Health Topics /

Cancer

How to know if breast reconstruction is right for you

Health Topics

Oct 22, 2018

If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, you’re probably thinking, where do I go from here? As you consider your options for surgery and treatment, you might also be considering breast reconstruction surgery. After a mastectomy, breast reconstruction can help...

Beating breast cancer at age 30

Health Topics

Oct 18, 2018

In my 33 years of life, I’ve worn many hats. I’ve been a student at Pflugerville High School, Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University. I’ve been a high school teacher for 12 years, as well as an assistant principal....

Caring for the whole patient through integrative medicine

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Oct 13, 2018

“You have cancer,” could be one of the most difficult phrases to hear. Those powerful words can leave anyone devastated. But if you or a loved one hears those words articulated by a doctor, know there is hope.After a cancer...

How nurse and patient navigators make your cancer journey easier

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Oct 4, 2018

A diagnosis of cancer is life changing. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the questions and worries: Am I going to be okay? How do I tell my loved ones I have cancer? Where do I even start? Beginning...

Helping cancer patients heal through the arts

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Sep 12, 2018

When Durba Mukhopadhyay, PhD, was diagnosed with lung cancer, she found comfort in a familiar source — art. Growing up in Calcutta, India, she and her three sisters often observed their mother and grandmother painting.“Our family is very much involved...

Why this hospital chaplain swims for cancer research

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Aug 22, 2018

As my 50th birthday is fast approaching, it has me thinking not so much about what the future holds for me, but for my 10-year-old daughter. I wish for my daughter a world with less strife and more understanding. I...

Innovating treatment options for pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer

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Aug 17, 2018

As cancer research continues to evolve, we continue to push the envelope to bring better, faster, more effective treatments to the forefront for our patients.One exciting recent advancement comes in the fight against pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. Often diagnosed in late...

What your doctor wants you to know about cancer screenings

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Aug 7, 2018

Most everyone has heard of cancer screenings, but it seems not everyone knows how they work. As a surgical oncologist, this news was startling. It’s important for not only my patients, but everyone to understand cancer screenings—from its early detection...

Pancreatic cancer survivor thankful for clinical trial that saved his life

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Aug 2, 2018

Dec. 15, 2015, is a day Patrick Koennecke will never forget. Now, he simply refers to it as “the date.”The 60-year-old Waxahachie, Texas, resident and warehouse manager was recovering from major back surgery when he began to notice a pain...

Why I started an inflammatory breast cancer support group

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Jul 24, 2018

When I found out that I had Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer, fear set in immediately. As my husband describes that period of our lives, “the wheels came off.” ­What felt like a typical life of going to work, driving...

How my cancer diagnosis taught me to live in the present

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Jun 3, 2018

It is said that you cannot change your circumstances, so in order to make peace with them, you must change the way you react to them. Receiving a cancer diagnosis was a circumstance that I could not change. The harder...

8 ways you can reduce your risk of cancer

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Apr 28, 2018

It seems like every year there’s a new study coming out about things that can increase your risk of cancer: sugar, toxic chemicals, alcohol and even French fries. While all of this may seem daunting, you can still lower your...

CAR-T therapy: Genetically re-engineering your cells to target cancer

Health Topics

Apr 17, 2018

What if we could treat cancer with limited chemotherapy, radiation and surgery?Thanks to years of research in the field of immunotherapy, for some patients, that hypothetical may now be a reality.Immunotherapy uses a patient’s own immune system to fight off...

Why the dreaded colonoscopy shouldn’t be so dreaded after all

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Mar 25, 2018

As people get older, there is often one thing at the very bottom of their to-do list, far behind getting a root canal, doing their taxes and all the other joys that come with age — getting a colonoscopy.It’s a...

5 ways you can support a loved one with cancer

Health Topics

Mar 12, 2018

In the face of a loved one’s cancer diagnosis, you may wonder how you could possibly help. You want to support them through their battle, but you just don’t know how. As they try to cope with the diagnosis, surgeries...

How to talk to someone with cancer

Health Topics

Jan 3, 2018

When someone you care about is facing cancer, often your first instinct is to help and comfort. But sometimes it’s hard to know the right things to say, or the best ways to help.While you may have the most heartfelt...

Pancreatic cancer: New research opens door to groundbreaking early detection system

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Dec 13, 2017

Baylor Scott & White Research Institute (BSWRI) unveiled its latest endeavor aimed at taking the fight against pancreatic cancer to a new level. BSWRI received a $5.13 million federal grant from the NIH to continue its work to develop an...

How a breast cancer scare changed Jamie Lee Curtis’ life

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Nov 2, 2017

After her doctor found a lump in her breast at age 40, actress Jamie Lee Curtis experienced the same gripping fear that hundreds of thousands of women face each year — the fear that she may have breast cancer.At the...

The Faces of Breast Cancer

Health Topics

Oct 30, 2017

In 2017, it is estimated that 30 percent of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancer, and that roughly 1 in 8 women will develop the disease during the course of her lifetime.But behind these breast cancer statistics...

With genetic testing, sisters take control of breast cancer

Health Topics

Oct 24, 2017

Diedre Lewis and her sister, Kimberly, were heading down an uncertain path in 2015. Diedre, then 44, was already undergoing treatment for cancer in both breasts when she started looking into how the disease ran through her family tree. She...