Dec22Jan23 Archives

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

You need more than sleep to restore yourself to the point where you feel well-rested. Prioritise yourself by focusing on getting the right type of rest you need to feel refreshed and re-energised. Rest and play are as vital to our health as nutrition and exercise. – Brené Brown We often complain about being exhausted with no energy to do the things we really want to do. How do we solve this problem? Getting more sleep is not the answer. We think we should be well-rested because we sleep eight hours every night but sleep and rest are not the same thing. According…

Complementary Therapy Breath awareness: bringing about a state of calm

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Fiona Hardie explains why correct breath is a fundamental pillar of health. Completely underutilised, underrated and ignored, our breath is the one thing that keeps us alive. An untapped resource. Without it we die. Simple as that. It’s important to understand how we breathe or are supposed to. Simply put, we breathe through our noses. On the inhale, air enters the nostrils, is warmed and travels through the trachea to arrive in the lungs. From there the oxygen is disseminated to the blood, organs, brain and all the cells to keep us functioning with optimal energy and efficiency. Our breath…

Skin Cancer Basal cell carcinoma

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Dr Nirasha Chiranjan, a radiation oncologist, unpacks the causes and warnings signs of basal cell carcinoma and the treatment and prevention thereof. With summer upon us, it’s important to remember that overexposure to the sun may have harmful side effects, including increasing your risk of skin cancer. Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a type of skin cancer that is locally invasive and causes destruction of the skin and underling bone. It has a low metastatic potential compared to the other types of skin cancers. The incidence of basal cell…

Frequently Asked Questions Pancreatic cancer: frequently asked questions

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) shares the most frequently asked questions by newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients. What are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer? Most people with pancreatic cancer (and nearly all people with ampullary cancer) will have jaundice (yellow skin and whites of the eyes) as their first symptom. Jaundice is caused by the build-up of bilirubin, a dark yellow-brown substance made in the liver. Other symptoms include light-coloured stools, dark urine, pain in the upper or middle abdomen and/or back, unexplained weight loss, feeling tired, and poor appetite. What is the cause of pancreatic cancer?…

Of the rare kind Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen – Few and far between

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen shares her plight of trying to find other survivors of choroidal melanoma, a rare eye cancer that she was diagnosed with. Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen (59) lives in the Western Cape with her husband. They have two children (24 and 22). Delayed eye test Due to COVID Wilma didn’t go for her eye test screening for new spectacles for two years so this year she decided to go. “The optometrist struggled to find a reading for my right eye but told me to choose a spectacle frame while he tested my husband. He tested my eyes again but still struggled to…

Of the rare kind Ocular melanoma

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Dr Daleen Geldenhuys unpacks what ocular melanoma is. Melanoma is a malignancy most commonly associated with moles on the skin, but it can occur in other areas, such as the eye (ocular). It can occur in the skin around the eye, the conjunctiva (white part surrounding the colourful part of the eye) and the uveal tract (iris, ciliary body, and choroid (pigmented area in the eyeball). Approximately 85% of ocular melanomas arise from the uveal tract and the remainder arise in the conjunctiva or (rarely) the orbit. There are significant clinical and genomic differences between melanomas of the uvea, conjunctiva,…

Leukaemia Everything had come back to life

November 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Katherine Gordon tells us how after one year of having no oocyte activity due to chemotherapy, everything had come back to life and five years later she gave birth to her son. Katherine Gordon (39) lives in Douglasdale, Gauteng with her husband, Alon, and their two-year-old son, Joshua. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) At age 32, Katherine was diagnosed with AML. The diagnosis came about after she collapsed when running The Comrades Marathon in 2014. “I’ve always had low iron, so I thought that was the root. I saw a dietitian to get assistance both for the future of my running and because we wanted to start a…

Lung Cancer Making peace with my new lifestyle

November 28, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Mother of two, Rene Abdullah, tells us how she handled the loss of her career as a personal trainer after being diagnosed with EGFR positive non-small cell lung cancer. Rene Abdullah (52) lives in Bryanston, Gauteng with her husband and two children. Diagnosis Rene was diagnosed with Stage 2 EGFR positive non-small cell lung cancer in February 2010. “I was in Cape Town on holiday and started having a persistent cough. After two courses of antibiotics, I was still coughing. It was suggested that I have a chest X-ray; a small nodule on the lower lobe of my left lung was found….

Nutrition and Cancer The importance of sound nutrition after a cancer diagnosis

July 29, 2022 Word for Word Media

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Dietitian, Berna Harmse, educates us on nutritional status and the outcome of cancer, and offers tips for nausea. Being diagnosed with cancer is a devastating event, and most people living with cancer, experience the day they get the news as a life-changing moment. Even after working in the field of oncology nutrition for 18 years, seeing a newly diagnosed person is always a humbling experience. After the news has settled in, and treatment plans have been laid out, the day-to-day management of your emotional and physical well-being is of utmost importance. The effects of cancer and its treatment can…