Each year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology conducts an independent review of advances in cancer research that have the greatest potential impact on patients’ lives. This year, Clinical Cancer Advances 2011 features 54 significant studies, including 12 that the report’s editors consider major advances.

This year’s Clinical Cancer Advances report also recaps the year’s most important cancer policy developments and ASCO policy initiatives that are likely to influence cancer care over the coming years. These include developments that could help to accelerate the pace of clinical cancer research progress and ensure access to quality cancer care for patients.

Anyone who is impacted by or interested in cancer research, treatments and care should look at this report.

This article and more can be read on the Patient Navigator December 2011 newsletter.

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Now imagine trying to face all this when you are grieving the loss of a loved one.

It is very hard.  It is painful.  It is unbearably sad.

I lost my mother very suddenly and unexpectedly in May 1990, when she was 63 and I was 31.  I made the decision to skip Christmas entirely that year – no tree, no gifts, no decorations.  I simply could not bear it.  Fortunately, my boyfriend (now husband) understood and supported me, and there were no children to worry about back then. It was the best I could do.

The pressure to go along with the holidays is intense.  Here are my own tips on how to get through them if you are grieving.

1.  Don’t let anyone pressure you or try to tell you what will make you feel better.  Only you know what helps.

2.  Remember your loved one in whatever way seems right – a walk in the woods, a prayer service, watching their favorite movie, setting a place at your table.  You don’t need anyone’s permission or concurrence.

3.  Don’t be afraid to tell people that it really is not a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday for you.  Let your colleagues at work know that the season is hard for you and ask them to understand if you are distant.

4.  Learn to say no.

5.  Give yourself permission to mourn.  It is normal and necessary.  And then tell yourself gently, over and over, that you will not always feel this way.  And, in time, you won’t.

I’ve learned a great deal over the years about loss and grief.  I’ve learned to grow from each loss in my life, but it has taken a lot of work and faith.  If you are grieving this holiday season, you are not alone.  But please know and believe, with all your heart, that you will not always feel the way you do now.  Time does heal.  Things will get better.

For more information on grief and the holidays, I suggest:

Therese A. Rando, PhD.  Grieving:  How to Go on Living When Someone You Love Dies. (Note:  This book saved me as I grieved the loss of my mother).

Elaine Tiller, M.Div.  When Grief Comes Home for the Holidays, How do you Manage?

Capital Hospice.  Good Mourning: A Resource for Healing.

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How about that as a scary thought?  Every single human being on the planet has cancer cells in their bodies.  The good news is that, for most of us, our body’s natural defenses know how to defeat these defective, tumor-causing cells, and they never get the chance to grow up into a full-blown cancer.

I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber,  himself a cancer survivor, during the CancerGuides® training in June 2009.*  His delivery was amazing; his presence on the stage mesmerizing.  But what stuck with me was the plain truth – we all have cancer cells somewhere in our bodies. 

Accepting that fact also motivated me to learn more about what to do to try to keep those individual defective cells from joining together and having a cancer party.   Following his advice, outlined in the book “Anti-Cancer – A New Way of Life,” I have made small changes in my life since then.  I try to include freshly ground flax seed in my daily diet, usually in my morning oatmeal or yogurt.  I am proud to say that my ten-year old son often copies me, and grinds his own flax seed into his breakfast.  I definitely am more conscious of the amount of fruits and vegetables that we all eat.  I try to purchase eggs and meat that are grass-fed, and therefore richer in Omega-3s.   I am working to reduce toxic cleaning products and other indoor pollution from our house.   I exercise regularly.

I am falling down, however, on approaching life in a light-hearted way, with laughter and serenity.  Dr. Servan-Schreiber emphasizes that emotional toxicity is as harmful to the body as physical pollutants.  It is easy, and we are programmed very early, to react to problems with anger and negativity.  It is much more of a challenge to find the humor in adversity, to love those who make life difficult for us.  I think these are the most difficult changes of all – the internal ones of the basic self.   Whether you’ve had cancer or not, any person who wants to improve their chances of avoiding cancer should read Dr. Servan-Schreiber’s very important book.

 * CancerGuides® training is offered by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C.  It is the country’s only comprehensive training in integrative oncology. To learn more, visit http://www.cmbm.org/

Guest editor:  Debora Harvey, Director of Client Services at Patient Navigator, LLC

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But then the reality of life after cancer kicks in, and many of them find themselves in a kind of limbo. Lingering disease and treatment side effects, or “late effects,” such as lymphadema, memory and attention loss, muscle weakness, chronic pain and fatigue, affect their daily life.  Some are no longer able to work in their jobs, and feel unvalued.  Some are dismissed by the very doctors who helped to save their lives.

Many health care providers, especially those outside major medical centers, have not had much experience with long term cancer survivors, and are uneducated about potential late effects.  The challenges of a post-cancer life can be more like a chronic illness, taking a new toll on the survivor and family.

Cancer survivor stories abound on the internet – mostly how the cancer was beaten, and how various treatments worked for the survivors.  In recent years, however, there is a new focus on how to LIVE as a long-term cancer survivor. 

In doing some research for a client who has numerous serious late effect conditions, I discovered the Cancer Survivors Project (http://www.cancersurvivorsproject.org).  It is an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults after cancer, to making widely available information about the physical, emotional and mental late effects of cancer treatment.  The stories of long-term cancer survivors illustrate that, even after the personal war against the cancer is won, there are hills to climb.  Family, friends, good nutrition, compassionate and knowledgeable medical care – the tools of the battle – are still often needed to support the survivor in “real life” after the cancer is gone.

Today, there are nearly 12 million cancer survivors in the United States.  If you are one of them, remember that just as you won your fight against cancer, you can learn to live and enjoy your new life as a strong and proud survivor. 

For further information, visit the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute: http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/ocs/

Guest editor:  Debora Harvey, Client Service Director at Patient Navigator, LLC

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