The Magic of Palliative Care: Our Stories

We continue our focus on supportive/palliative care in part 2 of our series. This week, we hear directly from those living with MBC about their own experiences with palliative care, including its impacts on their physical, mental, and even sexual health. Special co-host Dr. Paula Jayne joins hosts Natalia Green, Lisa Laudico, and Anne Woodward as they speak with Leda Dederich, Shonte Drakeford, Dr. Deanna Duncan, and Stephanie Walker. We explore how supportive care services can enhance not only our quality of life but even improve treatment outcomes by helping us stay on treatments longer. In addition we discuss geographic and racial disparities in access to these services throughout the U.S and how to advocate for supportive care for yourself.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE and ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Leda Dederich - How metastatic breast cancer prepared me for the coronavirus pandemic in MarketWatch

• What is palliative / supportive care?

  • What’s the Difference between Supportive and Palliative Care?

  • Sorting out the Confusion between Palliative Care and Hospice Care

  • What are Palliative Care and Hospice Care

• How can I find a palliative / supportive care provider?

  • Find a Palliative Care Provider from Getpalliativecare.org

  • Find a Geriatrician from HealthinAging.org

  • Consider participating in the Nurse Amie clinical trial from Penn State University that provides virtual supportive care to people living with MBC

• Online resources for palliative / supportive care issues

  • National Cancer Institute: PDQ summaries on common palliative and supportive care issues

  • National Comprehensive Cancer Network: Survivorship Care and Cancer Distress

  • Living Beyond Breast Cancer: Side Effects & MBC

• What does the research & guidance say?

  • 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Palliative Care Guideline Update

    Their recommendation: “Inpatients and outpatients with advanced cancer should receive dedicated palliative care services, early in the disease course, concurrent with active treatment. Referral of patients to interdisciplinary palliative care teams is optimal.”

  • 2018 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) position paper on supportive and palliative care

    “This position paper advocates for patient-centred care (including supportive and palliative care) to be integrated by a multidisciplinary team to anticancer treatment, from the time of diagnosis and throughout the continuum of disease…”

  • Geriatrician Assessment and Integrated Care May Help Older Cancer Patients

• Racial Disparities in Palliative Care

  • Palliative Care in the African American Community : Fast Facts and Concepts

  • How to Increase Awareness and Reduce Gaps in Palliative Care for Minorities - Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC)

• Sexual Health & Cancer

  • How Cancer and Cancer Treatment Can Affect Sexuality - American Cancer Society

  • Sex in the Face of Metastatic Disease by Dr. Don Dizon

    • We are planning an episode on sex/intimacy/dating for season 3. If you’d like to share your story or have a question you’d like answered contact us.

• Complementary Therapies & MBC

  • Complementary and Integrative Medicine for Metastatic Breast Cancer - Living Beyond Breast Cancer

  • Mental Health Benefits from One Dose of Psychedelic Drug Last for Years in People with Cancer - NYU

  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s About Herbs database

• Do you have Appointment Fatigue? Cure Today Magazine offers some tips.

• More reading:

  • In Palliative Care, Comfort Is the Top Priority by Paula Span, The New York Times 2/12/2016

  • Palliative Care for Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Knowledge Summary Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Breast Cancer Initiative (BCI 2.5)

Meet the Guests of this Episode

Leda Dederich

First Opinion: "A widely used guideline said I didn’t need a mammogram. It was wrong" - STAT News

Shonte Drakeford, CRNP, MSN, AGNP-C

Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer: How I Reinvented Myself - Cancer.net

Shonte Drakeford on Life as a Young Black Woman with MBC - MBC Alliance

Deanna Duncan, MD

Her Story: Deanna Duncan - HealthScope

When Hope Needs Hope - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Stephanie Walker, RN

Nurse of the Week Stephanie Walker on Living with MBC: “Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand” - Daily Nurse

An MBC Diagnosis and Job Loss Led Stephanie Walker to Become Her Own Best Advocate

MORE ON OUR GUESTS

• Leda Dederich First Opinion: A widely used guideline said I didn’t need a mammogram. It was wrong - STAT News

• Shonte Drakeford Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer: How I Reinvented Myself - Cancer.net

• Shonte Drakeford on Life as a Young Black Woman with MBC - MBC Alliance

• Her Story: Deanna Duncan - HealthScope

• When Hope Needs Hope - Deanna Duncan in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

• Nurse of the Week Stephanie Walker on Living with MBC: “Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand” - Daily Nurse

• An MBC Diagnosis and Job Loss Led Stephanie Walker to Become Her Own Best Advocate - Komen Blog

No one should face MBC alone.
Whether you have a diagnosis yourself, or you're a friend, family member or caregiver of someone with a diagnosis, we're here to lend support, give information, share experiences, and to lift you up every time you need it. Research has proven that having the support we need during our most challenging times is paramount to honing coping skills and striving for wellness. Our supportive network is made of people just like you, who DO know what it's like, who HAVE been there, who CAN help.

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