The Inaugural #gyncsm Chat

All gynecologic cancer survivors, caregivers 

and health care providers

are cordially invited to join us for the

 inaugural #gyncsm tweet chat

September 11, 2013

9pm EST/ 8 CST/ 6PST

Advocate Moderators:

Christina Lizaso @btrfly12

Dee Sparacio @womenofteal

Health Care Advisors / Moderators:

Rick Boulay, MD  @journeycancer

Don Dizon , MD @drdonsdizon

MJ Markham, MD@DrMarkham

Dr Ann Becker-Schutte @DrBeckerSchutte

Dr Matthew Katz  @subatomicdoc

Organizations:

Society of Gynecologic Oncologists

Tamika and Friends

Chat Topics for 9/11:

Treatment of gynecologic cancers by gynecologic specialists

Ovarian Cancer awareness/ symptoms

Chats will occur monthly on the second Wednesday of the month. ( Sep 11, Oct 9, Nov 13, Dec 11.)

Please follow @gyncsm , #gyncsm 

If you are not familiar with twitter I will be posting details about how join twitter and follow a chat. Be sure to check back in the next week for more information.

I am thrilled to be a part of this undertaking and want to thank everyone who has helped establish this chat. 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

A New Grandson- TJ

Last week I welcomed a new grandson into my life and my heart. Thomas Jacob weighed in at over 8 pounds with a full head of hair. Both he and my daughter are doing well.

I feel so lucky to be well enough to help my daughter with this new little fellow and his big brother JT.
I think you will agree he is a cutie pie.

Over the next few weeks my postings on this blog will be limited. Now you know why. 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing! My life is blessed by JT and Thomas. 

Ovarian Cancer Survivor Course - 9/21/13 NJ Location

I am happy to provide the information about the Foundation for Women's Cancer Ovarian Cancer Survivors Course which will be held a Morristown Medical Center on Saturday September 21, 2013. It is a free course and is open to survivors, family members, caregivers and others interested in learning about ovarian cancer. Topics to be presented include Screening and Early Detection, Clinical Trials, Recurrent Ovarian Cancer , Nutrition, sexuality and cancer and patients perceptions on survival.

Click on the image below to view the complete list of speakers and topics and to print out the course brochure.

To register online click here.

Having attended survivor courses in the past and always came away learning something new.  I would be attending if not for a previous engagement that day. Go RU beat Arkansas!


Dee
Every Day is a blessing!

Board Certified Pharmacists

In May I was asked by the communication's department at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to take part in a video project for the Board of Certified Pharmacists. The video was featuring my pharmacist, Mike, who was an important part of my health care team when I was in treatment. I wrote about him in my post "A Special Member of My Team".

I though you might want to see the finished project.




Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

#gyncsm - A Gynecologic Cancer Community on Twitter

In January this year I wrote a post titled "New Years Aspirations" for the SGO Blog page. The post  listed what I aspired to do in 2013. One of those aspirations was to help set up and participate in a regular tweet chat for gynecologic cancer survivors. I have taken part in a number of #bcsm (breast cancer social media) chats and thought it would be helpful to have a chat for women with gynecologic cancers.

In early July, I read an ASCO Connection article, "Hashtag Folksonomy for Cancer Communities on Twitter" by Matthew S. Katz, MD.  Dr Katz, who also participates in #bcsm, was thinking along the same lines I was in January. In the article, he speaks about developing a hashtag nomenclature for building online cancer communities and for sharing information and news. I recommend reading that article and the comments provided by advocates and health care professionals to learn more. You might also be interested in reading Hashtags:High Time or Half-baked.

Over the past few days I have been a part of an interesting conversation among a number individuals 
( @womenofteal @SGOChrissy @drdonsdizon @subatomicdoc @DrMarkham @journeycancer @colleen_young @btrfly12  @tamikafelder @LurieCancer ) interested in developing a community for those diagnosed with gynecologic cancers.I am excited to announce that we are moving forward with a gynecologic cancer community on Twitter.  @btrfly12 has set up a twitter account for @gyncsm and the hashtag  #gyncsm ( gynecologic cancer social media) will be used for the online community of gynecologic cancers including cervical, endometrial, ovarian, primary peritoneal uterine, vulvar, and vaginal. There is still work to do regarding moderators, topics, date, time etc. so the start date for the Tweet chat is not yet finalized. If you are on Twitter be sure to follow @gyncsm for more information.  I will post additional information on this blog also.

Social media like Twitter is wonderful for sharing experiences, news and other information but there are drawbacks. Things posted on Twitter are public so there may be women who will refrain from participating due to a lack of privacy. Also a single tweet is 140 characters so at times it may be difficult to convey a complex topic but posting links may allow sharing of this type of information. I feel in the long run that the benefits will outweigh the negatives an I look forward to the first chat.


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

Surgery Vs Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

In the July 2013 European Journal of Cancer there appears a article titled:

Which patients benefit most from primary surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage IIIC or IV ovarian cancer? An exploratory analysis of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer 55971 randomised trial.

The Abstract appears here.

The study looked at data from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) trial which randomized  670 women to receive surgery first or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Neaoadjuvant treatment is a treatment given to shrink a tumor before treatment. The treatment could be chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation. In this study only chemotherapy was used as the neoadjuvant treament. The study also examined biomarkers to see if they could predict whether surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy was best. The study endpoint was overall survival.

Results: The study found women staged IIIC or less and smaller ( < 45 mm) metastatic tumors had higher survival rates with surgery first. Women at stage IV with large ( >45mm) metastatic tumors had better survival with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. For other patients the treatments were comparable.


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

8 Years and Counting

This post will also be appearing on the SGO blog page.

I don’t know who coined the term cancerversary but I have been using it for a few years. For some survivors their cancerversary is the anniversary of the day they were diagnosed with cancer. Yet for others it is the anniversary of the day they finished treatment.

I celebrate my cancerversary on the day I was diagnosed. I remember that day quite vividly. I also remember the words my gynecologic oncologist, said to me in the hospital recovery room. It was around noon on Friday, July 29, 2005. She said,  "Dee, I am sorry. I found ovarian cancer. You are stage 3B.” Then she went on to say, “But I will do my best to make you well." And that is what she and her colleagues at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of NJ have done. They made me well in 2005 and again in 2008 when I recurred on my liver and spleen. They continue to make me well to this day helping me through the side effects of chemotherapy and dealing with the fear of recurrence. They are my lifesavers.

As I celebrate my eighth cancerversary on July 29^th I want to thank my gynecologic oncologists, Dr. Gibbon and Dr. Rodriguez and all gynecologic oncologists who provided such outstanding and compassionate care to me and countless of women diagnosed with gynecologic cancers.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!