Wisdom can come from many sources; books, friends, gurus, religion, nature and even your own gut. Listening to your own voice and knowing what you need is very powerful. You are an expert in you. No one else knows you better than yourself. You know what you need, who you trust, and what to do with your treatment options. When you have your innate knowledge of yourself coupled with reliable information, you take charge and become your own powerful self-advocate to steer the direction of your healing.

​

You can call it a hunch, "gut feeling", instinct, or a sixth sense. Your intuition is understanding or knowing something innately without consciously reasoning through it. It is quickly processing your past, memories, learnings, preferences and then making a decision that you deem is the best. Intuition is emotion, experience, and also insights passed on from your traditions, culture, religion and family. You are always adding new information to the data that helps you make decisions. While the emotion of fear and flight or fight is more of a whole-body hair standing on edge, dry mouth, tense, panic, pee your pants kind of situation, intuition can be excitement, a pulling or light guiding you toward or away from something, someone or a split decision or hunch. Think of what you value most in your life and your values. If something doesn’t “sit well with you” that’s your intuition sending you a message. What brings you toward your purpose and goals for your life, your family, and values? Find clarity in your emotions and questions that keep arising. There may be situations that cause a conflict in your values. Yes, I really want to help people through medicine and healing, but I also really want to be present for my family and focus my energy on my own healing. Is there another way you can align your purpose? 

Know yourself first. Read your pathology report and most recent oncology note. Memorize or write down your exact diagnosis, stage, and receptor status. Then you will be able to wade through the sea of available information to know how you can effectively and efficiently gain knowledge of your cancer and avoid pitfalls.

 

Make sure that the information you are absorbing is from trustworthy sources. Websites from credible institutions like MD Anderson, Dana Farber, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Cleveland Clinic all offer information that can act as a jumping off point to learn about your disease. These large institutions may publish an article online that summarizes an important new discovery or offer information in email lists or patient support services. MD Anderson has created Cancer Treatment Algorithms, a best practices for care delivery for the most common cancers (including Inflammatory Breast Cancer). You can review your algorithm or take it to your provider You can also watch free videos from these institutions on social media platforms or get information from academic conferences; the two most important being the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) or San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS Video Highlights). Peer-reviewed journals are the gold standard for scientific research publications, but they are written for researchers and may be difficult to digest the technical information. You can access journal articles at PubMed.com which is a free search engine of peer reviewed life sciences and biomedical journals database maintained by The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Some journal articles are free, others are paid access, but most have access to the free abstract (short summary). If a person is offering you medical advice, make sure that they have the training and knowledge themselves to be in that position of power. You can also access disease-specific support groups such as the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Network.

​

Combine the knowledge of your disease with your knowledge of yourself to become your best self-advocate and take control of your health. As an active participant in your treatment, you are a co-creator in the healing process. This may be a little rebellious in the western medical realm where things are done to you. Seeking out second opinions and complimentary healers is perfectly acceptable and important to get all of your healing needs met. Make sure that the healers on your care team are credibly trained (look for their credentials or ask about their training) and ask other cancer survivors whom they trust in their cancer journey.  

​

There are benefits to finding your voice and being your own advocate. A study of stage 4, metastatic cancer patients found that in a group of patients undergoing psychotherapy, those that had a higher involvement in the self-help work had longer survival. In other words, those that were able to act and change, were willing to initiate change, and applied themselves to the work lived longer. 

​

Yes, we stand on the shoulders of giants and the knowledge we have gained throughout generations, but the most important thing is to take a stand and have an informed voice in your treatment plan.