I’ve been spending a little time today reading the Patient Services Discussion Boards, specifically the Newly Diagnosed board. It’s heartbreaking to read some of these posts. A lot of these new cancer patients and their caregivers are scared, feel helpless, and alone. Participating in our online community allows them to find the immediate emotional support they need.

These people are also looking for resources – many of which The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) provides.

In just got the dx dkvpv looks for questions to ask her doctor:

“…my Dr. said we would sit down and talk. I'm very scared and numb. What should I expect, what should I ask?”

The LLS website has a page called, What to Ask After Diagnosis. It has a variety of printable question guides which can be of help during different conversations a cancer patient may have while sitting down with their oncologist.

In NH folicular lymphoma Me2RN looks for peer support:

“At times I feel set apart from others and would like to just talk about it with people who feel like I do or have the same experience. I have a great support group around me but they do not have cancer.”

LLS offers First Connection, which is a peer-to-peer support program. You can sign up to receive a call from a trained volunteer who has been through it, just like you. Both patients and caregivers can utilize this helpful program.

In New dx of CML-scared to death!! LauraB523 wants to know how to cope:

“So, does anyone have any advice or coping skills to pass along? I have some good days but also some bad. Just a lot to deal with right now!!”

Along with many other free materials, LLS offers the Coping support booklet (.pdf) which can either be downloaded or received by mail. It’s geared towards people living with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

There are many other online resources available to people who have been newly diagnosed with one of the blood cancers. It’s not easy to find out that you or a loved one has cancer, but it can be easy to find the help and support you need on our website. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Give us a call or send us an email.

We sponsor a lot of very interesting teleconferences, but they usually take place on a weekday in the middle of a day. This means that many people who are at work or busy doing something else are not able to listen to these live events. Luckily we have our telephone education programs archived on our website, and additionally we have several podcast feeds.

Up until just a few days ago we had three podcast feeds:

• Blood CancerCAST – all of our teleconferences

• CML LinksCAST – Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia teleconferences

• Lymphoma LinksCAST – Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma teleconferences

We just added seven more podcast feeds to make it easier for people to listen to the teleconferences they are interested in. Here’s a list of our new feeds:

• AML PathwaysCAST – Acute Myelogenous Leukemia teleconferences

• Childhood CancersCAST – teleconferences related to the childhood cancers

• CLL LinksCAST – Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia teleconferences

• MDS CAST – Myelodysplastic Syndrome teleconferences

• Myeloma OutlookCAST – Myeloma teleconferences

• Non-Hodgkin LymphomaCAST – Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma teleconferences

• SurvivorshipCAST – teleconferences related to practical information for those living with the blood cancers

Okay – so a lot of people may not know what RSS or podcasts are. I’ll try to explain.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) has been around for quite a while (since about 1999), but it hasn’t really taken off until the last few years. Personally, I didn’t really start to utilize it myself until a couple of years ago, but now I am taking advantage of it on almost a daily basis.

RSS allows you to read content from all of your favorite websites in one place. Do you find that you don’t have time to visit all of those websites on a daily basis, but you still want to read their content? The solution is to create an account with an aggregation service like Google Reader or Newsgator, then add your favorite website’s feed to the aggregator. At this point those websites syndicate their information to you.

A podcast feed acts the same way, except instead of text-based content, websites (like ours) can syndicate their digital media files (like teleconferences) to you. With our podcast feeds you’ll always stay up to date when there is a new teleconference, making it so you have less of a chance to miss that important and informative information.

Learn more about our new feeds and RSS on our LLS News Feeds and Podcasts page.

Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite times of year, and not just because it gives us an excuse to eat more chocolate (although I’ll admit it’s a good reason to love the day). It’s a reminder that we have helped bring couples together through some of our Team In Training (TNT) events.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's TNT program, in case you don’t know, is the world’s largest endurance sports training program. Their incredible coaches train people for marathons, half marathons, triathlons, and century 100-mile bike rides.  And while they train, participants raise funds to help find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma research and  provide information and support to patients and their families.

While the goal has been to help LLS, participants have also found lifelong friends and love.

Melissa Kushnick and T. J. Caplinger met at a TNT practice for the 2006 Nike Women’s Marathon, a Race to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. For T. J. it was love at first sight, “As soon as I left practice I called my friend and said, I know this sounds crazy but I just met the girl I’m going to marry.”

They began dating, and decided that they would participate in the following year’s event. At the 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon, T. J. asked Melissa to marry him and she said yes. They plan to marry in a few weeks on March 7, 2008. Congratulations T. J. and Melissa!

Take a moment to read some other TNT love stories – these couples are celebrating the day they met, fell in love, and helped LLS. Today is probably one of their favorite days as well.

Want to find a valentine? Find or celebrate love with us at one of our TNT events:

Team In Training is currently recruiting for their Summer season. Events include: Rock 'n' Roll Marathon® , San Diego, CA - June, 1 2008; America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride, Lake Tahoe, NV - June 1, 2008; Mayor's Marathon and Half Marathon, Anchorage, AK - June 1, 2008.  For more information please call (800) 482-TEAM or visit www.teamintraining.org.

Watch one of our 2008 Team In Training videos.

Did you know that The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society sponsors regular teleconferences covering topics ranging from Cancer Survivorship: Practical Tips for Managing Your Financial and Insurance Issues to Emerging Therapies in Myeloma? Patients and caregivers, as well as healthcare professionals, are encouraged to register for these free events.

Here are a couple of upcoming teleconferences:

February 13, 2008 - Advocating for Your Child's Learning Needs: Through Treatment and Beyond

February 21, 2008 - Stem Cell Transplantation: Current Trends and Future Directions

If you are unable to attend these teleconferences as they happen they are archived later on our website which you can access via our podcast feeds or in the National Education Workshops section of our website.

Have you listened in on one of our sponsored teleconferences before?

Today we are launching The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s first blog! There are a few things that we hope to accomplish with this new communication tool, but most of all we want to make this an informative and interesting destination for you: patients, caregivers, and anyone else affected by any of the blood cancers.

A few topics we plan to cover are advocacy, teleconferences, news articles, and more…

We’d love to get ideas from you, though. What do YOU want us to write about? (To comment you must first register if you haven’t already – registration is easy and free!)

To make sure you are the first to know when we have posted a new blog entry subscribe to our RSS feed. Or you can bookmark this webpage in your browser and visit us often.