AARP Says “Get Moving for a Healthy Brain”

Actually, I fibbed. Margery D. Rosen wrote that headline for the cover article of the September issue of AARP Bulletin.

Her first paragraph grabbed my eyeballs (and didn’t let go until I finished reading): “Rarely do neuroscientists, psychologists and physicians agree unequivocally on anything. But they agree on this; Exercise is the best thing you can do for your brain . ‘If we had a pill that could do what exercise does, its sales would put Viagra’s to shame,’ says Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and author of A long Bright Future.” Here's the link:

http://pubs.aarp.org/aarpbulletin/201309_DC/?pg=12&u1=coverleaf&search=the%20secrets%20to%20a%20healthy%20brain#pg12

Insurance paperwork: insult to injury

Here’s a point-on illustration from Amy Marash of http://cancerissofunny.blogspot.com/ I love the way she combines pathos, sarcasm, insight and no-shit honesty into her work.

Check out her website, she doesn’t post weekly, but when she does it’s a gem!

John

PS – I also have a copy of her terrific book of the same name available at http://www.lulu.com/shop/amy-marash/cancer-is-so-funny/paperback/product-20010105.html

It’s Just Benign.org, Social Security Disability, Glamour Magazine & Investigation Discovery

Phew! That’s a long headline. But if you missed my previous blog about benign brain tumors and social security disability, here’s a link to a very similar article posted by the wonderful Beth Rosenthal of Itsjustbenign.org – http://www.itsjustbenign.org/page/benign-brain-tumors-and-social-security-disability?xg_ppc=s1

You have to join her website to read the article. A year’s subscription costs a princely $15. A lifetime subscription costs $40.  I’ve subscribed and love the community, the information and the member resources.

I also hope you will join me in nominating her as “An Everyday Hero.” It’s a contest sponsored by Glamour magazine and Investigation Discovery. Here’s the link: http://www.glamour.com/inspired/sponsored/inspire-a-difference I just learned that the contest deadline is September 8^th, so please send something in asap.

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_13104688_closeup-of-us-social-security-cards-on-blue.html'>zimmytws / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

 

Why do survivors balk at rehab, lifestyle changes?

“25 percent do not change bad health habits after heart attack, stroke” – that’s the headline of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article by Tara Kulash about a recent study published by the AMA regarding patients’ post-surgery behavior: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/percent-do-not-change-bad-health-habits-after-heart-attack/article_f30164af-2368-5cf5-8bdc-3f641a7607b8.html

I suspect that most rehab therapists would say that their patients are even worse at doing their rehab assignments.

At first I thought that this makes no sense. What mope[1] would have a stroke (or brain tumor or heart attack) and then ignore all the sound advice they’ve gotten about how to live a longer and healthier life by doing their rehab, or by rethinking that country-fried steak they’re about to shovel down their gullet?

This is rational thinking and, of course, nothing to do with how humans really think or act.

Instead, my thoughts drifted back to UMCOR’s[2] insights on the “four emotional tasks for survivors recovering from a disaster” because I believe that the emotional reaction to having had your house whacked by a hurricane isn’t all that dissimilar to having your brain whacked by a tumor. In both case you feel whacked. According to my UMCOR training the four post-disaster emotional states are:

1. Accept the reality of the situation (I can’t believe it happened).

2. Experience the pain (it’s okay to hurt).

3. Accept that a new situation is required

4. Withdrawing the emotional investment in the past and transferring it to the new.

When I think about these victims in that light, it seems to me that they haven’t accepted the reality of their illness; they haven’t accepted the fact that “a new situation is required”; and they haven’t made an emotional commitment to their new reality. So I now understand why a heart or stroke victim has not yet decided to stop smoking, start eating or to give up eating donuts for the rest of their lives.

Your thoughts?

John

Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com

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[1] I use “mope” here in the non-denominational/non-gender Midwestern form of the word. Said differently, women can be mopes, too. Truthfully, though, in my experience most mopes are men. This study, to some degree, confirms that suspicion. Of course, you might just infer from this study that more men than women are pig-headed. Even though I am brain-damaged, I think I know enough by now not to take the wrong side of that argument.

[2] These stages are adapted from J. William Worden’s “Four Tasks of Grief Model” as described in the Grief Counseling and Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy: Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner (Springer Publishing Company, 1991).

Good Meningioma News (Yes, that sounds weird)

This headline grabbed my eyeballs:“Johns Hopkins Researchers Find Promising Therapeutic Target for Hard-To-Treat Brain Tumor.” 

My first thought was “Yipee!” I wanted to read more. So I clicked on a link that took me to an article on Healthcanal.com: http://www.healthcanal.com/cancers/42300-johns-hopkins-researchers-find-promising-therapeutic-target-for-hard-to-treat-brain-tumor.html   

According to the article, “Johns Hopkins researchers say they have found a specific protein in nearly 100 percent of high-grade meningiomas — the most common form of brain tumor — suggesting a new target for therapies for a cancer that does not respond to current chemotherapy.”

My second thought was “what’s the difference between a high grade and a low grade brain tumor?

The article explained in terms that even I could understand that “Most low-grade meningiomas located in easy-to-reach locations can be treated successfully with surgery and radiation. But more atypical, higher-grade tumors are much more difficult to eradicate and are deadlier. “

Then I thought, “Ok, this means that meningioma victims will now wait years until the average victim will have some real help.”  

I was wrong as the article noted that “Typically there is a lag time before a laboratory finding like this leads to a clear path forward to help patients. But in this case, since there is already a clinical trial underway, we have a chance of helping people sooner rather than later,” reported Gregory J. Riggins, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study published online in the journal Cancer Immunology Research.

Lastly, while a number of organizations helped fund the research, I wasn’t surprised that Meningioma Mommas – led by meningioma survivor and author Liz Holzemer – was one of the organizations funding the research.

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_3247840_scientist-fingers-holding-a-glass-test-tube-in-a-research-lab.html'>olivierl / 123RF Stock Photo</a>