Contributing Author - David Haas with a word about Cancer Support Groups

Cancer Support Groups

According to the American Cancer Society, cancer support groups are known by several different names. Group therapy, group psychotherapy, psychosocial interventions, and psychosocial treatments are four examples. Cancer support groups, by any name, are invaluable tools in the cancer treatment arsenal. While they are not treatment, in and of themselves, they are effective resources for helping patients cope with their disease. Cancer provides a unique experience for each and every person, whether one is diagnosed with breast cancer, a rare aggressive disease like mesothelioma, leukemia, or another malignancy. The journey is different for everyone, and the ways in which people cope are different, too. All cancer patients need a good support system, and cancer support groups are the best way to address that need.There are many different kinds of cancer support groups, and they vary in makeup, structure, and activity. They often include people with the same cancer type or treatment type. They may be ongoing or time-limited. Some support groups are open to patients only, while others welcome family members and caregivers into the fold.Support Groups And Group TherapyCancer support groups are sometimes considered group therapy and, in many ways, they are very therapeutic. But they differ from traditional group therapy. Licensed counselors (therapists, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers) usually facilitate traditional therapy groups, but cancer support groups are led by their members. Typically, they are led by cancer survivors or trained professionals from within the group.Group therapy tends to be long and involves in-depth personal growth, while cancer support groups gather to address immediate concerns and manage current situations. Support groups can be held just about anywhere and, unlike group therapy, they are usually free to join. Community Support GroupsCommunity support groups are a good way for cancer patients and survivors to become active in their own cancer community. Meetings are held in hospitals, churches, schools, community centers, and group members’ homes. Cancer treatment centers can provide the names of local cancer support groups. National groups with local chapters include the American Cancer Society’s “I Can Cope” program, the Cancer Hope Network, and Gilda’s Club.Online Support GroupsOnline support groups are the ideal support network for cancer patients and survivors. For people experiencing treatment side effects, or those who cannot leave their home for another reason, online communities are the way to go. Internet support groups and discussion forums allow patients to maintain their anonymity. They can share their fears, frustrations, and feelings honestly with people who understand what they are going through. Whether patients face treatable skin cancer, breast cancer surgery, or a mesothelioma prognosis, cancer support networks can provide comfort, support, hope, and knowledge of the disease one is going through. Research has shown that support groups reduce anxiety, relieve stress, and improve quality of life.

By: David Haas

You can reach David via email at davdhaas@gmail.com or visit his personal blog at http://haasblaag.blogspot.com/

Wow...it has been a long time!

Well, as you can all see, Sophia Hope was welcomed to our family on November 29th. She weighed 8.11lbs and was 20 inches long. It was an amazing day and Madelyn is just loving being a big sister. I am so sorry it has been so long since we updated, but, life has been chaotic with a newborn in the house. It seems like ages ago that Madelyn was this small:) Madelyn has been doing great. We are attending open houses for Kindergarten because, although she misses the public school cut off to turn 5 and start school by 19 days, we are planning on placing her in a private school for kindergarten. She will stay in the school that she is currently in for Pre-K and is very excited. She is doing so well academically, she is reading, writing doing math problems and is just amazing!

Her next scheduled check up at the clinic is in April. If all comes back well at this check up they will have us back for checkups yearly instead of every 6 months....very exciting, but very scary! At Madelyn's 4 year old check up they discovered that her hearing was not normal. She has a hard time hearing anything below 15 decibels on the left ear and 30 decibels on the right ear. We are scheduled to see the ENT on Wednesday. The audiologist confirmed that the hearing problem is in the middle ear on the right side. We will find out more at the appointment on Wed.however, our concern is that this hearing loss developed during chemo. We will update when we know more.

The local Non-profit that we volunteer for and Rick serves on the board for has a local consignment shop that donates a portion of all their proceeds to them. Their name is Palmetto Thrift Store. They are doing a large advertisement in the local Columbia magazine and Madelyn will serve as their "poster child". We are very excited and are going to the photo shoot on Monday.

Having a new baby in the house is so great! I forgot what it was like to be sleep deprived, smell like spit-up and change what seems like 10,000 diapers a day, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It is a different situation to be a new parent again. I find myself at certain points questioning Sophia's health. I freaked myself out the other night, because I was convinced that her right eye looked droopy like Madelyn's did. With Madelyn, our first year was a whirlwind. If you asked me when she talked first or when she sat up or rolled over or crawled, I wouldn't be able to tell you without looking at pictures and dates. During that time frame, my main concern was when her next chemo was scheduled or our next appointment at the clinic or what her blood counts were. I am really trying to step back and just enjoy all the wonderful, amazing things that come with having a newborn and really have to consciously tell myself that "Sophia does not have cancer too...just enjoy your beautiful girls!!"

Thank you so much for checking in and we love you all!!

The Bell Family (which has now extended:))

Kenny McKinley with Madelyn in 2008

Kenny McKinley in December 2008 at the annual "Evening with the Gamecocks", an event to bring awareness to the pain and tragedy of pediatric cancer. He is pictured here with my daughter Madelyn. He was very gracious and Madelyn thought he was awesome. His death comes on Madelyn's 4th birthday. God, we pray that You... bring peace to his family and friends and show us the purpose of this tragic loss.

First Day of Pre-K

First day of pre-K, or better known around our house as "big girl school". She is growing up way too fast for us.

Madelyn Goes to the Driving Range

Madelyn's 1st golf outing...enjoy! For her first time out and never having swung clubs with this much weight, I was amazed. I rotated it in quicktime, but it didn't take on the upload. took over half an hour to upload, so "twist it!" (you'll get the reference once you watch)

Just a Quick Note

We hope you all are doing well and we continue to thank you for checking in. Madelyn is doing great. We believe she saved the "terrible twos" up to really let us have it in the threes!!!:) She is full of spunk, personality and has her own agenda...and she won't hesitate to tell you what it is. I tell Rick she takes after him and he tells me she takes after me...go figure!!! Our next checkup is on April 15th. We are on 6 month intervals now, so if everything goes well, we won't need to go back until October!!

We had the opportunity to participate in the USC Dance Marathon last weekend. Every year they have a 24 hour dance marathon and all the money goes to the Palmetto Health Children's Hospital (This is the hospital that Madelyn was treated at.) They raised $144,000!!!!!!! We spoke to the dancers and told them Madelyn's story and tried to explain how important the money is that they raised for the hospital and without it, there wouldn't be nearly as many happy endings! There were 1,000 dancers and they all did a cheer for her. At first she was shy, but by the time we left, she was on stage by herself hoola hooping!!

We are truly blessed for our healthy baby girl, our family and friends....all of you who still think of our family and check in on us. Thank you and please continue to pray for all those who are starting, in the midst or at the end of their battle against this terrible, terrible monster!!

We love you all!

Merry Christmas!

Hello all, I know that it has been a while, but like the old saying goes...no news is good news!! We have been wonderful, as you can see from the picture above, Madelyn is growing and doing wonderfully! We are getting ready to travel to NY for the holidays. We will be leaving Sat. and coming home in 2010!!!:) We will also get to have dinner w/the Carolina Gamecocks and coaches on Thursday...this is always fun to see the kids get so excited to see "real football players". Funny thing is, I don't know who gets more excited the kids or the parents:) Check up at the clinic scheduled on Wednesday, normal check up w/catecholamine levels tested. Blood tests from weeks ago were normal as well. Of course, we will let you all know how it turns out. In the meantime, please have a fabulous Christmas and remember what this season is about. Thank you God for all of our friends and families and the blessings that you give us every single day! Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

We love you all,
The Bell Family

Scans are negative!!!

Scan results came back with no issue and VMA/HVA came back as well and are on par with what they have been, No more scans for the foreseeable future!!! Just wanted to drop a quick update for those of you that are checking here. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Rick

2 more weeks for scans!

Hello all! Just wanted to drop in and let you all know we are having a fantastic summer. We've been to NYC, my brother's wedding, the beach for a few days and are truly just enjoying our family! Maddy is scheduled for her ckup at the clinic along with a EKG & Echo following her checkup on 8/18. MRI is scheduled for 8/21 at 7:30am. Please pray that the scan proves negative and Ms. Maddy is still cancer free!!! I will update with the results as I get them.

Thank you for cking in and please keep praying!
The Bell Family

I know...it's been way too long!

Well the old saying, no news is good news rings true here in the Bell household too. Madelyn has been doing great. Growing and learning and amazing us everyday! The last ckup at the clinic went really well. She actually allows the Drs. to examine her now. But poor, poor Nurse Trisha can't get w/in 5ft. of her to take blood pressure, height, weight and temperature. She screams, yells, cries, kicks and hits until she moves away from her. I have now become an expert at doing all of these things for them, b/c she puts up a fight w/me, but if they all leave the room, she let's me do it:) Dr. Kevin said he went back and read her chart front to back before our last ckup and said that she is amazing and truly is a miracle to be here today. That really is an eye opener on this side of treatment and coming from your Oncologist!

I had an opportunity to volunteer last month at Camp Kemo. It is a camp that the Children's Hospital puts on for 1 week and is for all kids that are in treatment or are finished with treatment and their siblings. It was AMAZING!!! I knew a lot of the people but met so many more wonderful people that volunteer their time for a whole week to give these kids 1 week of normalcy and fun! Of course, Drs. and nurses are there on standby in case they are needed but other than that they do so much stuff...swimming in the pool, firemen come w/a fire truck, they take boats and jet skis out on the lake, camp fires, woodworking, arts & crafts and so much more. It was such an amazing experience that I am going to be a camp counselor next year. I am so excited and figure I'll get the training out of the way next year and then when Maddy turns 4, she can go and be a "Peanut". Then we can do this together for 1 week a year. That will be our thing to do and I am so looking forward to it.

We have become really involved in Children's Chance. Rick is now a board member and I try to volunteer and do what I can as much as possible. Our family is representing Children's Chance in their Run/Walk fundraiser next week. I'm not really sure what that entails but who cares! We get to walk and raise money for such an awesome organization!

We went to NY a couple weeks ago for my brother and Liz's wedding. Maddy was the flower girl and was so stinking cute. She did so good and I was so proud of her. While we were there we also had 2 days to visit New York City. Kaitlyn was with us this time and we had a blast. We saw so much and spent great time together. We are back now and trying to get back to normal. Madelyn's next check up is Aug. 18 w/an Echo & EKG and then an MRI on Aug. 21. Dr. Kevin said if that turns up clear, then we will move out to 6 month ckups at the clinic instead of 2 and 6 month MRIs. If we do that for 1 year and everything still turns up clear, then we will sit down and talk about what to do next. Stop MRI's all together or go yearly, we'll see. Rick and I talked and said we would be fine stopping them all together and just doing VMA/HVA to monitor. Not invasive and all it takes is a urine sample and that should be a good way to monitor catecholamines. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Thank you all for checking in and for all your continued thoughts and prayers. I will try to do better about updating more often. Life is good and time just gets away from us. Trying to enjoy all the good stuff in life!!!

Lots of love,
The Bell Family

Just a quick update!

Thank you all for stopping in. We just wanted to update you all and tell you that Madelyn is doing great. Last week she had strep throat again...5th time in 4 months. Needless to say, our new pediatrician, Dr. Haile, who Madelyn absolutely LOVES, thinks that she may be a carrier for strep. We have to go next Thursday to get her last 2 immunizations and to have her tested to see if she is a carrier. If she is, we will need to decide whether to have her tonsils out or not. We had our ckup at the clinic on Tuesday. They said that she is growing like crazy and looks great. The physical went well, Dr. Pirich said she didn't feel anything abnormal. Her lymph nodes were a little swollen, but that goes along w/the strep from last week. We go back in June for a ckup and then again in August. Her next MRI is scheduled for August and if that all comes back clear they said we may just follow VMA/HVA and not do MRI's. We will find out the results of this weeks VMA/HVA in a week or so. I will update then. We are all anxiously preparing for my brother's wedding in July and can't wait. I ordered Madelyn's flower girl dress the other day and can't wait to see her in it.

Madelyn has definitely come into her own. She is opinionated and doesn't waste a second on telling you what she thinks and how she feels. It is so amazing to watch her grow and yes, frustrating at times. I actually find myself arguing, bar taring and trying to reason w/a 2 year old all the time! She is doing great w/potty training. We wear our Princess/Dora panties at home and b/c she gets distracted at school she wears a pull-up, but we are working on that.
Other than that life is great and we are thankful everyday for our healthy little Madelyn Grace. I am planning on taking her to Disney on Ice at the end of this month and then her dance recital is on 5/9. I will definitely post those pictures!

Thank you so much for checking in. I will try to do better at updating more often.

All our love,
The Bell Family

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MRI proves continued NED!

Well, if you read the title, I am sure you can guess how the MRI went. We showed up @ 9:30 as the nurse told us too, but found out after getting there her table time was 9:30, so were really supposed to be there at 8:00am. This entire MRI this time has been a scheduling NIGHTMARE, but it all ended well. She did great w/the sedation and was VERY loopy well into bedtime. Couldn't walk very well, her legs were wobbly and she was talking so funny and making no sense. Dr. Kevin came and examined her in the Pediatric Sedation room we were in b/c she wasn't very with it. He said she was doing great and if scans came back clear, we wouldn't see them again until April. We were home by 3:00 and Oncology called me by 5:00 to tell me the scans were clear! We are so relieved and continue to pray for all of those families who are starting or are in the midst of their fight. We do ask for all of your prayers for our pastor and his son, Jonathan, click here to visit his website. He was born w/a malfunction in his heart and has had 2 open heart surgeries and is not even 4 weeks old yet. He hasn't been home yet and continues to fight. PLEASE visit his site and leave Larry and Nan some words of encouragment and of course say some prayers, b/c we sure know that prayer works!!

We love you all and thank you for your posts and emails!
The very happy Bell Family!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all are spending the day with the ones you love! I sure am, we had a pleasant day toodeling around the house doing household chores, then Maddy and I took a nap and now we are going out to "have fun" as she likes to call it. Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day and let you know Madelyn's MRI is Monday. We have to be at the hospital at 9:30 and then meet w/the Oncologists after to review the scans. Please pray that all goes well while she is sedated, remember she has to be sedated more than a normal child having this scan b/c of her reaction to Propofol. Also, of course, please pray that the scan is negative for any disease! We love and appreciate you all for cking in on us!

God Bless,
The Bell Family

Update on VMA/HVA

Good preliminary news for Madelyn's 6 month checkup. Her catecholamine (VMA/HVA) results are back. They are normal and her VMA is the lowest ever! This is a good non-invasive indicator that nothing major is going to be seen when we do MRIs later this month. We still need to proceed since cancer works at a cellular level and we may not be able to see what isn't shifting her catecholamine levels. Any way, this is good news and hopefully the studies will show the same thing, that Madelyn continues to have no evidence of active disease.

Love and thanks,
The Bell Family

First 2009 Update

Everything is going well so far in 2009 with the Bell family. Madelyn is continuing to develop well. There are no apparent medical concerns right now. No colds, flu, etc. and the dreaded C word is not rearing it's ugly head right now. Our 6 month scans are a little delayed. They were supposed to be next week, but due to forces outside of our control, we're getting pushed back to 2/16. A word to everyone who has to deal extensively with health organizations. You must manage your own care!!! They are generally unreliable when it comes to organizational skills and requier constant oversight. Sheila asked for Maddy's MRI to be scheduled in November and was not done. Six phone calls and repeated assurances from the staff at the hospital still didn't get it done. We've let that go and will wait another 2 weeks or so to hopefully get some good news.

Sheila is extremely busy as the housing market, while in news reports is still gloomy, seems to be picking up. Contracts and closings are again hitting the schedule and we're quietly optimistic that 2009 will be better than 2008.

Work at the Cross continues to be challenging in every way, the technology challenges as well as the politics. 2009 has been fun so far and it's hard to believe that January is almost over.

We know not as many of you still visit this site, but we appreciate those of you who still stop by every now and then to check on us...or honestly, check on Maddy.

Sheila and I seem to be spending more time on Facebook than this blog, and if you're on please look us up. We're trying to get FB and this blog linked so we can have one stop shopping for our friends.

Thanks to all of you and we love you all for thinking of us.
Rick, Sheila, Kaitlyn, and Madelyn

Hope you enjoy our Christmas card to you all!

Just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. Per the last ckup, Madelyn is doing great. Our Oncologist had best physical exam she has ever had. VMA/HVA came back normal and we are scheduled for her 6 month MRI the end of this month, the 27th. We are staying in SC for the holidays. We had originally planned to go to NY this year, but my mom started a new job and couldn't get the time off, so my brother and Liz are coming here. We are all doing ok through this difficult time of year. Madelyn had her clinic Christmas party at the zoo a couple weeks ago and we also had dinner with the Carolina Gamecock's last week. We met the team and Steve Spurrier and had pictures taken.

Kaitlyn is here through the week and we are having a blast. Feels cold enough for snow tonight, but we just got through 75 degree weather all week. Supposed to go back up to 70's for Christmas eve and Christmas day. Maybe we'll go to the park or something, just feels plain weird!:o) Going to Christmas Eve service at church and then Liz is making us an Italian Christmas dinner. I'm really excited and then we are having dinner at Rick's mom's house Christmas day. Maddy has seen Santa a couple of times and got pictures. She asked for a "Thomas the Choo Choo" for Christmas. We'll have to see if she gets it. She say's "Santa brings me toys if I am a good girl", it's really cute!

Merry Christmas, God Bless and remember the true meaning of the season!
With love,
The Bell's

Merry Christmas to all!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sorry it's been so long...

Well, we made our 12 day trip to NY for my best friend Corrie's wedding and my other best friend Erin's grandmothers funeral. Madelyn and I were both in the wedding and it was awesome. Madelyn did really well, at the end of the evening she got fussy, but it had been a long day for all of us. Other than that, she got to see the blizzard of snow as we left NY on our long 14 hour drive back to SC. We followed snow plows out...how appropriate! As you can see she was a little pirate princess for Halloween. She went trick-or-treating for the first time and loved it. She is growing so fast. Everything is normal...going through the "terrible, terrible two's" as I like to call them. She has her own attitude, way of doing things and agenda and if it doesn't go along w/what she wants...WATCH OUT!! We are working on this. She loves school, she is still only going 3 days a week, but she loves it and asks to go on the days she isn't there. She is taking ballet and Rick asked her the other day, "Do you like ballet?" and she answered "I LOVE ballet Daddy". She knows so much I can't even begin to type it all, well I'll type a little: Counts to 50, counts to 15 in Spanish, knows all of her months, all of the days of the week, of course her alphabet and can spell her first, middle and last name. She can write an M, A and a D. She likes to write 9 too.

Well our next ckup with the clinic is Nov. 25 so we will update when we hear that everything is still good! Thanks for cking in and please keep praying for all those families in the midst, those who have not begun and for those who have lost their battles to this awful disease.

Happy Birthday Little Miss Madelyn!

First I want to say, each and every minute that we have with Madelyn Grace truly is a blessing. Watching this little miracle turn 2 this weekend was amazing, we are so thankful for her and every blessing in our life.

So, Madelyn is now in Preschool and absolutely loves it! She can name each and every one of her friends at school and both of her teachers. She talks about them every day and can't wait to get there. She still gets a little upset when we drop her off, but she is getting used to it. I think I am getting used to it too, b/c I don't cry that much anymore either!:o)

Madelyn's birthday weekend started on Tuesday. My friend Cathy and her 4yr old son, Parker, Madelyn and I all went to Charleston to see The Backyardigan's Live Show. She of course loved it and couldn't get enough. She danced and sang and when Pablo would go off the stage in his dancing red shoes, she would scream, "Paaaaaaaaabbbbllloooooooo, where are you?!" She was so cute and got a t-shirt, Tasha barrettes and a glowing Backyardigans wand. (She's not spoiled)

We then had a fun little Blue's Clue's birthday party at Madelyn's school on Friday. My brother and Liz flew in for her parties and brought a surprise for us. Our great friends from NY's son, Mitchell who is 10 and is like a brother/son to us came with them. He had so much fun chasing and catching lizards. And Madelyn LOVES him. They chased each other around the house and she got so upset when they left today.

We had an Elmo Birthday party at the Bounce Around on Saturday and had so many of Madelyn's friends there. She had so much fun and is growing so much, in every aspect. Her emotions are at an all time high. She gets so happy, excited, sad, mad and ANGRY!! Phew, the tantrums that she can throw now vs. 6 months ago, don't even compare. She is learning so much from school. She had a couple different songs that she sings on a regular basis, she can count to 10 in Spanish and knows all of the days of the week. She got her first homework assignment on Friday. They are learning the classroom rules, so we have get to review them.

I have added some new pictures to the slide show. Enjoy and adore them, I do every single day!

Thank you for checking in and we love you all! Remember that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, pray for all those children who battle this horrible disease everyday.

With love,
The Bell Family