Discussing Breast Cancer

Wednesday, November 28th, is another Inspire! blog talk radio program — my co-host and I are interviewing Kim Dalzell again. She’s got four things she wants to cover:

1) Why we should NOT eat healthy for the holidays.
2) The newest cancer risk in food fortification.
3) The best kind of drink and getting real bang for your buck.
4) The power of the plant: A simple and cost effective way to add this basic that every breast cancer patient and survivor MUST have for her healing journey.

Should be interesting — to say the least. I hope you’ll tune in.

We interviewed Kim on October 31st and she shared several nutritional tips for breast cancer survivors – from drink green tea to eat more fish – and I really found her insight invaluable.

I don’t know about you, but I worry about what I ingest. Some days I get downright paranoid – are the foods I consume cancer-causing? Am I doing enough to make sure my kids never get cancer? Have I done enough to make sure I never get it again?

We’re trying to change our ways here in the Lynch household, but it isn’t easy. We’ve been slow to adopt some of the changes I know we should make. We’re buying more organic foods, choosing more whole foods … but are the baby steps we’ve taken enough to make a life-saving difference?

I guess this is a topic I’m meant to be exploring because it keeps coming up in my life.

So if you’re free at 1:00 ET tomorrow – Wednesday, November 28 – give Inspire! a listen.

cancer, breast cancer, nutrition, Inspire!, wellness, blog talk radio, Internet radio

On today’s show, my co-host and I interviewed Peter Flierl, the husband of a woman who celebrated 25 years of survivorship just yesterday!

Peter is also a writer and a motivational speaker and he’s got serious expertise on the concept of care-giving. He’s written a book called, “Prayer, Laughter, and Broccoli” and he was on the program to talk about the contents of that book — a book that is a downright survival guide for husbands when their wife is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Peter was a fantastic guest — he touched on some great points for husbands to internalize, like ‘Say Yes’ to help, ‘Be Verbal’ with words of love and support for your wife and ‘Help with the Kids.’ But my favorite part of the interview, though, was when Peter shared with us how deeply meaningful and intimate his sexual encounters with his wife were after her treatment — what a new perspective for me as a woman and a wife. I loved hearing his take on this particular issue because, well, it’s beautiful.

You’ve got to give this show a listen. I’ve put an Inspire! icon on the right-hand sidebar of this page under ‘Blogging Flair’ and you can click to listen right from my site here.

If you’re lost, read about my entry into blog talk radio here.

cancer, breast cancer, wellness, husbands, inspiration, caregivers, blog talk radio

Tomorrow on Inspire!, the Internet Talk Radio show I’m hosting, Donna St. Jean Conti and I are interviewing Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD, registered dietician and doctor of holistic nutrition. (Hmmm … doctor of holistic nutrition?)

I’m sure we’ll touch on her book, ‘Challenge Cancer and Win’ and a myriad of other topics including kitchen-therapy.

“It’s time to shift our thinking and focus to what happens INSIDE when we eat,” says Kim. I’m anxious to find out her take on how what we eat related to breast cancer specifically.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times. I’m not sure I believe in alternative treatment to breast cancer. I’m sure there are some of you who are strong proponents of mind/body therapies in place of mainstream medicine but I’m not in that camp. In addition to mainstream medicine, however … well, I’m fully supportive of it.

But am I willing to change my diet? That’s a tough one. I did watch Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Cancer the other night and I watched her down those wheat grass juice drinks and I just thought … I’m not sold. Of course, if I were staring down the barrel of the Stage IV cancer rifle, I’d probably drink anything. But it was so … green.

I have questions for Kim, for sure. Meanwhile, if you have some you want covered … post them in a comment or email then to me at discussingbreastcancer at gmail dot com and I’ll make sure I ask them for you.

Anyway, tune in tomorrow at 1:00 ET if you want to catch the broadcast LIVE; if not, the airing will be archived for you to listen at your leisure anytime. (If you’re curious about how I came to host the show, check out my original post about it here.)

I really want to share with you all that I’m loving this blog talk radio show. I just feel so … alive when I’m talking with people about survivorship.

I mean, I love to talk, so this is really such a perfect venue for me. It’s hard to believe I didn’t major in communications when I first went away to college. (Engineering??? What was I thinking???)

I truly believe it is my destiny to use my voice to reach women with messages pertaining to breast cancer. My written voice and my audible voice. And this show just fits in so well with that.

In case you missed yesterday’s episode (Can I call them episodes? Do I have to call it a program? If I call it an episode, I can say, “Previously, on Inspire!” and pretend it is Keifer Sutherland’s voice just like on 24 — but I diverge. Where the hell was I? Oh, right, yesterday’s episode … here’s the link!

During this particular program, I introduced my co-host, Donna St. Jean Conti. Donna’s got quite a story to tell … what a battle this woman had! And I thought I was the surgical queen. I’ve got nothing on Donna.

There were a few points that Donna and I addressed that I think are important enough to share once again:

(1) Men can carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic abnormalities that are linked to breast and ovarian cancer.
(2) Even in lieu of a negative genetic test results (no BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation) someone could still have a genetic predisposition towards breast cancer (not all of the genes have been identified by researchers)
(3) Surgery is an often overlooked aspect of breast cancer treatment — it’s not all chemotherapy and radiation!
(4) Life after breast cancer is surprisingly fulfilling … because survivors tend to get their priorities in order, they do more of what they love and they consider each day the true gift that it really is.

Don’t think for a minute that you don’t have to listen now; come back here and let me know what I missed!

In a few hours (1:00 EST) I’ll be hosting another airing of Inspire! the internet talk radio show sponsored by Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine.

Today’s guest is a survivor named Connie Pombo. Connie is an author, speaker, mentor and an entrepreneur from what I’ve seen. She will share how she came to be diagnosed with breast cancer and let me tell you, it’s a great story to share during breast cancer awareness month. She’ll also share how she came to write and live out her ‘passionate’ to do list.

Join me today by clicking here … and if you miss the show, you can always listen to it later today at your leisure!

Wednesday is the day … my first stint as a co-host on the Internet Radio Show Inspire!, sponsored by Breast Cancer Wellness magazine. Here’s the scoop on tomorrow’s guest:

Diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer at age 26, Heather Jose chose to fight the cancer head on by putting together a plan to battle cancer on a daily basis. Eight years later, Heather is healthy and using her experiences to speak to health care providers and patients about how much their actions and words can impact healing success. Heather is the author of “Letters to Sydney: Every Day I Am Killing Cancer” and a contributing writer for The Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine. Her husband Larry is a high school coach and they have two children, Sydney and Ty.

To listen to my conversation with Heather on Inspire! Wednesday, October 10th, at 12:00 NOON CST, just click here!