3 tips to turn breast cancer awareness into action

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3 Tips to turn awareness into action for Breast Cancer Awareness

Hello beautiful people.

It’s been quite a while since I last blogged. Almost all of my energy for the past four months has been spent trying to keep my head above water while I dealt with the unpleasant side effects of chemo. But it was all worth it – my MRI scans came back completely clean, meaning that chemo and the immunotherapies did their job and wiped out the cancer! Next up: double mastectomy + reconstruction, likely followed by radiation.

Now that I am emerging from the chemo fog and slowly starting to feel better, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how to not just pay back all of the kindness, thoughtfulness, and generosity that has been shown to me, but also to pay it forward and use my experience to help others.

As a first step in what will probably be a lifetime of paying it forward, I figured Breast Cancer Awareness month is a good place to start. I know it’s the last day of the month, but better late than never! I have nothing against all of the cute pink paraphernalia that emerges during October every year, but I urge you to remember that breast cancer awareness is so much more than the color pink. The real message here is that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer at some point in their lives – that’s 13% of women. Thanks to huge advances in research and earlier detection, most women dealing with breast cancer will go on to lead long and healthy lives after their treatment. But there is still much work to be done (e.g., for women with Stage IV breast cancer) as well as so many other cancers out there for which we need to find a cure.

To me, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is about much more than awareness or just one month– it’s about turning awareness into action throughout the whole year. The solution starts with each one of us – read below for 3 steps you can take to turn awareness into action to help prevent breast cancer.

1. Check those lovely lady lumps.  Ladies – getting your breasts checked by your gynecologist once per year isn’t enough. My doctors estimated that my tumors could have grown to that size in just two months. I found the lump in my breast by accident, but thank God I did, because my cancer was aggressive and could have advanced to later stages quickly if I hadn’t found the lump. I never took self-exams seriously in the past because I thought I was too young to worry about breast cancer. Now I’ve learned that it can impact anyone (male or female!) of any age, and I can’t stress how important it is to perform regular breast exams. Here are my tips:

  • Set a reminder in your calendar to perform a self-exam at least once per month. It takes just a few minutes! There’s even an app for it, but a regular old calendar reminder does the trick too.
  • Use the self-exam as a way to get to know your body better – the more you know what “normal” feels like for your breasts, the easier it will be for you to detect abnormalities. Try to do it from a place of love and self-care rather than from a place of fear.
  • Do your self-exams around the same time every month – our breasts can fluctuate, so checking them around the same time every month will make it easier to distinguish an abnormal change. Pre-menopausal woman should perform self-exams at the end of your menstrual cycle, and post-menopausal women should just choose the same day every month.
  • Don’t freak out if you find something suspicious in your self-exam! More often than not, it’s not cancer and it’s not helpful to worry without having all the information. Schedule some time with your gynecologist to get it checked out.
  • Check out this site for more tips and a video how-to.

2. Treat your body right. My wellness coach says that while genes are the gun, our environment is the trigger. This means that while our genes may make certain conditions or diseases more likely, it is often our lifestyle that determines whether those genes get “turned on.” The geneticist who ran my tests told me that while I did not test positive for the BRCA genes that predispose carriers for breast cancer, they think there’s likely something funky going on in my genes that was activated by something in my environment.

I give myself grace and don’t blame myself for the cancer, but it’s important for me to recognize that my lifestyle in the years leading up to my diagnosis didn’t make it easy for my body to keep those funky genes in check. While I wasn’t in poor health, for years I consistently prioritized work over eating well, sleeping well, and generally treating my body right. The good news is that our bodies are resilient and usually respond well to lifestyle changes.

I urge each of you to learn more about your bodies and be picky about what it’s exposed to – what goes in it (food, drink, smoke, etc.), what goes on it (skincare, makeup, chemicals), what it’s exposed to (air quality, stress, toxic people), and what it needs to rest and heal and do its thing (sleep, movement, mindfulness). I truly feel that this is the most important and impactful step each of us can take to help prevent cancer and other diseases – start with ourselves.

3. Invest smartly when it comes to donations. Pink is cute, and it’s been effective for Breast Cancer Awareness Month – even NFL players are sporting it! However, there’s a big difference between buying or wearing pink and actually taking action to support the search for a cure. Before donating now or during any other time of the year, consider the following steps to improve the likelihood that your generosity will support one of the many amazing and worthy organizations that are making a real impact on cancer research:

  • If you decide you want to buy some of that cute pink paraphernalia for yourself or a loved one, first find out whether the proceeds of the sale actually go to breast cancer research or support breast cancer patients.
  • Before donating to an organization or participating in a walk/race for breast cancer, do your research to find out what you’re specifically supporting. What will be done with the funds raised, and how are these programs actually making a difference in finding a cure and supporting survivors?
  • Check out this link from Think Before You Pink for a more complete guide for being a conscious consumer when it comes to supporting cancer research.

Thank you all for your continued love and support!

An unexpected new journey…

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It’s been a full month and a half since I last posted, and I mean “full” in every sense of the word. Full of appointments, craziness, and, most importantly, love.

My goal for the month of May was to launch my job search. The independent consulting I’ve been doing has been very fulfilling and I was seriously considering continuing that, but I also wanted to prioritize looking for internal organization development positions. I spent a lot of time on my resume (I drafted a post about it – will share that at some point), and even started applying for positions.

Ironically, in some ways I met and even exceeded my goal for May – not only did I launch my job search, but I even found my “job” for the foreseeable future. It just was NOT what I expected and is not something I would have ever hoped for, but it’s something I’m going to embrace and excel at.

My new job this year is kicking cancer’s ass. Again, not a job I ever would have chosen, but it’s my new reality.

In early May I found a lump in my breast. After a whirlwind of appointments and tests, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) on May 19 – this is the most common form of breast cancer. If you are just hearing this news now, I was definitely feeling as shocked as you are. I think I reminded the doctors about two dozen times that I’m only 30 years old, as if that would somehow make the diagnosis inaccurate. The reality is that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer (many don’t advertise it), and it seems like more and more young women with no family history are getting it.

The word “cancer” evokes so many emotions and images that may be different for everyone, but are mostly scary and confusing. Cancer, unfortunately, comes in so many different shapes and sizes these days and the word is so broad – it can mean everything from a very low-risk lesion to a highly-aggressive terminal diagnosis. My husband keeps saying “information is power” when it comes to this, and I fully agree. So in that spirit and to help answer any questions or fears you may have, here’s what you need to know about the cancer that has temporarily set up camp in me and how I’m doing:

  • First and foremost, I WILL be okay – “survival” isn’t even up for debate – this is very treatable thanks to huge advances in medicine over the past 10 years. This will not be a walk in the park, but it’s definitely not a bad cancer card to pull. Many people with cancer have it much worse than me.
  • I have a fairly aggressive kind of IDC (mine is something called “HER2 positive,” which means a certain gene is over-expressed and making my cells rapidly divide), but we caught it relatively early, which is awesome. I just learned it is Stage 2 – meaning that while it did spread to my lymph nodes, it has NOT spread anywhere else in my body. This was amazing news to hear last week!!
  • In terms of treatment, I’m looking at 4 months of chemo beginning June 27, followed by surgery, possibly radiation, and then a targeted non-chemo treatment for the remainder of a year. However, the side effects of the chemos I’ll be getting will be manageable and are not as scary as I initially thought they were.
  • I’ll still be able to have a pretty decent quality of life during treatment – you may need to treat me like a newborn baby (not only will I not have much hair and be napping a lot, but you also need stay away if you’re sick and use lots of Purell!!), but I’ll still be able to do normal things in moderation. I won’t and I shouldn’t be sick and in bed the whole time!
  • I’m going to continue working part-time during treatment – it will be good for me to keep up with normal routines and continue to learn and grow professionally. I’ll be working with the same firm, and I am incredibly grateful to them for their support, flexibility, and general awesomeness.
  • I’m pursuing both traditional Western medicine AND more holistic, integrative medicine. I think both are very important for my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being both now and in the long-term.
  • I’m doing pretty well – it’s really difficult not to feel calm and confident with the amazing support system I have. My husband is absolutely incredible, Jack Daniels the dog is really embracing his new role as a therapy dog, and my family and friend-family are basically a huge army of support. It was definitely a shock and I’ve gone through a lot of emotions over the past few weeks, but now I’m really just feeling grateful and ready to kick some serious butt.

I’ve spent the past 2-3 weeks going through lots of testing, getting second opinions, finalizing my treatment plan, and nurturing my body with the nutrients, sleep, and love it needs to start this journey. I’m really focusing on seeing the potential in this new reality – even though I was pretty healthy before this, I’m seeing this as a wake-up call to be more intentional about self-care and a chance to start fresh from a health perspective.

I debated sharing this publicly, but decided to share on the blog because it’s going to be such a big part of my journey this year and also because I want to help increase awareness. However, I won’t necessarily be turning this into a cancer blog – I’d rather focus more on the journey and what I’m learning. I’ll also still be exploring career options here (though I won’t pursue full-time positions until after surgery) and blogging about organization development. If there are specific topics you want to see me address here, just let me know in the comments below!

Thank you all for your love and support!

Christie

How I’m using OD to improve my health

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As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I’ve been dealing with some minor health issues for the past 4-5 weeks. After a fairly delicious unhealthy weekend (lots of lasagna and Easter candy), and a amazing terrible dinner the day after (pulled pork nachos, a soft pretzel with cheese, and a Manhattan), I was in a world of pain immediately after eating and felt awful for the next few days. I had a lot of tests (all negative for serious issues, thank God!) and talked to a bunch of nurses/doctors, and they all seemed to land on one particular diagnosis. They prescribed a medicine that’s commonly used to treat this issue, and I was super excited to take this magic pill to feel better.

That’s what we all want, right? An easy fix or magic pill to solve our problems? 

Well, as what normally happens in life – the challenges that are most worth solving usually take a lot more patience, passion, and perseverance than just a quick fix.

Fast forward 3 weeks later and I was still feeling awful – the easy fixes and magic pills weren’t working. I had dropped a lot of weight, I felt sick or in pain most of the time, I was having trouble getting enough calories, was struggling with the adjustment to a ton of food restrictions, and I was feeling anxious and frustrated that I was seeing no improvement even though I was supposedly doing everything right.

I hit a breaking point and realized that I had to do something differently because this was not sustainable for my body or mind. I decided to practice what I preach in my organization development (OD) work and apply some of those same concepts to my health and nutrition. I don’t see OD just as a particular field of work; I truly believe that it is a way of viewing the world and helping ANY human system (i.e., individual, couple, family, team, organization, city, country, etc.) navigate change, transform their lives, and reach their potential. OD is not normally needed for easy fixes – it’s for the messy, confusing, complex, transformative, or strategic challenges that require changes in human behavior.  It makes perfect sense to me to apply some of the key concepts of OD to my own health and wellness.

I’m not totally better yet, but I’ve improved so much after making the following changes that I feel like a different person than I did two weeks ago. These changes have helped me understand why my body was acting the way it was, and what it needs to not only function properly, but thrive. Here’s what I did…

1.  I “reframe” as much as possible: It’s easy for me to feel down when I’m sick, especially when I don’t know what’s gone wrong or what I can do to fix it. Something I often help my clients with is reframing problems and challenges in a productive way that helps them focus on the opportunity, benefit, or learning gained from a seemingly negative experience. In the spirit of Appreciative Inquiry, it’s about shifting one’s mindset from problems to potential. It has been hugely helpful for me to apply this same thinking to reframe my health situation as an opportunity to have a fresh start to my health and wellness, learn more about my body, and give my body what it truly needs.

2.  I hired a coach: Although I’m not always great at admitting this, sometimes we can’t do it on our own – we need help. I had a sense that I needed to treat this condition in a more holistic way and wanted to try alternatives to conventional medicine, so I started an elimination diet and bought some supplements. But I quickly realized I didn’t really know what I was doing and while Google is amazing, it won’t make me a professional. So now I’m working with a health and wellness coach (who is also a MSN, MPH, RN) who artfully navigates a mix of “expert consulting” and coaching. She helps me understand the science behind what my body is doing and recommends holistic approaches to achieving my health goals (through food, supplements, etc.), while also employing coaching techniques and Appreciative Inquiry.

One of my favorite facilitation exercises is “Start, Stop, Continue.” I use this simple framework to help my clients identify what they need to start doing, what no longer serves them and they need to stop doing, and what they are doing well and need to continue doing in order to achieve their goals. This is very similar to the conversations I have with my coach – for example, I was so happy when she challenged me to ask myself “does this food serve me and my needs right now?” It’s definitely helping me come to terms with weeks of not being able to eat/drink some of my favorite things, like bread, cheese, tomatoes, garlic, wine (can you tell I’m Italian?).

3.  I apply “systems thinking” to my own body: Systems thinking (a crucial component of organization development) means that we consider the interrelated parts that create a dynamic, complex “whole” that is influenced by its external environment. Our bodies are so complex and incredible, and it makes perfect sense to use systems thinking as part of our own health and wellness. This is easy for those in the healthcare field, but I think it’s too easy for the rest of us to think about “problems” with our body in isolation without seeing the full picture (e.g., my stomach hurts, so I take a pill that makes it not hurt anymore, without considering the impact that pill will have on dozens of other processes taking place in my body). I’ve been making smarter choices by increasing my awareness with the help of my coach, all of the research I’ve been doing, and just paying closer attention to the signals my body gives me.

 

What OD concepts do you apply to improve your health and wellness?

 

 

Travel Recap: Relaxing and Rejuvenating in Snowbird, Utah

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In the spirit of keeping it real, I honestly haven’t done very much on the career front over the past couple of weeks – I’ve had a few minor health issues and haven’t totally felt like myself (nothing serious though!), so I’ve been focused on my current project work and then just relaxing and trying to give my body what it needs. Not what it thinks it needs (pizza, ice cream), but what it actually needs. Hence I’ve been doing this crazy elimination diet and basically just eating bland foods like plain rice and fish until I figure out what’s going on. I am seeing a nutrition and wellness coach starting next week, so I can definitely share that experience if people are interested in that.

These health issues happened to coincide with a family trip out to Utah, and it ended up being a really good place to focus on my well being. Cem’s family has been going skiing at Snowbird for almost 40 years – his parents got a timeshare in the 70s and then both Cem and his brother learned how to ski there as kids. This was my first time going – I don’t ski, but since I have the time and flexibility it was a great opportunity to spend time with family. We stayed in a suite with a full kitchen, so after a big Whole Foods haul we cooked almost all of our meals in, which was nice because I had control over the ingredients (not often the case while on vacation). Cem and I were also able to go down to Salt Lake City to meet up with my cousin and his wife and daughters one night – I felt so fortunate to be able to spend time with them when we’re usually so far away, and his girls are just the cutest!

The fresh mountain air was so nice (once I was fully acclimated!), and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous from the resort – the pictures below are the views from our room, from the little nook where I would work from each day, and from the gym!

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View from our room at Cliff

 

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Not a bad “office” view!

 

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Definitely inspiration to go to the gym

 

The resort is at 8,000 feet, which was definitely an adjustment, especially while not feeling well! I was fine after about 24 hours of chugging water and taking it easy. The biggest adjustment was going to the summit at 11,000 feet – wowza, it was hard to breathe up there! But definitely worth it for the photos and the experience!

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The Summit at 11,000 Feet!

 

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The Mangir Family at the Summit

 

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Cem at the Summit

 

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He popped the questions 2 years ago on this day!

 

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Braving the altitude sickness!

 

I’m looking forward to being in DC for the next month or so – the travel has been amazing but I think my body could use some normalcy – especially before we head to Spain for a few weeks at the end of May!

Recent Reads and the Makings of a Podcast Junkie

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One of my intentions for 2016 was to “break open a new book every week.” However, a combination of travel, working on some side projects, and podcast-binging means that I haven’t quite hit my weekly goal, though I am still making progress! I’m seriously loving podcasts though – I now listen to them while walking our dog, while running errands, and while doing stuff around the house. So here’s a roundup of what I’ve been reading and listening to lately!

Recent Reads:

#GIRLBOSS, Sophia Amoruso: Sophia Amoruso is a badass with an incredibly inspiring, candid, and human story – I really loved this book. A favorite quote – “A #GIRLBOSS is someone who’s in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it. As a #GIRLBOSS, you take control and accept responsibility. You’re a fighter, you know when to throw punches and when to roll with them. Sometimes you break the rules, sometimes you follow them, but always on your own terms. You know where you’re going, but can’t do it without having fun along the way. You value honesty over perfection. You ask questions. You take your life seriously, but you don’t take yourself too seriously. You’re going to take over the world, and change it in the process.” Right on, Sophia.

Thrive, Arianna Huffington: Arianna Huffington is truly inspiring with how honest and devoted she is about maintaining a balance of well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving in life. So much of this book resonated with me, and were related to the reasons I left my position in Big Consulting. One of my favorite excerpts includes a quote from Iain Thomas – “And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling ‘This is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!’ And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart, and say ‘No, this is what’s important.’ ”

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates: Not a light read, but an important one. There’s a reason Toni Morrison said this should be required reading. Ta-Nehisi Coates frames the book as a letter to his teenage son on the falsehood of “race,” how the concept of race has destroyed generations of black Americans and families, and how we can all be honest with ourselves about what has happened in the past and what is happening now. Not going to lie, it made me uncomfortable and on guard at times – but I think that’s okay, and sort of the point. There’s a really good Amazon review that sums up how I felt about this – “I never had to think about my safety, my future or my pride through the lens of my race. I couldn’t even begin to conceive of that experience. Ta-Nehisi Coates is the first person to break through that reality of my upbringing and allow me to step into another experience for a little while.”

Focus, Daniel Goleman: I’ve been a huge fan of Daniel Goleman for the past 10+ years – I centered my undergraduate thesis around his research and writing on emotional intelligence and read every new book he releases. This is a really good book, but I have to admit it’s been slow-going (3 weeks in and I’m still working on it). Maybe it says something about me that I’m having trouble focusing on a book focused on focusing?? Regardless, it’s a very interesting read about the intersection of attention, emotional intelligence, and systems thinking, and how inner/other/outer focus is an indicator of high performance.

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr: I read this 530 page novel in 48 hours. This has nothing to do with reading speed and everything to do with how good this book is. It is INCREDIBLE – my description of it probably won’t do it justice, but just trust me and read it. A friend recommended it to me as the best book she’s read in a long time, and when I told her how I couldn’t put it down, she said “It’s hard for me to explain, but I felt like that book was a treasure. I just wanted to savor it.” And I COMPLETELY agree. I am so happy I bought the physical book because I felt like I could savor and appreciate it even more. Thank you, Anthony Doerr, for this treasure.

Podcast Addictions:

Startup, Season 1: This is the podcast that got me hooked on podcasts. A few friends recommended it, so Cem and I started listening during a road trip to and from Philly last month and now we listen to it together every time we’re driving. If you haven’t listened yet (or have only listened to Season 2), I highly recommend starting with Season 1. Alex Blumberg (the host) used to work for This American Life and left to create a startup focused on podcasts. It’s a candid, honest, and often funny peek behind the curtains of the startup world. Highly recommend!

This American Life: This is probably one of the best radio shows/podcasts that ever existed. I used to listen to this years ago, but recently got back into the habit and realized how much I missed it. It’s hard to describe, but each episode is basically focused around a theme or sliver of human life. For example, a recent episode was about doubt, and how it starts, how it spreads, and how two separate police stations handled the same crime and dealt with doubt in different ways.

Serial, Season 1: I know, I am SO late to the game on this one. But it is such a good series and I am still scratching my head about whether Adnan Syed did it or not. If you haven’t listened to this yet, I won’t try to influence your experience with my opinion. I’ll just say that this made me really reflect on my times spent as a juror and consider whether I would have acquitted or convicted Adnan Syed. Jury’s still out on whether I’m going to listen to Season 2 though.

Dear Sugar: I fell in love with Cheryl Strayed’s Dear Sugar book when I read it in December, and was so happy to see that she and the original sugar, Steve Almond, are once again running their advice column, this time over the radio waves instead of their blog. I was never into advice columns, but I LOVE the Sugars and their “radically empathetic advice.”

Modern Love: Famous voices (e.g., Jason Alexander, Dakota Fanning) read submissions to the New York Times’ Modern Love column, which beautifully talk about the ups and downs of all kinds of love (romantic, family, etc.).

The Mystery Show: This is a quirky show that focuses on seemingly everyday mysteries, such as “Why was Britney Spears photographed with a copy of my unsuccessful and hard to find book?” and “Who is the rightful owner of this belt buckle I found as a kid?”  Host Starlee Kine commits to tracking down the answers to these mysteries in these quirky and fun 1 hour episodes. I’m seriously thinking of submitting my own mystery (like, why does my neighbor use his microwave so often all day long??).

Would love to hear about the best books you’ve read lately, and podcasts you’ve been listening to!

PS…If any of my local friends want to borrow any of these books, let me know!