Monthly Archives: April 2018

Wellness Warrior Myths and Alternative Truths

The series of posts I wrote on Wellness Warriors and the misrepresentations that are made about health and wellness in cancer care are among the most important things on this blog. Participating in a range of forums where cancer treatments are discussed, it continues to amaze me how many people passionately believe unsubstantiated claims about suppressed cures, Big Pharma conspiracies, and government efforts to keep the medical-industrial complex in business. The problems here are rooted in a combination of legitimate fear and a lack of skeptical inquiry.

Too many people succumb to their own confirmation bias before even getting close to exercising basic critical thinking skills. And living in an era of Social Media, where the spread of Fake News is often faster than wildfire, it takes a lot more concerted vetting by readers to separate fact from fiction — an effort that few seem willing to make. Continue reading Wellness Warrior Myths and Alternative Truths

Self-Care Challenge #1

Last week I posted about why I was beginning these challenges, and why I suggest downloading the app from Health Storylines to chronicle your progress. I am hoping that you will join me in these challenges, and comment here or on my social media pages to share your own insight, success, or thoughts about them.

My First Self-Care Challenge

The basic idea here is that we can use these challenges in our lives as part of an ongoing health plan. This isn’t about doing it one month and then moving on, but rather building upon these challenges by continuing to incorporate them into our daily lives. I’m choosing to begin with something that should be simple enough, but I think might be more broadly relevant than any of us realize. For the next few weeks, I’m going to diligently work on this task: Continue reading Self-Care Challenge #1

Upcoming: Self-Care Challenges

One of the most important aspects of cancer treatment is self-care. As with any chronic condition that requires ongoing medical attention, cancer patients need to take charge of certain aspects of their own lives in order to optimize their success and live the healthiest way possible. Fortunately, there are many tools out there that can help, especially in this age of the ubiquitous mobile device.

Since my own diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer back in November of 2014, I have made it my mission to share my story and hopefully help other patients along the way. I’ve clearly had my own ups and downs, and in the ensuing years, I have managed to learn a thing or two about the process of treatment. Being a vocal advocate on multiple forums, I have been fortunate enough to connect with a wide variety of patients and caregivers, as well as various medical professionals and individuals in related support industries. Sometimes I reach out to them, sometimes they reach out to me. Continue reading Upcoming: Self-Care Challenges

Recent Posts and Updates

Because I am sometimes spread more thinly than others across the social media spectrum, I need to add in one of these aggregate posts to link over to articles you might have missed because they were not posted here on my blog. In order to maximize my ability to target other patients and caregivers, I have published quite a lot on LungCancer.net while reserving the space here on my blog for more personal or passionate material.

While I hope that my readers are keeping up with the wider range of my work and social comments either by following my author page on Facebook or reading my Twitter feed, it is still easy to miss new material in these over-saturated times.

So, without further ado, here are links to some of my recent material you might have missed. Don’t forget to option-click so that these links open in a new tab, making it easier to come back to this page for more clickety-clicking fun! Continue reading Recent Posts and Updates