Ever Have A Really Bad Day?

fishing boats

Do you ever have really bad days?  You know the kind I’m talking about?  The kind of day where something happens early on that knocks you off balance, then you forget your power cord at home and only figure it out once you’ve commuted to work, then you learn about a recent relapse of a friend’s cancer, then the internet at work sucks and you can barely do your job, then you miss the train heading home and end up arriving late at your next meeting, and on and on and on?

Yea, me too.

What do you do to *fix* these days?

Seriously, chime in.  I have my own ways but everyone has different techniques and creating a list would be so helpful!  I take 30 minutes to myself, take a hot shower, go for a run, or make myself a hot cup of tea.  I also try to be kind to myself while taking that time for myself and trying to reset.  When I’m stressed the whole time worrying whether I’m wasting time…it doesn’t help.

What do you do to fix a day that started off wrong? Fixing bad days is a matter of self-care and we’d love to hear how you show yourself some love.  Let us know!

Cancer Experience Among Emerging Adults Research Study

cancer in emerging adults

As someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, you are invited to participate in a survey-based research study about the experience of individuals diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 18 and 29. This study is being completed to better understand the experience of young adults diagnosed with cancer in the hopes that one day, there will be improvements in the care provided to individuals in this age range. Your valuable input would greatly help us with this research and potentially help improve the experiences of individuals like you diagnosed with cancer in the future.

You are eligible to participate in this study if you received a cancer diagnosis between the ages of 18 and 29 and have completed some form of treatment (including, but not limited to chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, etc.) in the last 5 years. The survey should take less than 20 minutes to complete.

Should you choose to participate, your answers will be kept confidential and will never be linked directly to you. If you have research-related questions, please contact Mikaila Hudson at hudsonk15@students.ecu.edu or Dr. Natalia Sira, PhD, MD at siran@ecu.edu or 252-328-5544. Please contact the Office for Human Reseach Integrity (OHRI) at 252-744-2914 for questions about your rights as a research participant. Thank you for your valuable input!

 

Get Loud

ayacsm

Did you know, once a month there are several tweet chats you can join to stretch your young adult cancer patient and survivor advocate muscles alongside Lacuna Loft?  Whether you’re looking to talk about young adult cancer in general, or want something slightly more focused like metastatic cancer, there are tweet chats and online communities everywhere you turn.  These tweet chats are a great place to chat with other young adult cancer survivors and healthcare professionals.  Lacuna Loft is active in two of them, in particular.  #AYACSM is the adolescent and young adult cancer societal movement and #MAYACC is the metastatic and advanced young adult cancer community.  #AYACSM’s next tweet chat is happening on September 25th @ 9 pm ET while #MAYACC’s next tweet chat is happening on September 13 @ 9 pm ET.

Never joined a tweet chat before?  Here are some logistics!

All you need to join is a twitter account!  Seriously, it is that easy.  Then, a few minutes before the tweet chat is to begin, go to ‘tweetdeck.com’ and log in using your twitter account.  On the left-hand column, there will be a menu toolbar.  In the search window, type in #ayacsm (or another hashtag for the tweet chat you’d like to join) and hit enter.  A new toolbar will appear with an ‘add column’ button at the bottom.  Click that button.  This will allow you to instantaneously see when someone has added a comment, answered/asked a question, or otherwise engaged with that hashtag (which is how you follow along with the tweet chat).  Whenever you’d like to join in the chat, click on the ‘New Tweet’ button on the left-hand toolbar and tweet away!  Always remember to add the hashtag of the tweet chat at the end of each tweet you send.  (In the #ayacsm tweet chat, always add ‘#ayacsm’ to the end of each tweet.)  This will make sure that your tweets are included in the tweet chat!

(You can also use these columns in Tweetdeck to search for any other hashtag you’d like.  Lacuna Loft pays special attention to #yacancer, #yarally, #caregivers, and others.)

We hope to see you in a few weeks at the #AYACSM and the #MAYACC tweet chats!

Like any other tweet chats or hashtags?  Let us know which ones you frequent!

#yacancer & #ayacsm…Connecting With Other Young Adult Cancer Survivors

connecting with other young adult survivors

Welcome to a new series here on Lacuna Loft!  Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about different ways of connecting with other young adult cancer survivors.  Today we talk about twitter!

Have you thought about using social media to find other survivors (instead of using it to realize that all of your non-cancer-having-young-adult friends seem to be having an easier time at life than you are right now?)  Take control over the interweb info that you consume and gain some young-adult-cancer-having love at the same time!

Connecting with other survivors is a very powerful experience.  Knowing that you aren’t alone is a big deal…being able to share your good times and bad times with those who truly understand adds that extra bit of control to an otherwise frightening and out of control experience.  Using hashtags on twitter makes it super easy to find other young adult cancer survivors.  There is #cancerisntfree #ayacancer #stupidcancer #cancerislonely #yacaregiver #yacancer #ayacsm #youngbreastcancer …the list goes on and on!

The two best hashtags to connect with on twitter, right off the bat, are the #yacancer and the #ayacsm.  #ayacsm (adolescent and young adult cancer societal movement) is a monthly chat that occurs between advocates, survivors, and healthcare professionals.  Questions are asked and everyone present is encouraged to respond and interact with one another.  It is a great opportunity to meet other survivors and to engage with activists and healthcare providers to encourage age-appropriate care for the treatment of young adult cancer.

Get twitter and peruse this #yacancer hashtag and this #ayacsm hashtag…you will not be disappointed.

P.S.  #youngadultcancer on instagram