Vacation is More than a Memory

Recently I returned from vacation and as often is the case, I am reminded that the friends and family we visit are more essential than the Maine woods, hiking and blueberries.

No matter where we journey, people are talking about their health. Between blueberry and peach pies and lobster, we considered integrative approaches to medicine, nutrition, strategies to reduce disease and manage our health and other concerns. I even discovered white whole wheat flour in an organic grocery store. I learn alot from talking with other, reading and, of course, my Hopkins colleagues.

I am fortunate that many of my friends will attend this year's Johns Hopkins Medicine annual women's health conference, A Woman's Journey. I know that they will learn from the experts and continue to dialogue about the choices we all make.

I hope you will join them and register for the conference. It is the best way to understand how we can improve our lives and the lives of those we love.

Leslie

What’s In a Name?

Each year I assemble a small group of colleagues to study the schedule of seminars that have been confirmed for the Johns Hopkins Medicine annual women’s health conference, A Woman’s Journey. Our agenda is to craft titles for each lecture. These are critical subjects about improving your health and sometimes devastating diseases. Naming a seminar is serious business. Never the less, the meeting sometimes becomes raucous. It’s challenging. We need to be creative, yet maintain the integrity of the subject matter. The bottom line is to appeal to your curiosity and interests.

So, as you plan your fall, I hope you will check out hopkinsmedicine.org/awomansjourney. Read the titles of A Woman’s Journey’s 32 seminars that will be taught by Johns Hopkins physicians. Laugh at some of the titles; be motivated by others. But, when you finish reading the seminar names, be sure to go to our website, register for A Woman’s Journey, and learn what’s really in a name.
Leslie

A Suprising Legacy

I don’t mean to sound morbid, but last weekend we had a most extraordinary—and personal—experience.

After going through some old family papers, we learned where my husband’s grandparents had been buried so many years ago. So, last weekend, armed with genealogical information, a map, pruning shears and a few other sundry items, we traveled to several cemeteries in one of New York’s boroughs. It was not an ordinary outing. Some engravings of names and dates on tombstones were eroded by years and weather. Other grave markers had fallen over; some were overwrought with vines. But, in the course of a few hours, we located so many relatives dating back centuries. My husband learned about relatives, many of whom he never knew existed.

It was an inspiring trip and by the time returned home,I decided to assemble a “family tree.” The branches are so laden with names and dates, the draft paper now covers my dining room table. You can’t help but wonder who these people were, how they lived, and how they died. We each carry so many genes and traits from our family members, many of whom we didn’t even know. And then, I thought about a real gift I could pass on to my children.

I have prepared a medical family history. To the best of my knowledge I have detailed the diagnoses of my generation and my parents. Hopefully it will provide the detailed family records that physicians may someday request of my children. It's a unique legacy and one that I hope will keep them healthy.
Leslie

The Master of Our Fate

I suspect by now, you’ve assessed that I am an optimistic person. Long ago my Dad taught me that you can “get more from honey than vinegar” and I have remembered this lesson throughout my life. I also believe that by our choices and determination we shape our own lives.

Sometimes I am slow to catch a movie. And so not surprisingly with the excitement surrounding the World Cup Soccer tournament, I just saw Invictus, the story of the South African rugby team and President Nelson Mandela's vision for a united South Africa. The title, which is Latin for ‘unconquered’, I learned comes from the 1850 poem by Englishman William Ernest Healy (1849-1903). It concludes with the well known phrase: “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

May we all heed the message and try to take control of our own lives to have a healthy year. I hope you also take the opportunity to watch the movie; it is quite compelling.

Leslie

Benefits of Another Day

Three years ago this week my college roommate passed away. She died of recurrent breast cancer after an 18-month struggle fraught with chemotherapy, radiation, clinical trails and finally palliative care. I find my self questioning if she had survived, would new treatments be available to sustain her life?

Through A Woman’s Journey I have learned about new drugs and experimental approaches to treatment. I don’t know if additional time would have reaped any benefit, but wish that others live long enough to benefit from new developments.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Lillie Shockney, survivor, administrative director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Breast Center and a national spokesperson will speak at A Woman’s Journey in Baltimore on November 20, 2010, in Palm Beach on January 20, 2011, and Naples on January 21. For those of us who have had an abnormal mammogram or felt a breast lump, Lillie will offer a road map telling women how to proceed when they fear a diagnosis of breast cancer.

You can bet that Lillie will be enlightening and somehow will find a way to interject humor into her otherwise serious remarks.

I hope you will be able to attend the conference (www.hopkinsmeidcine.org/awomansjourney) and hear this extraordinary speaker.

Leslie

More Than a Bouquet of Flowers

When it comes to celebrating Mother’s Day, our family –like many— has a long standing tradition. Annually we venture to Maryland's wholesale fish market to purchase lobster. Preparing for a lobster feast can take hours. Besides setting the table, it can take an hour to bring the water and sea weed to a full boil. Then there is the cooking. After steaming the lobster my husband cleans out the lobster and cracks the shell to make it easier to eat. Sometimes we wonder if all the work is worth it.

But, I have concluded that Mother’s Day is less about what we eat and more about gathering together. It’s about bringing together the mothers, daughters, sisters and friends and taking the time to celebrate being together.

I hope you have the opportunity to share the day with those you care about.

Happy Mother’s Day

Leslie

The Up Side of Jello

At age 50 your life changes. It’s more than menopause. You suddenly begin to take some things more seriously. Certainly you start to pay more attention to your health.

Among the recommended screening tests, the American Cancer Society and doctors prescribe colonoscopies. No wonder. Colon cancer is among the most common types of cancer; but, when detected early, colon cancer has high cure rates. It’s on my mind since my colonoscopy is scheduled this week.

Many people ignore this diagnostic test. They are more concerned about the “prep” rather than the procedure itself. Don’t let this dissuade you. There’s nothing wrong with a little jello and some clear liquids for 24 hours. The prep may be inconvenient, but the outcome can be lifesaving.

Johns Hopkins has a long history of ground breaking discoveries targeting colon cancer. Kimmel Cancer Center researchers were the first to isolate a series of mistakes in human DNA, called genetic mutations, that lead to the development and progression of colon and rectum cancer. These findings have already been used to develop screening blood tests for people with a family history of certain types of hereditary colon and rectum cancers. Subsequent work has led to the development of stool tests for non-hereditary colon cancer. Hopkins scientists also were the first to decode the colon cancer genome. Several new anticancer agents are being studied for their ability to interfere with the genetic alterations and stop the initiation of cancer. As genetic causes continue to be uncovered, Hopkins researchers expect to improve broad-based screening tests to detect colon and rectum cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages. More information is available at http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cid/1258

So, my advice is simple. Schedule your colonoscopy and get some jello.

Leslie