Author Archive

In this week's episode of "What Does That Really Mean?", Medical Outreach Director Kaylen Jackson discusses the differences between CT and PET Scans. What terms would you like to see us discuss next week?

Did you know that one of the side effects of cancer and chemotherapy are hiccups? If you're fighting lung cancer or mesothelioma and are experiencing consistent hiccups, you might just think it's a coincidence.

It's not. Hiccups are commonly associated with cancer and chemotherapy treatment.

Hiccups caused by cancer and chemotherapy can range from occasional and light to relentless and incessant. For a mesothelioma patient who is already suffering from breathing problems, hiccups can be painful. And they may make breathing even more difficult.

In this week's "What Does That Really Mean?" video series, Patient Advocate Missy Edmunds breaks down the differences between a cytology and a biopsy.

Who better to hear a message of hope from than people who have been in your shoes? We collected some advice from our Wall of Hope contributors with the hope that their words can bring some inspiration and light into your life.

Sean Rickard, Survivor: “Try to remain positive, think that a cure is just around the corner. Plan a little project each month to give yourself something to look forward to.”

Angela Winsor, Survivor: “There are days when you aren’t on top of the world, but the point is not to stay there, to keep moving forward.”

In this series, our Patient Advocates will be discussing the meaning of common medical terms. This week, Karen Selby, R.N. and Patient Advocate, goes over the difference between Benign and Malignant Tumors.

 What terms would you like to learn about?

Louise participated in our Asbestos Awareness Week events on Facebook, and was inspired to share her story with us and the community. Louise lost her father in April of 2010 to mesothelioma. Read on as she shares her family's journey with her father's diagnosis.

What were the events that led up to your father's diagnosis?

My father had a chest cold over Christmas 2008. I got him to go the see the GP in January, and they sent him for an X-ray. Then they admitted him into Harlow Hospital for a chest drain.

Listen in as Kaylen Jackson, our Medical Outreach Director, discusses what you should do if you think you've been exposed to asbestos, either recently or years ago.

While perusing the Twittersphere, I came across the Twitter account of Cancer Shop USA and decided to take a closer look. Once realizing what a wealth of resources they had for cancer patients, as the first and only patient requested, doctor approved on-line store to offer products to help patients with the side effects of treatment, I naturally wanted to know how they got started.

Little did I know that what lead to their origin was the cancer diagnosis of founder, Dr. Melanie Bone. She’s the doctor in the “doctor approved” and quite possibly the patient in “patient requested” in their motto above. Here’s the interview I did with  Dr. Bone and Cancer Shop USA.

What is your medical background?

We've mentioned Kaylen Jackson quite a bit in a few of our most recent posts, but do you really know what it is that she does? In yesterday's Survivor Insight blog, a mesothelioma patient and his wife discussed how they got the opportunity to travel to a specialty center for treatment thanks to help from Kaylen. This is just one example of the great resource she could be to you. 

To contact Kaylen for more information on Doctor Match, you can call her at (800) 549-0544 or email her at Kaylen@asbestos.com

William Collinge, PhD, LCSW is a consultant, author, speaker, and researcher in the field of integrative health care. He conducts a private practice of health-related psychotherapy and mind/body medicine in Oregon for individuals and couples facing the challenges of serious illnesses and has extensive experience supporting people dealing with cancer. This post was provided by William to help families dealing with a mesothelioma diagnosis.

Through the eyes of loved ones of people with mesothelioma, there is no question that the disease and its treatments affect not just the patient, but those around him or her as well. It is a shared experience—in fact, studies have found that caregivers may have as much or even more distress than patients.

One reason for this is that while mesothelioma patients have concrete actions to take, such as treatments and medications, caregivers may have a sense of not knowing what to do that could impact the well-being of the patient. This “not knowing how to help” can lead to a feeling of helplessness or frustration for the caregiver, that further adds to the emotional burden of caring for a loved one going through a serious illness and its treatments.