PLWC Pretoria hosted a very good training weekend.  Linda Greeff from Cape Town facilitated the training over the two days.

Here are some trainee feedback:

Jean Robinson

What an inspirational weekend !!!

Phumelele Zulu

I only realized when I was sharing with other trainees that I shifted the attention away from cancer into work after I was diagnosed with cancer in 2001. The week-end gave me a chance to reflect on how I felt then and also during and after chemo, surgery and radiotherapy. I was lucky in that I consulted a Psychologist before surgery; she gave me confirmation that I was stronger than cancer. Somehow I walked over it all this time.

The training made me realize that it is a giant step that I have taken, that is, to want to be a buddy. I am ready to take the first step to offering my support and share my experience with any person living with cancer that I will come across. Although I stay in Pretoria, I hope to go back to KwaZulu-Natal and share with more women and men even especially because it is taboo in my culture to talk about cancer.

I want to thank Dr Lotter and her team for arranging the training and also Linda Greef for empowering us.

Raynolda  Makhutle

I  became  one  of the previlaged and  honoured trainees to attend a  Buddy  Training this past weekend of the 7th & 10th March 2010. This course was facilitated with great insight and excellency by Linda Greef, the director and founder of  PLWC.

As a  cancer survivor I expierienced  a very eye-opening, inspirational, motivating and equipping weekend in Pretoria.
I  have learnt so much about the following:

. The  important role/approach  of  a volunteer  in giving support to people living with cancer.

. The  engagement of  Patient  Active  Model with newly  diagnosed  cancer  patients.

. Understanding  the ” Cancer  Buddy ” Program, Vision and Goals

. Being passionate in what  one is doing.

. Allowing  patients to draw an action plan (not  forcing one’s will).

. Allowing people to express their feelings and being  sensitive.  (Being there doesn’t mean you know it all)

This training has changed the way I used  to do, think and act.  Gratitude became my motto: ” knowing that one has to live to the fullest even after diagnosed, not die before”.  Being a cancer survivor  is a privilage.  I have learnt to apreciate life and the chance I was given to add value in the lifes of people who have lost hope.   I have learnt that  you don’t judge people, but understand what they are going through.

By being there for people makes a difference.  Caregivers/families feelings are also very important.  They have emotions and should be given a space to express their feelings.  We don’t have to focus on the survivor only.  A Buddy should  be sensitive and humble at all times.  There were moments where we cried together when sharing what everybody went through and some still going through.  Knowing that people experience pain in different ways, taught me to love unconditionally.

I  thank  The Almighty for providing us with Health Professionals and  Buddies who were in the training.  They gave motivation and words of wisdom to everyone there.

Once more this has been, and still is, a great achievement to be imparted with such knowledge.

THANKS    LINDA – YOU ARE A  LEGEND!

Panorama Hospital Entrance

Panorama Medi Clinic’s monthly cancer support group meeting will be held on Tuesday, 6th April 2010, 17h30 at the hospital.  The monthly meetings are on the first Tuesday of every month.

All welcome.

For enquiries:  phone Eldré on 076 775 6099 or email:  eldre@plwc.org.za

Email: dr.gjl@absamail.co.za
Phone: 012 343 5263

A reminder to everyone that our next meeting will be on Saturday 13 March at our usual venue, 18 Eton Road, Parktown.

We are very pleased to announce that our speaker will be Dr Owen Nosworthy a Senior Specialist Physician and Medical Oncologist at the Johannesburg Hospital and University of the Witwatersrand.

Dr Nosworthy obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Pretoria in 1999 completing his internship at the Johannesburg Hospital in 2000. He was awarded a Fellowship of the College of Physicians of South Africa in 2004 and subsequently his sub-specialist certificate in Medical Oncology in 2006.

Dr Nosworthy has been employed at the Johannesburg Hospital for 10 years and has during this time been involved in numerous activities in the Department of Medicine.  Dr Nosworthy enjoys practicing general oncology caring for patients with all cancer types.  He practices privately at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Best wishes

Chris Olivier

The absence of curative therapies for advanced or recurrent forms of prostate cancer mandates continued development of novel, more effective treatment regimens……

To read more:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1831540/

The Nelspruit branch of People Living With Cancer wanted to make a difference in their community and decided to host an outreach programme to women in their community to create breast cancer awareness and share information.

The support group was put in contact with Cause Marketing Fundraisers who offered their Educational Mobile Breast Check Unit truck to the group for a week.

The following extract was taken from one of the ladies from the PLWC Nelspruit Support group, Debbie Wille’s diary:

Locations were chosen with the help of Susan Breytenbach from Cansa Nelspruit. Some of these areas literally only have basic services and a clinic scattered here and there to service high volumes of people. A lot of the people of the community are not highly educated and live in poor conditions and very few can even understand English.

The team visited Hlau Hlau and a home base care centre (the care centre had no electricity, no glass panes in their windows, long drop toilets and very little furniture), Zwelishwa Clinic and the Langeloop Clinic.  They shared with the ladies knowledge, demonstrated and encouraged all to participate in the exercises and breast self-examination.  Even the nursing staff shared that they had learned a great deal which they did not know, and felt empowered to conduct breast examinations with the women.

When a woman has discovered a lump in her breast, she will need to be referred from a clinic to a hospital.  There are only certain days of the week that doctors are available for these consultations. Should they need to be referred for a mammogram, they will be referred to a hospital where there is a machine, if it is working. Their name would then be put on a list. This process could take a couple of weeks. Should the patient need further treatment, they would then be referred to Johannesburg or Pretoria.

There are private health care facilities available in Nelspruit where mammograms, sonar’s, chemotherapy and radiation can be done, provided you have a medical aid.

With the above situation in mind, the support group believe that if women were aware of their risks and have discovered lumps or changes in their skin, that they would know that they need to take action, and hopefully the cancer can be detected early and treated, increasing their survival rate.

The women are not aware of the common causes of breast cancer and what habits one needs to adopt to develop a healthy lifestyle. The support group believe that they have only covered the tip of the iceberg in their community, with regards to the outreach of making women aware. They need to spread the word and educate more women, who in turn will reach out and educate others.

They have started an initiative that they believe will grow from strength to strength.   The seed has been planted, now they need to nurture it.

STATISTICS FOR THE WEEK

Number of Ladies registered for the Presentation: 306

Number of Breast examinations conducted: 218

Some photos of the week:

CMF Team at Zwelisha

Ladies doing exercises - Hlau Hlau

Langeloop Clinic

Teaching ladies Zwelisha Clinic

Team and volunteers at Zwelisha Clinic

Sharing Thoughts

We had a special sharing Buddy group in January and these are some of the  tools we discussed to assist us in managing our own cancer journeys.

Home – The importance of having a sense of Home  when one faces the cancer journey.  Home is where we come to after a bad day for warmth. support, nurturance and safety – where you can just be you !!   It could also mean Home where we go to when we die… if you want.  Minnie Kriek shared a beautiful poem  by T S Elliot:

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

Acceptance of what happens to us when we have cancer and the trails and tribulations this brings to our experience , acceptance of our emotional roller coaster journey with all the reality of that and allowing for the sad, mad and bad feelings to be explored

Second Chance – Often having cancer is seen as a second change as it somehow makes us realise how precious live is and how much we have to live for,   somehow we did not embrace life  when we were cancer free….somehow having cancer makes us realise  how precious life is.

Forgiveness – The importance of forgiveness was discussed of ourselves and others.

Flexibility – is needed in how we live our lives allowing for more spontaneity and less rigidity, greater gentleness.

Physical Health -Realising the  gift of physical health when you lose it and struggle to get it back, the importance of healthy eating and choices when you are on treatment  and the struggle to keep this up.

Mind, Body, Meditation – really focusing on attending to  mind , body and soul as we journey the cancer journey and that this journey is different for all of us, we all need different things and we need to pursue what we need to heal our own mind body and soul.  Meditation is a tool to be used in this process but  a hard skill to acquire!!!,

Vigilance in the way we approach all we do being ever mindful of all the above issues.

Rest – the importance of rest and quite time when you are on treatment and recovering  as the body needs to rebuild itself.

Abundance is such an important tool as we need to focus on creating abundance in our life  by the way we live.   Abundance of love, joy laughter, family, creating memories and living in an abundant  way will enhance healing.

Play links in to abundance as it speaks to allowing yourself to be more playful and light,  even when things are hard and difficult make time to play and laugh and sing ,

Gratitude for small and big things, for support given and opportunities had.

Singing …..singing your life own song ………finding your song … what you need to be happy and joyful………..,

Effortlessness – try to do things with effortlessness.   Do not sweat the small stuff, accept help  and listen to your body ,

Honesty…….be honest about what you feel and need and look at ways of living more honestly as it frees you from  the burden of pretending to be strong !!

Listening to what your body says , what your docter says , what your heart says and needs.  Listen with your whole being, body, mind and spirit and respond to what you hear.

Self-Love, Unconditional Love – The importance of  loving yourself and  not blaming your body for letting you down.  Learning to love the broken body and what it can teach you!!  Loving others unconditionally too is important and working at important relationships are part of our healing journey with cancer !!

Inspiration…. find  this in your life , what do you need to be inspired , who inspires you and why !!,

Compassion – develop this in your life because if you do you will have more to give.  Also be compassionate with yourself !~!,

Discernment – decide what is important to you and pursue that.  These goals help you focus and are important building blocks in your healing process.

Emotions – allow for the expression of emotions, share them with your loved ones even if they are scary !!! ,

Stillness – make time to be quite and to reflect so that you allow yourself time to be refreshed.   When you are quite you hear your body and soul better,  you find peace easier and you are able to seek and work towards balance more proactively.

Present Moment Awareness is where we should focus as this is all that is sure.  Mindful living assist healing.

These are just some of the wisdom shared.  I am sure the group can add  more !!

Till our next group meeting.
Cancer  Buddy Greetings.

Introduction to the Community

I can honestly say it was an ordinary day, until I went to the loo. I remember feeling quite angry, because not only was I in the throes of menopause with hot flushes and all that, but my ovaries were doing a last ditch thing with a final period.  Just what I needed! But then, wait a minute, this looks a little different. Maybe I needed to see a doctor.  Arming myself with the smallest bottle I could find and a miniscule drop of the offending fluid, I set off to the doctor.  But just in case, I said to myself, “Minnie if the car is full of petrol, you can go to the doctor” and the car is full to the brim; “Minnie if there are no cars on the road…” and there isn’t even a pram on the road; “If there are no people in the waiting room, if the receptionist is very nice, if the doctor can see me now…” and the doctor does see me because my evasion tactics are all swept aside.  The doctor gently pokes me and gets on the phone to a specialist “There is a woman before me who is bleeding out, can you see her?”

Now I’m a little worried but I’ve got other stuff to do as well so I phone my husband and tell him to just deal with everything, and I’m off to the specialist.  He sees me immediately and on a sonar finds Mount Everest nestling gently on top of my kidney.  He says it might be cancer but to make sure I must go for a scan and he sommer follows me to the scanning people and tells them personally I must be scanned ASAP and now I’m scared.  Before I leave his office, he comes around and gives me a hug, telling me that he knows I’m scared but not to worry because I’m in good hands and then Faithful reader I knew I was in the dwang!

Back home I tell my husband, “Ek is in die @#$, ek dink ek het kanker” and we leave for a dinner date with friends. We have to leave early because I have to drink copious quantities of contrast medicine, Yummy!  Later that night I wake up in pain, phone the doctor after an hour’s walking about.  The emergency doctor recommends anti-inflammatory medication, I don’t think this is a good idea and phone the specialist’s practise.  The specialist’s partner books me into the hospital for pain management.  True to form, once I’ve spoken to the doctor the pain goes away but now there’s a bed waiting for me in the hospital so I wake my husband and we set of to the hospital which happens to be just down the road.

The next day is a bit of a blur but Dr B tells me it is cancer and it has to come out.  I phone my children and my brother and sister and send SMS’s to my friends, all very calm and doped up to my ears.  I go for a scan and by this time I’m nauseous, terrified and just miserable.

At about 5 in the afternoon, the anaesthetist, a red headed guy, comes storming in demanding where I am because he has a great deal to do to get me ready and he grabs my bed and off I go down the passage with the nurse still trying to write down whether I’ve got false teeth or not.  Once on the operating table he starts instructing everybody about what has to be done when I quietly but firmly say, “I’ve GOT to wee right now.” The theatre sister says, “Wel mevrou as jy moet dan moet jy’ and finds an old metal bedpan.  I think the anaesthetist is about to take off through the ozone layer because of the delay and I make the most ladylike little tinkle, hanging on to the sister for support.  And then I think I went to sleep.

When I wake up, I can’t breathe properly and start begging the person standing over me to please help me.  “But I em helpink you! Stop shifferink, I kan’t kovver you!” And I knew I have fallen into the hands of the last Kamp commandant of Auschwitz.  “Ve gheff vays of makingk you shtopp shifferingk, ja!!”  My stay with her is blessedly short and for the rest of that confused evening I’m in the care of a professional and caring nurse who takes off the blanket and puts it on again, depending on whether I’m shivering or boiling.

My stay in intensive care was short and mercifully fairly painless, thanks to a button that I could press to self-medicate.

I recover quickly and fairly soon I feel like myself again.  Unfortunately in the rush to get my kidney out, no-one notices that there is another tumour on my adrenal gland on the other kidney.  So a year later, I’m in another hospital and my adrenal gland is removed.  But now I’m ready for the Kamp Kommandant… anyone who is even maybe nasty will hear from me, I can promise you that!  And everyone is so sweet, “How are you feeling? Do you want me to stay with you while you wait? Ag shame, are you cold?”  So it seems that the Kommandant is the exception and not the rule, people who care for you in hospitals, as far as I experienced, are kind and caring.

It’s almost three years later and so far I’m OK.  I wish I could say that after my brush with cancer I look at life differently or that I’m a better person, but honestly, I think I’m still as difficult as ever and sometimes life still needs to be changed to meet my high expectations of instant gratification!  But I have learnt that it is OK to be vulnerable and that there is no greater favour that you can do for any person than to stop and listen to their story, because in the end we are all alone and a little afraid.