Course Outline
A cancer rehabilitation specialist and breast cancer survivor, Dr. Julie Silver has written a practical and powerful guide to help cancer patients who are exhausted and physically devastated after treatment. Drawing on her professional experience and personal journey, she offers a step-by-step plan for physical healing, including sound advice on improving strength and fighting fatigue, monitoring mood, and overcoming setbacks.
About Authors
Julie K. Silver, M.D., is the medical director of one of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s outpatient centers and director of RESTORE, an oncology rehabilitation program. Dr. Silver is also an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and on the medical staff of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals. She has edited and written more than a dozen books and received the American Cancer Society’s 2006 Lane Adams Quality of Life Award.
Learning Objectives
- State one reason cancer is traumatic.
- Define the problem-orientated approach
- State one of the first goals of the American Cancer Society
- Define cancer
- Compare normal cells and cancer cells
- Define metastasis
- Compare external beam therapy and brachytherapy
- List the three most important ways to heal yourself
- Define crisis
- List three reasons to set goals for patients
- List three steps to goal setting
- State the number of goals to be set to heal physically
- List two things we value as a society
- List the three most important healing parameters
- Compare activity and exercise
- List the five pacing basics
- Describe the three phases of clinical trials
- List the inherent problem with CAM treatments
- State what a cancer patient should do first and foremost when seeking treatment
- Define a physiatrist
- Define holistic medicine
- Describe several concepts of complimentary and alternative medicine
- List the duties of the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).
- List the basic principle of homeopathy
- Define herbs
- Describe how a doctor of osteopathy differs from a chiropractor
- List three primary therapeutic benefits of massage
- Describe “sweeping.”
- Describe therapeutic touch
- List the three notable CAM treatments in the “discourage” list
- Discuss the 2005 review of research titled, “Review of Exercise Intervention Studies in Cancer Patients.”
- State the most prevalent and debilitating symptom during breast cancer treatment
- Compare physical activity with exercise
- State the benefit of a personal trainer and the certification process
- List several cardiovascular exercises and recommendations of the American Cancer Society
- Define the “overload principle,” size principle, and “high load, low rep” program
- State which foods are significant for healing
- Define phytochemical and list a few cruciferous vegetables. (Table 8.1)
- List several complex carbohydrates. (Table 8.2)
- Describe the standards for raising organic food
- List ways to stop smoking
- Describe how cancer-related fatigue is cumulative
- Discuss the role of melatonin and the immune system
- List several causes of pain
- List the four pharmacological treatments of pain
- Describe the World Health Organization’s “ladder” approach to pain medication
- State the use of Marinol
- Define nociceptive and neuropathic pain and their treatments
- Define iontophoresis
- Define psychoneuroimmunology
- Describe the five stages of grief according to Kubler-Ross
- State the two symptoms that call for treatment with medications or psychological counseling or both
- Describe the focus called, “adjustment to a disability or serious illness.”
- State why, in some studies, regular churchgoers live longer
- Describe prayer in the various religions
- State how emotional and physical intimacy is affected by cancer
- List several ways to enhance physical intimacy. (Table 13.4)
- State several guidelines for what to tell children about cancer
- Describe the power of friendship
- Compare social and emotional loneliness
- State an example of a setback and how it affects prognosis
- State the progress in the treatment of cancer other than surgery
- Define primary prevention
Table of Contents
- Get Your Life Back On Track
- Understand Physical Healing
- Dare To Dream Again
- Prioritize What You Do And Pace Yourself
- Seek Help From Western Medicine
- Explore Eastern And Other Medical Systems
- Dance, Skip, and Walk: Exercise Your Way Back to Health
- Nourish Your Body
- Fight Fatigue
- Ease Your Pain
- Monitor Your Mood
- Tap Into Your Spirituality
- Love And Be Loved
- Surmount Setbacks
- Look What’s On The Horizon
Customer Comments
“Dr. Silver is a remarkably insightful patient and physician. She has built upon her own professional experiences in rehabilitative medicine and her personal experience with a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. She seeks to make lemonade out of lemons and she has done so with remarkable success.” — Eric P. Winer, M.D., Director, Breast Oncology Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
“A diagnosis of cancer changes one’s life forever. After her diagnosis, Dr. Silver chose to continue healing— this time, healing herself. Her book is a gift to all cancer patients.” — Irene Pollin, M.S.W., author of Taking Charge and Medical Crisis Counseling
“Very helpful, meaningful, and insightful for those who are journeying through cancer, and those who have recovered. Dr. Silver’s book encompasses not just emotional and physical healing but spiritual as well. Her credentials as a young mother and cancer survivor, in addition to being a physiatrist with a specialization in rehab medicine, make her work both authoritative and compassionate.” — Paula J. Anastasia, R.N., M.N., O.C.N., Outpatient Gynecologic- Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles