GOOD RECALL Notice: Yocheved Golani's EMPOWER Yourself Book!

B'SD

12 Elul, 5772

This recall notice comes to you with warm smiles and heartfelt messages.

As promised. the Kossovers have reflected on 
passages from 

and prepared a blogpost for you. 

Here's how the book is helping them to cope with Mrs. Kossover's breast cancer:

בס''ד

י''ג באלול, התשע''ב

30 August, 2012

Copyright © R. Kossover, 2012

This "Note" will expand with time.  As we deal with this, I'll add more entries.  G-d willing, my wife will live a long life, and I can slowly forget about adding things to this Cancer Jurnal.  But right now, I need to write.  Just a brief note to clarify things for those of you reading OUTSIDE of Israel. A shekel is worth about 25 cents American.  But Israeli wages are far lower than American wages - often a third of the amount. So a 6 shekel bus fare in Jerusalem is not merely $1.50.  It is 6 shekels - which is a quarter to a fifth of what most folks make an hour here.

This all started when Adina got a letter from her health provider reminding her that she needed to get a mammogram.    She made an appointment, and went on 31 July.  It wasn't fun for her.  Getting one's breasts smooshed in an exam is generally not fun, I guess.  But she figured on getting the results she had alway gotten - normal - and she forgot about the whole thing.  Then she got a call from the health provider telling her she needed a biopsy - something looked suspicious in the biopsy, what they referred to as "calcification".  I translated that call for my wife and we set up an appointment for 8 August, 2012.  For this I went with Adina.  After all, it was surgery of a sort.  My place is with her.

On 16 August, we got a call from the family doctor telling us that Adina had cancer.  That was a Thursday, if I remember right.  We managed to get an appointment for her the following Sunday with a surgeon.  While he wa a nice guy, he didn't do breast surgeries anymore, and HE made an appointment for us with Dr. Oded Olsha, who had been recommended to us as an expert in the field, operating out of Sha'are Tzedeq Hospital Breast Care Institute in Jerusalem.  That appointment was a Wednesday, on 22 August.  At this point I have to mention that on the 20th, Sunday, we ran into Yocheved Golani, whom we knew from the Beit Canada Absorption Center when she would come to our "apartment" and plug in her computer to our wall and use our phone to check her e-mails.  In trhe decade we've both been here, Yocheved has established herself as a health coach, and gave Adina a copy of her book, Its My Crisis and I'll Cry If I Need To, which is a workbook to help someone cope with a crisis.  It has already helped Adina. 

Wednesday the 22nd was a very busy day.  First, we went to a clinic early in the morning so that Adina could have blood work done.  Then we had some breakfast, and took the light rail to Sha'are Tzedeq to meet with Dr. Olsha at about noon.  At that appointment he described in detail the problem Adina faces.  She has a tumor about 1.3 centimeters long (a half inch) which looks like an oval and which infiltrates the ducts.  From what he was able to determine, it was in its very beginning stages, called 1A, and the lymph nodes were, according the biopsy, clear.  But treatment for the tumor is a whole process - not just a chop chop job where the junk yards gets a piece of scrap.  A nurse was designated to coordinate Adina's care, which would NOT end with the surgery.  In addition, we met with the person who would actually schedule the surgery.  After spending some time at the hospital, we went to the health provider to pay for procedures that were to come the following Monday at Sha'are Tzedeq, a "pre-op" meeting to kind of vet the whole process and have additional tests.  Afterwards we slowly wended our way towards  the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem, where Adina met with an oncologist.   

The oncologist detailed the "day after" of the treatment process.  About three weeks after the operation, called a resection, Adina was supposed to begin radiation therapy.  Essentially the area around where the tumor had been would be flooded with X-rays for a five minute period each day for five days a week, Sunday through Thursday (which is the work week in Israel).  This was to last for a 5 week period, which will be hard for me.  Adina and I live in Ma'ale Levona, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Jerusalem, and for her to travel into town each day would cost NIS 37.20 a day.  Multiply that out by 25 (the number of treatment days) and you wind up with the rather steep cost of NIS 930.  When you consider how little we make, that 930 shekels is going to be a problem.  So, we are working on ways to cut it down.

According to the oncologist, that is the easy route.  If it turns out that the tumor is problematic, there will be chemotherapy as well, which will start sooner.  

The next BIG step was the pre-op meeting on 27 August.  We took the early bus into Jerusalem and bought our medicines for the month.   Then we had a quick breakfast and took the light rail to Sha'are Tzedeq - we got there by 8:30, later than we had planned.  This was the day when we were shuffled like peasants in a Russian government office.  First we had to go to admissions to submit the forms that allowed us to be trtested at Sha'are Tzedeq, called a hitHayevút [התחייבות] in Hebrew.   Then it was up to the fifth floor to meet with the surgeon, who detailed once again the operation.  An additional detail, which we were not aware of, was added at this meeting.  The surgeon was going to take out some one or more of the lymph nodes to assure (hopefully) that there would be no remaining cancer.  After this brief meeting, we were shuffled to a waiting room and then called to meet with an anesthesiologist - who took details on Adina's health - and who asked her to stick out her tongue a number of times.  Then we were told to go to the waiting room where a nurse finally called out Adina's name for an EKG.  Then it was back to the waiting room to wait to be called in for another doctor to consult with us.  All she did was  to create a computer record of Adina on Sha'are Tzedeq's computer.  However, in addition to all this, we would have to get a summary from our family doctor.  That would mean a long trip to East Talpiot (in southern Jerusalem) where our family doctor is.  Then we were given our file and told to find the coordinating nurse, talk with her, and then finally, to go for a chest X-ray.  Before we left I called the family doctor and asked the secretary if she could have a summary prepared for us top fax to Sha'are Tzedeq.   

The coordinating nurse and the chest X-ray were both on the 2nd floor of the hospital.  It was nearly noon and we were hungry, but we tried to follow instructions and go to the coordinating nurse.  We called her and got her voice mail.  I left a message, and we waited - and waited.  Finally, losing patience, I suggested we get Adina to the imaging center for the chest X-ray - which did not take too long.  Then still holding this file in hand, I decided to go directly to the Breast Care Institute to hunt up the people we needed to see.  It was my nose for finding things that got us finally to the Breast Care Institute.  The coordinating nurse was out sick - but we had managed to find the young lady who will schedule the surgery, and we were ab le to leave our file with her.

After having lunch - a tuna sandwich that tasted like cat food - we both took the light rail in the general direction of down-town Jerusalem.  My wife got off at the Central Bus station to return to Ma'ale Levona.  I continued onward to the MaHane Yehuda Shouk (a huge market) so I could catch a bus going to East Talpiot.

In spite of all the time everything seemed to take, I managed to get the 5:25 bus to Ma'ale Levona.  I was exhausted.  Adina was sleeping when I got home.

The final chapter of this adventure - so far- is now the waiting for the actual operation. We got a call Wednesday that the operation would be next Monday (2 September).  But then later in the day we were told that a woman whose case was very severe had bumped my wife from the queue - and that they would try for next Wednesday.  And now, on the lip of the Shabbat, that is where we are.  So, we'll see.

Husband and wife are sharing their tears, fears and courage together. May they be blessed with the healing they pray for.

A medical crisis - you'd cry too, if it happened to you. Use your tissues and handkerchiefs with my blessings borne of experience. GOD gives you Permission to Weep. And you can say that to any critics after explaining that "It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To."



"Happiness has little to do with what we get and everything to do with what we give" - Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Want to give your medical or disability situation the best of your ever-developing self? Buy the E-book or print edition today. Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

How to End the Dramatic Increase in Abuse of Prescription Painkillers

B'SD


7 Tammuz


This headline article Dramatic Increase in Abuse of Rx Painkillers doesn't address some relevant issues:

• Men are unfairly pressured to pretend they can cope with heartache and physical pain

• Men too often feel or believe that they can't trust someone to help them even after courageously admitting they need some sort of help

• The medical world too often fails to monitor the use of a patient's drug use and potential for drug abuse

• Society and the medical world need to admit that men are human, deserve compassion and pain relief - psychological, spiritual and physical

We can turn those realities around into a can-do coping strategy. It takes courage, some training by competent therapists and clinicians, an attitude adjustment in society (start a movement among your friends and colleagues!) and a desire to prevent tragedy.


By the way, many of the "Thank you" letters, E-mails and phone calls I receive for 

are from men! I suspect that I know why: 

1. The book is FILLED with privacy-protected answers to questions they need/want to ask. Too often men are simply unaware of whom they can trust to answer them and to protect their confidentiality. The EMPOWER Yourself book is a safe outlet with information that men need.
2. EMPOWER Yourself lets them calm down, read and re-read the sections important to them in the confidential surroundings of their home, office or wherever they read the book.

Men, you deserve many healing, helpful breaks. As I tell my Self-Help Coaching clients and book buyers, "A medical crisis - you'd cry too, if it happened to you. Use your tissues and handkerchiefs with my blessings borne of experience. GOD gives you Permission to Weep. And you can say that to any critics after explaining that 'It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To.'"


Be sure to read pages 4 and 5, to get that FYI on your license to cry. 




Buy the E-book or print edition today for a brighter, happier way to deal with your disability, emotional, physical or mental health pain.  Buy your own copy of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge at http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.


Be a man focused on his future, not on suffering.

Masculinity and Healing

B'SD


26 Iyar 5772


I read an Is Social Media too Feminine? article. Then I wondered "How many men are inspired to heal from social media?" One glance at the sites mentioned in the article had my gut churning with big doubts about that.

So I'm giving male readers 

a sneak peek 

into some manliness-oriented 

content of

Here you go:

Spend Time on Spirituality
Shore-up your Spiritual Life in Practical Ways.
A medical challenge can make a person want to question GOD's wisdom and compassion.


Plato spoke throughout the ages when he said, "If the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul."


It's easy to be spiritual when life makes sense and rewards seem to follow good deeds. But watching someone suffer or being that sufferer tears at someone's confidence in a loving GOD. The problem calls for an intensified spiritual understanding and appreciation of what is going on in the affected person's life. Challenges can present themselves in mystifying ways. I describe a few of them below and present tools for potential solutions.


The Isolation Challenge: Some people isolate themselves from others as they try to hide painful truths from themselves and others. I call it "Sitting Shiva (mourning) for Yourself." It's a downward road to more suffering that you don't have to take. You can leave that road if you're already on it.


You or your loved one might be finding it difficult to accept comforting words and certain teachings. That's normal. It is not denial of your belief in GOD or a rejection of sound psychological principles. It is a cry of pain.


GOD gave you the challenge you're facing, and He knows better than you do how vulnerable you are to feeling angry, hurt, lost and more. He is also observing how you choose to handle the situation. He is also keeping all possibilities open for your spiritual response to this medical challenge. Among those possibilities are an enhanced relationship with Him, a greater awareness of your capabilities (some are showing up for the first time, others might be improving), and inner growth.


This is an opportunity to let the intellect rule over the emotions. Sounds dull and impossible? Hang on. The reward for letting your intellect rule over your emotions is a richly rewarding, much more meaningful emotional life. And that enriched meaning of life means a lot less stress. And it's all a matter of pretending until you believe in what you're doing. Think of a baby flopping to the floor every time it tries to walk. The baby never lets depression rule the situation. Nope, the baby gets up and tries again. Even if it walks like a Frankenstein monster, the baby will repeat using its legs and feet until he or she hits a smooth stride.


Changing the way we think is the same technique. You flop around until repeated practice helps you to master the task.


Skeptical that you can feel happy? Consider this reality. I've mentioned babies a few times in my text. The reason is this: we are born cheerful. We feel secure, interested in our lives and surroundings. We eventually realize that our thoughts and actions are effective. Happiness is our natural state. It is when other people or circumstances hurt us and we make mistaken conclusions or choose to hold grudges that we fill up, maybe overflow with, feelings of insecurity, boredom, irrelevance, and/or depression. The solution is intellectual and emotional. We need to choose to our focus, to stay with it, and to develop the tenacity to return to states of gratitude, acceptance, and happiness. GOD gave us the tools so it could happen. We have the ability to control how we think and feel!


Here's your homework assignment for Strengthening Your Spiritual Life. Set priorities. You're the first priority, particularly in regard to your physical and spiritual health...


Praying is a priority. To be realistic about it, be honest about the fact that you want to cry, scream, beg and dialogue with GOD. You want answers, help, and an easier life. That stuff tends not to show up in prayer books. My solution? Pray from the heart rather than a script. GOD has more intelligence than you or I can measure. He'll understand you with all the love that a Heavenly Father has. He's with you in all this. If the only prayer you can come up with is to crack your knuckles, sigh or change the speed of your movements in a rocking chair, He'll "get it." Stock up on soothing books, magazines and recordings of spiritual philosophy that help your sense of perspective.


Say these statements out loud: I have to be happy in order to heal. When I am happy, my body chemistry is receptive to healing therapies. Happiness also helps my body to heal itself to some extent.


Now set your next priority.


Say this statement out loud: I need help in order to heal.


Part of the help you need in order to heal is medical. Other necessary help is the love and practical support of people helping you with daily tasks. If you are debating the manliness of receiving such help, I ask that you consider King David, Forefather Jacob and Forefather Isaac. They were very masculine men. And they accepted medical, emotional, and spiritual assistance without losing one iota of their male egos. So has Lance Armstrong, the professional bicyclist who won the body-busting Tour de France seven times in a row after recovering from testicular cancer and metastasis to his brain and lungs...


More content is coming for men. Part 2 is scheduled to appear after the weekend.




Buy the E-book or print edition today for a brighter, healthier you: Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Like a MAN.

Prostate Cancer Screening Controversy

B'SD

28 Cheshvan 5771


Here's something to tide you over my possible absence from future updates: This news item is relevant to my previous blogpost below. I hope you'll pray with me for a beneficial solution to a perplexing health problem:

Govt. Agency
Prostate Cancer Screening Expert
Resigns

Need affordable solutions no matter what you're facing in your medical life? Read E-book EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Testicular Cancer Resource

B'SD

10 Cheshvan 5771


Men, I'm pleased to share this information with you:

The Testicular Cancer Resource Center
http://tcrc.acor.org/

While you're studying it, make a note to read something I shared at LinkedIn only hours ago:

... I advocate the use of superb nutrition
while or instead of pursuing medical
procedures. The effects of nutrition
have been observed for thousands of
years. Their trials are over.

Dr. Dean Ornish reverses heart disease
with food and lifestyle changes instead
of cardiac procedures. Other medical
trailblazers do likewise.

Choosing low-tech lifestyle changes
is risky, frightening and a personal
judgment call.

It's not a sure thing in any manner.
But documented evidence proves that
alternative healing/prevention
techniques do succeed.

I'm marketing a feature story I wrote
about extremely effective low-tech
solutions for making the most of the
remaining vision in brain-injured
patients. The lesson of the medical
experts quoted in my piece is this:
Western medicine too often opts for
expensive procedures and/or
medications when less lucrative,
equally or more effective solutions
exist. Patients are not necessarily
fully informed of those low-cost,
low-risk and high-yield options.

Medical practitioners are pressured
to make sustainable incomes as
insurance companies pull their
financial chains.

It all makes for a moral mess...

You need people to cooperate with you, to help with your healthcare. But they complain that you're moody, short-tempered and forgetful (Who wouldn't be in this situation?). And medical expenses are on everybody's nerves right now aren't they?

End the problems. Take some uncertainty, complaining and whining out of your medical life. Get your grin back. Save money on the information in

E-book
"It's MY Crisis!
And I'll Cry If I Need To:
EMPOWER Yourself to
Cope with a Medical Challenge"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4244.html
TODAY.

The DIY E-book for a healthier, happier life: Quick and convenient EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge at http://www.booklocker.com/books/4244.html

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Male Sexual Dysfunction and BPA...

B'SD


28 Cheshvan 5770




One of the male fans of this blog, Aryeh Zelasko, alerted me to the following news item:


Workplace BPA Exposure Increases Risk Of Male Sexual DysfunctionScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2009) ­

High levels of workplace exposure to Bisphenol-A may increase the risk of reduced sexual function in men, according to a Kaiser Permanente study appearing in the journal Human Reproduction.

The five-year study examined 634 workers in factories in China, comparing workers in BPA manufacturing facilities with a control group of workers in factories where no BPA was present. The study found that the workers in the BPA facilities had quadruple the risk of erectile dysfunction, and seven times more risk of ejaculation difficulty.

This is the first research study to look at the effect of BPA on the male reproductive system in humans. Previous animal studies have shown that BPA has a detrimental effect on male reproductive system in mice and rats.

Funded by the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, this study adds to the body of evidence questioning the safety of BPA, a chemical made in the Exposure Increases Risk of Male Sexual Dysfunction production of polycarbonated plastics and epoxy resins found in baby bottles, plastic containers, the lining of cans used for food and beverages, and in dental sealants.

Read the rest of the article at Science Daily: Workplace BPA

Replace your plastic plates, cutlery, cups and the rest of your kitchenware with Cast Iron (skillets, utensils), Ceramic (mugs, plates, bowls, etc.), Fabric or genuine Paper Napkins and Place mats instead of synthetic varieties, Glass (jugs and drinkware), Porcelain (mixing bowls and pots), and Wood (dish raks, mixing bowls, serving pieces).

On the go? Drink from GLASS bottles (e.g., used wine and grape juice bottles washed clean for this purpose). And use metal trash cans instead of plastic.

By the way, consider reducing the above health risks to your children by removing all the plasticware at their table settings, in their toy supply and on their bottoms. Georgetown Universtiy Medical Center professional Dr. L. Silver and the Institute for Children's Environmental Health insist that plastic diapers and other items in childhood represent serious health concerns.

Need more convinving? Read Baby Bottle Chemicals Get Mixed Reviews and
Sippy Cups/Training Cups Can be DANGEROUS for Children.

End your doubts and vulnerabilities. Live life on the safer side of chemical reality. You can still buy glass baby bottles, rubber nipples instead of synthetics, and cotton diapers (er, plastic-lined diapers have been proven to harm to baby's reproductive organs).

Read a book about how to ease into that reality and lots of other helpful stuff.
EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

Yocheved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life

A GREAT Way to Protect Yourself from Breast Cancer!

B'SD


20 Tishrei 5770



I've been traveling this week, enjoying the Sukkot holiday season with sights, sounds and tastes that enrich the soul (We bypassed the fragrant vineyards of Zichron Yakov as we headed to our destination, yesterday. We rode a boat over the Sea of Galilee, picnicked at Moshava Kineret, saw and tasted the lush, beautiful and delicious results of 18th-century immigrants who turned part of the Galilee coastline into an oasis of olive, date, fig, mango, papaya, coconut and flowering trees. The weather was hot, clear and gorgeous with fragrant air from milk farms and the Seven Species Native to Israel. The sun kissed our skin daylong. We rode horse-drawn carriages, and dipped our toes in tiny lakes dotting the countryside. Children nuzzled noses with goats and a few were allowed to take the reins of trained carriage horses).

Happiness is good for health. So are pure foods. Psychiatrists know that whole foods reality, too!

Several people recognized me or overheard me speaking about my book while I moved about. They asked me a question I often hear: "WHAT do you drink or eat most, as a vegetarian focused on healing?"

The answer is: "ANYTHING organic filled with Vitamin C! I chug orange juice to beat champions, add tomatoes to salads plus to rice with lentil dishes and whatever I can think of. I snack on pineapple daily."

Okay, now that you can answer a trivia question about one of your favorite bloggers, let's digress to an important point:

October is International

Breast Cancer Awareness month!

So far, the western medical world lacks a cure for cancer. One excellent tool for survival is EARLY DETECTION & TREATMENT.

THE BREAST CHEK KIT--a medically endorsed, patented product greatly enhances early detection of breast tissue changes. By performing a monthly breast self examination with this kit you can take charge of your own health with much more confidence.

Buy it today, no matter where you live!

It's newly available in Israel. Contact Florence at cell phone 0543.008.478 and let her know I sent you.

Here's a movie created by a retired psychotherapist celebrating his wife's victory over the disease. Click on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlm-As-emI

One more thing: the evidence is growing that sugary foods (pastas, rice, breads, cookies, etc.) feed cancer cells. It's not realistic for most people to immediately get all that out of their diets. I recommend that you gradually taper it out as you find delicious substitutes for favorite foods that might damage your health. Sprout breads, quinoa and baked goods or fresh whole foods can please the palate and your sense of satisfaction while nourishing your immune system. Invest in some whole foods cookbooks and enjoy food preparation lessons at local health food shops.

Er, I recommend that you limit your fish intake. The oceans seem troubled with too much mercury these days.

Learn more about how to
promote your health
with a dinner plate.

READ
EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

Yocheved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life

Men, Take Care of Your Health

21 Sivan 5768

Here's a glimpse into why men need to nurture their health along with their family lives and careers: FOCUS ON MALE HEALTH.

Truth is guys, without your health, you won't have much of a life or a career. Or anything else.

My book explains to you just how to get your medical affairs in order quickly and efficiently, and how to tune up your satisfaction in life.

Scroll down the right margin for purchase information.

By the way, if you're planning to travel overseas, ask around for medical services you'll need before you leave. See STAYIN' ALIVE for a hint about why pre-medicated travel is a life-saving necessity.

Men and women (kids, too!) can nurture their health with the help of this terrific self-help site: HEALING.

~*~*~*~


To your good health,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life