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Does green tea really protect a cancer survivor against cancer? The answer is, maybe. In contrast to other types of tea, green tea is prepared from unfermented tea leaves. The steam heat process to make green tea allows the leaves to retain naturally occurring compounds called polyphenols. Polyphenols act as antioxidandts in the body. They are the likely source of the health benefits of green tea. The data to suggest a cancer protective benefit from green tea comes mostly from Asia, where it is widely consumed over a lifetime.

A Japanese observational study showed that, in women surviving early stage breast cancer, five or more cups per day was associated with a lower risk of cancer recurrence than less than five cups per day. Other studies have associated more green tea with less cancer recurrence. Although the accumulated evidence in the U.S. is not strong, there is good reason to think that drinking green tea could be beneficial. Note that large amounts of green tea can affect the action of certain medications, such as warfarin (Coumadin). Visit www.aboutherbs.com to learn more about green tea and other complementary treatments.

Dr. Mark O’Rourke is a medical oncology cancer specialist and medical director of GHS’ Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship.

Eric Fulmer

So, this is the week of our neuroscience exam. Personally, this is the one that I’ve been dreading, and I’m pretty sure that is a sentiment felt throughout my class.  As this is a four-week module, everything has been pretty crammed in (a.k.a. full time studying) but the week or two before the exam tends to be the most hectic.  I’ve found that one of the most important things to do during exam week is to not study. I know this is a point that seems counter intuitive, but over-studying can be a huge issue during exam week.  The human body/brain can only take so many consecutive hours of sitting in a study room learning material before starting to shut down, so destressing is really important.

This week, I did a poll of my classmates to see how everyone is taking time off to de-stress. Here are the results.

Exercising                                            20

Eating                                                  13

Getting Outside                                   10

De-stress?                                             6

Watching TV                                          5

Complaining about how stressed I am  4

Sleeping                                                2

Gaming                                                 1

Assuming everyone answered honestly, you can see that a large majority of my class enjoys exercising and getting outside (however, I suspect there may be some overlap in the top two responses). I was kind of expecting this result though, as I know many of my classmates hit the gym either before or after class or go jogging in the afternoons. While I’m not much for jogging, I do live in a nice neighborhood within walking distance of Cleveland Park so I head down to the park occasionally to people/dog watch. I will admit, however, I am the gamer. I like to take my mind off of school by playing multiplayer games online with friends from back home or undergrad.  It not only distracts me from school for a little while, but gives me a chance to keep up friendships.

So, all in all, I guess the results show that it’s not necessarily how you relax that is important, but that you find a chance to kick back and forget about school (if only for a little while). I think the majority of our class would definitely recommend getting outside and getting active as a great way to not only stay in great shape, but to keep the stress off as well.

We hear a lot about exercise being good for you. Is it really true? Is there evidence to support the benefits of exercise for cancer survivors? The answer is, yes. Recent studies have shown that exercise can prevent declines in fitness, improve quality of life, reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and reduce the risk of dying of cancer. The Cochrane Database of Systematic published a review of the benefits of exercise in August 2012. It described a group of 56 clinical trials, in which more than 2,000 cancer survivors were randomized to either the exercise group or a control group with no specific exercise plan. Breast cancer survivors in the exercise group experienced a significant reduction in anxiety. Survivors of other cancers in the exercise group experienced a reduction in depression, fatigue and sleep disturbance. While there is a place for medications, the best prescription for feeling better after cancer treatment may be exercise, 150 minutes per week. How about you? What kinds of exercise do you enjoy? How has it helped you?

Dr. Mark O’Rourke is a medical oncology cancer specialist and medical director of GHS’ Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship.

When a tragedy occurs, such as a weather disaster or accident, it can cause anxiety in so many of us. We all can have effects from tragedy. None of us are immune, no matter how tough we think we are otherwise. But, when a tragedy occurs that is man-made, such as the horrendous bombing that just occurred in Boston, the violence and malevolence behind it can make even the strongest and most faithful among us start to question so many things. Our faith, our optimism, our beliefs, our trusts – all can be rattled to the core, which can be so unsettling to us.

Tragedy and trauma go hand-in-hand and can lead to many common symptoms. Sleeplessness, vivid dreams and nightmares, physical agitation, worry, irritability, and lack of concentration are all common anxiety symptoms that can be prevalent in the general population after a tragic event. Children can be especially vulnerable as they can hear about the tragedy in so many different ways. It is important for the parents and caregivers to allow children to talk about what they know of the event, and then the adult can “clear up” any misunderstandings the child may be thinking. Provide reassurances to a child about their own safety, and the safety of their family and friends. Children have parents that jog or run like the people were doing at the Boston Marathon, and a child may misinterpret this simple exercise as a source of danger. But if it is not talked about in the household, one will never know what really needs to be “cleared up” with the worried child.

People who are more closely linked and directly experience a trauma may begin to develop more distressing symptoms. Feeling emotionally numb or detached, experiencing flashbacks or re-living the trauma, agitation or restlessness, and avoidance of places or things that cause a recollection of the trauma are all markers that a more serious psychiatric condition might be developing. It would be important for those affected to seek out professional mental health providers to determine if treatment is needed. This treatment can include short-term (a few days or weeks) medications or short-term psychotherapy to “beef up” one’s coping skills. If the symptoms persist, there are excellent longer-term options for medications and psychotherapy as well. BOTTOM LINE: it can be treated, minimized, and something that does NOT have to impair someone for months or years into the future. The earlier one gets treated after a trauma, the better the prognosis.

Being impacted by tragedy and trauma is something each and every one of us will most likely experience at different parts of our life. We are emotional, we are affected, and we have feelings. Please do not be ashamed or embarrassed to talk about the Boston event with friends, neighbors, clergy and family. Be there for each other. Ignoring it does not make it go away, but rather causes it to fester and grow more bothersome. If trauma causes more significant symptoms, like the ones I have described above, please seek help and support from your physician/psychiatrist or therapist. Take care of yourself and others. We will all get through this easier with the help of each other. We will survive and endure, as we always have, and we will thrive.

Dr. J. David Moore is a psychiatrist with GHS’ Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine.

Maglin Halsey

Today during class we found out about the explosions at the finish line of the Boston marathon. Wow. My heart sunk. I’ve spent today trying to figure out why this event hit me in a way different from any other traumatic event on the news.

It was only two years ago that I was crossing the finish line of my first marathon. When I crossed that line, I couldn’t talk. As soon as I tried, I found myself sucking in all the air I could muscle. The push to the finish line had taken my breath away. Today, runners and spectators also had their breath taken away as the explosions went off and chaos ensued. As I watched replays of the scene, I felt that same sense of gasping for breath that I had two years ago when I finished my marathon.

As I continued to watch news coverage, I found myself being specifically interested in the emergency medical services. Stretchers moving everywhere, bandages, splints, blood. It feels different to watch an ambulance and its sirens after becoming a certified EMT. I have found that since becoming certified and riding on the ambulances in Greenville, I am much more aware of the situations around me. Anytime I pass a car accident, I’m automatically thinking. What happened? How many people? Are there any life-threatening injuries? There are always ambulances sitting at the scene already as I pass, but this is how I am programmed to think now. Any time I see someone in the crowd at a football game looking faint in the heat, I’m starting to think about what I’m going to do if they get sick. What medical conditions do they already have? With that frame of mind, the events today struck up the same thoughts. How did they triage the patients at the scene? Who needed attention first? What were the life threatening injuries?

What would I do?

And every time I hear a siren now I’m thinking, how do I get out of the way for the ambulance? As the truck passes me with its sirens on, I quickly glance to see if one of my classmates is on the way to the call. When I hear a story on the news, I wonder if one of my classmates was at the scene.

Every emergency event becomes personal to me.

I finally realized that if anything like what happened in Boston happened in Greenville, my classmates and I would, all of a sudden, be available resources. We ride in the ambulances once a month to continue learning how to handle emergency situations, but what would we do in a situation like this? I have quickly come to realize how close to my heart any emergency situation hits. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by the explosions and all of the emergency personnel who were there saving lives.

With the recent passing of Roger Ebert, a beloved American journalist, film critic, and screen writer, who dies after a long battle with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands, many of us are thinking more about oral, head and neck cancer.

Oral, head and neck cancers claim approximately 12,000 lives every year. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 109,070 new cases of cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, throat and thyroid are expected this year. However, if diagnosed early, these cancers can be more easily treated with less significant complications, and the chances of survival greatly increase. Oral, head and neck cancers can significantly impact a person’s ability to eat and drink safely and to communicate with others.

Most oral cancers arise on the lips, tongue or the floor of the mouth. They may also occur inside the cheeks, on the gums, or on the roof of the mouth. Oropharyngeal cancers related to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) are often found in the tonsil or base of the tongue. Other head and neck cancers arise from the voice box, throat, salivary glands or thyroid gland. Tobacco (including smokeless tobacco), alcohol use and HPV are very important risk factors for oral, head and neck cancers according to the National Cancer Institute. Some early signs and symptoms include a red or white spot in your mouth that doesn’t heal, a sore throat or swollen tonsil, changes in your voice, a lump in your neck, earache and difficulty swallowing.

Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week (OHANCAW) is a week-long series of events that aim to educate the public about these potentially life-threatening but eminently treatable cancers and promote prevention, screening and early detection. The 16th Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week is April 14-20, 2013.

The physicians of GHS’ Greenville Ear, Nose & Throat Associates will offer FREE oral cancer screenings on Friday, April 19 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 200 Patewood Drive, Building B, Suite B 400. Although FREE, an appointment is required. Call (864) 454-4368 and press option 1. The screening is painless and takes only about 10 minutes. All you have to do is say, “Ahhhh”!

Want to help out? Text FIGHT to 50555 to donate $10 towards the mGive Foundation benefiting the Head and Neck Cancer Aliiance.

Christa P. Likes, MSR, CCC-SLP and Alissa G. Yeargin, MSR, CCC-SLP are certified Speech-Language Pathologists with Greenville Ear, Nose & Throat Associates. They specialize in evaluation and treatment of voice and swallowing disorders associated with oral, head and neck cancers.

Is alcohol good or bad for a breast cancer survivor? A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicates that moderate use of alcohol after a diagnosis of breast cancer may be safe and even beneficial. Twenty-five thousand breast cancer survivors were followed for an average of 11 years. Those whose alcohol intake was moderate, that is 3 to 6 drinks per week, had a lower than average risk of breast cancer recurrence compared to non-drinkers and a 25% decreased risk of heart disease. Does it mean that a woman who has had breast cancer is free to drink up? No. What it means is that a breast cancer survivor can enjoy moderate use of alcohol as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise and a low-fat, plant-based diet, along with weight control.

Dr. Mark O’Rourke is a medical oncology cancer specialist and medical director of GHS’ Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship.

Matt Eisenstat

Imagine being given the opportunity to choose your clique in high school. Do you want to be a jock? All the attention and free sweat pants you can imagine. Is it worth the higher likelihood of being a washed out gym teacher who always talks about being “state champs” 40 years ago? Do you want to be a nerd? Can you put up with the social stigma and friends with questionable body odor for a shot at being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Imagine having that opportunity with only a week to decide your fate for the next four years. Oh, and if you get two weeks into the school year and suddenly get cold feet with your decision you have to repeat the 8^th grade to get another shot. That’s how I would liken the decision of picking a specialty in medical school.

Saying you’re a physician is as vague as saying “I’m in business”. Surgeons, pediatricians, internists, and every doctor in between begin in the same medical school boat. Their journeys quickly diverge after graduation. There are currently 26 specialties and over 120 subspecialties. Undersea and hyperbaric medicine is a subspecialty. I don’t even know what that means. I’m imagining two guys in old timey scuba suits and one of them has a stethoscope and doctor’s bag. I doubt one could use a stethoscope in a scuba suit but this is my imagination and there are no rules. That being said, as a student in the Upstate how am I supposed to know that I wouldn’t enjoy practicing medicine under the sea. There is an entire world of choices and only a limited time to discover what you’re passionate about.

Senior year of college I found myself standing in front of two attending physicians in the emergency department of a local hospital. A gray-haired male physician sat spinning idly in his office chair while the female physician behind him typed harshly on an antiquated keyboard. The grey-haired physician stopped the chair with his sneakers and looked up at me.

“Come on. Tell me what you think of Obamacare.”

“Bill, quit harassing the poor kid!” The woman physician rubbed her temples as she stared intently into the electronic medical records.

Before I could answer the double doors of the department burst open and three figures stood in the doorway. A tattooed man in an orange jumpsuit stood defiantly, shackled head to toe, between two annoyed looking police officers.

“Man I told you. I fell in the shower!”

The tattooed man seemed to be trying to explain a large laceration on his forehead. The laceration had the clean edges of a wound made by a razor blade, shiv, maybe even a knife. Unless the showers were lined in barbed wire, my inclination was that this man’s story was better than he was letting on.

From that moment I was hooked. The patients were interesting and their stories were more so. Every problem under the sun came through those double doors and an immediate impact could be made. I was lucky to find my passion so early and so definitively but for many it’s much more difficult.

Choosing a specialty in medical school is a rite of passage. It determines the patients you will see, the procedures you do, and the lifestyle you live. More often than not it also determines the peers you surround yourself with, the stereotype you cast yourself as, and the professional values you hold. For some people they have dreamed of being one type of doctor and one type of doctor only. Some people wait for year three and just cross off rotations they hate. Others may have their “Ah-Ha” moment at any random time and place. Even with all the research and shadowing in the world eventually you have to make a leap of faith.

I’m reminded of a white water rafting trip I took in high school. Halfway down the rapids, we pulled to the side to “enjoy” a jump off a small cliff into the rapids at a spot that was “safe.”

“Aim for that spot right there. There are rocks to the left and on the far side. If you hit that spot right there you should miss the rocks and a current will shoot you into a clear lane in the rapids. Oh and don’t miss the rope at the end or well have to come rescue you.”

As I jumped, I immediately thought, “Did he say rocks to the left or right…Guess I’m about to find out. Oh well this is fun.”

That’s the great thing about medicine. In such a high stress career with so many critical decisions along the way, you never can be one hundred percent certain that you’re jumping off in the right direction. You can be certain it’ll be an exciting jump.

Maglin Halsey

Today during class we found out about the explosions at the finish line of the Boston marathon. Wow. My heart sunk. I’ve spent today trying to figure out why this event hit me in a way different from any other traumatic event on the news.

It was only two years ago that I was crossing the finish line of my first marathon. When I crossed that line, I couldn’t talk. As soon as I tried, I found myself sucking in all the air I could muscle. The push to the finish line had taken my breath away. Today, runners and spectators also had their breath taken away as the explosions went off and chaos ensued. As I watched replays of the scene, I felt that same sense of gasping for breath that I had two years ago when I finished my marathon.

As I continued to watch news coverage, I found myself being specifically interested in the emergency medical services. Stretchers moving everywhere, bandages, splints, blood. It feels different to watch an ambulance and its sirens after becoming a certified EMT. I have found that since becoming certified and riding on the ambulances in Greenville, I am much more aware of the situations around me. Anytime I pass a car accident, I’m automatically thinking. What happened? How many people? Are there any life-threatening injuries? There are always ambulances sitting at the scene already as I pass, but this is how I am programmed to think now. Any time I see someone in the crowd at a football game looking faint in the heat, I’m starting to think about what I’m going to do if they get sick. What medical conditions do they already have? With that frame of mind, the events today struck up the same thoughts. How did they triage the patients at the scene? Who needed attention first? What were the life threatening injuries?

What would I do?

And every time I hear a siren now I’m thinking, how do I get out of the way for the ambulance? As the truck passes me with its sirens on, I quickly glance to see if one of my classmates is on the way to the call. When I hear a story on the news, I wonder if one of my classmates was at the scene.

Every emergency event becomes personal to me.

I finally realized that if anything like what happened in Boston happened in Greenville, my classmates and I would, all of a sudden, be available resources. We ride in the ambulances once a month to continue learning how to handle emergency situations, but what would we do in a situation like this? I have quickly come to realize how close to my heart any emergency situation hits. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by the explosions and all of the emergency personnel who were there saving lives.