In just under three years we have provided over 600 brand new fleece blankets to chemotherapy patients all over the United States and Canada.  We have received donations from all over the world.  We have donated blankets to Cancer infusion centers all over the United States, from Miami to New York City, from Camden, New Jersey to Milwaukee, from California to North Carolina and many more locations. We collect  both adult sized blankets and pediatric sized blankets.  We collect pediatric size blankets for two wonderful organizations: Chai Lifeline and The Isiah Alonso Foundation.  We have also shipped blankets that have been privately requested by loved ones for their friends, family members, and work colleagues.  We have received requests through our twitter account, our facebook page and through email.  Layers of Love is proud to say that we have never turned down a request for a blanket.  In fact, we have even been able to fulfill requests that have come in for multiple blankets to infusion centers from both nurses and patients.

The reason we have been able to provide so many chemotherapy patients with comfort and warmth is because of generous people just like you.  We have so many friends of Layers of Love donate blankets so that we can continue on our mission.

We have had community groups, church groups, Girl Scout Troops, Brownie Troops, a Life Scout,  University dorms, Summer Camp programs plus incredible individuals that have continuously donated blankets to us time and time again.   We are so grateful and thank you for all the support, and blanket donations we have received over the past three years.  With each day that passes by we become more and more committed to providing comfort and warmth to chemotherapy patients.  We do not intend on stopping until each and every chemotherapy patient has a blanket to provide them with comfort and warmth as they go through their treatment. What three years has taught us is that not only are we warming a chemotherapy patient’s body with our blankets, we are also warming their hearts.  What three years has taught us, is that when a chemotherapy patient receives a brand new fleece blanket that was donated from a complete stranger, their face lights up, their hope is raised,  they don’t feel so alone, their heart is indeed warmed. We hope that as we begin on this next year of our journey that you will continue to support our mission, to help us carry on the comfort and warmth.

If you would like to donate a brand new fleece blanket to Layers of Love and aren’t sure where to begin, be sure to visit our website. Check out the FAQ/Guideline tab for more information.

Storm Theunissen trying to sell herself in What’s My Body Worth?

guadian.co.uk

For the most part, it’s illegal to sell your body in Britain. But, in fact, there are various legal ways human body parts can be sold that don’t involve waking up in a bath of ice with a kidney missing. In a research experiment, I tried to see  how much of the human body  can lawfully be put up or sale: by trying to sell as much of my own body as I could. It turns out pretty much everything God gave us can be sold.

Why would I do this? Body parts are sold on the black market because there’s often a genuine medical need. This year, 1,000 people in the UK will die on the organ transplant list. Couples unable to conceive wait years for donations of egg or sperm. Some doctors argue that a legal market for life-giving body parts should to be created in order to increase donations. But there are enormous ethical concerns and so far the government has refused to allow any kind of financial incentive for donors, apart from allowing some expenses. I investigated whether the law is hindering a legitimate market, firstly looking at what’s already on sale here in Britain – and whether the price is reasonable.

Sex is the most obvious thing to sell. While I wasn’t prepared to prostitute myself, I “rented” my body out as a lapdancer. Working at a London strip joint, I found that pole dances are given away for free, but nude lapdances start at £20. The sales pitch to prospective dancers is that you can earn £1,000 a night – but it turns out this kind of money is a rarity. Lapdancers only make such amounts if get a customer to hire them by the hour. For that you earn £500 – but the club takes 20%. On top of that, they’ll take a £100 fee from dancers just for showing up.

So I tried to sell my hair. I was quoted £50 by a hairdresser in London that specialises in harvesting human hair to make wigs for chemotherapy patients. I was hoping they’d offer me considerably more, given that wigs can sell for £1,000.

The British pharmaceutical industry uses many bodily fluids to test new drugs, and I was hopeful for a decent sale upon learning they pay up to £1,750 for 1ml of blister fluid, £1,000 for a cup of saliva and £1,600 for a gram of earwax. But the prices are paid to intermediaries, “virtual tissuebanks” who source samples from around the world. Strictly speaking, the money isn’t for the tissue itself, it’s for refrigeration, licence fees and research, but given companies are for-profit I was sure some money should go to donors. The best offer I got was £30 for some blood. Another clinic would have paid me £50 for some skin – if I had psoriasis. However, every clinic told me that officially money is only “compensation for my time” because the law in the UK is so strict about selling any body parts. In Britain, it’s not donors who are making the money.

A decent earner turned out to be an auction website for people who buy bodily fluids for sexual purposes: imagine eBay, but for fetishists. Here, one can sell anything. Human urine is about £30 a pot, breast milk £5, even fingernails and faeces do their own roaring trade. One man offered me £1,000 a year for manicure videos.

It’s paradoxical that it’s possible to sell one’s body for a variety of “specialised” purposes, and yet it’s virtually impossible to do so for legitimate reasons, such as for medical research. Many in the pharmaceutical industry are hugely critical of the Human Tissue Act which governs what’s permissible to sell for medical purposes. They say it’s unfeasible for companies to recruit donors in Britain, and so they’re forced to import tissue from overseas, notably American biobank repositories.

My most valuable sale item was eggs. In the UK, they only allow donors £750 compensation, which means almost no donors come forward – and many desperate prospective parents are driven overseas to buy eggs. But in the US, thousands of women sell eggs – it’s a mainstream market.

One egg broker agreed to fly me to California for retrieval. It’s a fiercely competitive industry, egg-selling, and only the best-looking and most intelligent women get top dollar – up to $15,000. Unfortunately, because I’m 32 years old, I was told my eggs aren’t worth much and I’d “only” receive $5,500. As I was handed a giant box of hormones with which to inject myself, I came to a belated realisation that perhaps the price wasn’t worth it. It’s troubling that the trade targets very young women, many of whom don’t think through the psychological implications of doing this.

The greatest irony of all, is that my body is undoubtedly worth more dead than alive. In America, once a cadaver has been disarticulated into about 60 different tissues, the body parts are processed and made into medical products, which together are worth up to $250,000 on the open market. Some companies are listed on major stock exchanges – this is no niche market.

So by the end of my experiment, I saw some dizzying prices, but didn’t end up with much in my wallet. While it’s ridiculous that people who are willing to donate bodily fluids as harmless as urine and saliva for crucial medical cannot be paid, I did end up coming around to the old-fashioned idea that altruism must drive any decision to donate. Women who donate eggs, or those who choose to give away a kidney must not be coerced by money to meet their bills. I don’t know the answer to the UK’s terrible shortage in eggs or kidneys, but I do know that the answer is not in writing a giant cheque.

However our passion doesn’t stop there.  We are also very proud to support many different efforts from many other sources whether it be charitable organizations or individuals making a difference to help cancer patients both adults and children.

This weekend we are giving our support to a young man who is having a walk-a-thon fundraiser to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  According to Connor Beck the 16 year-old, who is organizing the walk-a-thon in the Palmerton Park, “The hospital provides free care to all of it’s patients, and relies mainly on public donations.  These children need our support, and the money we raise could help fund the breakthrough for new treatments.  St. Jude’s freely shares all of their research finds, so donating to them is donating to children everywhere.”

We are proud to stand with,  and support Connor Beck and all those who come out to walk this Saturday morning to benefit St. Jude’s Research Hospital.  If you would like to join Connor and all the participants please come out to the Palmerton Park on Saturday morning, September 29.  The walk starts at 9:30, the walk will be around the beautiful boro park, participants are welcome to walk as long as they wish!  So bring your friends and join the many others who will be walking to help the many children who need our support and the support of St. Jude’s Research Hospital.  We look forward to seeing you there!

If you would like to support Connor Beck and his efforts, but can’t make it to the walk-a-thon  Saturday morning you can still help the cause for St. Jude’s  by donating directly through his St. Jude’s donation page.  No donation is too small, so donate today!

Layers of Love would like to thank Connor for his efforts to benefit St. Jude’s this weekend.  He is making a big difference to many children-Thank you Connor!!

May 25, 2012 12:54pm
Obama and His Pot-Smoking ‘Choom Gang’

*** begin quote ***

Unlike Bill Clinton, Barack Obama never tried to say he didn’t inhale.

In his 1995 memoir “Dreams of My Father,” Obama writes about smoking pot almost like Dr. Seuss wrote about eating green eggs and ham. As a high school kid, Obama wrote, he would smoke “in a white classmate’s sparkling new van,” he would smoke “in the dorm room of some brother” and he would smoke “on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids.”

*** end quote ***

Now that we have a pot head as Prez …

… as a little L libertarian, I’ve always thought that our “drug policy”, ”(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”, was a best “misguided”, at worst “corrupt”. We have too many examples, anecdotal evidence, of pot not being as “bad” as booze, of high achievers who “inhaled” …

Don’t you think we could have a national dialogue about “drugs”, “drug policy”, and factual evidence?

We have mj prohibition because of hemp’s competition with the politically connected paper industry.

We have mj prohibition because of Hollywood’s “reefer madness” propaganda.

We have mj prohibition because of its association with the black community.

We have arguably ¼ of the federal prison population due to mj.

We have sick people, who need it and have no alternative for them. Not an effective alternative. Never mind a cheap alternative.

Ignore that not everyone who has a medical mj RX needs it. There are folks who legitimately need it (i.e., AIDS, chemotherapy patients, glaucoma).

Since the Chinese dynasty, there has been a residual addiction rate. Regardless if addicts were sentenced to death in China. Dealers were imprisoned for long stretches in Southeast Asia. No “public policy” makes a dent in the problem.

If the Gooferment can’t keep “drugs” out of its prisons, then perhaps we need a better strategy?

Walmart and Walgreens seem to be able to restrict access to stuff from minors.

So, why can’t we shift from the “punishment” meme that is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient to a “treatment” meme. 

How much worse could we do?

# – # – # – # – #   

I have never really thought about it but in a lot of ways, yes, I do. To be clear, I am grateful that I am lucky enough to have kept my hair & that I “Look healthy”.  I say it like that because it really is a double-edged sword. The types of cancer drug I get don’t cause you to lose your hair, or if it does happen it is very rare. When I go into the oncologist’s office I don’t get the same treatment as some other people who are being treated for cancer because I don’t look like I am, so therefore it must not be that bad.

Typically cancer patients would get a form they filled out to rate their symptoms they have with their treatment, such as how tired they are, if they have nausea, or vomiting, and other side effects. I don’t get this form to fill out, even though I have many of the the same side effects as traditional chemotherapy patients, minus the hair loss.  The exclusion me feel as though my cancer doesn’t count and that my side effects are less important than everyone else’s.

The double edge sword is that sometimes people don’t get it. They see me for how I look on the outside and they have a hard time understanding I have cancer. That even though I look good on the outside it doesn’t mean I feel good.  I don’t want people to feel sorry for me, but just once I don’t want my illness to be questioned: “You look so good… You can’t be that sick.”

So yes some days I do wish my hair would fall out.

• The need for extra energy to repair and heal body tissue damaged by treatment.
• The build-up of toxic substances that are left in the body after cells are killed by cancer treatment.
• The effect of biologic therapy on the immune system.
• Changes in the body’s sleep-wake cycle.

When they begin cancer treatment, many patients are already tired from medical tests, surgery, and the emotional stress of coping with the cancer diagnosis. After treatment begins, fatigue may get worse. Patients who are older, have advanced cancer, or receive more than one type of treatment (for example, both chemotherapy and radiation therapy) are more likely to have long-term fatigue.

Different cancer treatments have different effects on a patient’s energy level. The type and schedule of treatments can affect the amount of fatigue caused by cancer therapy.

Fatigue caused by chemotherapy

Patients treated with chemotherapy usually feel the most fatigue in the days right after each treatment. Then the fatigue decreases until the next treatment. Fatigue usually increases with each cycle. Some studies have shown that patients have the most severe fatigue about mid-way through all the cycles of chemotherapy. Fatigue decreases after chemotherapy is finished, but patients may not feel back to normal until a month or more after the last treatment. Many patients feel fatigued for months after treatment ends.

Fatigue during chemotherapy may be increased by the following:

• Pain.
• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Anemia. Some types of chemotherapy stop the bone marrow from making enough new red blood cells, causing anemia (too few red blood cells to carry oxygen to the body).
• Lack of sleep caused by some anticancer drugs.

Fatigue caused by radiation therapy

Many patients receiving radiation therapy have fatigue that keeps them from being as active as they want to be. After radiation therapy begins, fatigue usually increases until mid-way through the course of treatments and then stays about the same until treatment ends. For many patients, fatigue improves after radiation therapy stops. However, in some patients, fatigue will last months or years after treatment ends. Some patients never have the same amount of energy they had before treatment.

Cancer-related fatigue has been studied in patients with breast cancer and prostate cancer. The amount of fatigue they felt and the time of day the fatigue was worst was different in different patients.

In men with prostate cancer, fatigue was increased by having the following symptoms before radiation therapy started:

• Poor sleep.
• Depression.

In women with breast cancer, fatigue was increased by the following:

• Working while receiving radiation therapy.
• Having children at home.
• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Trouble sleeping.
• Younger age.
• Being underweight.
• Having advanced cancer or other medical conditions.

Fatigue caused by biologic therapy

Biologic therapy often causes flu-like symptoms. These symptoms include being tired physically and mentally, fever, chills, muscle pain, headache, and not feeling well in general. Some patients may also have problems thinking clearly. Fatigue symptoms depend on the type of biologic therapy used.

Fatigue caused by surgery

Fatigue is often a sideeffect of surgery, but patients usually feel better with time. However, fatigue caused by surgery can be worse when the surgery is combined with other cancer treatments.

Anemia is a common cause of fatigue.

Anemia affects the patient’s energy level and quality of life. Anemia may be caused by the following:

• The cancer.
• Cancer treatments.
• A medical condition not related to the cancer.

The effects of anemia on a patient depend on the following:

• How quickly the anemia occurs.
• The patient’s age.
• The amount of plasma (fluid part of the blood) in the patient’s blood.
• Other medical conditions the patient has.

Taken from the mission statement of WWDB-AM 860:

“With it’s powerful 10,000 watt signal, WWDB-AM 860 is heard loud and clear throughout the Delaware Valley.  WWDB-AM 860 is “Made in America” radio, homegrown and proud.  

“But there is another important dimension to the line-up at WWDB-AM 860 and that’s talk radio.  WWDB-AM 860 is the legacy Talk Radio Station and people come here to the 555 Building to broadcast their programs Live and Local.  WWDB is proud to make airtime available for those serious broadcasters with a unique point of view, with voices that need a radio platform on which to be heard.” 

Let’s Talk Cancer is hosted by Kim Cirucci and Denise Ciliberti-Sosalski.  ”They are two friends who talk the Big-C.  Kim is living with cancer and her friend Denise is by her side for honest heartfelt conversation.  They are two south Philly girls on a mission to spread hope and cheer for everyone effected by the disease.”  Kim and Denise truly have a global reach.  On their show they  interview people who are effected by cancer from all over the world.  Last week they interviewed Anne who resides in Ireland.

On Kim and Denise’s show they spread hope, inspiration and the cancer journey with their listeners.  I look forward to be joining them both to talk about cancer and Layers of Love.  It promises to be a great show.  I hope you will join us at LIVE at 12:30 pm est this Thursday, May 3.  If you can’t make the show live be sure to check their website for the podcast recording of the show, where you can listen to all their previous shows as well.

Over the past two years Layers of Love has donated a great many fleece blankets to many chemotherapy patients.   Sometimes when a patient receives a blanket we will receive a photograph of them smiling with their blanket.  That got us to thinking.  We would love to hear from you if you or a loved one has received a blanket from us.  If you have a photograph you’d like to share that would be great too!

We would like to share your story with our friends here on our blog and on our facebook community page.  We want your story to be told.  Every blanket that we ship out goes to a unique patient with a unique story.  I am always amazed when I personally hand out our donated blankets by all the stories the patients tell me about themselves.  These are all beautiful stories. They tell me about their life, their battle with this terrible disease, and their families and all the support they receive.  These are all stories that should be told, voices that should be heard.

If you or your loved one would like to featured here on our blog and on our facebook community page please contact us at patty@layersoflove.net  We look forward to hearing from you!

None of our donations chemotherapy patients both adult and pediatric would be possible without the generous donations of people like you.  We are very grateful because without you we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.  If you have a fleece fabric you would like to donate, you can contact us here in the comments or at: patty@layersoflove.net  We accept brand new fleece fabric and no sew fleece fabric kits (available at many craft stores).  Don’t have the time or not sure how to put a kit together?  No problem, we can put the kits and fabric donations together for you.  Not sure about sizing or measurements?  We invite you to take a moment to look at our FAQ tab and Guidelines tab above this post to see our recommendations for donating child-sized blankets.

If your community group would like to donate to Layers of Love, please contact us: patty@layersoflove.net We have worked and continue to work with several groups, from giving directions of how to put the blankets together, supplying scissors, even gathering more volunteers for your group if needed.  Making blankets truly is community collaboration at its best!

Car packed for delivery of fleece blankets for chemotherapy patients at Cooper Cancer Institute

Find out more about Layers of Love who donates fleece blankets to chemotherapy patients to provide them comfort and warmth as they go through their treatment by visiting their blog & website.

But here is what you might not know.

Handmade tags, Marissa made for each blanket.

Every blanket has a story.  Every blanket donated to us has been handmade by someone who cares enough to take the time to donate a blanket.  This holiday season we have received many donations from across the country.  Many times I just receive the donated blankets, and all I know is the address of where it was shipped from.  But when I do know the back story it makes the blanket come to life. When I deliver that blanket I can tell the chemotherapy patient where it came from and any other fact I know about the person(s) who made it.

When I started Layers of Love, it was mainly because I wanted help curtail one of the terrible side effects that chemotherapy patients endure while going through treatment, being susceptible to cold.  I wanted to help provide comfort and warmth.  What I didn’t know is that not only will the blanket provide the patient with physical comfort and warmth, but it would also provide emotional comfort and warmth.  It is emotionally uplifting to know that a stranger has cared enough to donate a blanket for them as they go through their treatment battling this terrible disease.  It touches their hearts.

You’ll remember Robyn, from our last post Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Deeds and her incredible drive for Layers of Love.  Now it’s time to let you know about another member of her family, who has done and equally amazing drive for us.

Marissa is Robyn’s 12-year-old daughter.  Robyn and Marissa were looking for a project that Marissa could do for her upcoming Bat Matzvah. When Robyn and Marissa found Layers of Love, they went right into action!  Marissa put together a blog: Get Cozy During Chemo and began her blanket drive.  She set up a donation link on her blog so that anyone could help out her drive by donating money so they could purchase the fleece to make the blankets, her Mom sent out emails to all their friends to let them know what Marissa was doing, and they were off and running.

After raising money to purchase fleece fabric she set up her first blanket party and over 60 friends and family came out to help put together the blankets!

“I was really surprised, I knew people were coming and I didn’t know how many but I was surprised at how many actually came,” Marissa said. ”We have a few people from our community helping and a lot of my friends.”

When I asked Marissa how she has had such success with her blanket drive she said,  ”I made a Facebook event, my mom constantly posted on facebook &  twitter and her blog CancerHawk,  which more people read and it just got around quickly from social media.”

After her first blanket party, Marissa had a second blanket party hosted at her Mom’s favorite clothing store Emily Grace.  It was an all day event, where you could come in to the store, donate toward a blanket, help put together blankets, and shop for a 20% store wide discount.  They made 45 more blankets at the party!  WOW!

Marissa’s Bat Mitzvah is in May. She set a goal of 180 blankets to donate for cancer patients.  Why 180? Derivatives of the number 18 symbolize “life” and “good luck” in Judaism.  You can also read more about why Marissa picked Layers of Love, and why she wanted to donate blankets for chemotherapy patients in her Why blankets? …..My story post on her blog.  Marissa loves hanging out with her friends and loves cheerleading.

Just a portion of the donated blankets from Marissa ready to out for delivery.

Marissa is another example of an ordinary person doing extraordinary deeds.  She is a wonderful young lady.  These handmade fleece blankets will be so welcomed by the chemotherapy patients they will be donated to.  They will provide comfort and warmth both emotionally and physically.   We are so grateful to both Marissa and Robyn for their hard work, and their amazing inspiration.  Both Marissa and Robyn are truly making a difference to so many people.  Thank you for all that you do, thank you for all that you have done.  Thank you for all the blankets.  Thank you.

Layers of Love was born.  And we have lived primarily through social media since our launch back in February of 2010.  Twitter, Facebook, our website and here on our blog.  That is how we have spread the word.  That is also how we have met so many wonderfully incredible people doing so many incredible things.

“Individually we are one drop.  Together we are an ocean.”  ~Satoro

I am a firm believer in that quote.  We at Layers of Love believe in one blanket at time, one patient at a time.  We do what we can to help as many chemotherapy patients as we can.  We do all of this through the generosity of individuals, most we’ve never even met.  Our blanket donations come from not only across the state and all over the country, but the world.  We don’t accept monetary donations, only fleece blanket donations.  Because solely of the generosity of others we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

Hang on because this is where the story of Layers of Love gets even better. We have the fortune of, through Twitter, meeting a wonderful woman. Enter cancerHAWK.  She found us through twitter.  She was looking for a project for her daughter to take on for her upcoming bat mitzvah.  They decided on making blankets for Layers of Love.  We have a full blog post coming up soon with much more on her daughter.  She is an amazing young woman. You would think this is where the story ends, right?

Wrong.

Let’s get back to twitter and our friend cancerHAWK.  Let me introduce her.  Her name is Robyn.  Robyn started a campaign over a week ago on Twitter.  For every new follower she received for the week, until October 31, she would donate a blanket to us.  Each new follower=a new blanket for a chemotherapy patient.

WOW.

JUST WOW.

We at Layers of Love were floored.  Generosity that we couldn’t believe.

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Robyn.  She was one of the most inspirational women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.  What she has done is amazing.  Robyn lost her husband Alan, to a rare form of cancer July of last year.  She has 3 incredible children.  And as she states on her blog  “When I ask myself what can I do with the lemons that have been thrown my way, I know what Alan would say. He’d say, “Make Lemonade.” cancerHAWK is my lemonade.”  One thing she said during our conversation has stuck with me ever since, “If I can make someone’s journey brighter, that’s what I want to do.”  

That is simply beautiful.  She is one beautiful woman.

Her very successful twitter campaign gained her 148 new followers.  Which in turn means 148 blankets donated to Layers of Love.  One woman, one campaign, one GIANT generous heart.

Layers of Love can never adequately thank her for all she has done for us. Giving the gift of not just a fleece blanket to a chemotherapy patient, but giving the patient comfort and warmth, and letting them know that they are not alone in their battle with this terrible disease.  The gift of a handmade blanket does provide them with warmth to help with the terrible side effect of the chemotherapy treatment but it also provides warmth for their hearts, it’s comforting to know that someone they have never met does care.

THANK YOU Robyn.  Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for your beautiful heart.  Most importantly, thank you for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to follow cancerHAWK on twitter.

Visit the CancerHawk Blog  The real deal for cancer patients & their caregivers….

“Like” CancerHawk on Facebook

In advance of our upcoming post on Robyn’s daughter, you might want to take a look at the Get Cozy During Chemo blog.

]]> http://prstar.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/the-chemo-zone-new-book-aids-minnesota-ovarian-cancer-alliance-silent-no-more-event/ Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:40:10 +0000 Doug Hovelson http://prstar.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/the-chemo-zone-new-book-aids-minnesota-ovarian-cancer-alliance-silent-no-more-event/

Tracy Rubietta (right), co-author of the new book The Chemo Zone: Your Guide to Living and Flourishing During Chemotherapy, and Debbie Menke Roscoe at the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance’s (MOCA) 2011 Silent No More Walk-Run event in Edina on Sept. 10. The book is a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to coping with the effects of chemotherapy, co-authored by Tracy’s mother, the late Linda Rubietta, a much-decorated advertising industry art director who battled ovarian cancer for three years. For more information on the book visit www.thechemozone.com.

These are my general research questions:
Aside from the obvious strengthening of the heart, does cardiovascular activity help fight disease? Does it increase the function of any key muscles or organs needed to fight diseases? Does cycling, in general, better equip those prone to (or already suffering from) cancers and other diseases for a fight?

Questions for Janet Karanevich-Dono:

How long have you been practicing as an APN?

I am a newly licensed APN. I received my degree in August 2008 and my license in September 2009.

Can you explain why you had back surgery, how long the recovery process was, and what types of exercises you routinely performed as a means of physical therapy?

I had back surgery to correct a condition called spondylolithesis and spinal stenosis. I was in constant pain and had reticulopathy, which can result in permanent loss of function and muscle weakness to my lower extremities. The recovery process was long. The first four months is when the fusion process takes place.

The full recovery happens in about one year. I began my exercise routine with walking – beginning two weeks post-op. I began with about 1/4 mile walking daily. NO bending, twisting or lifting was recommended for the first three months. I was not allowed to have physical therapy until after the three-month mark. At about the eighth week, I began gentle cycling on the stationary (not spin) bikes at the gym. I felt this improved my mood, and aided in circulating the necessary immune cells to aid in my recovery. It also aided in improving my muscle strength, which was somewhat decreased from the lengthy operative time (The surgery was approximately six – seven hours long, requiring a lot of anesthesia). I also used small hand weights to improve the tone of my upper body. I felt I needed to do all of this to aide in my recovery and to not lose all that I accomplished over the years.

Why do you continue to exercise routinely?

I continue to exercise routinely because it makes me feel good. I feel strong; it gives me energy. I feel a sense of belonging to a group and I enjoy the health benefits of not being ill often. My back also feels better after exercise.

Why is cycling your preferred choice of exercise?

Cycling is my choice of exercise because you get a tremendous workout without too much exertion. I feel it does not put strain or pressure on my back and it has many cardiovascular benefits, as well. I feel it is a safe way of exercising.

As an APN, would you recommend cycling as a means for exercise for the out-of-shape adult? Why or why not?

I think cycling can benefit those that are out of shape tremendously. I would recommend it as a means of exercising. It can be modified to meet the needs of anyone looking to begin an exercise program. As with beginning any exercise program, one must be seen by a physician first. The benefits to cycling for the out of shape adult are an increase in strength, endurance, socialization and mood improvement.

Do you think cycling could be prescribed as way for patients suffering from other diseases to achieve a better quality of life or faster recovery process? If so, can you name any specific diseases that would seem obvious to you as an APN?

I think cycling can have many benefits to most diseases. I think it can be suggested, over prescribed or recommended into a physical therapy program. Any autoimmune disorder would benefit from cycling because cycling improves circulation, which improves the circulation of immune responses. The immune system circulates by muscle contractions so you have dual benefits from cycling. Muscle contractions from the actual spinning activity stimulate an increase in contractions. This can apply to cancer patients, who need a healthy, well-boosted immune system.

What are the benefits of cycling? (ie; muscle development and strengthening)Can any of these benefits help fight disease or help those already suffering recover from disease?

The benefits of cycling are numerous: increased muscle development and strengthening, improved immune response, improved healing ability – related to improvement in immune response, increased metabolism, increased mood, and increased balance from core strengthening on the bike.

Janet Karanevich-Dono is an Advanced Practice Nurse [APN] working for the Woodbridge Township School District. Janet has an M.S. in Nursing and general knowledge of human anatomy and normal muscle function. Her own experiences with physical therapy and exercise treatment have proved invaluable to my research. She exercised diligently prior to back surgery, after which she worked toward building upon her original exercise routines during physical therapy. Janet remains focused on physical fitness and nutrition.