The Importance of Self Care
- Breast cancer survivor Danielle Fishel, who starred in the ’90s sitcom “Boy Meets World,” says seeing her two sons “thrive” and making time for self-care brings her joy in life.
- Fishel previously shared that she was diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer after undergoing a routine mammogram. She beat the disease after undergoing surgery, radiation, and daily medication.
- Stage zero breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ are abnormal cells that line the ducts in the breast. This type of cancer is non-invasive and is highly treatable if caught in its early stages.
- “Self-care is a way for you to treat yourself, to give back to yourself, that feels very different than being a patient,” licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin tells SurvivorNet.
- Whether you’re continuing to treat your cancer diagnosis, or have beat cancer, it’s important to include self-care in your overall care plan. Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health, and that is where self-care plays a key role. Make time for things that make you feel good about yourself and ease daily stress.
The new host of the American Idol Official Podcast, who has a four-year-old son Joseph and a six-year-old son Adler, exclusively told People that seeing her “kids start to thrive” makes her incredibly happy.
Read More“It’s a bare minimum that I owe to myself to keep myself active enough that I can do the things that bring me joy, like dancing.”
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Aside from her loved ones and her determination to never stop focusing on her self-care, she said her podcast hosting is also “currently sparking joy.”
Referring to her former “Boy Meets World” costars Rider Strong and Will Friedle, “Fishel said, “I love being with Rider and Will every single week.
“Being with friends who have known you since you were 12 years old, and are willing to support you through the highs and lows of your life, and now to be raising families together and to see them thrive, those kinds of relationships really remind you what life is about.”
Fishel hosts “The Boy Meets World” rewatch podcast “Pod Meets World,” the official American Idol podcast, and the nostalgia-driven “Teen Beat” podcast.
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Fishel also recently recounted having “absolutely no symptoms” prior to her diagnosis, during an interview with the magazine First for Women.
“The crazy thing is I had absolutely no symptoms. I had no inkling. I didn’t find anything,” Fishel said. “My stage 0 cancer was found on a routine mammogram.”
Fishel urged anyone hearing her story not to wait for symptoms to arise, explaining further, “I had a mammogram the year before that was clean, and when I got the reminder to book my next one, I did it right away.
“It would have been so easy to push it off because we’re all so busy, and it was summer and we had all these activities planned. It was the least fun thing to do, but I just went and got it done.”
She added, “I’m so grateful I caught it when I did, because even with stage zero, there is no easy cancer. I still had two lumpectomies, 20 days of radiation, and I have to take medication every day for the next five years.”
Self-Care Matters: Why Taking Time for Yourself Is Essential
“Self-care is a way for you to treat yourself, to give back to yourself, that feels very different than being a patient,” licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.
Whether you’re continuing to treat your cancer diagnosis, or have beat cancer, it’s important to include self-care in your overall care plan. Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health, and that is where self-care plays a key role. Make time for things that make you feel good about yourself and ease daily stress.
‘Self Care Is A Way To Treat Yourself’: Dr. Marianna Strongin on the Importance of Self-Care
Licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin previously talked about what it means to be a “cancer patient” and how self-care can help people step outside of that label. Being a cancer patient is “a difficult identity to have with you at all times,” she said. Cancer can be all-encompassing, meaning it can hijack your mental energy and fill your schedule. Dr. Strongin says that practicing self-care can help you take back control.
Dr. Strongin recommends thinking of self-care in the context of the things in life that bring you the most joy. It doesn’t necessarily mean pampering yourself. It’s more important to find opportunities to be playful and joyful to embrace the child within yourself.
According to Dr. Strongin, “Self-care allows (people with cancer) to take on a different role where they are proactively giving back to their body, giving back to their mind, whatever that might be.”
Self-care Is Closely Linked to Good Emotional Health
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) offers additional guidance for ways to practice self-care.
Regularly ask yourself, “How am I feeling?” and work through why you feel that way regardless of whether those feelings are negative or positive. For example, if you are feeling hopeful and optimistic, you may ask yourself why. One possible reason is that you have to have lunch with a close family member or a close friend. The same can be said if you’re feeling sad or angry; ask yourself why that is.
“Checking in with yourself is being mindful of what your body is telling you. The more you check in with yourself, the more aware you’ll be that you need a break. Sometimes, rest and quiet time is all you need to feel rejuvenated,” the NCI says.
Examples of self-care may include:
- Exercising
- Sleeping
- Maintaining a healthy diet
- Meditation
- Engage in activities that bring you happiness (hobbies, spending time with loved ones, etc)
- Practicing gratitude
- Staying positive
As we mentioned previously, self-care is closely linked to your emotional (mental) health.
Mental health refers to both your emotional and psychological well-being. Our mental health can affect how we think, feel, and behave. Certain triggers like stress, traumatic events, or changes in your physical health can affect your mental health. It’s really important to keep tabs on your mental health and, if necessary, seek treatment from a mental health professional.
Self-Care for Cancer Patients
Due to feelings of depression or lack of energy from treatments, sometimes it’s easy for cancer patients to forget the importance of taking care of themselves. Many try not to give in to the sickness, but it inevitably starts to affect your daily routine.
Breast cancer survivor Caitlin Kiernan, author of “Pretty Sick, The Beauty Guide for Women with Cancer,” shares her story of empowering other women to take better care of themselves during and after cancer treatment. Self care, she says, is not about beauty or vanity.
“You’re fighting for this life, and then you want to live it. And you don’t want to feel uncomfortable living it,” she says. “It’s not a vanity issue. It’s really a quality-of-life issue.”
Feeling Beautiful Isn’t About Beauty
After her cancer treatment, the beauty director gathered tips from experts she had worked with throughout the years and started putting her book together, not only inspiring others, but inspiring herself. “I mean, the whole point is you’re fighting to stay alive. Feeling beautiful isn’t about beauty. It’s really about just your own experience.”
Self-Care is About Mental Health Too
Remember, self-care is taking care of yourself physically and mentally. Although taking care of yourself physically can help your mental health. It is even more important to feel strong from within.
“We know actually, from good studies, that emotional health, quality of life, is associated with survival. “Meaning, better quality of life is associated with better survival, better outcomes,” oncology social worker Sarah Kelly previously told SurvivorNet.
“So definitely working on your emotional health, your physical well-being, your social environment, your emotional well-being, definitely working on those things and making them better are important and can impact your survival.”
Mental Health… How Are You Coping?
Danielle Fishel’s Breast Cancer Journey
On an earlier episode of the Pod Meets World podcast, which Fishel co-hosts with her “Boy Meets World” co-stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle, she revealed, “I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) with micro-invasion.”
She explained how she underwent two surgeries and follow-up treatment.
Fishel, who felt increasingly empowered to share her cancer journey, continued, “What I realized is the more people I talk to, the more people have had their own experiences, either themselves being diagnosed with cancer or a family member who’s been diagnosed with cancer.”
She expressed deep gratitude that her annual mammogram allowed her to detect the cancer before it had a chance to develop further.
In hopes that her story will inspire others, she added, “If it’s time for your appointment, if you’ve never had an appointment before, get in there. If you have to find out that you have cancer, find out when it’s at stage zero, if possible.”
WATCH: I Have Stage Zero Breast Cancer.
Understanding a Stage Zero Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Stage zero breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ are abnormal cells that line the duct in a breast. A normal breast comprises many ducts carrying milk to the nipple in a lactating woman. This type of breast cancer is not invasive, meaning it has not spread outside the milk duct and can’t invade other parts of the breast.
Some oncologists approach stage zero breast cancer with a watch-and-wait approach, meaning no invasive procedure happens immediately. Other oncologists may opt to perform surgery followed by possible radiation.
SurvivorNet experts say if DCIS is left untreated, it may develop into more advanced breast cancer.
However, it’s important to understand that treatment for early-stage breast cancer is one of the great debates—and recently, there was incredible progress in understanding whether women diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer either need treatment right away or can take a watch-and-wait approach.
A study recently published in JAMA Oncology, is saying that treatment for the disease is actually no better than active surveillance after a stage zero diagnosis.
Expert Breast Cancer Resources
- What is Stage Zero Breast Cancer?
- I Have Stage Zero Breast Cancer: What Should I Do?
- Why Active Surveillance is Being Studied for Stage Zero Breast Cancer
- 3D Mammography Detects 34% More Breast Cancers Than Traditional Mammography
- Bi-Annual Mammograms At Age 40 Now Recommended For Most Women, What The New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Mean For You
The research, shared in JAMA with the title “Active Monitoring With or Without Endocrine Therapy for Low-Risk Ductal Carcinoma In Situ – The COMET Randomized Clinical Trial,” is a large study that’s been looking into the benefit of active surveillance versus standard treatment.
As the COMET trial, which has been going on for years and is still underway, those who specialize in breast cancer say this study is incredibly important. Including, Dr. Ann Partridge, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the founder and Director of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer, who previously told SurvivorNet that DCIS is “a pre-cancer, technically.”
The standard treatment for DCIS is to remove it surgically and in some instances offer radiation as well. “But I think if a woman is seeing a physician who says you need surgery, I think it’s really important that she maybe get a little more information,” Dr. Partridge said.
This type of research has been put into place to help doctors decide whether doing less may be just as effective as doing more. In the meantime, the options are worth weighing depending on your individual diagnosis and concerns.
And we understand that these findings can be distressing to women who have already undergone surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation for early-stage breast cancer, it’s important to note that approximately 30 percent of women who initially receive an early-stage breast cancer diagnosis will end up developing metastatic breast cancer, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Additionally, Breast Cancer Research Foundation reports that women with stage zero breast cancer have a a high success rate of beating the disease, with a 98 percent survival rate after 10 years.
Dr. Partridge explained to SurvivorNet that stage zero breast cancer is, “Something that may turn into invasive breast cancer. Invasive breast cancer is the kind of breast cancer that has the potential to not only grow in your breast but to spread to other places in the body and ultimately hurt someone more than just needing a breast surgery.”
The current standard of care is treatment with either lumpectomy or mastectomy, radiation, and hormonal therapy.
Additionally, Dr. Chirag Shah, Director of Breast Radiation Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, says recent studies show that the risk of dying from stage zero breast cancer is very low, prompting some doctors to opt for less aggressive treatment and, even in some cases, active surveillance.
“Protocols, such as the comet trial, are studying the use of surveillance regimens, but this is not standard of care and is experimental at this time, and active surveillance is not something that we would recommend for patients outside of a clinical study,” Dr. Shah said.
Finding a Balance Between Screening and Treating
Dr. Alana Welm, of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, also told SurvivorNet that doctors need to find a balance between screening and finding cancers that actually require treatment.
Screenings lead to more people being diagnosed with cancer, and some of those cancers may have never caused an issue. Dr. Welm says treating these cancers exposes patients to unnecessary toxicities. Stage zero breast cancer, for example, can get picked up during screening but not all doctors see eye-to-eye on whether it requires treatment or just monitoring.
WATCH: Understanding a double mastectomy.
Breast Cancer Screenings
As for breast cancer screenings, a mammogram is the primary test doctors use to check for breast cancer. The wide consensus is that women should have annual mammograms between the ages of 45 and 54.
And while leading organizations like the American Cancer Society say women should have the option to begin annual screenings between 40 and 45, there is some disagreement among doctors as to whether this is beneficial.
For example, after saying for years that women shouldn’t begin mammograms until 50, an independent panel of experts called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently changed their guidelines to say that women of average risk should begin at 40.
Dr. Connie Lehman, a diagnostic radiologist who specializes in breast cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, says when you begin mammograms is a decision you should discuss with your doctor, as they can help you understand your specific circumstances and weigh the benefits and potential risks of earlier screening.
Follow That Fire: Life After Cancer Will be Different, That Doesn’t Have to be a Bad Thing
Your mammogram results may lead your doctor to recommend further testing with a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). If these tests suggest changes that might be cancer, you’ll need a biopsy a test in which your doctor removes a small sample of tissue and has it checked for cancer in a lab.
Only a biopsy can confirm or rule out whether you have breast cancer.
Although it can be frightening to go through breast cancer testing, SurvivorNet’s doctors say not to fret. It’s possible for a biopsy to find that a lump is benign or not cancerous.
If you do receive a breast cancer diagnosis, you’ll learn what type of breast cancer you have and the stage of the disease. The stage means how far in your body the cancer has spread.
Though most breast cancers are not linked to inherited genetic mutations, knowing whether you have a mutation could affect the type of treatment you get. SurvivorNet experts recommend all women who are diagnosed with breast cancer be given genetic testing.
Based on your test results, preferences, and personal circumstances (such as your age), you and your doctor will make decisions about how to proceed with treatment, which we have plenty of expert resources on.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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