Breast Cancer Awareness Month is here, and its significance varies for everyone. For survivors, it can be a time of heightened emotions and heightened anxiety. Amidst the global narration of inspiration, coupled with daunting statistics about the disease, it's easy for survivors to feel overwhelmed.
In this episode, I aim to offer a beacon of hope. I'll present some uplifting statistics and share strategies to help you stay grounded in positivity. We'll discuss proactive steps you can take for your well-being and ways to navigate the deluge of breast cancer narratives this month. Dive in for a dose of empowerment amidst the awareness.
Resources:
The adult female mortality rate
Read the full transcript:
0:01
This is Laura Lummer, the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm a healthy lifestyle coach, a clinical Ayurveda specialist, a personal trainer, and I'm also a breast cancer survivor. In this podcast, we talk about healthy thinking and mindfulness practices, eating well, moving your body for health and longevity. And we'll also hear from other breast cancer survivors who have reengaged with life, and have incredible stories to share. This podcast is your go to resource for getting back to life after breast cancer.
0:38
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the breast cancer recovery coach podcast. I'm your host, Laura Lummer. And today is October 1, the very first day of breast cancer awareness month. Now, this is going to be an exciting month. And I have a lot going on a lot that I've created because I want you to have a month full of inspiration and engagement and things to keep your mind focused on moving forward, creating a healthy life feeling good, and feeling empowered over your health over your life and over the choices that you make. So first, some quick housekeeping. I'll fill you in on some of this. So we have four webinars that are coming up this week. The first one as of the time of this recording is going to happen tomorrow at 11am. I would love for you to join me in one of these webinars, it's completely free. The webinars are how to revive life after breast cancer. And in them, I'll talk about the four pillars of breast cancer recovery that I use in the coaching programs with the survivors that I work with. And I'll tell you some of the practices in those pillars and how you can implement them in your life. So that you can have the best results in your recovery that you want. It's great stuff, sign up, come and join me there's four of them. And I would love love, love to get to spend some time with you. I launched these every time that I open my 10 week coaching program, we vivify for enrollment. And I talked about that a little bit last week, I do that because I know that re vivify. And a 10 week coaching program doesn't work for everybody. For those who it does work for. It's amazing and mind blowing and transformational. But I want there to be something for everybody. And so I create these webinars, they're free, it's an hour long, and you'll leave there hopefully having some great information to help you with anything you need help with. So feel just better, and have more power over your recovery from breast cancer. And then I'm adding into that this month, a sugar challenge. So we did the five day sugar challenge, I think it was back in March. And everybody loved it. And now that program sells it's $47. But for the month of October, and beginning October 5, this coming Monday, as of the time of this recording, I'm giving it to everybody for free. So you can get into the sugar challenge completely free. It's a fantastic challenge in before you freak out and think that I'm gonna ask you to throw all the sugar out of your house. That's not at all what it is. The five day sugar challenge is kind of an example of the way that I coach because it's based on mindfulness practices. And what we look at is your relationship with food and the way you think about food, the way you think about you and how food affects you. It is an incredible fun and enlightening challenge. And there's videos and there's a free Facebook private group. There's a lot of fun and interaction with other survivors. There's a workbook that you get to go through, you will love it and it's completely free. So you can find all this stuff on my website, the breast cancer recovery coach.com and sugar challenge is the breast cancer recovery coach.com forward slash sugar and the webinars you can register at the breast cancer recovery coach.com forward slash October, I'm gonna put all the links in the show notes for this episode, so it'd be easy for you just to click on them. And if you're ready to re enroll in Rivera phi, you can find that at the breast cancer recovery coach.com forward slash yes and get all the details. So I have one final thing and we're actually gonna get into the show. If you're a new listener. I know it's a long introduction, but trust me, we're almost there. So I have a friend who's just a wonderful, wonderful guy. He's a vet, he served this country and he has an amazing line of T shirts called respect and decency. And for the month of October, he is making that T shirt and pink says respect on the front decency on the back. And anyone who's interested in getting one of those T shirts can choose to donate 10% of the cost of that T shirt the proceeds to any charity of their choice. His name is Brian Baker and he's trying to raise money this month for breast cancer research, but you can choose any thing that's near and dear to your heart, especially when it comes to breast cancer. And he's such a great person, I love these T shirts. And I hope that you will check them out. I'm putting the link to the T shirts where you can find them in the show notes for this episode, but is respect and decency.com. And I'm happy to support him. I'm not making money off this just so you know, I just want to support him because I also believe that respect and decency are two very important values that we can always use more of in this world. All right, I'm ready. Now, that was a long introduction, you guys, but some great, great stuff. And I want to say it right up front. So you hear everything. And remember to check the show notes. You can see them where you're listening to the podcast, just look at the podcast episode itself, or click on my website, and you'll find them all there at the breast cancer recovery. coach.com forward slash 107. Okay, so last week, at the end of the show, I talked a little bit about my thoughts on October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and how my perspective of this month changed once I had breast cancer. So first of all, I love that so much attention and awareness is given to diagnosis and to research and to support because it's changed the landscape of breast cancer, as you're going to hear me talk about here in a minute. But as a survivor, I also feel that the stories, many of the stories that we'll hear this month, stir up fear and anxiety in those of us who are going through treatment. And those of us who are in recovery, including those of us who are still on hormone therapies, or maybe even if you're past that. So my commitment to you this month, as I mentioned a minute ago is to keep a lot of good stuff and inspiration coming your way, like the webinars and the sugar challenge and revivify, which will carry you through the holiday season in the most amazing way. And I have some great podcast interviews coming your way. Also the inspirational survivors. I know you're gonna love this month. So I want to kick off everything by sharing with you some very encouraging statistics that you may or may not be aware of depending on how much of a research nerd you are, which I happen to be a huge one. And then I want to talk with you about something called thought errors. I want to talk with you about the way that we have self defeating thought patterns, which I see frequently. And I want to offer you some suggestions on how to work with those self defeating thought patterns, especially now so that you can create new beliefs moving forward, that help you and help you feel good and positive and help you to engage in your life in the most productive way. Okay, so let's start off with the five year survival rate. Now the five year survival rate is a terrifying statement when you first hear it, isn't it? Like never in your life? Never in my life? Did I think I would hear the phrase. Well, here's your five year survival rate. I know what the what the what if you've never heard that phrase? Or if you're not sure what it means. The five year survival rate is the percentage of people who live at least five years after they discover they have cancer. So are you ready for this? The average five year survival rate for women with non metastatic invasive breast cancer is 91%. And the average 10 year survival rate for women with invasive breast cancer is 84%. Ladies. Now, if your head just went to, oh, crap, I have a 26% chance of dying in the next 10 years as I know some of you did. Let me add a little bit of perspective here. Okay. According to trading economics, and the United States World Bank, the mortality rate for an adult female in the United States, which means that it's the chances of a woman dying before the age of 60. That is just under 82%. So I think with our 10 year survival rate being at 84%, that we are doing pretty damn good in this category. That is definitely an above average survival statistic. And I want you to keep that in your back pocket this month. Keep that knowledge and information and pull it out every time you hear a story. Or you see a post or some situationally unaware human, tells you a story of someone they know who died from breast cancer. You know, I think that's what I should have suggested to my friend to put on his breast cancer awareness T shirts, a quote that says I don't want to hear your story of who died from breast cancer. Cheese. Anyway, even better news. If the invasive cancer is located only in the breast, the five year survival rate is 99% 99%. Okay, that is a pretty dang good odd. I mean, it's very close to a guarantee, right? It's 1% away from a guarantee. And yes, it's an average. And it can vary, but it's 99%. Let me read that, again, if the invasive cancer is located only in the breast, the five year survival rate, the average five year survival rate is 99%.
10:25
And even if the cancer has spread to regional lymph nodes, the five year survival rate is 86%, which is still higher than the average American female mortality rate. So that is great news. And I really truly mean to sit with that news. Use it to inspire you if you're struggling through treatment right now. Or if you're in recovery, put that on a post it note, put it on a post it note in every room in your house, if you're struggling with anxiety, or fear, and remind yourself that the chances are, you're going to be okay. Now you have to work to get your mind around that, right. That's the bigger question. How do you get your mind around it? And we'll talk about that in a minute. How do you convince yourself to believe the science. Now, also, you might hear an insanely high number of women who get diagnosed with breast cancer. And that in itself is frightening, right? We hear these statistics, and it's just mind boggling. But here's some more good news. According to cancer dotnet, nearly 18% of those diagnoses this year are Insitute cases, which have an extremely high survival rate. And there's been more than a 40% drop in deaths from breast cancer since 1989. Because of these early screenings and diagnoses, and the ability to catch cancer when it is still in situ breast cancer. Now, there is still the disturbing fact that the survival rates are nearly 10%, lower just a little bit, it's just a little bit under 10%, lower in black women compared to non black women. And that definitely needs attention. But even then, if you are a woman of color, with these survival rates, the odds are still in your favor, even if they're a little bit lower. And definitely work needs to be done to increase that so that they're the same. So I also want to touch on Triple Negative cancer, which accounts for up to 15% of diagnosed cases, according to the American Cancer Society. So based on women who are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer between 2010 and 2015, the American Cancer Society says that triple negative cancer had that has remained local or just in the breast has a 91% five year survival rate. So once again, we see the work and the message from breast cancer awareness month, doing positive amazing things in that early detection is key. And it carries a much greater chance of long term survival. But the numbers are fantastic. And the sad thing is for us as survivors in order to get people to act and do their self examinations and get to their mammograms, we use this month a lot of time to talk about fearful things, because for whatever reason, we human beings respond better to things that scare the shit out of us. So we hear scary things, because we want them to take care of themselves. So let's keep our mind as survivors out of the scary stuff and onto the positive stuff. And there's some other more some other good news, which is. And another tidbit of news, as I wrap up the science piece of this is that in 2016, Congress actually approved the United States Congress approved nearly a $2 billion of funding over the next seven years. So that'll take us through what 2023 And that funding was to go to the Cancer Moonshot program, which I've linked to in the show notes here for this episode. And that's a program whose goal is to make more therapies available to more cancer patients to support more early detection and to prevent the occurrence of cancer. So it's there's a lot of good stuff, and a lot of good numbers and a lot of good data. And even though I know and you know, I know that the diagnosis is terrifying, that the treatment is horrific, and that the recovery is a very one. So that's where it's just an unsettling place to be because you got to wrap your mind around everything you just went through. And I know that that's a struggle. It's hard. It's a difficult experience. I know that because I've been through it, which is why I do what I do now. But even though it is difficult, I think that having this data and the science, at least I hope that you can find that encouraging. I know I do. And in fact I think of myself now as a part of that statistic, because I'm nine years out of my diagnosis nine years away from a stage two diagnosis with lymph node involvement. And I'm still 100% of life, not 99%, well, maybe 99% Don't know, as I age, I think maybe 99%. But anyway, it's still pretty sweet. Whether it's 99% or 100%. I'm here. And I always find it really encouraging, when I meet someone who's survived longer than me, or when I meet someone who's like, oh, yeah, and cancer 25 years ago, or breast cancer 35 years ago, I'm so inspired by that. And I just find that my hope is renewed every time I meet someone like that. So I hope that you look for those stories and meet those women and look for those women this month, you know, stay close, stay close to us. As a group, all of us survivors, we're stronger together. And we can help each other be mentally strong during this period. And so speaking of mentally strong, I love this quote from an article in Psychology Today. And the article is called 10 Thinking errors that will crush your mental strength and how to overcome them. And this is a quote, it says, quote, mental strength requires a three pronged approach, managing our thoughts, regulating our emotions, and behaving productively, despite our circumstances. This is so important to understand, because thoughts are going to come up, your brain is always going to tell you things to try to keep you safe. So it's going to question everything. And it's going to offer you thoughts of how dangerous everything is, how dangerous your shampoo is, how dangerous your environment is, or at least it's going to tell you question this question this question this and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, unless those thoughts as they're coming up, are impacting your ability to live your life fully. So you'll see stories this month, and your brain will say, Oh, shit, that could be me. I'm never going to make it to live, what am I thinking I am, I'm going to be here next year, I have no power over anything. I don't know what's gonna happen to me. And who knows, you can go down that very dark hole that spin out. So the trick here is not to pick and choose what your brain thinks. But to become more aware of what your brain thinks, what your brain is telling you. The thoughts that it is creating and throwing at you, and then manage those thoughts. So for example, if you struggle with fear of recurrence, and fear of death, each time those thoughts pop up, you can say to yourself, Okay, so actually, I know, fill in the blank, Laura, I know, Laura, she's lived for nine years since cancer. So yes, it's possible. The evidence shows, people can live longer than one or two years after cancer, people can live longer than five years, there's evidence, or if one of the statistics I just talked about applies to you, and a thought comes up a fear, you can tell yourself, hold on, I actually have more than a 90% chance of survival. And that's a fact. Right? And you can tell yourself, when you do that, when you recognize your thoughts, and you manage them with more productive thinking, you regulate your emotions. That was step number two, right? regulating your emotions, you calm your anxiety, you give yourself hope, because your thoughts create your feelings. And when your thoughts are out of control, and bing, bong and all over the place, you feel anxious and you feel all over the place. But when you notice them, and you get them straight, and you calm them down, it's like making them stand in line, right? And take all these thoughts that are just like a mob all over the place. When I bring in stand in line. We're gonna take this one at a time. And when you do that, and you tell yourself, no, that's not true. Nope, that's not true. You calm down your emotions, because managing your thoughts changes your emotions.
19:01
And then finally, Step number three, was behaving productively, despite your circumstances. I love that one. Because remember, circumstances are just facts. And when you remove all the drama, and you just look at the circumstances, you get to decide what you're going to think about them. Because what you're going to think about them is going to change the way you act, it's going to change your behaviors. So you have a choice to look at your circumstances, you have a choice to decide what you want to think about them. So you feel the way you want to feel so that you can take productive action in your life, regardless of the circumstances. So if you find yourself withdrawing from the world, disconnecting from others, feeling angry, resentful, blaming, judging yourself struggling to endure life. Start noticing those thoughts. thoughts and follow those steps I just outlined, this applies to any thought error, which means a thought error, again, is a way of thinking that is self defeating. So think about it in terms of how is what you're thinking causing you to feel, versus how do you want to feel? And then how do you need to think in order to feel that way? It sounds super simple, right? And it is, it's, these are super simple steps. This is what I'm thinking, is what I'd rather be thinking, this is what I'm feeling. This is what I'd rather be feeling. And how would someone who feels this way think. But simple and easy. I know I've said it before. And I'll share I'll say it again, simple and easy are not the same thing. You need to set aside that time to work on the way you think. And then you need to practice it. You need to practice thinking, the way you choose to think so you feel the way you choose to feel until you believe that something different than what you're telling yourself now is possible. And it is possible. In that same Psychology Today article, it says that our conscious thoughts are often irrational and inaccurate. And that believing them can lead to problems in relationships and making unhealthy decisions. I love it. When I find these articles that align with the way I coach my people I do. It's like it's so exciting for me. And it's not just more evidence that working on your thoughts changes everything. But it's spreading of that truth from multiple sources can only do good things. And that's awesome. It's so awesome. So if you want to dig into this work with me, let's do it this month, you can enroll in rivet by now, and at the time of this recording will be starting in 11 days. You can check out the details on my website. Again, breast cancer recovery coach.com forward slash Yes, you can join in one of my webinars, please come to a free webinar, the breast cancer recovery coach.com forward slash October, all I want to do is support you. That is what I do. That's what this podcast is for this what my coaching programs are for. I want every single survivor out there to know there is support and the suffering is optional. You do not have to suffer. Know that I'm here to support you. And that you can find me on Facebook, Laura Lummer, you can join my free group on Facebook, the breast cancer recovery group, this month, you can do the sugar challenge completely free work with me there, I'm putting it all out, put it all the cards on the table girl this month, October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm putting it all out there. And I want you to take my hand in at least one of these areas and come along with me. Because I believe that when you're a part of the community that I've built, and you engage and you open your mind to a different way of thinking, you will transform your life. I know this, I know this, I see this. And I love it. It's so wonderful to see. So I hope I see you in one of these. And I'm going to talk to you again next week and I have a fabulous gifts guest for next week. As survivor who's so inspirational who has a new book coming out you're gonna love her and I can't wait for you to hear it. So look forward to that. And I hope I see you in between and until then be good to yourself and expect other people to be good to you. And I will talk to you next week.
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Use courage to the test laid all your doubts your mind is clearer than before your heart is full and wanting more your futures given all you know you been waiting on
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