Beating Back Cancer: Abramson Cancer Center

Showing posts with label Abramson Cancer Center. Show all posts

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Sharing My REIKI Story


Allie and RJ at neighbor's farm

Although I have experience with yoga and mediation, my introduction to reiki began with my cancer journey to wellness at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in the Abramson Cancer at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in April 2012. At the onset of my first protocol to treat Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma, I was asked it I were interested in meeting with a reiki master. My history of openness to and success with stress reduction using alternative healing practices made me a natural to try reiki. I continue to seek reiki sessions during my chemotherapy cycles, and I have always had significant benefit.

But on admittance to HUP for a fourth (salvage) option with RICE and a potential Stem Cell Transplant to defeat NHL's transformation to Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, reiki also transformed with the appearance of a new reiki master, Vincent Gilhool. My first session (12-11-12) transported me with physical sensations heretofore unknown. I always feel a lift, as if my body floats, but yesterday it contained a gentle rocking sensation, in suspension. All parts of my body experience the sensation of interaction with the energy force, creating an alternating pressure and lightness of being. Mentally, I always participate in aspects of a journey to another place, and they are as varied as the climate. Going into a session, I have no preconceived notions of what I desire or expect. I just willingly suspend my disbelief and enter, at one with the mind-body connection. Yesterday, my upper BP number dropped from 156 to 115 after reiki. I returned with an inexplicable sense of quietude within and energy outside. Definitely oxymoronic, but definitely what happens.

Pole Dancing at University of PA Hospital

Mr. Gilhool said that my benefit level is both high and unusual, so what I describe, albeit far-fetched sounding, is simply my story. I should add that in 1980 I underwent thyroid needle biopsies, a procedure that requires anesthesia. I opted for meditation and brought Dr. Jan Fergus with me to "bring me back." My biopsies were done successfully, and the physician later contacted me to discuss the process and benefits of my experience.

Today (12-12-12), another transformative session. I felt like the healing hands of God were reaching out to me. It began with my eye, which was irritated, uncomfortable, a likely chemo-related side effect. I could feel the pull of the eye without it moving, and sensed the irritant slowly removed. My experiences are always very visually colorful, but today, a whiteness enveloped my inner being, and as Mr. Gilhool moved toward my Smart Port and chest (another unusual aspect was sensing his presence; I usually disconnect from my reiki master during a session), I saw thin black laminate shards of edgy irregular shapes move from my chest into the white light, adding shades of grey. Metaphorically, you could make a case for a cancer metaphor, but on the level of being inside the moment, it felt as if a higher power was guiding healing hands, bringing me to wellness.

Friends make all the difference in beating back cancer!

If the RICE regimen works, I will give much credit to my oncology team, Dr. Sunita Nasta, Annie Berkowitz, Bernadette along with Dorethea, their secretary. And I will laud the UPenn Medicine teams on Rhoads 7, 6 and 3, which like all of Penn Medicine, is second to none. But I will always also believe that the day the hands of God reached inward was the true beginning of my journey to wellness. Time will tell.

A Postscript:
RICE did work, and for about 2 weeks my tumors had virtually disappeared. Then, unfortunately, they found an escape mechanism and returned. I am currently undergoing treatment with an off-market use of Gemcitabine and Oxaliplatin. I remain totally optimistic that this regimen will work and I continue to receive amazing benefit from reiki sessions.

Related articles

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Tissue Analysis May Help Predict Breast Cancer Outcome

Lobular Breast Cancer. Single file cells and c...

Image via Wikipedia

Lobular Breast Cancer, Single File Cells & Cell Nests

I am not a copy/paste person when it comes to blogging, but sometimes it's just the best way to deliver timely cancer news. From Randy Dotinga via Medicine.net comes this important information about breast cancer.

Additional Resources:

Breast Cancer Slideshow Pictures

Take the Breast Cancer Quiz

Disease Prevention in Women Slideshow Pictures

THURSDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- An analysis of breast tissue may help doctors better predict outcomes for women with breast cancer, a new study reports.

Researchers analyzed what they describe as "highways" of connective tissue in breast cancer tumors, and found that the way collagen fibers -- the main component of connective tissue -- are arranged may aid in a patient's diagnosis and help determine treatment.

Collagen not only surrounds most body organs and helps provide structure for the body, it also tells cells how to behave, the study authors noted. Normally, a close-up of collagen resembles a jumbled path or a plate of cooked spaghetti.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed tumor cells from 200 patients with invasive breast cancer. The investigators found signs that the collagen began to act differently as the tumors progressed.
"We think the cancer cells start to pull on the collagen and straighten it out, forming a track or highway on which the cells can migrate," study senior author Patricia Keely, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said in a university news release. As the highways became more developed, the prognoses for patients worsened, the study found.

"We have identified a novel collagen-signature system that may become a very useful addition to the tools clinicians use to determine a breast cancer patient's prognosis," Keely explained.
The research is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Priscilla A. Furth, a professor of oncology and medicine at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, described it as an example of "valid basic research."

However, "before any new prognostic test can go into practice it must be extensively validated. This publication is a first step that might trigger additional research to examine the utility of this type of analysis in different settings and by different groups," said Furth, who was not involved with the study.
"From the basic science perspective, this is an interesting observation and should trigger additional studies," Furth added.

-- Randy Dotinga

SOURCES: University of Wisconsin-Madison, news release, March 1, 2011; Priscilla A. Furth, M.D., professor, oncology and medicine, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

GREAT NEWS!

Betting with THE BEST! PennMedicine

My buddy Brinson tells me ALL CAPS means I'm shouting. YES, I AM. Shouting it from the mountain top on which we live. I have great news. After meeting with my NHL specialist, Sunita Nasta, MD, at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in the Abramson Cancer Center, I know officially that my cancer has waned. Burned itself out in some areas, and smaller than when diagnosed in March, 2010. Significantly smaller. Cause for celebration.

Having a mobile blood cancer means it can transport itself elsewhere, but since mine momentarily has not morphed or moved, I have cause to give thanks for this blessing. Do I understand that at a later date, the news could reverse. Absolutely. But living in the moment, I am definitely grateful.

6 adult females and 1 male cria, 4+ months, 90+ lbs.

I asked my doctor what could make that difference, and the world of medicine just does not know. I asked myself what was different and shared that non-rhetorical with Nasta. Excercise. Winter on the mountain with a herd of llamas, even a small herd, and a cria, keeps me outdoors a lot! On a snow day when my students and most teachers celebrate a free day, mine still begins at 4:30 AM and ends for a break about noon. Then, I'm back at the barn around 3 PM for another good hour. Not a complaint; a choice. One I welcome with alacrity. And this choice just might be life enhancing, although when I ventured into the world of llamas, I did not know I had cancer, so that choice would, in time, become serendipitous.

The why is simple. From Ottowa, Ontario, March 8, 2008.

Llamas may look harmless, but their immune system harbours some unique weapons against disease. In the 1990s, biologists in Belgium reported that unlike other mammals, the camelid family – which includes llamas, camels and alpacas – produce not one but two types of antibodies: the conventional Y-shaped molecules consisting of four protein chains; and smaller, two-chain antibodies. Within these two-chain antibodies, the part that recognizes and clings to foreign molecules, called "antigens", during an immune attack has been dubbed a single-domain antibody (sdAb).

Despite their modest size, single-domain antibodies can grasp their antigenic targets as firmly as conventional antibodies. What's more, they are hardier than monoclonal antibodies, the current standard antibody format for therapeutic purposes.

Winter Farmlife

I am not naive enough to believe that just being around llamas, breathing in their breath daily as they say hello and hang out with me, has a medical impact. But it does have a therapeutic benefit. I'm outdoors, surrounded by sensitive loving creatures who share my life in a place I love. Keeping a farm comes with differing seasonal challenges, but one constant remains. Physical exercise in the elements.

Inside Perelman

I began this post with an image of the best cancer center in PA, NJ, and DE. My hospital. My choice after much research. I will always bet on the best. If I must have cancer, my choice continues to be PennMedicine.

Pages