Category: News

How Are you Feeling Toward the End of The Year?

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Are you feeling anxious? Peaceful? Introspective? Determined to roll into the New Year with some novel ideas and changes in your life? It is the time of year when we can feel any, and all of these emotions and they can change within a moment, a day, or a week because of an unexpected circumstance. As we roll into the month of December, it is time to ask, how are you feeling toward the end of the year? End of the Year Holiday Celebrations There are holiday celebrations in December like Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, and similar celebrations around the world. I recall the excitement of children in my classroom during my years as an ESL teacher honoring each of these holidays. Students loved learning and experiencing the difference and similarities in all of the holidays. This was during a time when families were allowed and felt comfortable bringing Continue Reading →

Creating Community to Promote Shared Decision-Making

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Throughout ancient history, we have gathered in communities to share stories. Stories change lives, change communities by connecting us with familiar human experiences. They can also elicit a call to action. Think back to a moment sitting around a family table, campfire, or standing on a neighborhood corner listening to someone’s story. Did it leave you with a lasting memory, provoke personal change, or inspire a call to action changing the trajectory of your purpose in life? How do we measure the value of creating community to promote shared decision-making? Authoring My Own Story Became My Call to Action My life changed by sharing my own story. I began writing a blog in early 2015 about my second breast cancer diagnosis that occurred in April of 2014. Seven months after a double mastectomy I had successful DIEP flap breast reconstruction using my own tissue. My surgery was performed by a Continue Reading →

WHIS Talks: Global Healthcare Thought Leaders Discuss Patient Empowerment and Shared Decisions

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Can we take concepts in healthcare and make them customary practice to improve patient care and outcomes by advancing patient empowerment and shared decisions? I invite you to consider this question yourself after watching the video and reading the summary from this session of WHIS Talks as global thought leaders discuss patient empowerment and shared decisions. Terri Coutee: Nonprofit Leadership and Shared Decisions I am a two-time breast cancer survivor who had successful DIEP flap breast reconstruction. As a trained ESL instructor turned nonprofit leader after my second breast cancer diagnosis, I appreciate the need for clear communication and understanding of language. In cancer care, patients must quickly absorb concepts and terms they have no knowledge of or intended to know about. Curating communities and discussion based on evidence-based medicine is an important aspect of cultivating the patient process helping them to understand the plethora of terms to use in Continue Reading →

Twenty Years: My Memories of 9/11 and What I Didn’t Know

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When dates in your life approach on the calendar emotions arise. The events of 9/11 still have great impact on the world. While speaking to friends this week, on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, we recall exactly where we were and what we were doing the morning we heard the news. Twenty years, my memories of 9/11, and what I didn’t know are told in this blog. Where Were You When You Heard the News on 9/11? September of 2001 brought exciting new beginnings for us. We were new residents to Texas having moved from Seattle to a town north of Houston in the summer of that year. It was a beautiful, warm, fall morning in Texas. Our youngest son was a few blocks away safely tucked in his classes at middle school. My husband was an hour’s drive away in Houston, a large city where the oil and gas Continue Reading →

The Extraordinary Gift of the Breast Cancer Butterfly Quilt

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Breast cancer bonds you to humankind in the most curious and unexpected ways. You may never have had these opportunities were it not for a diagnosis and Journey through breast cancer. My life has been extraordinarily blessed by these unintended connections. A connection may be in person or through social media channels where I have had conversations with those who themselves have been diagnosed. This is one of those connections and story of the extraordinary gift of the breast cancer butterfly quilt. DiepCFoundation.org is the nonprofit organization I opened in 2016 after my own successful DIEP flap breast reconstruction. I knew the need to educate and provide support was a dire need for those affected by breast cancer and loss of breast and why I began the Foundation. The mission of the Foundation continues. This year, the summer of 2021, we celebrate the beginning of our sixth year of serving Continue Reading →

DiepCJourney Private Facebook Group: A Safe Place to Land

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Social Media is a way for others to connect in communities to discuss like-minded topics. I began the private Facebook group, DiepCJourney: Breast Reconstruction after mastectomy, in May of 2015. The purpose of the group is to inform those who are facing or have had a mastectomy about all their breast reconstruction options and choices. This includes the surgical option for no reconstruction, aesthetic flat closure. We are a global community. We want DiepCJourney Facebook group to be your safe place to land. DiepCJourney Facebook Discusses all Options The chest wall is the scaffold of the surgeon. The decision to reconstruct after a mastectomy is supported  whether you choose implants, use your own tissue (autologous reconstruction), a combination of both, a lumpectomy, or no reconstruction, referred to as aesthetic flat closure. This requires decision making. On DiepCJourney and at the Founding organization, DiepCFoundation, we promote the idea of shared decision-making. Continue Reading →

Episode 12: Patient Advocacy and Health Disparities

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Roberta Albany is a formidable breast cancer patient advocate and spokesperson for health disparities. Her work with Living Beyond Breast Cancer and in her own community at Cancer in the Know has gained her great respect and why I am excited to interview this friend and colleague in the breast cancer space for Episode 12: Patient Advocacy and Health Disparities for the DiepCJourney Podcast.  The Making of a Patient Advocate Roberta did not set out to be a spokesperson and patient advocate for the breast cancer community. Her diagnosis defined her role and lead her to this work. She describes her experience with the diagnosis she received in October of 2013. Bobbi found a lump while training for a half marathon with her running group, Black Girls Run. She could not remember if she had done her monthly self-breast exam. She recalls her breast had been bothering her, especially the left side. Upon doing her Continue Reading →

Cancer Survivor’s Day: Thoughts from Personal Journeys

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Days on the calendar reminding us of what we love, embrace, are actively involved in, and remind us that these commemorative days fill us with emotions, good and bad. There are holidays that have been on the calendar throughout history. Social media has caused new and interesting ones celebrating food, fun, and other trivial items uniting those who join in. Cancer Survivor’s Day, from my research, began in 1988. What does it mean to those who have survived? I decided to listen to those in my community and share thoughts on Cancer Survivor’s Day and some thoughts from personal Journeys. DiepCJourney: Thoughts on Cancer Survivor’s Day I began the closed Facebook group, DiepCJourney: Breast Reconstruction after Mastectomy in May of 2015 after my successful DIEP flap breast reconstruction. Being a two-time breast cancer survivor impacts my life daily. I decided support, finding resources, providing education for others would be my Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction Clubhouse Discussion

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This past week, I was fortunate to have Roberta Albany and Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo join me as moderators for a breast reconstruction clubhouse discussion. Clubhouse is a fairly new app for iPhone users. The sessions generally last an hour in length. Think of it as a casual phone conversation with the members who join. It is not recorded, or at least does not have that feature yet. There are moderators who can invite those who “raise their hand” using an icon on the app to come “up to the stage”. They are invited to speak by a moderator when they raise their hand. Once invited to speak, they unmute their microphone to begin their question, comment, or thoughts. The topic I chose was “Breast Reconstruction Concerns and Questions Answered”. The discussion and information provided by Roberta and Dr. C was both enlightening and informative. I want to provide some of Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction Truth: Headlines and Research

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Are you considering breast reconstruction? When I was faced with a second breast cancer diagnosis, had a double mastectomy, and began to do my own research about breast reconstruction, I was either oversaturated with information or wanted to shut down from information overload. When researching breast reconstruction, how do you distinguish the truth in headlines and research? The Moment of Truth The moment of truth begins when you are diagnosed or find you have a high risk of getting breast cancer due to a gene mutation. This moment is most often at the office of your healthcare provider. An oncologist, radiologist, breast surgeon, or genetic counselor are the most likely people to give you this news. You walk out the door with pamphlets and information. They might give you resources for online support, virtual meetings with other survivors, or websites to research. I hear so many individuals in this situation Continue Reading →