The Assertive Cancer Patient

Team Survivor Fitness Retreat

I'll be speaking at Team Survivor Northwest's annual fitness retreat at Fort Worden on the Olympic Peninsula this coming weekend. The dates are January 11, 12, and 13.

My talk will be about cancer and the Web, with a focus on cancer blogging (of course). It will be similar to the presentation that I gave at Cancer Lifeline here in Seattle not too long ago. (See link below.)

"We have women who come back every year--it's a special weekend that is worth taking the time for," says Monica Strasen, program manager for TSNW. (Monica is also the friend who came with me to Tucson, when she should be back in Seattle, organizing this puppy. THAT'S a true friend.)

"Our annual retreat is one of those vignettes in life where raison d’etre is joyous, heartfelt,
and you know why you came," Monica says.

Want to join us? It's not too late. Contact TSNW at 206-732-8350 or e-mail pm@teamsurvivornw.org. There is a charge for the retreat, but scholarships are available.

Read more:

Blogging 101: If I Can Blog, You Can Blog

TSNW Fitness Retreat

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Want a Service Dog of Your Very Own?

A service dog, as defined by the U.S. Government, is a dog that is trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities. For those of us with cancer, the tasks we ask our service dogs to perform will vary--in Jill's case, it was to help her become more mobile, and to help with her depression. (See Cancer Dog.)

I got Constant because he makes me happy, gets me out for exercise, and helps keep depression at bay.

If you want a service dog, just follow these five steps:

1. Get a Prescription
Ask your oncologist or therapist to write you a prescription for a service dog. Carry this with you in case anyone challenges your right to have the dog with you in public places. (Chances are you won't need to show it very often, if at all, especially if your dog is wearing a vest and behaving appropriately.) Jill says people ask her about Pumpkin because they're curious, not because they object to his presence.

I asked Dr. Livingston to write me a prescription for a service dog back when Connie was a puppy for "mental health reasons," i.e., to help with my depression. I tucked the prescription away, and now, when I want to quote what it says, I can't find it.

Here's what Jill's prescription for her service dog says: A Dog By Prescription. Ask your doctor to write one that says something similar.

2. Choose a Dog
Don't just grab the cutest puppy in the litter and decide that it's going to be your service dog.

If you have a dog that you think would be a good service dog, consider having it evaluated by a professional--typically a dog trainer who works with therapy dogs and service animals. Not all good pets make good service dogs.

At a minimum, the dog needs to have the right temperament (calm, not easily startled, not overly protective or aggressive), be the right size (hard to imagine a St. Bernard as a service dog, despite their fame for alpine rescue work), and be well trained.

If you are going to get a new dog to be your service dog, have it evaluated by a dog trainer before you commit (or fall in love).

I think my wannabe service dog, Constant, is going to be an excellent service dog eventually, because he is bonded to me (I've had him since he was six weeks of age), smart, responsive, and he wants to please.

3. Train Your Dog
Decide how you are going to train your dog. Are you going to do it yourself? Take a class with the dog? Work with a dog trainer one-on-one? Or turn the animal over to a trainer to teach?

At a minimum, your dog needs to be able to pass the "canine good citizen" test, which means the dog will ALWAYS, on command, come, sit, stay, and lie down. It should also walk on a loose leash, and stay with someone else while you walk away.

When Jill takes Pumpkin into a restaurant or other public place, Pumpkin goes under the table and falls asleep.

There are a couple of reasons that Constant is not yet a service dog. The first is that he is still very young and full of energy. He is just two years old. The second is that I've been pretty tired because of treatment for the past year (up until my break from treatment started three months ago) and I haven't been able to give him enough exercise or work hard enough on his training.

Constant dominates GB, our golden retriever, and he was dominating me, according to the dog trainer I consulted a couple of months ago. She taught me how to show Connie that I'm the boss, and things are much better, but he still has a long way to go. I'm spending a lot of time with him this summer, and I expect that by the time he is three years old he'll be going with me as my service animal.

Don't kid yourself about your dog's behavior: Have the dog tested or evaluated by a professional before you start taking it with you as a service animal.

Of course, as part of the dog's training, you need to take it into public places and into stores. When I start doing this with Connie I'll make sure he's wearing a vest that identifies him as a service dog "in training," and I'll let the supermarket or store management know what I'm up to in advance.

4. Get a Vest
Jill's dog Pumpkin wears a service dog vest with patches from SitStay.com.

I'm going to measure Constant and order his vest today. The vests come in four colors: red, blue, green, and orange. I'd like to get orange, but blue is probably a better choice, psychologically.

5. Know the Rules
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, "businesses and organizations that serve the public must allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals into all areas of the facility where customers are normally allowed to go. This federal law applies to all businesses open to the public, including restaurants, hotels, taxis and shuttles, grocery and department stores, hospitals and medical offices, theaters, health clubs, parks, and zoos."

In addition, businesses may ask if the animal is a service animal, but cannot require any kind of ID card. Nor can they ask about your disability.

Businesses such as restaurants are not allowed to isolate you from other patrons, or charge you extra fees, unless your dog causes damage, in a hotel room, for example.

Also note that "businesses that sell or prepare food must allow service animals in public areas even if state or local health codes prohibit animals on the premises."

I recommend printing out this page and carrying copies with you to give to business owners who question you. I also recommend a cheerful attitude: assume that people who question you are curious, or don't know the rules, not that they are hostile to you or to your dog.

If you have cancer and have a service dog, please write and tell me your story: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

Read more:

Cancer Dog

A Dog By Prescription

Animals at the Office

My friend Lisa’s post on her blog, The Tale of My Left Foot:
Sadie

Jennifer's post, on Inner Mayhem:
Puppy (and Kitty) Love

From Teresa, The Cheeky Librarian, AKA Ninja Librarian:
Best to face cancer with a dog at your side

Need more information? Contact the Delta Society.

Support this blog:

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Cancer Dog

My friend Jill, always an early adapter, was the first person I knew who had a service dog because of her cancer.

She is still the only person I know with cancer who has a service dog, although once I get Constant, my little wannabe, trained to that level, he will be No. 2 among my circle of friends.

Jill’s Story
Jill’s breast cancer metastasized to her bones in 2002, and she fell and broke a leg because of a met. She had surgery to pin the broken leg, then surgery to pin the other leg, to keep it from breaking as well, a few months later.

The metastases and the long recovery time meant that Jill and her husband had to abandon their plans to adopt a child. Jill was grieving and depressed, and her doctor referred her to “Dr. Judy,” a psychiatrist who works with breast cancer patients.

“Dr. Judy is the beginning of the story,” Jill says now. “Judy said, ‘You have a lot of love and energy to give and you need an outlet to give it. Would you consider a dog? I think you are a candidate for a service dog.’” She wrote Jill a prescription for a service dog.

Dr. Judy helped Jill find a dog. She suggested that Jill get a dog that was small enough that it couldn’t pull her off her feet while she was still recovering from the broken leg. Jill had a cocker spaniel when she was a child, and she decided she wanted a cocker.

She found Pumpkin, who was being cared for at a private rescue in Oregon, through PetFinder.com. Pumpkin is a Cavalier/cocker spaniel mix with freckles on his nose. He arrived at Passover, in April of 2003.

“He was 7 years old, freshly groomed, and so sweet,” Jill says. The rescue had taken care of Pumpkin’s vaccinations and microchip, and also neutered him.

Pumpkin’s Job
“The law says if you are disabled, you can have a service animal that does something for you that you can’t do for yourself,” Jill says. “Most are dogs, but you could have a ‘service turtle,’ I suppose.

“Pumpkin’s job is to keep me balanced on my own two feet and keep me mobile. At that time, I had trouble getting around. Needing to take my dog for a walk kept me moving.”

Once Pumpkin was trained to behave impeccably in public, Jill took him everywhere—to her support group, doctor’s appointments, the grocery store, out to lunch … even to treatment appointments.

Pumpkin wears a vest from SitStay.com that identifies him as a service dog, and also has a patch that invites people to ask to pet him. Unlike a guide dog for a blind person, which should not be distracted while it is working, socializing is good for Pumpkin. “It’s fine for Pumpkin to interact,” Jill says.

Good Dog
Service dogs do not need to be certified, but Jill prepared Pumpkin to take—and pass—the “canine good citizen” test, which is the same test that the Delta Society uses for therapy dogs, Jill says.

To pass, Pumpkin had to obey the following commands: sit, down, and stay. He also had to walk on a loose leash, greet a friendly stranger, and sit with someone else while Jill walked away.

Only this last requirement was difficult with Pumpkin, who gets anxious when he is separated from Jill, but he passed the test.

Pumpkin now has a certificate and a patch showing that he is a “good citizen.” When Jill and Pumpkin are in public together, Pumpkin goes under the table and “becomes a piece of furniture,” Jill says.

Semi-Retirement
Last year Jill stopped taking Pumpkin everywhere with her, although she still takes him to her support group and also to treatment appointments to “keep up his good habits.”

“I was feeling better,” she says, “and he’s 11 now. He gets to slow down.”

Read more:

A Dog By Prescription

Want a Service Dog of Your Very Own?

Animals at the Office

My friend Lisa’s post on her blog, The Tale of My Left Foot:
Sadie

Jennifer's post, on Inner Mayhem:
Puppy (and Kitty) Love

From Teresa, The Cheeky Librarian, AKA Ninja Librarian:
Best to face cancer with a dog at your side

Still to come:

Constant, the Wannabe Service Dog

If you have a post on your blog about cancer and an animal, please send me the link: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

Support this blog:

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

News I Can Use: Coffee, Exercise, and Skin Cancer

Coffee is one of my few supposedly bad habits. I have a cup of strong coffee close at hand as I write this. And, like so many others, the first thing I do every morning is make a pot of coffee.

But wait, here's a headline, forwarded to me by the Cheeky Librarian, that makes me happy: Coffee and plenty of exercise could cut risk of skin cancer.

Of course, this research was done in rats, so take that into account before you throw away your sunscreen and rely on lots of java for sun protection. (I'm joking here, and I probably shouldn't. People take cancer-related news all too seriously. See Fake Drug, Fake Illness: A New Urban Legend Is Born.)

What the research, which was done with lab rats, found is that a combination of coffee and lots of exercise may lower the risk of skin cancer.

According to news reports, coffee and exercise are thought to work together to kill off precancerous cells whose DNA has been damaged by ultraviolet-B radiation from the sun. The rats were actually given caffeinated water, so you could take your caffeine straight if you don't like coffee.

The research also didn't say how much exercise a human being would need in order to get the same benefits, but the scientists do plan to do human studies soon.

The report didn't say anything about preventing recurrences of skin cancer, which is what I am really interested in, having had one bout with melanoma, but I'm going to assume, for now, that coffee and exercise are good for me.

Read:

Coffee and plenty of exercise could cut risk of skin cancer

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.