BUDGETING AND FINANCING CANCER: THE “GETTING STARTED” CHECK LIST

CANCER ANSWER TUESDAYS

by Allison W. Gryphon

With my Friend Isis who stood by my side and helped me through every step of the way, 
including helping me figure out how to budget.

Cancer is a life change that is full of surprises.  The first surprise I got and the last surprise I wanted was the diagnosis. Unfortunately that is not the only thing that needs to be taken into consideration. Being diagnosed with cancer impacts everything in your life, including your finances. Below is a check list of items to take in to consideration in planning how to fight your cancer financially.... And for those of you who have not been diagnosed, but do have a cancer fighter in your life, there are many considerations below that can turn into wonderful and helpful gifts.

1. OUT OF POCKET MEDICAL COSTS

Depending on where you are and what your coverage is, you will most likely have out-of-pocket medical costs. This can be everything from visits to the doctor to stocking up on supplies at home.

2. TRANSPORTATION

Gasoline, parking, wear and tear on your car and taxi cab expenses go way up when you are going from one doctor to another several times each week.

3.  TIME OFF WORK 
Anyone going through cancer treatment that is part of the work force will need to take a certain amount of time off. For many, this will mean an adjustment in income that needs to be taken into consideration.

4. NEW CLOTHES

Whether it be surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or all of the above, cancer treatment brings changes in your body. It’s likely that you will want to make some adjustments to your wardrobe.

5. FOOD

Shopping for groceries and preparing food can change in many ways with a cancer diagnosis. Depending on the circumstances, the diagnosis may mean an overhaul of your diet and an added expense. In addition the act of shopping and preparing food can be exhausting. You may find yourself wanting to bring in help or order delivery more often.

6. HELP AROUND THE HOUSE

Cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry and housework all take energy many cancer fighters don’t always have and are frequently prohibited from post op. Depending on the support you have from friends and family, you will need to budget for help around the house.

7. ODDS AND ENDS

Now you’re fighting cancer and you will need to budget for the little things that are going to come up. A recording device to bring to doctor appointments to you don’t have to write down every word they say, a little cooler to carry your meals around when you go from appointment to appointment, a new soft pair of slippers since you’re probably going to be in them often. The list goes on and the costs will go up so the most practical movie is to create an allowance.

8. LET PEOPLE HELP YOU

The last thing to think about when getting started with cancer treatment is to let people help you. People will want to support you with time, services, gifts or finance. Budget in your emotional allowance to let others help out.

ABOUT CANCER ANSWER TUESDAYS

What can I do about metal mouth? What is a good gift for a cancer fighter? How do they do radiation tattoos? How can I prepare for surgery? What should I say to someone I work with who was just diagnosed? How am I going to get through today?

Every Tuesday, The Why? Foundation will present a small, but big cancer question and answer about fighting cancer day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute. 

If you have a question or a helpful tip for Cancer Answer Tuesdays, we want to hear about it. Please email us at info@thewhyfoundation.org

www.thewhyfoundation.org

Power of Music Mondays: “Madness”

Power of Music Mondays
by Allison W. Gryphon

photo: fanpop.com

“I have finally seen the light, And I have finally realized, What you mean.”

Sinking into the depths of your soul with no fear to live, to love, to run and jump and scream and laugh and fly and fail… is one of the more seductive side effects of being faced with death. Standing constantly in that truthful existence that’s so intense and more real than anything ever has been. It’s life in the highest resolution. The extraordinary is front and center and everything else, that doesn’t matter, is so easy to push away. It comes with that knowing. That madness and pure sanity all wrapped up into the great understanding of just what the f@#- we’re doing here on this planet. We are here to live…

… and “Madness” by Muse reminds me of just that.

Click Here to purchase “Madness” from the album The Second Law.

Click Here to visit Muse’s official website.

"Madness"

(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)

I, I can't get these memories out of my mind,
And some kind of madness has started to evolve.
(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)
I, I tried so hard to let you go,
But some kind of madness is swallowing me whole, yeah
(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)

I have finally seen the light,
And I have finally realized
What you mean.

Ooh oh oh

And now I need to know is this real love,
Or is it just madness keeping us afloat?
(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)
And when I look back at all the crazy fights we had,
Like some kind of madness was taking control, yeah
(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)

And now I have finally seen the light,
And I have finally realized
What you need.

Mmmm...

(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)

And now I have finally seen the end (finally seen the end)
And I'm not expecting you to care (expecting you to care)
But I have finally seen the light (finally seen the light)
I have finally realized (realized)
I need to love
I need to love

Come to me
Just in a dream.
Come on and rescue me.
Yes I know, I can be wrong,
Maybe I'm too headstrong.
Our love is
(Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...)
Madness

About Power of Music Mondays

I received many gifts while I was going through my cancer fight. They were all amazing and helpful. What stands out to me more than anything is music. The songs and playlists I was sent became a huge part of my treatment. It’s the one thing you can always have close by. It can turn you around and slip itself around your soul to make everything ok, if even just for a moment. Looking back, I'm not sure how I would have done without it. ~Allison 

The Power of Music is extraordinary. The right song can inspire, empower, comfort and redirect anyone. Cancer fighters and their families are no exception. 

Every Monday, The Why?Foundation will celebrate a song and an artist that has given us a musical gift.

If you have a song that has helped you or someone you know fight the fight, we want to hear about it. Please send an email to info@thewhyfoundation.org with your story and your song.

CANCER IS NOT ON MY RADAR ANYMORE: A STORY OF SURVIVAL

TOUCHSTONE THURSDAYS

by Veteran Cancer Fighter Janice Thorup

Cancer is not on my radar anymore. Leukemia plays its song in the background of my life, coming to the foreground just twice a year for testing. And while I’ve fallen in and out of remission, for the past five years I’ve been fine and the thought of leukemia has faded.

I still find myself telling new friends that I have leukemia because it was so life-defining for me. For years, it was the all consuming fact of my life: in order to know me, you have to know that I have been dancing with leukemia for 18 years.

Even though my disease is well managed (with a drug that has only minimal side effects), even though my doctor has said that I will most likely not die from leukemia, I retain the sense of a limited lifespan. I don’t feel the reasonable expectation of a future that others have. But this is largely a good thing. I understand the preciousness of life, the gift of life itself—waking to a cool breeze on a summer morning, watching the earth awaken from the lifeless forms of winter into the splendor of spring, drinking a cold glass of water or a warm cup of coffee. These smallest of sensory pleasures, not measured in money or time, have become enough for me.  I am mostly content with what life brings to me.

And there’s more: I have faced Death—have lived for a time thinking that I would die. I have faced Fear and learned about Acceptance. I would not trade these lessons for any amount of good health.

In 1995 Janice was diagnosed with Chronic Mylegenous Leukemia and given less than a year to live. Proving cancer wrong on a daily basis, Janice is happily married, a proud mother and grandmother enjoying the good life in Colorado.

Click Here to Read Janice Thorup’s Short Story The Blast Cells

www.thewhyfoundation.org

HOPE, COURAGE AND THE POWER OF A GARDEN

FIGHTING CANCER WITH STYLE WEDNESDAY
by Allison W. Gryphon with Amy Lane from the Garden of Hope and Courage

I remember the first time I drove into the hospital where I received a good portion of my cancer treatment. I passed a little table with two chairs and a few flowers and plants around it. It was nice, but small and just off the parking lot. I remember wondering why it was there. What the point was. That was April 12, 2011, the day of my mammogram that turned into an ultrasound which led to the biopsy that delivered the scariest news I had ever received. I had breast cancer.

The second time I drove into the hospital it was for a Breast MRI. It was then I understood why that little table, surrounded by flowers and plants, was at the entrance to the parking lot. It was directly across from the door to the the imaging center. The thought of walking through those doors, on that day, still brings tears to my eyes just writing this. That imaging center was the last place I wanted to be. I was two hours early for my appointment because of the anticipation. Seeing the anxiety all over my face, the lovely woman at the front desk invited me to have a seat in the waiting room or to go outside and sit at the little table next to the flowers. That tiny little garden saved me that day. The small bit of landscaping that I hadn't understood the night before became my emotional salvation. It was the first of many hours spent at that little table next to the flowers for which I am forever grateful.

Not long ago, it was brought to my attention that I wasn't alone in my garden escapes. In 1990 a magical woman named Jan Emfield was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She and some of the friends she made during her cancer fight found peace and strength spending time in a local garden near her hospital. They called it their, "garden of courage." Inspired and at peace, Jan began to lay out the plans for a new garden dedicated to cancer fighters and their families. 

As Jan planned and designed, unbeknownst to her, the cancer in her body was moving. It spread from her breast to her bones and in 1994 Jan lost her battle with cancer, but her dream of the garden remained. It flourished. Jan's husband Bob understood the impact and the importance of his wife's vision and pressed forward. And his friends joined him. Together Bob, Tony Margolis and Lucio Dalla Gasperina, the men behind Tommy Bahamas, brought their talents together to fully realize the Garden of Hope and Courage for Jan. Located in Naples, Florida the garden is there, "For all who seek a place of sanctuary, a quiet place to reflect upon the beauty of life."

Where is the Garden of Hope and Courage?

The garden is located in Naples, Florida on the downtown campus of the NCH Healthcare System.

Is there a fee to visit the garden?

No.

Who is the Garden of Hope and Courage For?
The garden is meant for patients of NCH, visitors and caregivers. It is open to the public and really provides a healing sanctuary for not only patients, but for the entire surrounding community. 

What is the goal of the Garden of Hope and Courage?

To provide a place of healing, sanctuary and meditation to those that need a place outside of the hospital walls. A breathing place. A place of calm.

Jan Emfield

How much of Jan is in the garden?

The garden was the vision of Jan Emfield who passed away from breast cancer in 1994. Jan had her very own garden at home and she knew and saw the healing affects her own garden provided she, her family and friends as she battled the disease. Every piece of the Garden of Hope and Courage has Jan's touch. She had created renderings and sketches of what she felt the "Garden or Hope and Courage" should have. The Garden board took her renderings and ideas to a landscape architect in Naples who followed up on the research and what a healing garden should provide and caregivers and design in the garden in that way.

The employees of Tommy Bahama are committed to extending the relaxed, positive attitude of the Tommy Bahama brand into philanthropic efforts. The company's continued support of the Garden of Hope and Courage is an example of this commitment. There is a new Garden of Hope and Courage shirt every Spring, Fall and Holiday.

To learn more about the Garden of Hope and Courage please visit www.gardenofhopeandcourage.org

Allison W. Gryphon     www.thewhyfoundationorg

Power of Music Mondays: “My Give A Damn’s Busted”

Power of Music Mondays
by Allison W. Gryphon

“I'd like to give it one more try, but, my give a damn's busted.”

There is that moment in fighting cancer, when it hits the core of your being. A friend and co-worker recently pointed out to me that, in my fight against cancer, my give a damn is truly busted and then she sent me this song.

Feisty. Empowering. Tough. It’s a good one to get your fight on against cancer and sometimes a damn good theme song is the difference between wanting to get up and face the day or not. This one gets me moving every time.

Click Here to purchase My Give A Damn’s Busted from the album Delicious Surprise on itunes.

Click Here to visit Jo Dee Messina’s official website.

"My Give A Damn's Busted"

Well you filled up my head with so many lies
You've twisted my heart 'til something snapped inside
I'd like to give it one more try
But, my give a damn's busted

You can crawl back home, say you were wrong
Stand out in the yard and cry all night long
Go ahead and water the lawn
My give a damn's busted

[Chorus:]
I really wanna care
I wanna feel something
Let me dig a little deeper
No, sorry, nothing

You can say you've got issues
You can say you're a victim
It's all your parents' fault, I mean after all you didn't pick em
Maybe somebody else has got time to listen
My give a damn's busted

Well your therapist says it was all a mistake
A product of the Prozac and your codependent ways
So who's your enabler these days
My give a damn's busted

[Chorus:]
I really wanna care
I wanna feel something
Let me dig a little deeper
No, still nothing

It's a desperate situation
No tellin what you'll do
If I don't forgive you, you say your life is through
Come on give me something I can use
My give a damn's busted

[Chorus:]

Well, I really wanna care
I wanna feel something
Let me dig a little deeper
No, man, sorry
Just nothing, no

You've really done it this time
My give a damn's busted

About Power of Music Mondays

I received many gifts while I was going through my cancer fight. They were all amazing and helpful. What stands out to me more than anything is music. The songs and playlists I was sent became a huge part of my treatment. It’s the one thing you can always have close by. It can turn you around and slip itself around your soul to make everything ok, if even just for a moment. Looking back, I'm not sure how I would have done without it. ~Allison

The Power of Music is extraordinary. The right song can inspire, empower, comfort and redirect anyone. Cancer fighters and their families are no exception.

Every Monday, The Why? Foundation will celebrate a song and an artist that has given us a musical gift.

If you have a song that has helped you or someone you know fight the fight, we want to hear about it. Please send an email to info@thewhyfoundation.org with your story and your song.