Vol. 24 No. 7.
OCTOBER 2009
online magazine of the Cancer Support Association
wellness news
Patron – His Excellency Dr. Ken Michael AC, Governor of Western Australia
environment, wellness and healing
SPRING SALADS
WITH NEW SEASON INGREDIENTS & PRETTY, FRESH FLOWERS
NATURAL TREATMENT FOR ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER
HOW A SIMPLE COUGH REMEDY COULD BEAT THIS COMMON CANCER
THE VITAMIN C SKINCARE MIRACLE
BEAUTIFUL, RADIANT SKIN THE NATURAL WAY
p o et r y FINDING THE WORDS TO SAY IT: THE HEALING POWER OF POETRY THERAPY
WHATEVER IT TAKES! CATHY BROWN SHARES HER CANCER WELLNESS STORY
SPRING BUSHWALKING
EXERCISE AS A CANCER THERAPY & PREVENTATIVE STRATEGY
Cancer Support Association of Western Australia Inc.
Dear friends,
Each of us has a story to tell full of love, loss,
wellness news monthly online magazine of the Cancer Support Association of Western Australia Inc. Wellness News e-magazine is published online and distributed free to members of the Cancer Support Association and subscribers. Wellness News magazine is dedicated entirely to environment, wellness and healing. The magazine is for people with cancer or serious health issues; for people who are well and want to maintain their good health naturally; and for complementary, alternative and integrative health professionals. Please enjoy your Wellness experience!
news team...
humour, tragedy, hope and inspiration. The way we choose to tell our stories varies. Some of us are talkers, others are writers, poets, artists, actors, dreamers, gardeners...whatever the form, it is the sharing and articulation of our stories which brings about acceptance and healing of our histories, our emotional lives and our present circumstances. Creative expression is particularly important for people with cancer. Stress, intense emotions and emotional shock are often implicated in the cancer diagnosis. The arts provide an outlet to deal with emotions in a gentle, holistic and non-confrontational manner. Poetry therapy is an emerging cancer healing therapy which helps people with cancer come to terms with the various stages of the illness. This issue of Wellness News features a paper on poetry as a cancer therapy with some beautiful examples of healing poetry. Writing your story in any form is beneficial, but poetry is so immediate, succinct and rich in imagery and meaning that it is ideal for people who don’t have the inclination or energy to spend labouring over a biography written in prose! No special talent is required to be creative. What you create can remain locked away in a journal, or you could join a writer’s or support group where participants each share their story, or you could broadcast your creations on your very own website for the whole world to see!
editorial “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.“ ~Robert Frost
If after reading this feature you feel inclined to write a poem or story about any aspect of your personal journey, please send it through to Wellness News to share with our readers or post it to the forum on the CSA website. ✦
Editor Mandy BeckerKnox editor.wellness@yahoo.com.au Editorial Consultant Dr. Peter Daale
Cover: “Childhood” oil on canvas 24×30, by Jeques B. Jamora, 2009
Love and peace, Mandy
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in this edition features OVER A MILLION MEN OVERDIAGNOSED FOR PROSTATE CANCER 6 and treated unnecessarily 7 8 19 22 28
NATURAL TREATMENT FOR ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER FINDING THE WORDS TO SAY IT The Healing Power of Poetry WHATEVER IT TAKES A Personal Cancer Story by Cathy Brown EXERCISE BOOST for Breast Cancer Patients; Exercise helps prevent cancer; Spring Bushwalking NEWLY DISCOVERED ROLE OF VITAMIN C IN SKIN PROTECTION
regular 2 EDITORIAL 3 PUZZLE Riddles & Brain Teasers 5 IN THE NEWS Why people with Down’s Syndrome don’t get cancer 24 FOOD & NUTRITION Nutrient rich recipe brings healing 25 RECIPES Leafy Green Salads infused with Spring flowers 28 CSA COMMUNITY NOTICES Keeping our community connected
riddles
Thankyou... Thankyou to everyone who has donated to the Cancer Support Association this year. We particularly thank the following generous donors: Dorothy Scott Christmas Island Charities Assoc
I am large as a castle, yet lighter than air. 100 men and their horses cannot move me. What am I? If life gets tough, what do you have that you can always count on? A pregnant lady named her children: Dominique, Regis, Michelle, Fawn, Sophie and Lara. What will she name her next child? Jessica, Katie, Abby or Tilly?
brain teaser The object here is to take the words below, add ‘ZZ’ and then rearrange the letters to form a new word in each case. 1. BEADLE + ZZ 2. BRIDAL + ZZ 3. GIRLY + ZZ 4. RILED + ZZ 5. LUGER + ZZ
In fond memory of those who have shared part of their journey with us... Jane O’Donnell Muriel Brackley Alexander Karas Terry Curtain Grace Laing Rainer Buschmann
Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain...
Brain Teaser: 1. BEDAZZLE; 2. BLIZZARD; 3. GRIZZLY; 4. DRIZZLE; 5. GUZZLER Riddle 1: The castle’s shadow; Riddle 2: Your fingers!; Riddle 3: Tilly. She seems to follow the scale Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, and then Ti.
About the Cancer Support Association of WA Inc The Cancer Support Association of Western Australia Inc is a nonprofit charitable organisation which was established in 1984. CSA’s key intention is to help people become informed, empowered and supported on their cancer and wellness journeys. CSA encourages an integrative, well-informed understanding of health and treatment options and strategies, and is committed to supporting all people, regardless of their treatment choices. CSA supports individuals who are living with cancer, their families, carers and the wider community through the services we provide, as well as through our widely distributed publications and unique cancer information website. CSA’s workshops, courses, groups, and complementary therapies are advertised throughout this publication and are held at CSA’s premises in Cottesloe unless otherwise stated.
CSA weekly program
October 2009 MONDAY Meditation Made Easy .................................................................................10.00 – 11.30am Ongoing Lessons with Bavali Hill. FREE FOR MEMBERS (non-members $5) No bookings necessary.
TUESDAY Yoga with Sydel Weinstein ($10 / $5 members) ...................................... 9.30 – 10.30am Wellness and Healing Open Support Group ............................... 10.00 – 12.00noon with Dr. Angela Ebert and Christine Robbins Carer’s Wellness and Healing .............................................................. 10.00 – 12.00noon Open Support Group (1st and 3rd Tues) with Christine Robbins Reiki Clinic .....................................................................................................12.15pm – 1.30pm
WEDNESDAY Laughter Yoga with Kimmie O’Meara ($3.00) ...................................11.45am – 12.45pm Grief and Loss Open Support Group ................................................... 1.00pm – 3.00pm last Wednesday of each month with Christine Robbins Reflexology with Udo Kannapin .......................................................... 10.00am – 2.00pm (appointments available between10am – 2pm) Chinese Medical Healthcare Qigong ($10/$5 members) ............. 1.30pm –3.00pm with Master Andrew Tem-Foo Lim
THURSDAY Counselling with Dr. Peter Daale (by appointment) ............................. 1.00pm – 5.00pm
Join the CSA Village
FRIDAY Meeting the Challenge 1 Day Seminar ................................................9.30am – 4.30pm 1ST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH with Dr. Peter Daale (and others).
DAILY Wellness Counselling and Information Sessions with Dr. Peter Daale ........................................................................................... by appointment
www.cancersupportwa.org.au Go to our website to join the CSA Village and use your Village Card for great discounts at a number of retail and online outlets. Remember: this is a great way to support CSA as a donation is made with every purchase!
General Counselling with Dr. Angela Ebert ......................................................................................................................by appointment Phone direct on 0414 916 724 or 9450 6724 or email a.ebert@murdoch.edu.au
Please phone CSA on 9384 3544 or check our website for further information. We can help you with information packs, course prices, confirm course times and make bookings. The CSA is totally self-supporting and services are greatly subsidised in order to be affordable for all. However, if you are having difficulty making fee payments, please speak with reception.
in the news
Down’s Syndrome reveals a key to fighting cancer People with Down’s syndrome rarely get most kinds of cancer and US researchers have nailed down one reason why - they have extra copies of a gene that helps keep tumours from feeding themselves. People with Down’s syndrome rarely get most kinds of cancer and US researchers have nailed down one reason why - they have extra copies of a gene that helps keep tumours from feeding themselves. The findings could lead to new treatments for cancer, the researchers reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday, and further study of Down’s patients might reveal more ways to fight tumours. The researchers at Harvard University and elsewhere made use of a new kind of embryonic-like stem cell called an induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cell. These cells, made from ordinary skin, can be transformed to act like powerful stem cells, the body’s master cells. Using iPS cells from a volunteer with Down’s syndrome and mice genetically engineered to have a version of the condition, the researchers pinpointed one gene that protects against tumours.
Folkman also noticed how rare cancer is among Down’s patients, except for leukemia, and he wondered whether the genes explain why. A study of nearly 18,000 Down’s patients showed they had 10 percent the expected rate of cancer. People with Down’s syndrome have a third copy of chromosome 21, where most people have two copies. The extra copy gives them extra versions of 231 different genes. “One such gene is Down’s syndrome candidate region-1 (DSCR1, also known as RCAN1),” Harvard’s Sandra Ryeom and colleagues wrote. This gene codes for a protein that suppresses vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF - one of the compounds necessary for angiogenesis.
“It is, perhaps, inspiring that the Down’s syndrome population provides us with new insight into mechanisms that regulate cancer growth,” they wrote.
Down’s patients have extra amounts of this DSCR1 protein, as do the genetically engineered Down’s mice, the researchers showed. Genetically engineered mice with an extra copy of DSCR1 were resistant to tumours.
Down’s syndrome is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation, occurring in 1 out of 700 live births.
DSCR1 affects a compound called calcineurin, long a focus of cancer research.
The Down’s syndrome theory had long been explored by Harvard’s Dr. Judah Folkman, who died last year. Folkman, whose name is on the study, developed theories about how tumour cells grow blood vessels to nourish themselves in a process called angiogenesis.
“These data provide a mechanism for the reduced cancer incidence in Down’s syndrome,” the researchers wrote. By Maggie Fox. From: MindFood magazine, 21st May, 2009
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6 WELLNESS NEWS
October 2009
Over A Million Men Overdiagnosed for Prostate Cancer, Treated Unnecessarily By Sherry Baker
Since the prostate antigen screening test (PSA) began being widely used about 23 years ago, doctors have lauded its ability to detect prostate cancer at a very early stage. In fact, PSA testing has resulted in over a million additional men being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer.
Since the prostate antigen screening test (PSA) began being widely used about 23 years ago, doctors have lauded its ability to detect prostate cancer at a very early stage. In fact, PSA testing has resulted in over a million additional men being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. The problem is, according to new research just published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, most of these cases were overdiagnosed and subjected men to treatment they didn’t need.
For their study, H. Gilbert Welch, M.D., MPH, of the White River Junction VA and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice., and Peter C. Albertsen, M.D., of the University of Connecticut, studied data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. They looked at age-specific prostate cancer incidence rates to investigate whether there was an excess or a deficit in the number of American men diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer after PSA screening was introduced in l987. The results were clear. The researchers found that an additional 1.3 million men, especially younger men, had been diagnosed with the malignancy who would never have been found to have prostate cancer without the PSA test. And over one million of these men have been treated since l986. So why isn’t this good news if cancers are being found and treated earlier? Because over a million of these men who were told they had prostate cancer most likely had no real health problem -- until they started down the path of side-effect laden treatments and became labeled as “cancer patients”. “Given the considerable time that has passed since PSA screening began, most of this excess incidence must represent overdiagnosis,” the authors of the study wrote. “All overdiagnosed patients are needlessly exposed to the hassle factors of obtaining treatment, the financial implications of the diagnosis, and the anxieties associated with becoming a cancer patient.” Even more importantly, as Otis W. Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, pointed out in an editorial accompanying the study, there has been little evidence that PSA screening has saved lives. All it has done is surge the rate of diagnosed prostate cancers upward. Moreover, Dr. Brawley warned that the highly marketed early-detection message has pushed public opinion toward accepting PSA screening as critically important and necessary for men -- when there’s a lack of good science to back up that belief. “Prostate cancer screening has resulted in substantial overdiagnosis and in unnecessary treatment. It may have saved relatively few lives. Results from this article and recent results from prostate cancer screening and prevention trials demand reflection about what we as a society have done and are doing. Lessons to be learned have ethical and economic implications and involve our lack of respect for the scientific process and scientific evidence,” Dr. Brawley wrote. Another new study adds even more evidence that prostate cancer is being overdiagnosed and over treated. According to research just published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, many prostate cancer patients, including older men and men with small, low-risk tumours, can safely defer treatment for many years with no adverse consequences at all. “With the advent of PSA screening nearly 20 years ago, we started to detect prostate cancers at much earlier stages,” researcher Martin Sanda, MD, Director of the Prostate Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement to the media.
www.cancersupportwa.org.au environment • wellness • healing
October 2009 “Consequently, while PSA testing has enabled us to successfully begin aggressive treatment of high-risk cancers at an earlier stage, it has also resulted in the diagnosis of cancers that are so small they pose no nearterm danger and possibly no long-term danger.” Dr. Sanda, along with colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco, studied data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, a large cohort study comprising 51,529 men who have been followed since 1986. Every two years, the participants respond to questionnaires and list information about diseases and health-related topics, including whether they’ve been told they have prostate cancer. In all, 3,331 men reported receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer between 1986 and 2007. Among this group, about ten percent (342 men) decided to put off having any treatment for one year or longer. Ten to 15 years later, 50 percent of these men who had initially deferred treatment still had not undergone any prostate cancer treatment. To find out how this group of men fared in the long-term, the scientists looked at the data after an average of eight years after their initial diagnosis and then compared it with information provided by prostate cancer patients who had decided on going ahead with aggressive treatment, including surgery, radiotherapy or hormonal therapy. “We found that the deaths attributed to prostate cancer were very low among the men with low-risk tumours,” Dr. Sanda stated. “Our analysis showed that only two percent of the men who deferred treatment eventually died of the disease, compared with one percent of the men who began treatment immediately following their diagnosis. This is not a statistically significant difference.” According to the press statement, the researchers found that men diagnosed with low-risk tumours who deferred treatment were still doing fine an average of eight years and up to 20 years after their cancer diagnosis. “Only half of these men wound up undergoing any treatment 10 to 15 years post-diagnosis. This means that they were able to avoid the disruption in their quality of life which might have occurred had they undergone immediate treatment,” Dr. Sanda explained in the media statement. ✦ From: Naturalnews.com, 8th October 2009
Antioxidant benefits in prostate cancer
An antioxidant in green tea may help slow the progression
of prostate cancer, according to research results published in Cancer Prevention Research. Scientists at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Centre say is a sample of 26 men with prostate cancer, short-term treatment with epigallocatechin-3gallate (EGCG) reduced blood levels of several proteins linked to prostate cancer progression. However, they do not claim that it arrests the tumours’ spread. ✦
WELLNESS NEWS 7
Natural Treatment Effective for Advanced Prostate Cancer Could a natural substance effectively treat advanced prostate cancer? And could clinical trials of that potential cure be thwarted because drug companies know they can’t make money out of a treatment that can’t be patented? The answer to both those questions is “yes”. A study just published in the December 2008 issue of the European medical journal Anticancer Research demonstrates for the first time a naturally-occurring substance used as a cough suppressant for over fifty years may be useful in treating advanced prostate cancer. Researchers from the Prostate Cancer Research and Educational Foundation, the MedInsight Research Institute, and the University of California in San Diego found that noscapine, a non-addictive derivative of opium, reduced tumour growth in mice by 60%. What’s more, it halted the spread of tumours by 65% and caused no harmful side effects. Although noscapine is only approved for use in many countries as a cough suppressant, physicians can and do sometimes prescribe it for other uses -- this is a common practice known as “off-label” prescription. Increasingly, in fact, noscapine has been tried off-label to treat several forms of cancer. Dr. Israel Barken, founder and medical director of the Prostate Cancer Research and Educational Foundation in San Diego, used noscapine to successfully treat several prostate cancer patients before he retired from clinical practice. He was so encouraged by the results that his prostate cancer foundation funded the study reported in Anticancer Research . Moshe Rogosnitzky, director of research at MedInsight Research Institute in San Diego and one of the study’s co-investigators, explained in a statement to the media that noscapine appears to have several advantages as a treatment for prostate cancer. “Noscapine is effective without the unpleasant side effects associated with other common prostate cancer treatments. Because noscapine has been used as a cough-suppressant for nearly half a century, it already has an extensive safety record. This pre-clinical study shows that the dose used to effectively treat prostate cancer in the animal model was also safe,” he stated. Spurred on by the results of the new study, Dr. Barken is urging academic institutions to advance this successful laboratory research with a clinical trial in men with advanced prostate cancer. So why isn’t a human trial under way right now for this promising possible cancer cure? One word: money. Because noscapine is a natural plant-derived substance, it can’t be patented. In their statement to the press, the researchers explained how that fact has limited clinical trials of the potential cancer therapy. Drug companies obviously have no reason to pour out the funds needed to underwrite expensive clinical trials for a substance they can’t own outright and sell for large profits. ✦
From: Naturalnews.com
of the Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
Finding the Words to Say It: The Healing Power of Poetry by Robert Carroll
Many people have an intuitive sense that voice in general and poetry in particular can be healing. We have all experienced the comfort of soothing words. Finding the words to articulate a traumatic experience can bring relief. A letter between friends who are fighting can heal a relational wound. People are frequently moved to write a poem in times of extremity. In mainstream culture there are subjects that are not talked about. They are taboo. For example, each of us is going to die, but we do not talk about dying. We are all in the dialogue of illness, death and dying, whether or not we are talking about it. Poetry gives us ways to talk about it.
Many people are scared of poetry. They have had bad experiences with it in school. People often believe that poetry is difficult or inaccessible or not relevant to them.
Modern poetry is based on voice, and must be passed through our ears. This is where the sense is made. So, when you read this article and you see poetry Read it aloud pass it through your ears enjoy the ride, and know the difference between poetry and prose is that poetry is broken into lines— that is all. When we speak, we use pauses and phrasing. When we speak, we breathe. When we write poetry, we have punctuation and line breaks. The line breaks are there to help the reader find the natural flow of poetry based on voice. As you read poetry aloud do it so that you are breathing comfortably. Let the sense of the poetry emerge from your response to the rhythms and tonal variations of the sound as well as the meaning of the words. The passage below is derived from a conversation I had with poet Li-Young Lee on the relationship between poetry and breath and life and death. When you read the passage, pause after each line and take a breath in. Feel for yourself the emergent meaning. All of language is spoken on the out breath All of life begins on the in All of death is spoken on the out breath All of life begins on the in
Poetry as a Natural Healing Practice Many people have an intuitive sense that voice in general and poetry in particular can be healing. We have all had the experience of the comfort of soothing words. Finding the words to articulate a traumatic experience can bring relief. A letter between friends who are fighting
October 2009
WELLNESS NEWS 9
can heal a relational wound. Poetry can spring from us naturally in times of need. People are frequently moved to write a poem in times of extremity. In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, poetry sprang up everywhere. A New York Times article on October 1, 2001, documented the phenomenon: “In the weeks since the terrorist attacks, people have been consoling themselves—and one another—with poetry in an almost unprecedented way … Improvised memorials often conceived around poems sprang up all over the city, in store windows, at bus stops, in Washington Square Park, Brooklyn Heights, and elsewhere. …” Some catastrophes are so large, they seem to overwhelm ordinary language. Immediately after the recent tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, the Los Angeles Times reported the witnesses were literally dumbstruck. Words failed them. They had lost their voices. In mainstream culture, there are subjects we do not talk about. They are taboo. For example, even though each of us is going to die, we don’t talk about dying. Instead, we avoid it. Even physicians are reluctant to talk with terminally ill patients about the patient’s experience, however, We are all in the dialogue of illness death and dying whether or not we are talking about it. Poetry gives us ways to talk about it. My job as a poetry therapist is to use poetry and voice to help people get access to the wisdom they already have but cannot experience because they cannot find the words in ordinary language. William Carlos Williams was a poet and a physician. He is credited with making voice the basis of modern poetry. He wrote in his poem Asphodel, That Greeny Flower (1) It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there. Two years ago, I was asked to pair poets with brain cancer patients at UCLA in the Department of Neuro-Oncology, so that the poets could help the patients find the words to articulate their experiences. One patient reported his dilemma following brain surgery to remove his cancer, I felt I lost my edge and then I lost my place but the tragedy is I have so much to say. Although illness is usually discussed in terms of a patient’s symptoms, deficit, or impairment, it is also about how people respond when faced with extreme circumstances and what they have to tell and teach us. One of the poems that came out of the poetry and brain cancer project was “Amazing Change” (2) [See poem in right column].
Amazing Change We can go through amazing changes when we are faced with knowing we have limited time. After one woman got brain cancer she decided what she wanted was to go to Africa to see the gorillas. She and her husband and the guides began the long trek through the jungle up the mountains, but the woman was having trouble. The guides tried to convince her to go back, but she wouldn’t. She struggled and struggled. Eventually she won the guides over and everyone was rooting for her but there came a point when she couldn’t go on, so she laid down on the grass and when she did, the gorillas came out of the jungle to her.
If you didn’t read this poem aloud, do so now. What is your experience of reading this poem? How is it relevant to you? Do you identify with the woman or, perhaps, the husband or the guides or even the gorillas? Can you visualize the images, see the people trekking along, then lying down in the grass? What sounds can you hear? What is the smell of the jungle? What physical sensations do you feel in your body as the poem unfolds? What happens to your breathing when you read the last lines? How did the transformation that happened at the end of the poem affect you? Did you have any associations to the poem about a situation in your own life? Continued on next page...
of the Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
10 WELLNESS NEWS
October 2009
Poetry and Therapy In my private practice of family psychiatry, I often ask whether my patients do any writing and for what purpose. In my work with them, I support their writing and encourage its use whether it is through poetry, journals or personal letters. I encourage bringing the writing in as material for discussion, and I may make suggestions. For example, Writing in the third person gives distance to your voice, so try writing in the first person. I also sometimes gives assignments. For example, write what you are having difficulty saying, or bring in a poem which is particularly meaningful to you. This can then become a springboard for discussion and exploration. The poem “I Can’t” by Carlene Shaff represents a turning point in her treatment, facilitated by using poetry therapy, and documented in her poem “I Can’t.”
I Can’t
...from previous page
Whatever your experiences of reading this poem, they are examples of the ways that poetry works. It gets into us and plays through our psycho/neuro/immuno-sensory selves. In other words poetry has ways of working that get under our skin, which is to say it has ways to get in. All of my professional life, I have used language embodied in voice as part of my medicine. Whether it was an attempt to talk someone through a traumatic experience or to help them understand the implications of their diagnosis or to aid them in finding the words to write their own stories and poetry, I have encouraged patients to speak and write their truths. At the same time, I have learned from them. One of the privileges of being clinicians is that we have a place in our patients’ lives as they live through experiences that we may have yet to face ourselves. It is becoming more and more common for people dealing with serious illnesses to write and publish their stories and poems as their own healing practice (3–11). Many physicians and other health care providers have joined in writing their own personal experiences with illness, death and dying (12–19). So, it may be difficult to get the news from poems, but it is becoming more and more
I can’t. I just can’t. I can’t do it all. I can’t be all things to all people At all times and under all circumstances. I can’t be the one to always change my plans to suit another’s. I can’t be the one to pick up after others all the time. I can’t work all day and stop at the grocery and cook dinner And have it ready by 6:30. I can’t carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. I need some support, too, and a rest. I can’t; can’t, can’t cantaloupe, can’t canticle, can’t cantilever, Cantina, cantata, cantankerous, cannon, Canape, canard, candelabra, can… can…, Can I? Can I just do it? Can I do it all? Can I ration my time to allow for my priorities? Can I ask others to share the burdens? Can I refuse this role of superwoman? Can I just ‘say no?’ I can. I can just say no. I can just say, “I’m out of the business of doing it all.” I can take time for myself to breathe And dream or just sit quietly. And I will! Did you experience the change that Carlene went through? Poetry therapy is not only used with individuals. It is frequently used in groups. Shahin Sakhi, a psychiatrist who attended a poetry therapy seminar, told me he had never previously written a poem or any other type of expressive writing. The first words he wrote were (19): I am tired. I have died so many times in so many ways. I am tired of dying, dying again and again… . The first death I remember is the beheading of my pet pigeon By my father In the basement. It was the first time he had shared this experience. Finding the words to express it was a deeply healing experience for Shahin, and his relief was palpable. If the group’s focus is on a particular theme, for example, cancer, I might use poems that relate directly to the illness. My poem “Eileen” is an account of an incident related to me by a friend that occurred between a mother and her daughter.
www.cancersupportwa.org.au environment • wellness • healing
October 2009
Eileen Eileen has breast cancer. The lump was removed last year. It was chemotherapy and radiation for the next six months. Eileen lost weight. Her skin burned. She vomited every day. Her hair fell out— First wisps, then tufts, then clumps. Her daughter couldn’t stand it— She was only thirteen— Seeing her mother pull out her hair. “I don’t care!” Yelled her daughter, “I don’t care.” “Want to pull?” Said Eileen. “Want to pull out some hair?” At first she couldn’t do it, But her mother cupped her face with her hands. “I need you baby. Help me. Take a pull.” So the daughter grabbed a strand, and it came out easy.
So she grabbed another and another then a clump and out it came. Then they put on music and danced and grabbed hair. They played Chaplin and burlesque. Hitler had a funny moustache. They put sideburns on Jews. Eileen became a billy-goat. They bayed at the moon. When Eileen became bald, they laughed, then they wept. Then the daughter pasted patches in her armpits and a tuft between her legs. “Look Mum. I’m a woman now!” She said. Up and down the women jumped and screamed until they were exhausted and Eileen’s scalp turned red. Then they laughed and hugged and went to bed.
WELLNESS NEWS 11
Art: Julie Anne Bowden
In “Eileen” I wanted to capture the experience of a healing transformation and ritual passage between a mother and her daughter. Could you see the images and feel the experience of witnessing the transformation? “Being the Stone,” is written from the point of view of the ritual object and is about how it is imbued with its power. Be sure to read “Being the Stone” aloud and feel the experience of actually being the stone and carrying this power to heal. When poems such as “Eileen” and “Being the Stone” are read to a group, people experience a resonance with their own stories in ways they may have never been put into words before. The poems need not be about illness specifically, but might otherwise embody themes that confronts the patients.
Being the Stone I want to be the stone and tell how she held me in the palm of her hand rolled me between her fingers slipped me into her mouth tasted my salt tumbled me around. Then she ran her tongue along my edge and rubbed my cool body across the scar of her breast put me in her pocket took me home gave me to her daughter— a special gift.
Twelve years ago, I myself was going through personally difficult times. One of my patients, a 32 year-old woman who was a wife and mother of a 2-year old daughter, died. At the same time my father was beginning his terminal decline from diabetic multisystem failure, and a friend of mine was dying from a cancer that had metastasized to her brain. In addition, I had recently had reconstructive knee surgery to repair torn ligaments, following which I was disabled for months. I had never written much before except a few poems in earlier times of crisis. I developed ways of writing as my own healing practice, and I listened to the voices of other poets and writers doing the same (20). Our voices are saturated with who we are, embodied in the rhythms, tonal variations, associations, images and other somato-sensory metaphors in addition to the content meaning of the words. Our voices are embodiments of ourselves, whether written or spoken. It is in times of extremity that we long to find words or hear another human voice letting us know we are not alone. The poems on the following page “MeFather,” “What Waiting Is,” and “The Family Plot” were all written during this period (8,21). They represent a progression of my experience: from a dreamed awareness of my father’s death as he began his terminal decline, through the realization of what the three year process had meant to me, to overwhelming grief in the aftermath of losing both my father and my friend, and, finally, an attempt to come to some resolution. Continued on next page...
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October 2009
MeFather I rose in his wake. A dream crossed my eyes— My father lying still in his tub. I throw my arms around him yelling Daddy, wake up! Bubbles are bursting everywhere.
What Waiting Is We sit on the bench in the hospital corridor next to the cafeteria, and we wait. You know what waiting is. If you know anything, you know what waiting is. It’s not about you. This is about illness and hospitals and life and death. This is about the smell of the disinfectant that hits you in the head. In the bathroom you look in the mirror. What do you see? Your father’s sad face? Your mother’s eyes? You catch the water cupped in your thickened hands, splash it on your face, and hope against hope you can wash it away— the aging brown spots, the bags, the swelling truth of waiting— So you go back to that bench. Maybe your mother is there or your wife who is waiting for your father who is waiting for the news from the surgeon or the morphine for the pain or the nurse who cleans bedpans who is waiting for her shift to change while another man’s hand clamps white as a claw to a clutch of bed sheets, and you wait. So you hear the news, and you take the long trip back from LA or Detroit— wherever you’re from— and you see the faces of the drivers as they approach you out of the fog, and you see this one: a woman hunched over the wheel like your mother, and you think, It is my mother. and you want to tell her everything, how waiting kills and what it does to your life, that fifty years of marriage is an eyelash blink, but she’s past you now and headed in the wrong direction, so you wait. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see your father’s face in the driver’s seat of a ‘49 powder blue Pontiac sedan. The thin sliver of his moonlit profile’s smiling, but the nose is too long and it’s not really him, and besides he’d never understand anyway— this impatience, this anger, this rage, this love, this fog on the windshield, this never even knowing if it’s inside or out— because his whole life was waiting, and what does a fish know of the water
or a bird of the air? So you push the leaden accelerator down and act like you’re headed to some small emergency, and you don’t give a damn about the cop waiting behind the billboard or death over your left shoulder, and you think you might want to pray, and you do pray, but you don’t know what for, and, anyway, you’re driving, so you go back to the endless lines of headlights and traffic and exit signs until you get home to see the light flash on your answering machine, but you don’t pick it up. Instead, you go to the bathroom, take a shower, take a piss, pull out a carton of leftover food—anything— but you can’t swallow it. So you push the button, and it’s your sister’s voice, but it’s choked, and she can’t speak. That’s how I learned that the waiting was over, that my life changed forever, that this end was a beginning, but I didn’t know for what. I used to think it was death I was waiting for, but that’s not what this is. This is life. So you show up and do the work and love who you love, and you learn to wait, and if you’re lucky, you learn what waiting is and what you have to give. The Family Plot I dig the earth with my hands, claw stones with my nails, sift ash through my fingers— bone and tooth fragments burned out by morning spread on the ground. The rain washes down the smoldering mass below. Our human flesh the caustic ash now together turn to soap. Art: Glory Fraulein Wolf
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October 2009 When I was asked by the minister of a local congregation if I would read my poetry on illness, death and dying as part of their Sunday service, I viewed it as an opportunity to facilitate a community’s healing. The congregation had recently sustained a number of deaths, and the minister wanted to facilitate a dialogue among the congregants who were having difficulty talking about the losses. After reading “MeFather, What Waiting Is,” “The Family Plot,” and others (21), the congregation responded with testament of their own. Below in the poem “We All Sat Around in a Circle” I tried to capture the voices of the congregants.
We All Sat Around in a Circle After the reading, twenty stayed. A woman in a navy-blue suit spoke first: “I remember”, she said, “when my mother died. It was six months after we first found the lump. Between the breast surgeries and the metastases and the strokes, she was gone. I yelled, “Do it now, Ma! Die now!” but it took another month.” Then a man: “Sometimes they need to know it’s O.K. to go. My Dad was in coma for weeks. He got agitated and made sounds, but he couldn’t talk. The doctors said there wasn’t much they could do. ‘He’s terminal’, they said. ‘We’ll just give him morphine and make him comfortable.’ But my brother said, ‘No, not yet.’ And he and my sister and I got together and agreed it was time for Dad to go… so I was chosen. I sat on the edge of the bed and held his hand. I said, ‘Dad, It’s O.K. We’ll be O.K. without you. If you want to go, it’s all right,’ and I said it again and again, and I swear he heard me because in thirty minutes, he was gone.” Then a woman in her sixties: “It’s been nine years since my son died. I was so passive… When the doctors told us to leave the room because they had to change the dressings, I didn’t say, ‘No, I’ll stay.’ I just went…like they said. I couldn’t do him any good like that. Then, when I was out of the room, his heart stopped, and I wasn’t there. Nine years it’s been. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself.’ A man in his forties: “My brother…he’s paralyzed. He’s in a wheelchair…a gunshot wound when he was sixteen. He takes care of our Mom. He does it all. He washes for her. He cooks. He cuts watermelon.
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He’s a blessing, he is. I just can’t do it. He blames me, but what can I do? Some people just aren’t cut out for it.” Then another man about my age: “I’m a little scared to say this, but I have no story. I don’t cry. When they’re gone, they’re gone… nothing more. I work in the movie business. People come and go. We can be close for six months, work together every day, then it’s on to the next project. I may never see them again. That’s what it was like when my friend Ernie died… like he’s out there somewhere, too involved with another project to call. That’s nothing unusual for Ernie. Time just passes. People say there’s something wrong with me. I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder.” A man in his thirties: “I’ve thought about it, been in therapy over it, processed it till I’m blue, but in the end, I still can’t accept it. In the end, she’s still gone, no matter how I work it out. We were fifteen. I’ve got children now. I love my wife, but my sister… She was all of our heroes… tall with dark red hair. She drowned going after a ball. I saw her go out, and I heard her yell. When she went under, I saw her.” A silver-haired woman near fifty: “The strange part for me is thinking about the future. My cancer was removed ten years ago. Between the surgeries and the chemo and the complications, it was all I could do to live day-to-day. Now it’s been ten years. I’m beginning to believe I have a future. I’ve lost a lot of friends along the way, but we were there for each other.” and so it went— around and around— until we were done. Then we hugged and we touched. Then we left.
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October 2009 For more on the ways in which poetry is employed as a therapeutic tool, you can refer to the following references (23–29).
A Note On Healing In Chinese, the written character for poem is composed of two characters, one means word and the other means temple. Together they mean poem. The wisdom of poetry is in the combination of the sacred and the word as illustrated by the character in Chinese. Healing is frequently thought of as taking place at the level of the individual. But if healing is viewed as a process that brings us back to wholeness, then in addition to happening within the individual patient, healing can also take place between patient and family members, between patient and the larger community of which they are a part, and even at the level of the community as a whole. In fact healing is often necessary on many of these levels simultaneously.
The Proof in the Pudding When last I left my friend Ruth Ellen, the surgery to remove the frontal bone left her with a step on her forehead. When we went out, she wore hats. Today I’ll visit her in her room. The tumour is no longer benign. In her head in her eye in what now appears to be the end of her life is my life.
In many indigenous cultures, illness is viewed as the individual falling into disharmony with the community, so that in order to heal the individual, their place in the larger order must also be restored. In many West African indigenous cultures, proverbs are told in the oral tradition of poetry. Kykosa Kajangu from the Congo has collected these proverbs and integrated them into what he terms Wisdom Poetry (personal communication). In one African tribe, when a woman is pregnant, the women of the community assemble in the forest and listen for the new child’s song. When they hear it, they bring it back to the community and sing it in public. When the child is born, the song is sung again. When the child goes through ceremonial rites of puberty and marriage, it is sung again. And, when the child grows old and is dying, it is sung again. But, it is also sung when the child has broken with the community, committed a crime, or otherwise fallen out of harmony. The people tell themselves and each other who they are in the order of things, and can thereby bring themselves back into harmony with the world.
Poetry and Palliative Care The healing concerns of palliative care do not reside only with the patients. The need to give voice to experiences at the end of life is shared by patients, families, caregivers and health care professionals, as well as the larger community, as illustrated in “We All Sat Around in a Circle.” In 1996, during my father’s terminal illness, a friend of mine contracted a nasal sinus cancer, which was thought to be benign. After several surgeries, all of which were toolittle-too-late, the tumour spread into her skull and invaded her brain. The following set of poems includes “The Proof in the Pudding,” “The End Game,” and “The i in Poetry.” I was attempting to capture the experience of my friend’s terminal illness and engage her in a dialogue of poetry (22).
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October 2009
The end game. What a relief to know all that is left is to live. Time becomes pudding, pudding air, thick and everywhere. These are the best times of our lives, these pudding days of grace when gardens are our guide. They finally took her eye. Don’t mind. They finally took her eye. When I arrived at the house, her daughter Molly gave me a hug. She’d gone slightly stiff. I walked in and looked out the back window. The garden was beautiful and overgrown, wet with new rain. I almost missed her in her chair at the table, sitting there eating avocado, sliced and laid out flat. She looked cute in her bonnet and patch. “Well”, she said, “except for the eye and the headaches and there are still decisions to be made, I’m fine.” And it was her all over again fine in the face of it crabgrass roots deep fine in her chair a bonnet and patch white like cotton not hospital white not bleached white milky white like her as we settled into our love for one another. Oh carry me wind
for I am air; she’s gonna lose her hair I fear she’s gonna lose her hair and hibiscus’s blooms and hummingbirds’ wings and deep dark earth held our future as we shared the last bite of avocado. Ruth Ellen rose then retired to bed. Her black cat waited under the covers after licking Ruth’s plate. I read them poetry. We all tempted fate. “What’s that beeping?” Her daughter appeared out of habit and unkinked the IV. “You and Susan and Josh,” Ruth said, “all wonderful, all full, all richly gifted. I am gifted too, but unrealized. I always wanted to write, I always wanted to paint, I always wanted…” “A friend brought me a journal. I don’t know if I’ll write. I don’t know if I can. Whenever I try, it seems distant or removed.” “You can”, I said. “We will write poetry together. You must start with your own spoken voice, which is alive, not distant, here and now: your house, your garden, the crabgrass, a bloom the light playing through the leaves the mud that kept you company in the living room. You remember the last bite of avocado creamy and green
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a friend your bonnet, the beeping IV Molly, kinked by your arm, the cat black and close— everything rich and scented with you. This is your poetry. This is your life.” The End Game “I’m slipping Robert.” Her voice trailed off my machine just before the beep. I went to the house to her room. Her face looked like a pumpkin swollen red and round as a plate. Her left eye was gone. She didn’t wear a vanity patch anymore. I kissed her on the cheek. “I’m closing down,” she said, “Getting ready to die. Sometimes it scares me. I’m shedding, like wings. Sometimes I come out whole; sometimes it’s an onion. Maybe I’m emerging. Sometimes I feel it.” “No, those are the wrong words. It’s not nothing. It’s something else. You know me, Robert, I don’t get all mystical, but something’s happening. I’m shedding from the inside. It’s all falling away— beliefs, relationships— all falling.” “I know you’re there if I need you, but mostly I just want to sleep. It’s good you’ve come. Dying’s no big thing anymore, It’s a way to go.”
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October 2009
The i in Poetry When I sat at my friend’s side while she was dying and we wrote words like snow and shed wings, I was witness and scribe. We wrote poetry together, She and I. We wrote poetry.
The Legacy I felt frozen at first. As things went worse for his body there was a kind of condensation— like distilling our future into a very tiny space. Ever ything became condensed into moments of closeness. I became a better person. I stretched. Sometimes I wanted to sleep. Sometimes I wanted to hide. I was overwhelmed. I was envious of people. The humor we shared wasn’t about jokes. It was about being silly. You can’t be silly with just anyone. It’s a real loss. I knew the minute he died. It was like he shrunk into his body. The soul may linger for a while, But it didn’t linger in that body. What was left was left in our hearts, not in the bed. I came up with this amazing idea That everything now is surreal, And the surreal is the new reality. I just thought of something wonderful. No matter how long we were together, There was always more. I wrote a poem. Here are a few lines. Nothing of love is ever lost. You take each other in. Where you’re molded and remolded
The poem “The End Game” was particularly meaningful to my father while he was dying. The poem “Cherish” tells this story. “The Legacy” came out of the poetry and brain cancer project discussed earlier. In it, a wife of 25 years speaks of her role as caregiver (2).
Cherish My father is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. They’re replacing the clogged artery in his leg with a vein graft, also from his leg. The incision will run from his groin to his foot. If they don’t replace the artery, the toe will turn gangrenous, and he could die from infection. If they cut off the toe, the stump may not heal from the lack of circulation, so they have to replace the artery first, and the artery in the other leg, well, that can wait for now, but it will need replacement too, if he lives. My father called the other day. He told me a story from his childhood about a man who owned a one horse shay. The axle broke so he took it to the blacksmith to have it repaired. The blacksmith told him it would cost as much to repair the axle as it would to buy a whole new wagon, to which the man replied, “Well, if that’s the case, then they should build them so all the parts break at once.” “That’s what’s happening to me,” said my father, and I knew he was looking at his life straight and he could feel his death coming. “Yes,” he said, “I feel things closing down and falling away, and I wonder if it means I’m dying… that this is what dying is… things falling away.” I read him the poem “The End Game”, when Ruth Ellen tells me she’s “closing down…getting ready to die… I’m shedding like wings… beliefs, relationships… all falling.” “Yes,” he said, “maybe it’s the same.”
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October 2009
The Experimental Evidence Most of the experimental evidence as to the efficacy of Poetry Therapy comes through the literature on expressive writing. The seminal researcher in the field of the therapeutic uses of expressive writing is James Pennebaker (32,33). Pennebaker has shown that the use of expressive writing for as little as 15 min over 4 days has positive health effects as measured by visits to physicians and a diminution of symptom complaints. His original work deals with the use of expressive writing to heal wounds from traumatic stressful events. Pennebaker’s argument and the evidence for the efficacy of expressive writing is well stated in his most recent book Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval (33). In it he summarizes his argument for the therapeutic effects of expressive writing on the immune system (34); medical health markers with asthma, cancer, and arthritis patients (35); and decreased physiological stress indicators in the form of lower muscle tension, drops in perspiration levels, and lower blood pressure and heart rate levels. (36) He also summarizes the evidence for the psychological benefits of expressive writing in terms of positive short and long-term mood changes (37) and behavioral effects in the form of school and work performance. (38,39,40)
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The first fiddle in the Philharmonic Was late for a concert, so He hailed a cab. “Tell me sir”, he said, “What’s the best way to get to Carnegie Hall?” to which the cabbie replied, “Practice, practice, practice.” And so it is. Whether it’s the practice of medicine or the practice of yoga or the practice of using the healing powers of poetry, it is a practice that must be done again and again and again. I’ll close with a quote from Yogi Berra, The difference between Theory and practice Is that in theory They are the same, But in practice They are not.
Findings from numerous experiments have suggested that writing exercises can give a whole array of health benefits including reductions in emotional and physical health complaints (37,41,42), and enhanced social relationships and role functioning (43). On the other hand not all investigators have found positive effects using writing, and not all people who wrote showed positive benefits (35). Some writers have shown skepticism (44). In 2002, Lepore and Smyth published The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Well-Being (34), which is the most comprehensive review to date on the research into the efficacy of expressive writing. It presents cutting edge theory and research, and points students and scientist to new avenues of investigation. It also presents how clinicians are beginning to translate basic research into practical applications. The book is divided into four sections: 1. an overview; 2. the therapeutic effects of expressive writing and adjustment to life stressors (including work with cancer patients, expressive writing and blood pressure, working with children and alexithymia); 3. emotional, cognitive and biological processes; and 4. new directions and clinical applications. Overall, the research on poetry therapy in general and expressive writing in particular is promising. Recognizing the need for additional research, the National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT) and Lapidus (the Association for the Literary Art in Personal Development) located in London are planning a multi-center research study on the efficacy of Poetry Therapy with cancer patients. Also, NAPT is embarking on a multi-center clinical research study attempting to assess the efficacy of Poetry Therapy on post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans (see NAPT below).
In Conclusion I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve certainly had some kind of experience. You may or may not understand it, but ask yourself whether you have a better sense of being in the dialogue on illness, death and dying. How do you already use your capacities for poetic expression in working through these
questions? If on the other hand, you just skipped directly to this conclusion, here’s something for you too.
Resources: The National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT) According to the NAPT, the definition of Poetry Therapy is the intentional use of the written and spoken word to facilitate healing, growth and transformation. The NAPT has been in existence since 1982. It’s predecessor was The National Association for Bibliotherapy. A survey of the membership reveals an interesting 25% split. Twenty-five percent of the members are mental health providers (psychologists, social workers, family counselors, etc.), 25% are medically trained physicians, nurses, etc., 25% are educators, and the last 25% are an assortment of artists, writers, building contractors and race car drivers, etc., who also share an interest in the healing power of poetry. NAPT has a training program in poetry therapy and an academic journal, Journal of Poetry Therapy. Please refer to the website for details. www.poetrytherapy.org. References are listed on the following page.
First published: Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2005 June; 2(2): 161–172. Published by Oxford University Press.. Robert Carroll, MD, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA Department of Psychiatry, Los Angeles, US. This article is online at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih. gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1142208
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References
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1. Williams WC. The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Vol. II (1939–1962). New York: New Directions Books; 2001. Asphodel, That Greeny Flower.
20. Alvarez A. The Writer’s Voice. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co.; 2005.
2. Carroll R, editor. The Art of the Brain: Twelve Portraits. Los Angeles, CA: Bombshelter Press; 2004.
22. Adams K. Journal to the Self. New York, N.Y.: Warner Books; 1990.
3. Metzger D. Writing for Your Life. San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins; 1992. 4. Metzger D. Tree. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books; 1992. 5. Metzger D. Entering the Ghost River. Topanga, CA: Hand to Hand; 2002. 6. Wagner S. The Andrew Poems. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press; 1994. 7. Silver A. Bare Root: a Poets Journey with Breast Cancer. Los Angeles, CA: Terrapin Press; 2002. 8. Carroll R. What Waiting Is. Los Angeles, CA: InCorpus Press; 1997. 9. Gaetzman S. Blood Sugar. Los Angeles, CA: Last Leg Publishing; 2000.
21. Carroll R. Cherish. Los Angeles, CA: InCorpus Press; 1996. 23. Fox J. Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making. New York, N.Y.: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Putnam; 1995. 24. Fox J. Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making. New York, N.Y.: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam; 1997. 25. Mazza N. Poetry Therapy Theory and Practice. New York, N.Y.: BrunnerRoutledge; 2003. 26. Integrative Medicine Packet. 2004. The National Association for Poetry Therapy web site www.poetrytherapy.org (click on What’s New). 27. Chavis G, Weisberger L, editors. The Healing Fountain: Poetry Therapy for Life’s Journey. St. Cloud, MN: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.; 2003.
10. Kaufman J. Passion and Shadow, the Lights of Brain Cancer. Los Angeles, CA: Bombshelter Press; 2002.
28. van Meenen K, Rossiter C. Giving Sorrow Words: Poems of Strength and Solice. Des Moines, Iowa: National Association for Poetry Therapy Foundation; 2002.
11. Writing as a Healing Art (special section). Poets and Writers Magazine. 2001. May–June.
29. Leedy J, editor. Poetry as Healer: Mending the Troubled Mind. New York, N.Y.: The Vanguard Press; 1985.
12. Spann C, editor. Poet Healer: Contemporary Poems for Health and Healing. Sacramento, CA: Sutter’s Lamp; 2004.
30. Gross G. Deconstructing Death. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 2003;16(2):71–81. June.
13. Charach R, editor. The Naked Physician: Poems about the Lives of Patients and Doctors. Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Quarry Press; 1990.
31. Coulehan J. First Photographs of Heaven. Troy, Maine: Nightshade Press; 1991. The Man With a Hole In His Face.
14. Belli A, Coulehan J., editors. Blood and Bone: Poems by Physicians. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press; 1998.
32. Pennebaker JW. Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York, N. Y.: Guilford Press; 1997. Revised Edition.
15. Campo R. The Healing Art: A Doctor’s Black Bag of Poetry. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co.; 2003.
33. Pennebaker JW. A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.; 2004. Writing to Heal:
16. Campo R. The Poetry of Healing: A Doctor’s Education in Empathy, Identity and Desire. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1993. 17. Campo R. What the Body Told. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press; 1996. 18. Coulehan J. Medicine Stone. Santa Barbara, CA: Fithian Press; 2002.
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35. Smyth JM, Stone AA, Hurewitz A, Kaell A. Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized trial. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association. 1999;281:1304–1309. 36. Pennebaker JW, Hughes CF, O’Heeron RC. The psycho-physiology of confession: Linking inhibitory and psychosomatic processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987;52:781–793. 37. Lepore SJ. Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1997;73:1030–1037. 38. Cameron LD, Nicholls G. Expression of stressful experiences through writing: Effects of a self-regulation manipulation for pessimists and optimists. Health Psychology. 1998;17:84–92. 39. Lumley MA, Provenzano KM. Stress management through emotional disclosure improves academic performance among college students with physical symptoms. Journal of Educational Psychology. 2003;95:641– 649.
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40. Klein K, Boals A. Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2001;130:520– 533.
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34. Lepore S, Smyth J. The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Emotional Well-Being. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association; 2002.
41. Greenberg MA, Stone AA, Wortman CB. Health and psychological effects of emotional disclosure: A test of the inhibition-confrontation approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1996;71:588– 602. Call Gai 9336 3707 www.clservices.com.au
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42. Pennebaker JW, Colder M, Sharp LK. Accelerating the coping process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1990;58:528–537. 43. Spera SP, Buhrfeind ED, Pennebaker JW. Expressive writing and coping with job loss. Academy of Management Journal. 1994;37:722–733. 44. Greenlaugh T. Writing as therapy. British Medical Journal. 1999;319:270– 271.
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CSA profile
October 2009
Whatever it takes!
WELLNESS NEWS 19
Cathy Brown
A personal cancer story by Cathy Brown
It is hard to imagine that in 1989, a tiny red dot on my arm could have changed my
life so dramatically. I had always been very careful with my skin and very aware of melanoma – over the years I had several dark moles removed from my body – ‘just in case’. So when the small ‘pimple-like spot’ appeared on my arm, I was not worried as it didn’t look anything like the brochures warned. I knocked it a couple of times and it really stung, so I went to the doctor and showed it to him. His comment was “No, that’s alright, don’t worry about it.” I insisted that I wished to have it removed (I’m not too sure why I insisted – I just knew I would be happier without it.) His comment to this was “Oh alright, if it will keep you happy.” The following day he rang me up to ask if I could go and see him in his surgery as he had just been contacted by the laboratory saying that the biopsy was malignant. What a shock. When I saw him, he had already made an appointment with a plastic surgeon to remove a greater excision – just to make sure that they had got it all. After visiting the surgeon, I was in hospital the next day – the results of this test confirmed that as far as the doctors were concerned, they had removed all of the offending melanoma. Life went on pretty normally for another six months until I had an uncomfortable feeling under my arm. After getting this examined by the doctor, I was assured that there were no lumps and that it might have been a pinched nerve reacting from my previous operation. I accepted this and carried on quite happily for a further four months until I broke out in the most disturbing blisters, all over my legs. Back to the doctors - where I was placed on antibiotics on one visit, steroid cream on another and finally on the third visit, two other doctors were called in to inspect the blisters. They hadn’t seen anything like it before, so suggested I be sent to a dermatologist. I saw the dermatologist the next day and suggested to him that it could be from my melanoma (I had also suggested that to the other doctors), he assured me that it was not – he wasn’t sure what they were, so he cut one out and sent it off to be examined. When he rang me up with the results, he said that it was a condition called Bullis Pemphigoid – but don’t worry, it won’t kill me. It was usually seen in very old people and was rare. After questioning him why I might have it at the age of 33, he was unable to give me an answer, but said that it was extremely rare. After a couple of weeks the spots started to disappear – I was glad to see the end of them – I was told if they reappeared, that they would try steroids to see what would happen.
“Cancer is a challenge – something you can conquer. Use it to make changes in your life – the things you have always been going to do. Do them now and change them now. Be open to things you may never have explored before.” Cathy Brown was diagnosed with malignant melanoma twenty years. Her determination to beat cancer, her wisdom and her grace have been an inspiration to the CSA community for two decades. Cathy will facilitate the coming Gawler Foundation 12 Week Cancer Self-Help Programme – Cancer, Healing and Wellbeing – which commences at CSA in February 2010. You can register your interest with reception. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn Ian Gawler’s cancer healing methodology from an inspirational woman who is a living example of how a powerful will to live combined with the commitment to do ‘whatever it takes’ can literally cure cancer.
About the time the spots disappeared, I noticed that the tightness under my arm was getting worse and I wasn’t sure whether or not I could feel some swelling or Continued on next page...
of the Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
20 WELLNESS NEWS
October 2009
...from previous page
not. Within a week or so I knew it was not my imagination. When I lifted my arm up, a golf ball size lump would appear – when I put my arm down, it would disappear – not to be found. I was having a small skin cancer removed by the same plastic surgeon, so I asked him about the lump – he suggested I return to my GP who examined me and recommended that I see a surgeon at Fremantle Hospital. I saw the surgeon on the Tuesday – after examining me he stated that I did have a large mass under my right arm and that it would have to be removed immediately. He spoke to another surgeon who had informed him that the operating list for Thursday was full – his answer to this was “Get rid of someone.” It gives you a horrible feeling when you look down at your file and see a big red URGENT sticker on it. This is when I knew things were starting to go very wrong for me. I mentioned the Bullis Pemphigoid to him and asked his opinion. He told me that my immune system was so locked into fighting the tumours that it had broken down and that this was the way in which it showed. At least I had an answer now – not that I was thrilled with the reason! I was in hospital for 5 days after having the operation on 3 May, 1990 – it was very hard staying optimistic during these days, but always in the back of my mind I was waiting for someone to walk in and say, ”Sorry, this has all been a big mistake and there is nothing wrong with you.” That person never turned up! When my husband Lynton and I went back on the following Friday for the official results, it was like being sent before a judge to see if the verdict was ‘guilty or not guilty’. What had I done wrong in my life to deserve this treatment – it just wasn’t fair – why me? The anger was starting to surface at the injustice of it all. My daughter Carolyn was eight years old and my son Hayden was only six. It just wasn’t fair! The doctor was very nice after keeping us waiting for over two hours – my nerves were shot. The results had come back and the report stated that from the group of lymph nodes removed from my right axillary, metastatic tumour was present extensively in two of them. The largest mass was about 5cm in diameter. A third node was having mild reactive changes only. Most of the following conversation was a blur. The words that stuck in my mind, after asking how long I had to live were: “I’m not sure – maybe a couple of months or a couple of years.” My next question was: “What will finally finish me off.” His reply was that it would go either to my liver or my lungs. I was told I was being referred to an Oncologist so that he could follow my ‘progress’. Chemotherapy would not be recommended because in my situation it was found that it didn’t work and as I was young – with a young family – I was better off going home and enjoying the time with my family while I was well. Two days later it was Mothers’ Day – that would have to be one of the hardest days of my life – facing my children and not knowing whether this was my last Mothers’ Day – what would they do next year when everyone at school was preparing gifts for their mothers – the pain in my heart was incredible.
I woke up during the night shaking – the images that would flash through my mind can only be appreciated by someone who has been in this situation – there are no words in the English language that can accurately describe what I went through. I went to see my GP for help – his answer was to prescribe Serapax (a sedative) for my nerves and just send the family to see him if they needed anything to help them cope. When I went to see the Oncologist, he looked at my file, shook his had, clicked his tongue in a disapproving manner and simply said, “You’re in the hands of fate.” As fate would have it, I am thankful to those doctors for being so blunt with me and triggering off something inside of me that said “If fate has anything to do with this, I’m going to give it all the help it needs!” I received a wonderful letter from a lady who had heard of my story from my aunty – her husband was given a 50/50 chance of surviving melanoma 2 ½ years previously and after taking responsibility for the management of his own illness, was now happy and well. She advised me to contact the Cancer Support Association where she assured me that I would find a most loving and wonderful group of people who understood where I was at. Two other suggestions were to see Lee Reinett, a brilliant Naturopath and also to read Ian Gawler’s book “You Can Conquer Cancer and Louise Hay’s book “You Can Heal Your Life”. This is just what I needed. I rang the CSA straight away and was invited to attend the Tuesday morning group. My next phone call was to the naturopath and I managed to get in to see him on the following Monday. I was willing to eat cabbage leaves for the rest on my life or stand on my head three times a day - if that was deemed necessary. I was so relieved when I met the Naturopath – I had a wonderful array of foods from which I could choose. Body, brushing, castor oil packs, magnetic treatment and vitamin therapy were the order of the day. His accuracy when reading my eyes was incredible. It was almost as though he had read my medical history from when I was a baby. I was so convinced that he had an incredible understanding of the chemistry of the body, that I decided to follow his instructions to the T. For the first twelve months of my recovery, not one thing passed my lips that wasn’t on my food list. It really wasn’t that hard because my desire to live was far greater than my desire for junk food. On the Tuesday I attended the CSA with a friend – I had counseling and found that although I felt I didn’t need it, I got great insight into the probable reasons why I developed the disease. This was a very big help to me. During the meeting with other cancer clients, it was great to be able to relate to people who knew exactly how I was feeling and they gave me empathy instead of sympathy. The mediation was great and to find a library full of books about healing was like finding a gold mine. I meditated every day and intend to do so for the rest of my life. Through the CSA and also the Naturopath, I was informed about a Cancer Patients Retreat to be held in a week’s time. This was also a very big part of my recovery. We were taught the Silva Method of Mind Control and in between sessions, we were informed about other methods of complimentary medicine. This I found very interesting. There was a guest speaker about Bach Flowers, allergy testing, diet and also a Reiki Channel.
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October 2009
Reiki is hands-on healing and when the channel did a session on me, I felt as though she had touched more than my arm – I felt so at peace. I had seven more Reiki sessions and finally decided to become a Reiki Channel myself. I find this to be a very important part of my life now and it helps me continue to be positive about all aspects of my life. I felt like a sponge – willing to read everything and anything which could help me – there were piles of books by my bed. After ready these I said to my husband – “I could be doing some pretty weird things in the next twelve months” to which he replied “I don’t care what you do as long as you get well”. This is a very important part of my recovery. To have a support person who may not necessarily understand all that you are doing but to know that you have the freedom and support to try anything that might help – without criticism. Another big thing is not to just try to conquer cancer but to actually commit 110% of yourself into the project. Look on it as a challenge, as something that you can conquer. Use it also to make changes in your life – things that you have always been going to do. Do them now and change them now. Be open to things that you may never have explored before. After attending for regular check-ups with the Oncologist and having regular chest x-rays, he informed me that he didn’t find a need to see me anymore. This was only 22 months after having the secondary tumours removed from under my arm. The last twenty years have been exciting years in my life and I find it hard to believe it all happened because of a little red dot on my arm.
WELLNESS NEWS 21
12 Week Cancer Self-Help Programme – Cancer, Healing & Wellbeing Cathy Brown is an endorsed leader and will be facilitating The Gawler Foundation 12 Week Cancer Self-Help Programme – Cancer, Healing and Wellbeing. Consistent with the principles of integrated medicine, the programme applies a self-help approach designed to improve both quantity and quality of life. This enables participants to make informed, effective choices and better manage their own healing journeys. Each 2.5 hour session is interactive, supported by handouts and focuses on a specific theme from You Can Conquer Cancer. There is plenty of time to practice techniques as well as opportunity for discussion and questions. Date: Wednesday, 3 February, 2010 10am to 12.30pm Venue: Cancer Support Association, 8 Railway Street, Cottesloe Cost: $350 per person. Bookings: 9384 3544
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Shop 9 Subiaco Square Shopping Centre, Subiaco. Phone 9381 3999 of the Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
22 WELLNESS NEWS
October 2009
Exercise Boost for
Breast Cancer patients by Anne Harding
From Tai Chi to movement therapy, regular exercise, which can enhance mood and emotions, is being touted as the latest cancer treatment breakthrough.
Exercise can help women going through any stage of breast cancer treatment to feel better both physically and emotionally, a new research review shows.
“It helps enhance mood and emotions during all phases of cancer treatment,” lead investigator Dr. Susan R. Harris, an emeritus professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told Reuters Health. Recent studies showing that active breast cancer survivors reduce their risk of disease occurrence - and are less likely to die from the disease - make the case for exercise even more compelling, added Harris, herself a two-time breast cancer survivor. She also noted that being active can help ward off weight gain, which is known to increase breast cancer mortality, especially for women who gain weight after undergoing treatment. Harris and her team reviewed nine controlled trials, in which similar patients were randomly assigned to the exercise group or to a “control” group. The studies evaluated a wide range of physical activity, from aerobic exercise and resistance training to Tai Chi, dance and movement therapy, and gentle exercises done in a seated position. Overall, the researchers say, the findings provide “strong evidence that exercise positively influences quality of life in women living with breast cancer.” But it still isn’t clear what type of exercise is best for a woman according to the stage of her treatment, they add. Certain questions about safety also remain, Harris noted in an interview. For example, advanced breast cancer may spread to the bones and make them more fragile, so it’s not clear that resistance exercise is safe for these patients. However, according to the researcher, aerobic exercise is “completely safe.” While some experts have raised concerns that exercise could worsen lymphedema, the swelling of the upper limb experienced by some breast cancer patients after surgery or radiation treatment, those fears have not been borne out, she added. Breast cancer patients should understand that they don’t need to exercise every single day to benefit from physical activity, Harris advised. There are times in the middle of treatment when a woman may simply feel too exhausted, she said, and on those days, it’s perfectly OK to stay in bed. Despite the clear benefits of exercise during breast cancer treatment, the researcher noted, doctors often don’t give these patients recommendations on physical activity. “It’s been kind of a black hole because oncologists don’t know what to recommend, although they’re getting better at it,” Harris said. ✦ From: www.mindfood.com
at CSA with Master Andrew Lim Every Wednesday from 1:30pm to 3pm in the Sun Room at CSA Cost $5.00 (CSA members) or $10.00 per class Phone CSA reception for more details on 9384 3544. Bookings not necessary.
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October 2009
Exercise lowers risk of cancer Adults who are regularly active, whether through exercise or work, are less likely to develop a range of cancers, a new study suggests. The study, which followed nearly 80,000 Japanese adults for up to a decade, found that regularly active men and women had lower risks of developing any type of cancer. When the researchers looked at specific types of cancer, they found that exercise was linked to lower risks of colon, liver, pancreatic and stomach cancers. They also found that the protective effect was strongest among normal-weight men and women - supporting the theory that physical activity helps lower cancer risk at least partly through better weight control. Dr Manami Inoue and colleagues at Japan’s National Cancer Center, in Tokyo, report the findings in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers followed cancer incidence rates among 79,771 men and women who were between the ages of 45 and 74 at the outset. Between 1995 and 1999, study participants were surveyed about their physical activity levels, diet and other lifestyle habits; the researchers then followed them through 2004, documenting more than 4300 new cancer diagnoses. Overall, according to the researchers, the risk of developing any cancer dipped slightly as participants’ activity levels climbed. On average, the most-active men were 13 per cent less likely than the least active men to develop cancer; the most-active women had a 16 per cent lower cancer risk than their sedentary counterparts. The link held true when the researchers accounted for a range of other factors, including participants’ age, weight, smoking habits, daily calorie intake. Physical activity was defined not only as leisure-time exercise, but also the amount of time participants typically spent walking, doing physical labour and housework. “Our results suggest that increased daily total physical activity - not only exercise - may be beneficial in preventing the development of cancer among Japanese men and women,” says Inoue. The researcher also pointed out that Japan’s population is a relatively lean one and that the relationship between physical activity and lower cancer risk was weaker among overweight study participants. It’s thought that exercise may help prevent cancer, in part, by controlling body fat. But physical activity also has other effects that could theoretically stave off cancer, Inoue and colleagues point out.
WELLNESS NEWS 23
Spring is here & the wildflowers are out... Why not go bushwalking? It’s never too late or too early to start bushwalking. Bushwalking can be done at a number of varying intensities and is easily tailored to the abilities of the participants, whether they are 3 or 83. Even if you have participated in very little activity in the past, starting to do some bushwalking can set you on the road to improved health. People who enjoy regular bushwalks often: • Live longer • Are less likely to have a heart attack • Feel more energetic • Manage their weight better • Have a healthier blood cholesterol level • Have lower blood pressure • Have stronger bones and muscles • Experience increased joint range of motion or flexibility • Feel more confident, happy, relaxed and able to sleep better • Have an improved sense of well being PLUS you experience the joy of being away from all the stresses and noise of daily modern life, enjoying the fresh air and beautiful views of Australia’s natural landscape and fauna. Group bushwalking also provided a wonderful opportunity to meet new people with similar interests and learn from experienced walk leaders about the plants, animals and landscapes you visit.
Why not start your bushwalk in the Kalamunda National Park in the Perth Hills. This is where the famous Bibbulmun Track starts – and then winds 1,000 kilometres south to Albany.The Bibbulmun Track is rated as one of Australia’s best hiking trails. Walking trails in Kalamunda National Park take you along Peisse Brook and though forests timbered with marri, wandoo and jarrah. Granite boulder outcrops are common, making the scenery particularly striking. If you’re lucky you might see a kangaroo, echidna or bandicoot, while native birdlife thrives, making Kalamunda National Park a good place for bird watching. The park is a short walk from the centre of Kalamunda township, which is popular for its village atmosphere and monthly farmer’s markets. Kalamunda National Park is located within the Darling Range, about a half an hour drive from Perth.
By Amy Norton. From: www.mindfood.com
of the Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
24 WELLNESS NEWS
October 2009
Nutrient Rich Recipe Brings Healing Mango Bisque with Mixed Berries and Fresh Mint
“I love mangoes!”
Imagine a bowl of gorgeous blackberries and red raspberries swirling around in the hue of a most lovely sunset with specs of life giving green. Your palate experiences a taste sensation that transports you to a few moments of, “Ah, am I dreaming?” Your body reacts with a burst of energy and at this juncture, you become very conscious over the fact that what you put into your body does make a world of difference. What is special about this fruit recipe? Let`s explore the amazing health enhancing properties of blackberries, raspberries, oranges and mangoes.
Ingredients for the Bisque
Both blackberries and raspberries possess polyphenolic compounds such as ellagic acid, quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyanins and cyanidins. Raspberries are highly effective anti-viral agents. The particular nutrients in raspberries are used by the body to support the kidneys, the liver, the eyes, the blood and the digestive system. Regarding the nutrient profile of raspberries and its positive effect on the digestive system, this latter-stated information is even more vital since 80% of the immune system is located there. If experiencing detox through what is termed a cold or if you are having throat challenges, consuming blackberries is a great thing to do.
• Berries (a mix of blackberries and red raspberries) • Fresh peppermint or fresh spearmint
Oranges contain phytonutrients of citrus flavanones, anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acids and a variety of polyphenols. Polyphenols have antioxidant, anti-viral, anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and anti-carcinogenic effects. To date, researchers have found that an orange has over 170 varying phytonutrients and more than 60 flavonoids.
Now that you have the bisque, you are almost finished. For each of 2 servings, use 5 to 6 ounces of red raspberries or blackberries or a combination of both. For that je ne sais quoi, add 1 tablespoon(for each of 2 servings) of minced fresh peppermint or minced fresh spearmint.
Mango is high in iron and rich in amino acids (for the production of proteins). Mango also has these seven nutrients of copper, riboflavin(vitamin B2), folic acid, niacin(vitamin B3), potassium, magnesium and vitamin C. Here are seven additional nutrients it contains: flavonoids, beta-carotene(pro-vitamin A), vitamin E, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur and pyridoxine(vitamin B6). Mangos are also high in pectin which is useful in lowering blood cholesterol levels. They are terrific for relieving indigestion. The nutrients of mango fruit are used by the body to support these following organs and systems: stomach, immune system, brain and heart. Every day, all of us make choices that either create body wealth or create body destruction. Become what we like to call a Nutritarian. This is what we consider to be a person who creates body wealth. Remember, it`s the Farmacy that all of us need and not the Pharmacy. Ready to receive all of the wonderful health-enhancing benefits and fantastic flavor that this Mango Bisque with Mixed Berries and Fresh Mint has to offer? Time Saving Tips: Be sure to take out oranges and lemons from the refrigerator (if you have them stored there) at least 8 hours before you plan to prepare the Mango Bisque. There is a higher juice yield from room-temperature citrus fruit. This recipe makes enough for 2 large-size portions or 4 medium-size portions.
• Mango flesh = approx. half a kilo (this weight is after the skin and seed are removed) • Orange juice freshly squeezed = 1 cup • Lemon juice freshly squeezed = 2 tablespoons • Honey = 2 tablespoons
Ingredients for the Garniture
Directions for the Bisque Puree the bisque ingredients until smooth. Use a heavy-duty highpowered blender. A blender pitcher with stick motor attachment will also work (known also as a hand blender). Equally divide the bisque between 2 bowls.
Directions for the Garniture
Notes *To get the half a kilo of mango flesh, do obtain one and a half kilos of mangos. If the mango variety you choose is quite fibrous, up the weight a bit because you don`t use the mango fibre in the recipe, and you want to make sure you have enough useable mango flesh to make the bisque. * If using a fibrous mango, simply puree the mango and squeeze the mango puree through a nut-milk bag to separate the pulp. * A ripe mango will yield to slight pressure. Black speckles may appear on the skin, and this is a sign of ripeness. * Hulled red strawberries are very delicious in the bisque either alone or mixed with the red raspberries and blackberries. * Use a honey that is pure, unprocessed, unfiltered and unheated. In addition, you can obtain honey that is certified organic. *Best flavour and best nutrition come from produce which is in-season, locally-grown, freshly picked, ripe and organically-grown. Always keep in mind this high standard, and do the best you can. This recipe creation is by Dianne Wawrzyniak-Marshall. Via YouTube video, Dianne brings you alive, healthful, largely plant-based food-prep recipe-demoing action: www.youtube. com/ToLiveWellNow
www.cancersupportwa.org.au environment • wellness • healing
October 2009
SPRING
WELLNESS NEWS 25
Chickweed, violet & dandelion salad
s d a l a s
Ingredients
Spring is the ideal time for leafy salads infused with the avours of fresh spring owers
3 cups Chickweed 3 cups grated carrots (4 or 5 medium carrots) Add any of the following: *Watercress *Violet leaves and flowers *small Dandelion leaves and flower petals *chopped Wild Leeks
Method Toss everything together. You can serve it marinated or with dressing on the side. Sprinkle with Violet flowers and Dandelion petals. From: www.prodigalgardens.info
Spring salad with jasmine flower vinaigrette Ingredients 1 tsp lemon juice 5 jasmine flowers 1 tsp Dijon mustard 3 tbs apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 8 cups home-grown mixed salad leaves (such as baby endive, baby spinach, baby rocket, coral green and baby beetroot leaves) 1 cup edible flower blossoms (such as lemon, nasturtium, pansies, violets, violas and borage)
Method Place lemon juice, jasmine flowers, mustard, vinegar and oil into a small bowl. Gently mix to form a creamy dressing (the flavour from the jasmine flowers will add a touch of sweetness to the vinaigrette). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Wash and dry salad leaves then tear into bite-sized pieces. Remove stems and then wash flowers gently. Just before serving, whisk dressing then drizzle over salad leaves. Toss to combine then sprinkle with flowers and serve. From: Notebook: magazine, October 2005, Page 178
Chickweed
Chickweed is excellent as a base for a wild salad, meaning it provides the bulk of the green in place of lettuce. It has a sweet gentle flavour without a hint of bitterness and yet it is a powerful healer. As a healing food chickweed is useful in weightloss and lowering cholesterol. It also makes an excellent salve, useful for all manner of skin ailments. It is used as a poultice for dissolving skin tumours because of its high saponin content, a safe eyewash for conjunctivitis and other eye problems. It can even be used on newborn babies, as it is a very safe, gentle, mild herb. It grows anywhere but will thrive in gardens, landscaped areas and backyards.
Email your healing recipes and food news to the Wellness News editor: editor.wellness@yahoo.com.au
of the Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
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28 WELLNESS NEWS
October 2009
Newly Discovered Role of Vitamin C in Skin Protection There’s much debate in scientific circles about the properties and value of vitamin C, not to mention controversy over whether or not such ingredients can have an actual impact on your skin or not.
In this study, ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (AA2P), a vitamin C derivative, was found to promote wound healing and helped protect cellular DNA against damage caused by oxidation. Oxidation, caused by free radicals, is associated with premature aging of your skin. Antioxidants like vitamin C may offer protection against this kind of damage, which bodes well for natural cosmetics. It’s important, however, to realize that since nearly everything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body, you need to investigate ALL the ingredients in your personal care products. The fact that something contains vitamin C is no guarantee that it’s beneficial. Many brands, including so-called all-natural brands, will oftentimes include other harmful ingredients. Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet offers great advice on how to optimize the look and feel of your skin from deep within.
Cleaning Your Skin From Within Although advertisers would want you to believe that a beautiful complexion can be purchased in a jar, truly radiant, blemish-free skin is the result of clean, healthy living. The first step is to make sure your blood is continuously supplying healthy nutrients to every cell in your body. This is no easy task in today’s world. You’re assaulted with toxins from a multitude of sources, so cleansing your body of these dangerous substances while putting in the finest nutrients is essential. The good news is that your body is constantly in a cleansing mode and was created with the ability to push out toxins as long as you supply it with the energy to do so. By eating a healthy diet that is suitable for your nutritional type; focusing on whole, bioavailable organic foods, is your number one strategy for helping your body to detox naturally.
Six Organs That Keep Your Skin Healthy The six organs responsible for providing you with beautiful skin include your: • Liver • Kidneys • Adrenals • Thyroid • Large intestines • Small intestines Your liver and kidneys are the two organs that filter out impurities on an ongoing basis. If your diet is less than ideal, these two organs can easily become overtaxed. Sitting on top of your kidneys are your walnut-sized adrenals. Often called the “workhorses” of the body, they make many essential
Scientists have uncovered a new role played by vitamin C in protecting the skin, which could lead to better skin regeneration. A form of vitamin C helped to promote wound healing and also helped protect the skin cells from DNA damage. Even though vitamin C was discovered over 70 years ago, its properties are still under much debate in the scientific community. However, antioxidants such as vitamin C are known to counter the damaging effects of free radicals. This new evidence suggest that, in addition to ‘mopping up’ free radicals, vitamin C can help remove the DNA damage they form if they get past a cell’s defenses. These findings are believed to be of great relevance to the cosmetics industry.
hormones including pregnenolone, DHEA, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Healthy hormones are an essential ingredient when seeking energy and beautiful skin. A well-nourished, energetic thyroid also provides hormones and works closely with your adrenals to create energy. Dry, flaky, sluggish skin is evidence of a weak thyroid. Your liver, kidneys, adrenals and thyroid are also dependent on the condition of your small and large intestines. These two organs not only provide nutrients to other organs, but they are also responsible for the removal of waste products from your body. When waste meant for elimination remains in your intestines your skin becomes thick, oily and blemished.
Foods that Promote Beautiful Skin Green foods that promote healthy liver function include chlorella and dark green leafy veggies, such as: • Kale • Spinach • Dandelion greens • Broccoli Other foods known to contribute to healthy skin include raw and virgin fats and oils. Coconut oil is especially good for your thyroid. You’ll also want to include plenty of mineral-rich foods (dark green leafy veggies, ocean veggies and seafood) and antioxidant-rich foods (black currants, blueberries) in your diet. By keeping your insides healthy and clean, your skin will have no choice but follow suit and mirror your internal state.
From: ww.mercola.com, 3rd October 2009
www.cancersupportwa.org.au environment • wellness • healing
Groups & activities at CSA...
October 2009
WELLNESS NEWS 29
A weekly group held every Tuesday at CSA from 10am – 12noon. Anyone who’s life has been affected by cancer or other life threatening illnesses is welcome to attend.
Meditation Made Easy weekly meditation classes with Bavali Hill Every Monday at CSA from 10am to 11.30am. Newcomers welcome. Cost: Free for CSA Members, $5 for non-members. No booking necessary.
in the Sun Room at CSA A gentle, holistic, relaxing class with Sydel Weinstein Tuesdays 9.30 – 10.30am. Suitable for beginners.
Grief and Loss Support Group at CSA Last Wednesday of each month. 1-3pm. This open support group is for anyone experiencing grief as a result of losing a loved one to cancer. Join us for an opportunity to share these feelings with others in a safe and compassionate space.
FREE FOR MEMBERS. $10 NON-MEMBERS.
CSA Laughter Club
HE WHO LAUGHS LASTS!
with Kimmy O’Meara At the CSA every Wednesday morning 11.45am to 12.45pm. Cost: CSA Members $3; Others $5. For enquiries phone CSA of on 3544. the9384 Cancer Support Association of WA September 2008 Cancer SupportMagazine Association www.cancersupportwa.org.au
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contact cancer support association... 80 Railway St, Cottesloe, Western Australia. PO Box 325 Cottesloe WA 6911 Australia Phone 08 9384 3544, Fax: 08 9384 6196. Email: csa@cancersupportwa.org.au Web: www.cancersupportwa.org.au
Wellness News magazine is published by the Cancer Support Association of WA Inc (CSA). Wellness magazine contains a diverse selection of articles and information on subjects related to cancer, wellness and healing. The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the CSA and should be not be construed as medical advice. CSA encourages readers to be discerning with information presented and when making treatment, dietary and lifestyle choices. © Copyright of all articles and images remains with individual contributors.