Kansas Senior Press Service Weekly Newsletters Kansas Senior Press Service Weekly Newsletters Personalized Medicare information is available at www.medicare.gov, the official Medicare Web site. The site allows you to:
If you do not have Web access, call 800-633-4227.
TTY users may call 877-486-2048.
By: Sue Cunningham
Eating Well Through Cancer, by Holly Clegg and Gerald Miletello, MD. Published by Holly Berkowitz Clegg, 2001. ISBN 0961088877. 254 pages.
This book of nutritional advice and recipes is the single most useful publication I have found, as the primary support person for a cancer patient, for day-to-day care. Moreover, it applies to all of us as we experience the common ailments of aging. I wound up with two copies: one given to us by a friend who had experienced cancer and its treatments, and one from our oncology nurse at the KU MedWest campus in Shawnee. The KU Cancer Center makes the book available for free to all its patients, or it can be ordered (see below).
Each section explains a specific topic and provides advice on nutrition and eating for that topic, a list of “Points to Remember,” suggested menus and snacks, and the recipes for those menus. Recipes may have “Doc’s Notes,” and all have “Nutritional Information Per Serving,” including diabetic exchanges.* There is also a Recipe Cross Reference List, matching the recipes to the chapters they could be applied to, and a good index to recipes by name and by major ingredients.
The sections, in order, are: Day of Chemotherapy and Following Treatment, Neutropenia (low white blood cell count), Diarrhea, Constipation, Sore Mouth, Snacks and Light Meals, Caregiver, and Healthy Eating Post Treatment.
Here is an example of a simple recipe that you may already know, but with added information:
AWESOME MILK SHAKE
Nothing beats a cold shake! Vary the recipe to get extra calories. Add flavors to create different kinds of shakes.
1/2 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups frozen nonfat vanilla yogurt or fat-free ice cream
3 tablespoons chocolate syrup (optional)
Place the milk, vanilla, and frozen yogurt in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If you want a chocolate milk shake, add the chocolate syrup to the mixture.—Makes two servings
Doc’s Notes
If you need calories, use regular ice cream and replace the skim milk with a vanilla nutritional energy drink supplement. For different shakes, use different flavors of ice cream and delete the chocolate syrup if it doesn’t fit in.
Nutritional Information per Serving
| Calories | 218 |
| Carbohydrates | 41 |
| Calories from fat (%) | 0 |
| Saturated fat (g) | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 12 |
| Dietary fiber (g) | 0 |
| Cholesterol (mg) | 4 |
| Sodium (mg) | 160 |
| Fat | 0 |
| Diabetic Exchanges: 0.5 skim milk, 2.5 other carb. | |
* This nutritional analysis is credited to Tammi Hancock, RD.
Other recipes are more complete dishes, such as my favorite so far: Meaty Cabbage Casserole. This is given in the “Healthy Eating…” section and is described as “…a quick and easy alternative to individually stuffing all those cabbage leaves, yet has the same appeal”—and it does, even if made with a vegetarian substitute for the ground meat. The “Doc’s Notes” say, “Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable which has been identified as possibly being protective against cancer.” I didn’t know that!
Many of these recipes feature shortcuts or substitutions for some old favorite recipes, such as coffee cakes, pizzas, and desserts.
Here’s how you can get a copy, even if you or your loved one are not living with cancer:
Send a check for $21.95, plus $4 (and $1 for each additional copy) for shipping and handling, made payable to “Holly B. Clegg, Inc.” to:
Holly B. Clegg
13431 Woodmont Court
Baton Rouge, LA 70810-5334
You also may call and charge: 800-884-6559.
The book, including inexpensive used copies, is also available at www.amazon.com.
Sue Cunningham is a retired librarian and co-owner of a small business. She lives in Merriam.
www.agingkansas.org
The Kansas Department on Aging is the state’s focal point for aging services and information. The site links state programs and provides legislative information of interest to seniors and caregivers.
www.familydoctor.org
This site, operated by the American Academy of Family Physicians, provides coping tips for caregivers and links to other organizations providing caregiver support.
www.hhs.gov
The Department of Health and Human Services site provides information on hospitals, nursing homes, and government agencies providing services for the elderly. It also offers reliable, informative links about health conditions affecting the elderly. Clink on the “Aging” link for caregiver information.
www.nfcacares.org
The National Family Caregivers Association educates, supports, empowers, and speaks up for more than 50 million Americans who care for loved ones with a chronic illness or disability or the frailties of old age. A free quarterly newsletter is available from this site.
www.caregiver.org
The Family Caregiving Alliance provides a public voice for caregivers. Its pioneering programs provide information, education, services, research, and advocacy to support and sustain the work of families caring for loved ones with chronic, disabling health conditions.
By: Rebecca “Beck” Malcolm Schubert
Wisdom is an interesting but elusive word. I have witnessed wisdom in those I visit, but when it comes to finding words for a definition, I am stumped. How do you define the inflection in the voice or the glow in the eyes of those who feel so very comfortable in their skin?
It is also clear to me that people who possess wisdom would be the first to shy away from letting you use them as an example. The wise ones never seem to answer a question; instead, they artfully return the question to the one asking, in a way that helps the seeker find a path.
The state of being wise represents an interesting growth of the human spirit. Those who obtain wisdom seem to radiate peace and a spiritual power that is anything but still. Wisdom is a spiritual component of the human package. It radiates through the heart, mind, and body, and is seen deep in the eyes of those who possess the gift.
Small children are often said to have uttered something that is “wise beyond their years.” This is a small glimmer of things to come, but not a promise. Sometimes we project so much onto children that they just can’t handle the weight of our expectations.
When I reflect on an example of a wise person, I focus on Roselle, a Jewish woman who had been raised in New York City. She and her husband had come to Kansas in the late 1940s. They had been fortunate in business and raised two successful children.
In her later years, Roselle moved to a nursing home to be near her daughter, who visited every day. Roselle’s room was beautiful. She and her daughter had incorporated many of her favorite things from home, making her room a haven. When you stepped in, you moved into a reality different from the rest of the nursing home. You knew you were in Roselle’s room.
One day I asked Roselle what she was thinking as she sat looking out at the facility’s courtyard.
“Oh, honey, I’m busy gardening,” she said.
I was taken by surprise by her answer. Roselle was sitting in her wheelchair. We had been friends for several years and I had never seen her stand, bend, or be on her knees in the garden. Mercifully, I stopped to reflect before I commented.
“Roselle, are you gardening in your mind?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, I am, dear,” she said. “You know, the things I weed from this garden come back quickly, just as they did when I was on my knees touching the dirt.”
“Roselle, how are your memories?” I asked.
“They are alive and well,” she said. “I treasure my memories.”
We sat quietly for a few minutes and then I started to excuse myself.
“Where are you off to?” she asked.
It was Sunday morning and still 30 minutes before service time.
“I need to ask more residents whether they want to come to the service,” I said. “So far, they all seem to be busy or have other things to do.”
Roselle motioned for me to come closer. As I knelt by her chair, she whispered in my ear what every chaplain needs to have written on his or her heart:
“Beck, don’t forget. Your Jesus, He said, ‘Feed my sheep’; He didn’t say to count them.”
As I said, wisdom is hard to define. But when I meet eyes that are steeped with love, and hear such a caring message delivered with powerful grace, then I know I have been in the presence of one who possesses great wisdom.
Beck Schubert, MA, BCC, is chaplain at Grace Hospice.
These articles are also available electronically at the Center on Aging Website: http://www2.kumc.edu/coa/Senior_Press_Article/Topic_Index.htm