Care Partners Compass: Navigating CRC

Elsa Lankford
  • 5.0 (2)
  • PERSONAL JOURNALS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

A podcast for care partners, cancer patients, and anybody who knows or loves somebody with cancer, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC). Care Partners Compass is told through the lens of a Stage 4 CRC care partner with occasional guests. Season 1 will be primarily from my personal experience as a stage 4 CRC care partner. Topics will include diagnosis, biomarkers, clinical trials, second opinions, finding hope and joy, and more. The podcast trailer is out now. Please listen and share widely. Logo design: Kristine Dunkerton Episodes will be dropping in March 2024 - Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. If you are 45 and older, or are any age and are experiencing anemia, unexplained weight loss, or other symptoms, please schedule your colonoscopy. Disclaimer: This podcast and its content is for entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by any hosts or guests on this podcast are their own personal opinions. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. This podcast does not contain medical or legal advice. Please consult your medical professional about any medical questions or concerns.

  1. 08/06/2025

    S2Ep6 Cancerversaries From a Stage 4 CRC Care Partner Perspective

    This episode is about cancerversaries, as Kristine just surpassed her 4th cancerversary (it's on her birthday). It's from my perspective as a care partner - what I've learned and hopefully things that are helpful. I'm very fortunate that Kristine has reached this important milestone and hoping for many, many more. Colorectal cancer (CRC), particularly Stage 4 MSS (Microsatellite Stable) CRC needs more everything. And the executive branch of the United States federal government is trying to take away quite a large chunk of funding from cancer research. (Yes, that comes up in THIS episode - because there can't be cancerversaries without cancer research.) Fortunately, the US Senate Appropriations Committee voted bipartisan (26-3) to give MORE money to NIH than last year. Not the 40% slashing that the executive branch wanted. Hopefully this will include fully staffing the NIH as well.https://www.fightcancer.org/releases/us-senate-appropriations-committee-shows-strong-bipartisan-support-cancer-research-fundingThat doesn't mean we're out of the woods - because it hasn't passed the full Senate and there are still so many questions. Please continue to contact your Senators and Representatives about how important cancer research funding is. Many lives depend on it. Here is a form from AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) that lets you send a personalized message to your senators and representative.https://www.aacr.org/professionals/policy-and-advocacy/aacr-legislative-action-center/You can also directly help to fundraise for individual NCI (National Cancer Institute) centers. For example, Johns Hopkins has a fund where 100% of the money raised goes directly to research. They have specific trials that have been run directly from this fundraising. https://secure.jhu.edu/form/ColorectalCancerResearchCenterofExcellence

    17 min

  2. 07/25/2025

    S2Ep5 Gut Reactions: The Importance of a Dietitian, pt 2

    This episode is the 2nd of a 2 parter! Listen to S2Ep4 for the 1st part of this 2 part podcast. Lora Silver, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, CNSC an oncology dietitian from Yale Smilow Cancer Center joined me in a conversation about why it's important to have a dietitian on your care team. Food is complicated in all cancers, but particularly CRC. And there is a lot of misinformation out there about it. Join me in learning how dietitians (and care partners!) can help cancer patients eat better, and feed that gut microbiome too. In this episode, we talk more specifically about foods to eat in Cancerland, including talking about a session out of the ASCO conference about anti-inflammatory foods and colorectal cancer. And how as care partners, we can help our loved ones in a very meaningful way, through food and nutrition. Show Notes: CancerCare provides many free nutrition education resources https://www.cancercare.org/tagged/nutritionYale’s Teaching Kitchen https://www.ynhhs.org/patient-care/teaching-kitchenRecipes from The Cancer Fighting Kitchen https://www.rebeccakatz.com/recipe-box/tag/The+Cancer-Fighting+KitchenMSK Recipes for People with Cancer https://www.mskcc.org/experience/patient-support/nutrition-cancer/recipes#sort=relevancyASCO Inflammatory Diet Abstract https://www.asco.org/about-asco/press-center/news-releases/pro-inflammatory-diets-associated-worse-outcomes-patients-stage-III-colon-cancerOther resources that Lora wanted to share: Livestrong and Maple Tree are good places to start for fitness and physical activity resources that you can access from home and/or in your community https://livestrong.org/resources/ and https://www.mapletreecanceralliance.org/virtual-training/Editing to add -  CancerChoices.org: How to Use AI to Navigate Cancer Information: Tips and Considerations - CancerChoicesSociety for Integrative Oncology: https://integrativeonc.org/dont-believe-everything-you-read/  (01:17) - Gut microbiome (02:42) - Fiber! (03:21) - How to get more fiber, even if you can't eat fiber (04:43) - Food source info (07:56) - Spoiler alert: Sugar does not feed cancer (09:43) - Inflammatory foods part 1 (13:00) - ASCO session on inflammatory foods and CRC (and pizza?) (18:17) - Pro-inflammatory foods (19:58) - Teaching Kitchens and learning how to cook for cancer patients (22:19) - How care partners can help through food (24:12) - Sometimes you need a little help from your friends (or a carryout)

    29 min

  3. 07/10/2025

    S2 Ep4 - Chew on This: The Importance of a Dietitian on Your Care Team

    This episode is a 2 parter! Lora Silver, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, CNSC an oncology dietitian from Yale Smilow Cancer Center joined me in a conversation about why it's important to have a dietitian on your care team. Food is complicated in all cancers, but particularly CRC. And there is a lot of misinformation out there about it. Join me in learning how dietitians (and care partners!) can help cancer patients eat better, and feed that gut microbiome too. Then, join us for part 2 when we talk more specifically about foods to eat in Cancerland, including talking about a session out of the ASCO conference about anti-inflammatory foods and colorectal cancer. Show Notes: American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) - https://www.aicr.org/ - for trusted info on factual information about food and cancerCook For Your Life - https://www.cookforyourlife.org/ - helpful and searchable recipes where you can filter by helpful categories such as health considerations, prep time, or side effectsHelpful Links that Lora wanted to share:  Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) offers free nutrition education and consultations to patients and caregivers for all cancer diagnoses https://llsnutrition.org/The Cancer Dietitian is a wealth of information and free classes, and I have met her (Julie Lanford) and she is wonderful https://cancerdietitian.com/CancerCare provides many free nutrition education resources https://www.cancercare.org/tagged/nutritionLivestrong and Maple Tree are good places to start for fitness and physical activity resources that you can access from home and/or in your community https://livestrong.org/resources/ and https://www.mapletreecanceralliance.org/virtual-training/Thank you to my incredible wife Kristine for helping me to edit these episodes! (01:23) - Deciding to become a dietician (02:49) - Dietician vs nutritionist - what's the difference? Part 1 (03:14) - Oncology and diet (04:27) - Food and cancer from care partner's perspective (05:19) - How can we make it easier to get dieticians on the care team? (07:35) - Why is there an extra step? Why not by default? (08:59) - Dietician vs nutritionist pt 2 (11:54) - General nutrition tips for CRC (12:33) - Ideally meet with a dietician even before you start treatment (13:33) - Diet during cancer treatments (14:51) - Good balanced nutrition is so important (16:51) - Protein needs during cancer (18:21) - Before surgery (21:01) - Getting the care partner involved in thinking about diet before surgery (22:08) - Survivorship and diet (24:32) - Finding trusted sources for diet and cancer info

    29 min

  4. 06/07/2025

    S2E3 - The Importance of Exercise to Cancer Patients (and how care partners can help too)

    Here are links to some of the information talked about in the episode: Research:- MSK article (April 2025) on exercise as cancer therapy - MSK article (Jan 2017) on cancer patients being less active - ASCO25 press release about the international CHALLENGE trial where early stage colorectal patients who had an exercise "coach" and exercised regularly had a better disease free survival - American Cancer Society article on Weight LossExercise Programs:- MSK Integrative Medicine at Home - virtual exercise classes for cancer patients and care partners - $20/mth and you do not need to be a MSK patient - Exercise Programs at Wellness House (Chicago) - free exercise programs, some in-person and some virtual - Wellness Programs at Hirsch (Greensboro, NC) - free exercise programs, some in-person and some virtual - Livestrong Program at the YMCA (national) - close to 800 YMCA locations across the country participate in this 12 week program for cancer survivors - American College of Sports Medicine - Cancer and Exercise Research and Resources which includes a Moving Through Cancer directory of some of the local and regional exercise oncology specialists and programs, searchable by city or state Host, Producer, Composer, Editor: Elsa Lankford (02:03) - MSK Cancer and Exercise Data (04:02) - ASCO25 Exercise Data (05:56) - Kristine's exercise before and after diagnosis (06:32) - MSK Integrative Medicine at Home - virtual exercise program (10:20) - Finding other exercise classes - nationally and locally (12:05) - Cancer patients and survivors need motivation to exercise - care partners can help

    17 min

  5. 05/29/2025

    S2Ep2 Home Is Where the Healthcare Is (Sometimes)

    This episode is called Home is Where the Healthcare Is (Sometimes). In October 2024, my incredible Kristine (💙💙) had a major surgery - CRS/HIPEC. Over the last few months, she has had some temporary members added to her care team.  In this episode, I talk about the importance of a nutritionist, home wound care nurse, and a home physical therapist. *** If you are in the United States, please join me in continuing to advocate for fully funded and staffed cancer and medical research, from the NIH, NCI, FDA, CDC, to local, regional, and national cancer centers.  Colorectal cancer, and all of the other cancers, needs more hope and options. Those come directly out of cancer research.  Please check out Fight CRC - https://fightcolorectalcancer.org/advocacy/public-policy/federal-policy/ or https://5calls.org/issue/nih-nsf-funding-cuts/ *** (01:20) - CRS/HIPEC surgery (04:18) - The importance of a nutritionist (08:54) - Home wound care nurse (12:26) - Home physical therapy (14:55) - The importance of building your care team

    17 min

  6. 02/14/2025

    S2Ep1 Saving Cancer Research

    This episode is truly from the heart, not just because I recorded it and am uploading it on Valentine's Day 2025, but because cancer research means the world to me. It offers hope in cancerland, which is necessary. Here are some ways that you can help save cancer research in the United States: https://5calls.org/issue/nih-nsf-funding-cuts/ - lets you easily contact your US representative and senators via phone and has an optional script if you get tongue tied. All you need to do is put a location so that it can find out who you should contact. You can also send emails, but phone calls seem to be more effectivehttps://www.usa.gov/elected-officials also lets you know who your elected officials areUnited for Medical Research has a great webpage where you can find out how NIH funding affects your stateThe American Association of Medical Colleges has been fighting for cancer research fundingThis is a rapidly evolving issue that is very time sensitive. Please share and call your representatives, go to their town halls, let them know how important cancer research is to you, your family, and your loved ones.

    9 min

  7. 05/10/2024

    S1Ep11 Healthy Distractions

    Welcome to the eleventh episode of Care Partner's Compass: Navigating CRC where I talk with my best friend for over 30 years, my wife Kristine about healthy distractions. Kristine was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer on her 49th birthday in July 2021. We have had to come up with a lot of coping mechanisms to deal with this cancer diagnosis, and we have a number of healthy distractions. From walking, puzzles, dancing, doing fun spontaneous things, exercise, meditation, and sometimes just being silly. Full transcription can be found on the website (http://carepartnerscompass.transistor.fm) Host, producer/editor, and composer: Elsa Lankford Kristine - You are incredible 💙 Please remember to share, subscribe, like, and rate the podcast. Helpful links related to this episode: Cancer and Careers - an organization who works to empower and educate cancer survivors about how to thrive in the workplacewww.eventbrite.com - Easy way to find in-person and online classes, workshops, and events all over the world. You can sort to find free and online.MSK Integrative Medicine at Home - Meditation and exercises classes online (more services are available if you can be in person). This is a low cost membership for live online classes or you can do the free classes that are posted on the website.Wellness House (Annapolis, MD) - Offers both in-person and online exercise and art classes for free. Wellness House (Chicago, IL) - Offers both in-person and online exercise and art classes for free. https://www.hirschwellnessnetwork.org/#Classes - Offers both in-person and online exercise and art classes for free. The in-person classes are extensive if you live nearby.www.Open.Spotify.com - Listen to Kristine's playlists or create your own and dance!  (01:15) - What is a healthy distraction and why are they helpful? (02:39) - When Kristine started adding in healthy distractions (04:53) - Healthy distractions as exercise for the mind and body (06:58) - Distracting sports of one sort or another (07:54) - Spontaneous Fun map (08:55) - Work can be a distraction, but if you do stop working, try one new thing a day (11:39) - Music and dancing as a healthy distraction (14:45) - The importance of meditation (16:15) - Healthy distractions can involve friends and family. Offer to do fun and distracting things with your people in cancer land

    19 min

  8. 05/03/2024

    S1Ep10 The Importance of Just Saying Yes (in Cancerland)

    Welcome to the tenth episode of Care Partner's Compass: Navigating CRC where I talk with friend and fellow stage 4 care partner Liz from Vancouver. Liz's daughter Haley was diagnosed with advanced stage 4 colon cancer in June 2022 at the age of 19. Liz talks about all the different ways she and her family were able to say yes to opportunities and to make memories with Haley. As Liz explains, cancer makes life and planning so uncertain, so you need to take every opportunity that you can. Kristine and I had been planning on visiting Liz later in the summer, but when Kristine needed to go back to chemo, we pivoted (again) and are so glad that we said yes, let's travel across the country next week (and that Liz said yes to being our incredible tour guide). Full transcription can be found on the website (http://carepartnerscompass.transistor.fm) Host, producer/editor, and composer: Elsa Lankford Kristine - I love you. 💙 Please remember to share, subscribe, like, and rate the podcast. Helpful links related to this episode: Colontown.org - they have a great Stage 4 carepartners group where care partners can find support from people who understand what it's likeMelanie's Way - a Canadian organization that helps fund wishes to Canadian women with stage 4 or recurrent cancerShe Defines Strength - a Canadian group that empowers young women with cancer (03:27) - What does "say yes" mean to you? (07:23) - The Three Month Schedule (08:34) - People in cancerland can't really plan too far ahead - be flexible (10:44) - Haley's diagnosis at 19 (13:52) - Haley's impact on her medical team (17:30) - As a carepartner, saying yes for you (21:16) - Haley's Big List of Life

    29 min
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About

A podcast for care partners, cancer patients, and anybody who knows or loves somebody with cancer, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC). Care Partners Compass is told through the lens of a Stage 4 CRC care partner with occasional guests. Season 1 will be primarily from my personal experience as a stage 4 CRC care partner. Topics will include diagnosis, biomarkers, clinical trials, second opinions, finding hope and joy, and more. The podcast trailer is out now. Please listen and share widely. Logo design: Kristine Dunkerton Episodes will be dropping in March 2024 - Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. If you are 45 and older, or are any age and are experiencing anemia, unexplained weight loss, or other symptoms, please schedule your colonoscopy. Disclaimer: This podcast and its content is for entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by any hosts or guests on this podcast are their own personal opinions. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. This podcast does not contain medical or legal advice. Please consult your medical professional about any medical questions or concerns.

Information

  • Creator
    Elsa Lankford
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Bad Crow Productions