Earlier this year, I first heard about thermography. I have had regular mammograms since turning 40, but have not been comfortable with the idea of yearly radiation exposure, and as any woman knows who has had one, they are very painful. So after investigating further, I decided to make an appointment for thermal imaging.

 

Mammography is the “gold standard” of medical care in this country. Doctors can lose their licenses if they don’t recommend to their patients the approved protocol of mammography. Thermography is an additional screening tool, and can be used in conjunction with any other screening methods such as mammography, ultrasound, and MRIs. As an individual, I made the personal decision to replace my mammogram screening this year with a thermogram. Some women may choose to have both types of screenings done. This is a decision every woman must make for herself, and I don’t advocate one way or the other. I am simply sharing my personal experience.

 

We are fortunate in Colorado to have the Thermogram Center located on the Front Range.  The entire experience was stress- and pain-free. From the time I made my appointment, I was provided with detailed information as to what to expect. The atmosphere at the screening location was calm and nurturing. At all times, the technician respected my privacy and modesty.

 

The screening itself involved standing in a cool, darkened room in front of the imaging device, disrobed to the waist, and turning different directions as instructed by the female technician, whose back was towards me. It took about 15 minutes for the actual imaging. Afterwards, the technician went over a preliminary review of the scans, spending an additional 45 minutes with me. The images were then sent to a qualified MD for reading and interpretation. In about a week, I received my very detailed results in the mail, and had a telephone follow-up appointment which was 45 minutes long, during which the technician explained the results, answered all of my questions, and made recommendations based on the results of my screening.

 

With a mammogram, aside from the unpleasantness of the screening procedure, all that I ever received was a note to say if it was normal or not – no details, no follow-up. What I really like about thermography is that it is not just looking for existing cancer, like a mammogram. It is screening for specific risk factors BEFORE cancer has formed, allowing time for lifestyle changes or other appropriate actions to prevent it. The detail in the report I received was amazing, and extremely valuable.

 

The cost for the breast thermography was a little more, but comparable to what I would pay for a mammogram. And your insurance may cover thermography – when you call the Thermogram Center they will give you the information you need to have to check with your insurance carrier.

 

And one other thing – thermography isn’t just for breast screening. Any part of the body can be imaged. I decided to have the full head, neck, chest, and abdomen screening, and from those results have been able to pinpoint and receive follow-up treatment for several health issues which have been elusive to diagnose up until now.

 

I am extremely happy with my decision to try thermography, and I would recommend it to anyone. The value I received for the cost was by far above and beyond anything I’ve ever gotten from having a mammogram. This is definitely part of my regular preventive health care regimen from now on.

 

Additional information is available from the Breast Health Education Group. Also, please read the informative article I have reprinted by permission in my blog entry "A Better Breast Test?"

 

From my heart to yours,

Karen

The following article is provided by THE THERMOGRAM CENTER and is reprinted with permission.
For my personal experience with thermography, see my blog entry.

 

A Better Breast Test?

By William Amalu, D.C.

 

Some experts think a thermogram can detect cancer much sooner than a mammogram can.

 

Natalie, a 52-year-old marketing executive, was concerned about the small lump she could feel in her breast. She had just ha a mammogram, and there were no signs of a lump on the image. Her doctor told her not to worry, that the lump was undoubtedly benign and would probably go away in time. But she wasn’t comforted. Her mother had died of breast cancer, and she knew that meant she faced a greater-than-average risk. She was also aware that mammography isn’t perfect, and that her test might well have missed something important.

 

So she decided to do a little research on her own. After cruising the web, she became intrigued with thermography, an imaging technique that uses specialized infrared cameras to take a picture of the breast, and she decided to have the test performed at our center. It’s a good thing she did. The thermogram clearly showed increased heat and blood vessel activity in the area of the lump, which suggested a possible cancerous or precancerous change in the breast.

 

Sure enough, a lumpectomy confirmed it was cancer. Natalie’s surgeon told her how lucky she was that it was being treated promptly, because the cancer was very small and had not invaded surrounding tissues. What would have happened if she had waited?

 

This year, over 190,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. Shocking as this number is, even more troubling is the number of cancers that won’t be found until it’s too late; each year more than 40,000 women die of the disease. The consensus among experts is that early detection greatly boosts the chances for survival: The sooner you catch a malignancy, the sooner you can get on a treatment path towards a cure.

 

Unfortunately, mammography, the current gold standard of detection, isn’t sensitive enough to catch most cancers in time. Among older women, whose breast tissue is less dense and therefore easier to screen, mammography misses about 20 percent of cancers. When you include younger women, whose breast tissue is firmer, that percentage can go as high as 40.

 

The problem with mammography is that it’s basically an after-the-fact technology. By the time most cancers are detected, they have already been growing for nearly ten years and have actually cohered into a visually detectable and sometimes palpable mass. To make a real dent in cancer mortality, which hasn’t changed much in the last 40 years, we need a screening test that not only detects existing cancers but can also give us an early indication that the cancerous process has begun.

 

That’s where thermography comes in. Thermal imaging was first used for observing battlefield troop movements at night. When the technology was declassified in the mid-1050s, Raymond Lawson, a surgeon and tumor metabolism researcher, thought perhaps this technology could be used to detect the increase in heat that cancerous breast tumors produce. In 1959, the first medical thermogram to investigate breast cancer was taken; in 1982, thermography was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an adjunctive screening procedure, meant to supplement mammography and other traditional tests for disease.

 

Unlike mammograms and other imaging devices such as MRIs and ultrasound, thermography detects metabolic changes within the breast tissue itself that suggest the beginnings of a possible tumor. When a cancer is forming, it develops its own blood supply in order to feed its accelerated growth, a process known as malignant angiogenesis. And cells can start this process well in advance of when they turn malignant. When they do, the increased blood supply causes abnormal heat activity in the breast, which a specialized infrared camera can pick up. Studies suggest that thermography can detect this activity ten years before any other exam.

 

Thermograms can also indicate a tumor’s aggressiveness, which we now know has more to do with its cellular biology than with its size. Thus, a very small tumor may have the ability to invade the body and lead to death, while a larger one may not. A thermogram can’t provide an actual tissue analysis, but it can suggest whether the cancer is highly active and may be spreading. The same metabolic activity that doesn’t show u p on a mammogram can be apparent in one, two, three, or all four quadrants of the breast in a thermographic image. The larger the area of the breast that’s involved in this activity, the more likely the cancer is aggressive.

 

And that’s not all. Breast thermography has the added ability to observe the activity of particular cancer-causing hormones in the breasts. Research suggests that cumulative exposure of the breasts to estrogen—due to delayed childbearing and a host of possible environmental factors—is a major risk factor for breast cancer. In only the last two years, it’s been discovered that levels of estrogen in the breast can measure as much as 50 times those found in the blood. When hormone activity in the breast is dominated by estrogen, a specific type of infrared image is produced.

 

Finally, from my patients’ point of view, the exam itself is much less stressful than a mammogram. It’s completely harmless, uses no radiation, and doesn’t involve the often painful compression of the breasts that mammography does.

 

All well and good, you might say, but what’s a woman to do with this information? Suppose you have a thermogram that suggests the possibility of cancer, but all your other tests are negative. There’s no magic bullet for breast cancer prevention, so are we really just creating more worried women than we already have with mammography?

 

With the advance warning thermography provides, a variety of early treatment options become available, ranging from simple lifestyle changes—exercise has shown great promise—to the use of immune-enhancing and natural anti-angiogenesis agents. Follow-up thermograms can help you monitor your progress in reversing troublesome changes in the breast—and make appropriate changes if necessary. For women whose breast changes appear estrogen-related, many practitioners recommend progesterone creams, which are applied directly to the breasts. The progesterone enters the breast tissue and counteracts the effects of estrogen. Many women who have used these creams have gone on to have normal thermograms.

 

Thermography is particularly useful for women under 40, in whom the incidence of breast cancer is steadily rising. Fifteen percent of breast cancers show up in this age group, and breast cancers in younger women tend to be more aggressive, resulting in lower survival rates. Any woman with a personal or family history of the disease—particularly if her mother, sister, or daughter was diagnosed before age 50—should consider it as well.

 

At this time, the sad truth is that no single screening procedure can detect 100 percent of all breast cancers. But thermography can at least up the odds. It’s not designed to replace any other technology, but to be used in addition to a woman’s standard breast health care. Along with regular mammograms starting at age 40, ideally every woman should get a baseline thermogram at age 20, and be retested once every three years until she’s 30, and then be tested once a year after that.

 

Unfortunately, qualified breast thermography centers can be hard to find. However, with increasing demand for the test, established organizations such as the International Academy of  Clinical Thermology (IACT) are actively seeking personnel for training as certified technicians. When looking for a center, make sure the technician who is performing the scan and the doctor who interprets it are board-certified by a reputable organization such as the International Thermographic Society, laceName>AmericanlaceName> laceType>AcademylaceType> of Medical Infrared Imaging, laceName>AmericanlaceName> laceType>AcademylaceType> of Thermology, or IACT. Or check the IACT website for a list of qualified practitioners.

 

I only wish my stepsister Robin had known about thermography. Her doctor had told her not to worry about the lump in her breast, since a recent mammogram had turned up negative. Soon after, however, she noticed suspicious changes in the skin of her breast, so she went for a biopsy. It revealed a cancer, and her breast was removed. Then she went through chemotherapy, suffered greatly, and died five years later, leaving two young daughters and a loving husband.

 

 

William Amalu is a doctor of chiropractic medicine and a board-certified clinical thermologist. He is currently president of the International Academy of Clinical Thermology and has used thermography in his practice in Redwood City, CA for more than 12 years.

This video clip has been out for awhile, you may have seen it already. I'm posting it again for two reasons. First, I think the message is a good one worth repeating. But second, I discovered a very unexpected swirl of controversy about this message, and decided I'd like to explore it further and get your feedback.

The message of the video is Validation, and how we treat other people can have a profound impact on their lives.

The controversy comes from those who feel that we should not look for outside validation. That we should be happy within ourselves and not need someone else to stroke our ego in order to be happy.

My personal thoughts are: First, I do believe that ultimately happiness is an inside job. A person can decide if they want to be happy or be miserable. You can look for the silver lining in every cloud, or just sit under the black cloud and cry.  However, that having been said, there is a lot more to it than that. Maybe a person is depressed and they aren't able to lift themselves above that black cloud without help.  Also, we are not individual islands. Everyone is connected. We need other people. And while I do not think it's healthy for someone to have to depend on others for their self-esteem, we do all need an encouraging word from time to time, and we also thrive on genuine commendation (not empty flattery - that's something altogether different).

So, I like this video, and I appreciate it when a stranger smiles at me or says something nice. I try to do the same, and doing it also makes me feel good. I think that's a healthy human interchange. What do you think?

WATCH VALIDATION VIDEO CLIP

After you watch the clip, please leave me your comments below.

From my heart to yours,
Karen

Plants growing on the ocean floor sway gently back and forth with the motion of the waves. How cool would it be to be able to harness that energy to generate electricity?  Well, that's just what Australian energy company BioPower Systems is attempting to do.

Collaborating with the City of San Francisco, they are investigating wave energy generation from the Pacific Ocean through their Oceanside Wave Energy Project.

It is anticipated that the potential energy generated could power anywhere between 3,000 and 30,000 homes annually. 

Click here to see the bioWAVE farm in action.

                                      


Now that's catching a wave!

From my heart to yours,
Karen

We usually don't think fondly of rats. (Unless maybe you've read "Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of Nimh") But rats are highly intelligent, adaptive creatures.

Similar to using dogs to detect drugs, an organization called APOPO is training rats to sniff out land mines and also detect disease, such as tuberculosis.                                                 


                                    

I thought this was pretty cool - read the article here:

RATS CAN SAVE LIVES

This video shows how making something fun can change people's behavior. 
Watch this fun 2-minute video.

"PIANO STAIRS"

What can you do to make active lifestyle changes fun for you? I'd love to hear your ideas!

My heart to yours,
Karen

We hear phrases like "breaking" or "kicking" a habit, usually one thought of as a bad habit.  But what exactly is a habit? Simply, habits are patterns of behavior that control what we do. Habits can be perceived as good, neutral, or bad.

Our brains work in such a way that we become used to the repetition of certain actions. Electronic pathways are formed that anticipate, then regulate, this behavior. It's kind of like wearing a path in the grass. Once this happens, that path is there for a long time. So in order to change your behavior, you have to wear a new path. And the old path is always there, lurking in the background, ready to resurface and become dominant again if you go back to walking on it.



This explains why it can be such a challenge to change one's behavior. Some will say that it takes 21 repetitions to form a new habit, giving the impression that if you can do something 21 times, that's it - old habit gone, new habit created, no more effort required. The truth is, you have to continue to stimulate those new electronic pathways so they stay dominant over the older ones. This can take a year or longer. For some, especially when habits have been linked to an addiction of some kind, the effort is lifelong.

Understanding this is the key to successfully making changes in your life. Whether you are changing the way you eat, starting a fitness program, quitting smoking, or altering the way you think about things, it is a gradual process. Taking daily "baby steps" will give you much greater success in the long-term than making sudden drastic changes.

Let me add one caveat to that statement: Using smoking as an example, some people do well with the "cold turkey" method of making a change and for some things it is desirable to make a clean break. However, in order to be successful in sticking to that change long-term, it will still require changes in daily habits. Did you always light up right after a meal? Now you need to replace that urge with another activity, so that over time the old impulse will fade to the background.

If you are working on changing a habit, don't be discouraged if you have a relapse. Just start again with the new habit you are creating, and with persistence over time you will succeed.

From my heart to yours,
Karen

Personal coaching can be a powerful tool to help you succeed in making long-term changes. I'm happy to answer your questions about my coaching services, and give you a sample coaching session to try it out. Contact me for more information.

You may be wondering why I would use a picture of myself thrashing around in a pool of water for my profile picture. Well, here's the story:

We were camping a couple of weeks ago in the forest above Marble, Colorado. Our camp was close to 10,000 feet in elevation, next to the cascading waterfalls of the Crystal River. My brother-in-law came up with the bright idea to swim in the pool below one of the waterfalls. Keep in mind, this is a snow-fed river, temperature of the water in the low 40 degrees.
                                                                                                    

                                                                                

Something you need to know about me is that I hate to be cold. Funny, considering where I live we have six months of winter. I love being by the fire, drinking hot tea, and feeling the fresh cool air. I just want to be in my flannel jammies & thick socks while I'm at it!

In the past I tended to hide behind fear, never venturing out of my comfort zone in any way. Over the past few years, though, I've been on a personal journey and pushing myself to do things I would never have done before. Both in business and personal life. So when the suggestion to swim in the frigid water was made, I heard this voice saying, "OK, I will if you will," and then realized it was me talking. Yikes!!!

Next thing I know, I'm in our tent putting on my swimming suit (and wool socks). Yep, that's me stepping boldly down the path towards the river, quickly before I can change my mind. Then plunging into the water. I'm gasping, I'm screaming, I'm paddling around like a crazy person, then climbing out as fast as I can before my body temperature drops. I was in the water for about 30 seconds, long enough to swim to the waterfall and back, without getting hypothermia. But as you can see from the picture, I was also grinning from ear to ear. I DID IT! And I felt AWESOME!

                                                                                    

In life sometimes when we face challenges - in business, our lifestyle, or relationships, we have to take the plunge, set fear aside and just jump in. We will emerge stronger, more sure of ourselves, and with that inner cheer saying, "Yay for you - you did it!"

Even though it wasn't my idea, I was the only person to act on it and actually jump into the river that day. If you hear something that catches your attention, don't be afraid to take action just because it wasn't your idea to begin with. Who knows, everyone else may be too afraid to risk acting, and you can lead the way.

So, what's your challenge? What icy-cold mountain river did you jump into today? I'd love to hear about it!

This time of year as I head out for my daily hike, I take along a mesh bag to collect rose hips and berries to dry and make a tasty immune-boosting tea for the winter.

Rose hips are extremely high in Vitamin C - just three rose hips will have about as much Vitamin C as an orange. Plus they are also rich in Vitamins A, B, E, and K.  Rose hips form after the blossom drops off, and during September they reach ripeness.  They start off green, then gradually turn a bright orange-red color.



Collecting: Be earth-friendly in your harvesting methods. Never strip a plant of all of its hips. Take a few, then move on to another plant. If you collect hips from a wide area, you will benefit from the fluctuations in nutrient content from different soil. And remember, we're not the only ones eating this plant. Take a little, but leave a generous amount behind for the birds and animals.

Rinse the hips in water, pat dry, remove stems and spread on a clean surface like a cookie sheet. It will take a couple of weeks for the hips to dry. They will become hard and wrinkly.  Crush or grind the dried hips and store in a glass jar.

To make tea, use about two teaspoons for a cup, add boiling water, and steep for 10 to 15 minutes. I use a French press, or you can use a tea strainer to hold the loose plant in your cup. Sweeten to taste with honey or stevia. Avoid sugar of all sorts as this will counteract the anti-oxidant properties you are looking for.

In our modern culture of instant everything, do you feel as if you were trying to live in the old children’s story of Jack & the Beanstalk?  You remember: Jack finds magic beans that sprout overnight into the beanstalk that leads him to an instant solution to his problems.  But while we look for the magic beans, we put off the small daily actions that will actually get us somewhere.  I call this the “microwave mentality,” and I see it affecting people in their health, finances, and relationships.

Magic Pills, Patches, and Powders
Have you fallen for the media hype of the latest pill, patch, or diet that is going to turn you into a new person practically overnight with no effort?  I was on that merry-go-round for years.  I lost the same 20 or 30 pounds over and over again, only to gain it back with a few more.  The reality is that these instant solutions don’t work, or any results are short-lived.  And in the process, we are kept from the real solution – making small, gradual lifestyle changes over time. 

As you focus on making healthy choices each day, you will feel better about yourself, build up a track record of successes, and see gradual but real progress being made.  You will be looking big picture and long-term, not just being caught up in the “right now.”

Lucky Lottery
We’re also bombarded with sales pitches for the latest marketing program that runs itself and will provide a six-figure income without us having to lift a finger.  We buy lottery tickets hoping for that lucky windfall, or we just bury our heads in the sand and believe that somehow we will be able to retire even though we have little to no savings and a huge debt load.  We hit our 40s thinking that it’s too late; we’ve missed our chance to build a nest egg.  In the meantime, unless we find some way to make a huge leap financially, or come up with a large sum to invest, we do nothing.

If you saved only $1 per day, and invested it at 15%, in 40 years you would have a million dollars.  Coming up with $1 day is not hard.  One method is to just save your change, or have $30 automatically taken out of your paycheck and put into a savings account.  Opportunities to invest at a higher interest rate will arise if you have some money set aside.  Sound too simple, or too “not enough”?  Well, if all you did was throw your change in a big jar, you’d have about $300 in a year.  That’s without investing it.  If I offered to hand you $300 right now, no strings attached, would you turn it down because it’s not a large enough sum? I doubt it. Don’t allow the microwave mentality to prevent you from saving something, even if it’s just a little bit.  Little bits have a way of turning into rivers.

“Just Add Water” Relationships
With one click we can add “friends” to whichever social space we’re on – click, instant relationship.  But it doesn’t work that way in real life.  To get to know another person takes time, commitment, and daily dialogue.  The “quality-not-quantity” lie persists, as if a few minutes of “quality” time with someone can make up for the hours and days of a relationship vacuum in between.  It would be like trying to sew with a few big knots here and there.  But it’s the tiny, consistent stitches that hold a garment together.  Real relationships that endure take long-term commitment and daily effort.  There is no “instant.”

Each day, write down something positive about your loved one.  Be generous with praise, say “thank you” a lot.  Give heart hugs, and say “I love you.” Focus on their good qualities, the things that attracted you to them in the first place. Give them as much of your time as you can.  Talk to them, not at them, and learn the art of listening.  Above all, view the relationship as a permanent part of your life, not something that will ever be thrown aside.

Little Things Add Up
If a ship left New York heading for England, and the rudder was off just one degree, the ship would end up somewhere in Africa.  The fact is, small consistent actions over a period of time bring huge results.   Ditch the microwave mentality.  Stop procrastinating, avoiding daily actions while you wait for your magic beans.  Don’t worry about taking huge leaps forward.  Each day, do one thing, one little thing, to move you towards your goals.  A year from now you will look back and be amazed at the progress you have made.

A Helping Hand
Sometimes, we just need a helping hand, a gentle nudge, or someone to hold us accountable without passing judgment.  This is what I do, and if you’d like a complimentary, no strings attached, coaching session, contact me.  At the least, you’ll receive your own personalized action plan.  And if you choose to continue, my coaching programs begin for as little as $12.50 per week.  Get more details HERE.

From my heart to yours,
Karen