elusive. Therefore, you are stuck in a vicious circle. You accept that, you fear it.

However, before you accept something that has absolutely no value to you, take another look. Fear is a thing we are conditioned to accept without question, yet it has absolutely no value. Next time you accept fear, ask yourself what value it really has for you. Escape is not a value. There is nowhere to run.

Eventually, you will have to face yourself. Running away from a problem is an idea that stems from the illusion that you are the problem, and you can escape the "you" with the problem. The first step to getting out of a problem is knowing and accepting that you are the problem, and then you become the solution.

Nothing outside changes, but as you change, a new outside replaces the old.

For now, let us see what you can do.

Everyone has things that can do now that they could not do before. You can now walk while as a child you could not. The ground never changed, but you did. You can now read while you once could not. The English language never changed, but you did.

Do you get the picture? A person can do a million things now that they could not do years ago.

Why?

It is never those things that changed. What changed was the idea that the person had of himself or herself.

So what can you do? It is nothing more than a shift in what you think you are. What You Really Are is a being with infinite abilities. Everyone is. We are all literally an idea. We become those persons by changing the idea of what we think we are.

Here is to you for loving yourselves just the way you are with one breast or none!

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Breast Reconstruction - Latest Techniques in Breast Cancer Reconstruction After Mastectomy

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 10:46 AM PST

In Jacksonville, breast reconstruction can be confusing and daunting process. When women are faced with the diagnosis of breast cancer, they are taken through a whirlwind of seeing doctors and receiving tests aimed at defeating the cancer. They receive a whole pile of information from their radiation oncologist, their medical oncologist, their breast radiologist, and their breast surgeon. All the focus is on eliminating the cancer. Our detection and treatment of cancer has improved over the years and women are living through the diagnosis of breast cancer, but what about after the cancer is gone. What are the options for women who have undergone a mastectomy or women who had a lumpectomy, but now have breast deformity? Many of these women had options for reconstruction performed at the same time as the mastectomy, but the focus was on killing the cancer. So next time you or someone you know has been diagnosed with breast cancer, please take a moment to reflect about the post-cancer needs of the patient. Ask these questions.

1. Is she a candidate for immediate breast reconstruction? (Reconstruction performed at the time of the mastectomy)

Patients with early stages of breast cancer who are not likely to receive radiation therapy are candidates for immediate reconstruction?

2. What are the advantages of immediate breast reconstruction?

Patients have less scarring and better cosmetic outcomes when the reconstruction is performed at the time of mastectomy. In addition, there is a proven psychologic benefit for patients undergoing immediate breast reconstruction?

3. Does immediate reconstruction delay other necessary treatments like chemotherapy?

Although some patients may have wound still to heal, most published studies demonstrate no difference in the time after surgery that chemotherapy is started whether or not patients undergo immediate reconstruction.

4. Does immediate breast reconstruction increase the chance of breast cancer recurrence?

Immediate reconstruction has no difference in local cancer recurrence from mastectomy alone?

5. Does immediate reconstruction decrease survival?

Patients undergoing mastectomy alone when compared to those receiving immediate breast reconstruction have no difference in the overall survival. Therefore, immediate breast reconstruction is oncologically safe and effective.

6. If she needs radiation therapy and is not a candidate for immediate breast reconstruction, are there options that can hep minimize the scarring?

Traditionally, all of patients requiring radiation were not offered immediate reconstruction. However, this paradigm is shifting and by working with the radiation oncologist we can place temporary tissue expanders to help keep all the original skin of the breast. Then after your radiation therapy is complete, we can replace the expander with your own tissue with or without an implant to complete your reconstruction. This process is called delayed-immediate breast reconstruction and is a mix between immediate and delayed reconstruction so that we can maintain all your original skin and minimize scarring.

7. What are the latest options for breast reconstruction?

The options for breast reconstruction are usually categorized by implant or autologous (using your body's own tissue) based reconstruction. Implant reconstruction involves the use of a tissue expander (an inflatable implant) to recruit more skin before finally replacing the temporary expander with a silicone or saline implant.

Autologous Reconstruction is most commonly performed from tissue from your abdomen. The deep inferior epigastric artery flap (DIEP Flap) is performed by taking skin and fat from your lower abdomen and preserving ALL the muscle to recreate soft natural breast that will last the test of time. Using microsurgical techniques, your plastic surgeon will recreate the breast gland and shape. In addition, patients benefit from the tummy tuck they receive when the skin and fat from the lower abdomen is removed. Other autologous options include the superficial epigastric artery flaps and flaps taken from the buttocks.

In Jacksonville, breast reconstruction and the treatment of your breast cancer can be a difficult time for women. You should find a plastic and reconstructive surgeon as well as a general surgeon that you feel comfortable with, that can offer and explain all of your options to you. These options should include the use of expanders with or without a latissimus muscle flap as well as the DIEP flap. Microsurgical breast reconstruction is becoming more popular and you should find a plastic surgeon capable of performing both expander or implant based reconstruction as well as microsurgical breast reconstruction.

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