Support Her

I just found a very helpful study that confirms what we knew all along: social support, spiritual health and psychological health correlate with our quality of life, even moreso if you have ovarian cancer.

I am posting the link below, as I cannot copy it to my blog directly.  

This may be a very useful article for your own knowledge and well being.  It also may help you if you need a medical professional to have more empathy towards your overall well-being. It especially adds value in terms of communication with loved ones and caregivers.

I am really fortunate in that my gyn oncologist has always placed my quality of life as her number one priority when it comes to my care.  I currently have a counselor and my support network is open and listens to my needs.  Cancer is complex, ovarian cancer is no exception.  Adding cancer to your already complex life and to the lives of those around you brings about all kinds of opportunities for generosity, but also can bring about sadness and isolation.

If you have ovarian cancer and feel that you need more emotional support, you are not alone.

This article outlines areas of need and validates that supportive environments play a critical role in our quality of life.  Not everyone gets the support they need, but personally I think it's not always because of lack of potential. Giving help and receiving help are sensitive issues in general.  Caregivers and loved ones may not really know how to help and understanding cancer fatigue, for example, is almost impossible unless you know it yourself.

It is somewhat of a relief that this area of need is being studied as it relates to ovarian cancer. I hope to see more research and help in this area for all who are effected by ovarian cancer.  

I have believed since the beginning that psycho-spiritual-social treatment should be automatically included as needed in the overall treatment for ovarian cancer.  Insurance should cover this as well.  We have multitudes of support groups, both online and in community, available to us but the issues at hand can be so involved that a psychologist or psychiatrist may really be needed to help mend our open wounds.

Peace and blessings to you!


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pon.3322/abstract

Roland, K. B., Rodriguez, J. L., Patterson, J. R. and Trivers, K. F. (2013), A literature review of the social and psychological needs of ovarian cancer survivors. Psycho-Oncology, 22: 2408–2418. doi: 

10.1002/pon.3322

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year!  

Generally speaking, I don't make new year's resolutions.  Instead I sift through the areas of my life where I have done well and not so well.  Then I think about why I did well and what area of my life needs the most work to be the best contribution.  I do my best then to find one goal I can improve upon.

Last year I wanted to be the best daughter I could, get healthier and continue to raise awareness of ovarian cancer, whilst always bringing myself closer to God.

This year I think I did most of that, pry helping too much or where I was not wanted. I did as best I could, but also realized I really lost contact with our Lord.  Not so much on a daily prayer basis, because I pray several times per day.  I have not yet truly engaged in my spiritual community.  This year will change, after reparation the goal is to find a way to renew that committment.

I have been blessed with home ministry communion from my local parish over most of this past year due to extreme fatigue and flares of arthritis.  I will ask Sr. Marie to help me through this to attend mass earlier now that our family is moving through the  most devastating loss we ever could imagine.  Healing from this loss will be a lifelong work, I could have never imagined this pain.  But I also could never imagine the relief knowing that she is with God, safe, free, unhindered by earthly anchors and pains.

I know that helping others heal from cancer and raising awareness of ovarian cancer is part of my mission, I know that cannot be done without an ongoing lifelong dedication to building my relationship with Him.

I want simplicity in 2014.  In the most literal sense.  

I ask for prayers to heal those who are sick, impoverished, burdoned with anger and loneliness, and for those who are missing their most beloved.

Below is a link for a message from Pope Francis.  I found it interesting because he noted the importance of our elders.  I pray that this message rings around the world for our elders give us hope, knowledge, confidence, pleasure, love, grace and community.  One of my mom's most fierce passions were the plight of the elderly in this country, being discarded, marginalized and sent away.  It would bring tears to my eyes at what she would endure sometimes   May this trend change so that pur culture brings the aging parents back into our lives.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/10543818/Watch-live-New-Year-fireworks-and-celebrations-around-the-world.html 



http://vatican.com/news/frame.aspx?url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1305423.htm

I dedicate 2014 to my sweet strong loving mom.

I love you!

May each and all of you bring in 2014 recharged, to make just one area of your life in support of community.  For those of you who would like to celebrate the new year in prayer, here is a link that may serve you well:

http://cnsblog.wordpress.com

Missing Our Beloved At Christmas

Christmas Without The Dearly Departed

The tree this year stands at 2 feet, and a tiny string of lights seems just enough.  The complexity of emotions revealed at Christmas just after the death of a dear loved one can be impossible to manage.  We pray for the Grace of God and hope to behave gracefully at this most bittersweet time of year.

To reconcile it all makes no sense.  Be and breathe.  Cry and rejoice.  Trust in Him to comfort you.  We can only do the best we can do, in each hour and day.  Take no stock in the material and offer a smile of joy.    

There is a beautiful poem below the tree:

Christmas In Heaven

We’re wondering what Christmas in Heaven is like  

As we grieve alone and pray,  

longing for one who has gone before  

To spend Christmas in Heaven today. 

And so in our dreams we wander far  

From the scenes and sounds of earth  

‘Til we catch the strains of the Heavenly choir  

As they sing of the Christ Child’s birth. 

The Angels we envision there  

As they join in the restal gay 

And there amid the throng is our Loved One 

Spending Christmas in Heaven today. 

There’s joy in the faith that teaches  

When our life’s work is done 

Of a place in Heaven awaiting  

And the crown we worked for is won. 

In our grief may we learn well the lesson  

So to work and suffer and pray 

As to merit the joys of our loved one  

And to spend Christmas together some day.

~author unknown

Published by TCFAtlanta.Org

http://www.tcfatlanta.org/HolidayPoems.html#~Christmas%20Without

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Denise