Long Live You!. Jane Wilkens Michael

that would be easy for survivors to access, understand, and execute by themselves. They didn’t need to be inundated with more complicated material or burdensome tasks.

      Thus the Better Than Before program was born. Based on those early ideas for cancer survivors, I developed the concept, which features the Ladder to a Better Quality of Life, for everyone seeking to improve their lives. We all need coping mechanisms to help us face our day-to-day challenges. Perhaps the challenges are not a serious sickness or life-altering event, but simply mild depression and anxiety, or the desire to lose those last (or first) 10 pounds. At some point, we must all conquer lifestyle issues, large and small, that keep us from achieving the quality of life we most desire, but oftentimes we have resigned ourselves to consider it impossible to attain.

      Begin the Climb

      A simple visualization technique, the ladder, is an easy and effective tool. Each rung initiates an important lifestyle change to help you conquer the quality-of-life concerns that confront us daily, while offering advice to help you relax, renew, and replenish. Once you are comfortable with each rung, you can, and should, add what works best for you and subtract those that do not, taking into account your own feelings, along with the advice and recommendations of your family, friends, physicians, and caregivers. At the end of each chapter are worksheets for your notes.

      My purpose in writing this book is to guide you over any obstacles and ease you onto a smoother path. Your actions and experiences make you who and what you are, so your mistakes are as important as your successes. It is not necessary to strive for perfection. Failure is highly undervalued. Just as long as you continue to go in the right direction—and that is moving upward. As my mother used to say, “Hitch your wagon to a star.” But don’t expect to revamp your life overnight. Your aim should be to improve each day through incremental changes. Above all is the understanding that every one of us can use guidance and encouragement to find hope and a renewed sense of self, energy, and enthusiasm. The Ladder will give you the access and options to help get you there.

      So join me in making the fortune teller right! Let’s take this journey up the Ladder, you and I, visualizing ourselves ascending out of our physical or emotional angsts and up to a more satisfying quality of life. Together we will explore, dream, discover, and draw on our internal unicorns—and just a touch of glitter—as we climb to making each day, each minute, just a little Better Than Before.

RUNG 1

       Doctor’s Orders

       “The physician heals. Nature makes well.”

      —Aristotle

      A Healthy Lifestyle Is the Best Medicine

      I have devoted practically my whole life to holistic and homeopathic remedies, as well as healthy lifestyle approaches. Yet here I sit, with a stainless steel rod, a plate, and 10 screws in my lower-left leg, along with a brand new right hip. So I have also learned to have a healthy respect for the traditional and allopathic (symptom-based) work of the medical community. In fact, one of the points that I constantly emphasize is that traditional medicine offers a wealth of extremely important information and applications that simply cannot be ignored. And those who are open and willing to investigate nontraditional areas must do so knowing that medical research is the primary source of this knowledge.

      After all, underlying all the advances that affect our health are the basic elements of biochemistry. Take trans fats, for example. That evil hydrogenation process that makes those little cream-filled cupcakes all the more hardy is the addition of hydrogen to the carbohydrate molecules. Like a stopper in a drain, it blocks the oxygen atoms in the air that lead to spoiling from getting in. Through “hydrogenation,” though, the fats and oils become inert—and the shelf life of the little cream-filled cupcake extends into the next century.

      But do you really want those same molecules floating around your digestive tract and bloodstream? (Hint: The answer is “No!”) Commercial baked goods may not succumb to the ill effects of oxygen and sunlight, but your system won’t be able to break them down as easily either. In other words, trans fats remain just as inert in your gut as they are on the grocery shelves. On the other hand, it is well established that high-fiber foods absorb fat and cholesterol as they travel down your digestive tract, reducing the amounts that the body absorbs. So, traditional biochemistry helps us understand the problem—and the alternative therapy of good nutrition helps solve it.

      A Multifaceted Approach

      Platitudes abound these days as everyone seems to be getting on the health-and-wellness bandwagon, but whom should we believe? And, why doesn’t our healthcare system concern itself more with wellness than illness? That is a question I am often asked. Well, happily—and increasingly—today’s medical practitioners are becoming more aware and supportive of the concept of integrative medicine, which combines traditional medicine with complementary therapies to treat the mind, body, and spirit, with a focus on prevention.

      Indeed, when I first started developing the Better Than Before Ladder for cancer survivors, many were confused about what to do once their treatment protocol was completed. After I explained my multifaceted approach to Dr. Rodney Sherman, a renowned New York City oncologist, I was heartened when he agreed with the concepts and even offered to help further develop the program. “We in the medical profession, and particularly in oncology research and treatment, are justifiably proud of the enormous strides that have been made in both extending the lives of cancer patients and making their protocol less debilitating,” he told me. “Our main goal is to provide patients with optimal cancer treatment while working with them to maintain a high standard for their quality of life. As a result of these efforts, more and more patients diagnosed with cancer are living longer with a much greater potential for returning to a normal life.”

      “It is not an easy task to help survivors get back the satisfying quality of life they desire. Doctors cannot do it alone, and too often patients cannot do it either—it must be a team effort. Once their treatments are completed, it is up to the survivors to take over. We know they need to make certain lifestyle changes in order to achieve their goal—improved attitude, proper nutrition, easy exercises, renewed beauty and self-esteem, alternative medicine, family support, a heightened imagination, a connection to a higher power, and an opportunity to give back to others.”

      —Dr. Rodney Sherman, Oncologist

      Dr. Sherman was convinced that once survivors started incorporating simple changes, such as a positive attitude, proper nutrition, and family support, into their daily routines, they could better appreciate their second chance at life and enjoy it even more than they did before—further evidence that I was on the right track!

      My personal journey over the past few years has made me eternally—or shall I say, internally—grateful to the miracles of modern orthopedic medicine. As for my husband, The Lawyer, he has three invisible drug-eluded coronary stents that undoubtedly saved his life. (He claims genetics are at fault, although I’m convinced it was his premarital diet.)

      Yet those who know me realize that structuring my career around working with doctors—for my columns, radio show, and now this book—was perhaps ill-advised. You see, I am a confirmed hypochondriac who lives by a disease-of-the-day book. (But there is no guarantee, alas, that today’s disease—hives—won’t ultimately require a heart transplant.) Actually, I like to refer to myself as a “health alarmist,” although under either name it leads to the same emergency rooms. Every illness that a doctor (or a chance acquaintance) mentions to me, I either think I have or I start to immediately experience the symptoms. I am always certain that I have come down with something both life-threatening and trendy—like the Andromeda Strain. And every time I take a walk by a medical office, I am tempted to run in for a quick CT scan, cardiogram, or complete blood count—just to be sure.

      However, my personal neuroses aside, I advise getting regular check-ups and preventive screenings, which can be life-saving. If you are currently suffering from symptoms, I strongly suggest your condition be appropriately diagnosed