Well Living BEAUFORTMEMORIAL.ORG small steps toward achieving your goals 33 Feel Like a PLUS Dwayne Johnson is no mere mortal, but we can learn from his approach to fitness ROCK STAR SPRING 2018 BREAST CANCER CAN’T KEEP COOK OUT OF THE KITCHEN Innovative hip procedure relieves patient’s pain TREATING COMMON CARDIOVASCULAR ISSUES WITHOUT SURGERY MEET TWO OF OUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS…OUT OF THE WHITE COAT See inside.
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WellLiving WellLivingBEAUFORTMEMORIAL.ORG
LivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLivingLiving
small steps toward achieving your goals 33
Feel Like a
PLUS Dwayne Johnson is no mere mortal, but we can learn from his approach to fi tness
ROCK STAR
SPRING 2018
BREAST CANCER CAN’T KEEP COOK OUT OF THE KITCHEN
Innovative hip procedure relieves patient’s pain
TREATING COMMONCARDIOVASCULAR ISSUESWITHOUT SURGERY
MEET TWO OF OUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS…OUT OF THE WHITE COAT See inside.
MORE TRIALS.FEWER TRIBULATIONS.
Our Keyserling Cancer Center has partnered with MUSC Health to bring pioneering clinical trials to qualifying patients right here at home. We know cancer isn’t easy. Which is precisely why accessing exceptional care should be.We know cancewhy accessing e
BEAUFORTMEMORIAL.ORG
ContentsSPRING 2018
52 Life Interrupted Sondra Woodward is
enjoying retirement again after getting breast cancer treatment at BMH.
FEATURES9 Going for It
Need some inspira-tion? Read this time-
line of major goals achieved.
10 Rock Solid Movie star Dwayne Johnson
seems to get bigger and buff er with every fi lm. What can us regular peo-ple learn from his routine?
14 Eyes, Meet Prize You’ve got goals—a better
diet, a happier home, more mobility. Now you need a strategy.
22 Yes, Weight Loss Is Possible Dropping pounds
is diffi cult, but real people, much like you, have done it.
28 The Problem with Perfect Being hard on
yourself won’t help you master nutrition, exercise, work or parenting.
49 Get Hip with It An innovative hip replacement
procedure helped keep Carol James active and healthy.
8 Ask the ExpertFor minor medical issues, BMH Care Anywhereoff ers patients quick access to treatment.
Simply radish-ing. PAGE 46
Yes, you can achieve your goals. But you need a plan.PAGE 14
COVER PHOTO AND INSERT BY GETTY/CHRIS DELMAS/STRINGER
THE BIG STORY
SPRING 2018 1
IN EVERY ISSUE 2 Opening Thoughts 3 Introductions 4 Collected Wisdom 6 Out of the White Coat 32 The Quick List 33 This Just In 38 The Truth About the
Postpartum Period 40 How To: Live Better
with Arthritis 42 Quiz: Freak Out or
Chill Out? 44 At a Glance: Breast
Cancer Screening 46 In the Market: Radishes 48 Health by the Numbers:
Distracted Driving 54 Foundation
What’s healthier, ketchup or hot sauce?PAGE 34
We recently announced plans to move the Keyserling Cancer Center to a new, expanded location on the Beaufort Memorial main cam-
pus, consolidating and expanding local oncology services. The decision was made after months of discussions and
investigation into the expansion and renovation of the cen-ter’s current location in Port Royal, and the realization that construction costs, regulatory concerns and other factors did not support the long-term benefits of an off-site campus.
So, we went back to the drawing board and considered where we could relocate the services with room to grow in the future. We determined the campus-based Beaufort Medical Plaza was ideal for the program, and for patients.
The new Keyserling Cancer Center, scheduled to open in 2019, will be located on the first floor of the medical plaza, adjacent to the state-of-the art outpatient chemother-apy and infusion center, outpatient imaging and breast health center. We will build out space on the first floor to accommodate a new TrueBeam linear accelerator to provide radiation therapy treatments, and to house the clinicians who support the service.
Over time we will relocate related providers and services, such as medical oncolo-gists, surgeons and subspecialists, to the second and third floors of the building, allowing patients a single location for all of their cancer care.
As an MUSC Health affiliate for cancer clinical trials, we are working closely with the system to provide space in the new location for its cancer subspecialists—an added convenience to those who currently travel to Charleston for follow-up care.
Ultimately, the ability to offer the full complement of oncology, breast, imaging, surgical and lab services under one roof will mean more timely collaboration among providers, more convenience for patients who require multiple services and better coordination of care for everyone.
Look for signs of construction to begin soon, and please consider offering your support for expanded cancer services by making a gift to the BMH Foundation. The project will take approximately 12 months to complete, but it will provide years of much-needed services and care for area cancer patients.
Regards,
Russell Baxley, MHAPresident and CEO
OPENING THOUGHTS
ROOM TO GROWRelocating cancer services means convenience for patients
Living Well, a subtitle of Vim & Vigor™, Spring 2018, Volume 34, Number 1, is published quarterly by MANIFEST LLC, 4110 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 315, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, 602-395-5850. Vim & Vigor™ is published for the purpose of disseminating health-related information for the well-being of the general public and its subscribers. The information contained in Vim & Vigor™ is not intended for the purpose of diagnosing or prescribing. Please consult your physician before undertaking any form of medical treatment and/or adopting any exercise program or dietary guidelines. Vim & Vigor™ does not accept advertising promoting the consumption of alcohol or tobacco. Copyright © 2018 by MANIFEST LLC. All rights reserved. Subscriptions in U.S.: $4 for one year (4 issues). Single copies: $2.95. For subscriptions, write: Circulation Manager, Vim & Vigor™, 4110 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 315, Scottsdale, AZ 85251.
BEAUFORT MEMORIAL HOSPITALPRESIDENT & CEORussell Baxley, MHA
BMH BOARD OF TRUSTEES Terry Murray, ChairWilliam “Bill” Himmelsbach,
Vice ChairDavid Tedder, Secretary/
TreasurerAndrea Allen, MS, LMSW
Kathleen CooperMark Dean, MD David HouseStacey H. Johnston, MDFaith Polkey, MD
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERSNorman Bettle, MD, Chief of StaffHugh Gouldthorpe, Foundation ChairmanAlice Howard, Beaufort County Council Representative
BMH EDITORIALCourtney McDermott, Director, Marketing & CommunicationsSallie Stone, Editor and Marketing & Communications Content ManagerPaul Nurnberg, Photographer
PRODUCTIONEDITORIALASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Matt Morgan EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Meredith Heagney SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Gillian ScottASSOCIATE CONTENT EDITORS: Sophia ConfortiCOPY EDITORS: Jenna Murphy and Erin West
DESIGNASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Tami RodgersCHIEF ART DIRECTOR: Cameron AnhaltART DIRECTOR: Molly Meisenzahl
PRODUCTIONDIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION: Laura MarlowePRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALISTS: Marilyn Bain,
Cheryl Beaver, Cheri Prime, Mary Winters
CIRCULATIONDIRECTOR OF LOGISTICS: Kalifa Konate
CLIENT SERVICESACCOUNT MANAGER: Lauren PetrickACCOUNT SUPERVISORS: Beth Doshan, Laura Ferguson
ADMINISTRATION PRESIDENT: Eric GoodstadtSVP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT – HEALTHCARE: Gregg Radzely,
212-574-4380
For address changes or to be removed from the mailing list, please visit mcmurrytmg.com/circulation.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital955 Ribaut Road
Beaufort, SC 29902843-522-5200
843-522-5585 – Doctor Referral Service
Notice of NondiscriminationBeaufort Memorial does not exclude people or discriminate
on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex. Beaufort Memorial provides free aids and services to people with disabilities or whose primary language is not English to communicate effectively with us, such as
qualified sign language interpreters; written information in audible and/or electronic formats; and information written in other languages. If you need these services, contact our
Patient Advocate at 843-522-5172. ATTENTION: If you speak English, language assistance
services, free of charge, are available to you (TTY: 9-711).ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios
gratuitos de asistencia lingüística (TTY: 9-711).
SPRING 20182
INTRODUCTIONS
NEW AT BMHUpdates on sta� and services
John H. DeWitt, MDJohn DeWitt, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist with 30 years’ experience in diagnosing and treat-ing a wide range of mental health conditions, has joined Beaufort Memorial Sea Island Psychiatry. He came to the practice from Aiken Counseling Group, where he served as medical director.
Earlier in his career, DeWitt had private practices in general and forensic psychiatry in Columbia and Aiken and was chief of psychiatry at both Palmetto Alliance and Baptist Medical Center in Columbia. A Citadel graduate, DeWitt earned his medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and completed his residency at Vanderbilt University.
Elliott W. Lucas, Jr., MDBeaufort Memorial has added Elliott Lucas, Jr., MD, to its medical staff. A board-certified OB-GYN with nearly three decades of experience, Lucas most recently practiced in Virginia, serving in a hospital-based group practice in Chesapeake and as chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Maryview Hospital in Portsmouth. Lucas will be seeing patients at Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services.
He received his medical degree and completed his residency at Howard University College of Medicine and spent the next 20 years working for practices in Virginia. He also served as an asso-ciate clinical professor for George Washington University School of Medicine and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
WELL AT WORKTo help local employers meet all of their workforce healthcare needs, Beaufort Memorial has launched Well at Work, a com-prehensive employee wellness program that covers everything from pre-employment physi-cals and drug screenings to safety education.
As part of the program, the hospital established Beaufort Memorial Express Care and Occupational Health to provide employees suffering workplace injuries with expedited medical services, helping reduce lost time and rising workers’ com-pensation costs.
Employers using the Well at Work program also can choose from a wide range of pro-active care services, including on-site informational talks and events focused on the specific health needs of their employee population. In addition, the à la carte workplace program offers group preventive health services, such as smoking cessation classes, immunizations and fitness options.
SPRING 2018 3
COLLECTED WISDOM
CONGESTIVE HEART FAILUREDespite its name, heart failure doesn’t mean the heart has stopped working. It just means it’s not pumping as well as it should.
There are two types of heart failure: systolic and diastolic.“Systolic heart failure occurs when the heart is damaged or weakened and
can’t pump properly,” explains Beaufort Memorial board-certifi ed cardiologist Lee Butterfi eld, MD. “With diastolic heart failure, the heart squeezes fi ne, but the muscle has thickened and can’t fi ll up with enough blood.”
If blood fl ow in and out of the heart is compromised, blood can back up into your lungs, hands, legs, feet and belly.
“It can cause edema, fatigue and shortness of breath even with minimal activity,” Butterfi eld says. “Restricting salt in your diet and compliance with your medications are incredibly important to managing the condition.”
A number of factors can cause heart failure, including coronary artery disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, congenital heart defects, excessive alcohol consumption and viral infections.
If the heart has been damaged over time, the condition can’t be cured. However, a variety of therapies can improve heart failure symptoms. Patients need to be monitored closely to prevent fl are-ups.
Treating CHFFor patients suff er-ing from conges-tive heart failure, physicians usually prescribe a combination of medications that work to lower blood pressure, improve blood fl ow, slow the heart rate and decrease fl uid in the lungs.
“You run a fi ne line trying to give them enough medication to alleviate symptoms, but not so much that their blood pressure drops and they feel weak and lose their appetite,” says BMH cardiologist Lee Butterfi eld, MD. “Oftentimes, patients run out of their medication and end up in the hospital.”
Forgetting to take their prescribed drugs can also fl ip patients into diastolic heart failure.
To help make taking your meds a part of your daily routine, try keeping prescription bottles near your toothbrush. Or use a pill organizer.
Heart failure patients also need to follow a low-sodium diet. Avoid these salty food items:
Breaded meats and chicken or poultry with added sodium
Cold cuts and cured meatsPrepared and canned soupsPizza
GET TESTED
Screening Could Save Your LifeBeaufort Memorial Hospital off ers a $60 vascular screening package that includes carotid artery, abdominal aortic aneu-rysm and ankle brachial index scans. Call 843-522-5635 to make an appointment for a screening in Beaufort or Bluff ton.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined. The most common of
the heart-related conditions is coronary artery disease.It develops when plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries that supply your heart
with blood, oxygen and nutrients. As the arteries narrow, it becomes harder for blood to get to your heart. In turn, your heart has trouble pumping enough blood to keep your organs and tissues healthy. If a blood clot forms and blood fl ow is partially or totally blocked, it can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Coronary artery disease can lead to other serious cardiovascular conditions, includ-ing congestive heart failure (CHF).
TICKER TROUBLES Common cardiovascular diseases and nonsurgical solutions
SPRING 20184
WEBSITE
Calculate Your HealthBeaufort Memorial off ers a number of wellness tools to help you estimate your healthy body weight, target heart rate, nutritional needs and more. Go to beaufortmemorial.org and look for the “Health Resources” tab, then click “Health Library.”
BY THE NUMBERS
287,000Number of deaths
each year attributedto heart failure
6.5MILLION
Number of adults living with congestive
heart failure
Source: American Heart Association
92.1MILLION
Number of Americans with cardiovascular
disease
807,775Number of deaths
from cardiovascular disease in 2014
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A new diuretic medication helped Chappell Johnson better manage his heart failure.
GONE FISHINGLiving with heart failure wasn’t easy for Chappell Johnson. With his weak heart unable to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to feed his body, he needed oxygen therapy 24/7. He had to give up eating boiled peanuts and went from drinking two gallons of water a day to a liter and a half.
Even then, his legs and feet would swell, making it diffi cult for him to enjoy his favorite pastime—fi shing. And he would end up in the emergency room two or three times a year.
During his last hospital stay, Beaufort Memorial cardiologist Lee Butterfi eld, MD, changed Johnson’s diuretic medication to reduce the amount of water in his body and lower his blood pressure.
“I could tell the diff erence immediately,” Johnson says. “I’m feeling a lot better. And since I started seeing him, I’ve lost 15 pounds.”
With his congestive heart failure under control, the 70-year-old Yemassee retiree is ready to get back to fi shing.
“Thank the Lord for Dr. Butterfi eld,” Johnson says. “I’m going to do whatever he tells me to do because I want to live.”
WEBSITE
Taking Charge of Your HealthLifestyle changes can help you keep control of your heart condition and improve your quality of life. Here are some things you can do for your heart health:
3Stop smoking. Nicotine increases your heart rate and blood pressure.
3Maintain a healthy weight.3Track your daily fl uid intake.3Limit your consumption of alcohol and
caff eine to no more than two alcoholic drinks per day for men and one for women, and no more than a cup or two of coff ee.
3Eat a nutritious diet that’s low in satu-rated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium.
3Become more physically active. 3Manage your stress.3Monitor your blood pressure.3Get adequate rest. To improve
your sleep, avoid naps and big meals right before bedtime.
SPRING 2018 5
OUTWARD BOUNDPedaling or paddling, women’s healthcare providers find playing outdoors o�ers them the opportunity to exercise and unwind.
OUT OF THE WHITE COAT
CALL
Suzanne Wolf is a board-certified family nurse practitioner with Beaufort Memorial Gynecology Specialists. She can be reached at 843-524-8151.
Suzanne Wolf, FNP
You have to be dedicated to wake up at 5 a.m. three days a week to
swim laps before going to work or to come home at the end of a long day and walk 3 miles.
For board-certified family nurse prac-titioner Suzanne Wolf, it’s the cost of having a healthy appetite.
“I like to eat,” she quips. “So if I keep exercising, I can keep eating.”
Staying disciplined with her exercise routine comes easy for Wolf, who spent 20 years as an Air Force nurse and 18 more years working for the U.S. Navy as a nurse practitioner at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island.
She stays equally active on weekends, often clocking in 15 to 20 miles on her road bike on a Saturday or Sunday morn-ing. Her husband, Gordon Sproul, a chem-istry professor at University of South Carolina Beaufort, often joins her on the early morning rides. They also enjoy kay-aking and paddleboarding together.
The couple married in August 2016 but were too busy to get away for a vaca-tion until last summer. They spent their honeymoon outdoors, naturally, hiking seven days in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park.
Along with her outdoor activities, Wolf is an avid photographer. On days she works in the satellite office at Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Medical Services, she frequently gets an early start and stops at the Port Royal Sound Foundation
Maritime Center to photograph the Chechessee River.
“It’s just beautiful,” she says. “In the early morning, the water can be really still and the sun turns the sky red and orange.”
The Lady’s Island resident also plays the piano and enjoys growing flowers in her garden.
“I have a lot of hobbies and inter-ests,” she says, “and not a lot of time to do them.”
SPRING 20186
Maureen Chapman, RN
For most of her life, Maureen Chapman had one recreational
object of affection—her bike. As a kid, it served as transportation around her neighborhood. In later years, it became her favorite mode of exercise. At least 15 times, she has made the challenging 150-mile trek between her former home near Philadelphia and Ocean City, New Jersey.
Now a resident of Beaufort, Chapman still enjoys hopping in the saddle for the occasional spin around town. But these days, her beloved bike is taking a back seat to a kayak.
Chapman bought the sleek 17-foot fiberglass beauty after discover-ing the pleasures of paddling. The
Greenland-style kayak has offered her the opportunity to explore wildlife-rich Lowcountry waters from the ACE Basin to neighborhood creeks.
“I get into my kayak and I just smile,” she says. “It’s my new love.”
Ironically, her first experience paddling was nearly a disaster. She had joined a group of neighbors on a full-moon kayak tour on the Harbor River. With no lights and little instruction on how to paddle, the women set off through the marsh and soon lost their way.
“Clouds covered the moon, and it turned pitch black,” Chapman recalls. “We wandered around for four hours. It was the scariest thing I had ever experienced.”
The ordeal prompted her to take a number of paddling and safety classes. She bought a boat, joined a Charleston
CALL
Maureen Chapman is an advanced practice registered nurse and certified nurse midwife with Beaufort Memorial Gynecology Specialists. She can be reached at 843-524-8151.
kayaking group and has enjoyed paddling ever since. Her latest quest is to master an Eskimo roll.
“I’ve rolled several times, but it’s always been in a pool,” says the mother of three and grandmother of six. “I’m determined to get my roll and do it in the ocean.”
Chapman has become so smitten with the sport, last summer she bought a sit-on-top kayak to take her golden retriever, Murphy, paddling with her.
“Where I go, Murphy goes,” she says. “Well, everywhere except work.” ■
SPRING 2018 7
ASK THE EXPERT
CALL
Getting Care AnywhereFor more information or assistance, call Jessica Duke, Beaufort Memorial’s telehealth services manager, at 843-522-7923.
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Jessica Duke, BMH telehealth
services manager
Q I’ve heard Beaufort Memorial has started offering virtual provider
visits. How do they work? BMH Care Anywhere allows you to “see” a board-certified urgent care provider for minor medical issues using your smartphone, tablet or computer. You’ll need to download the free BMH Care Anywhere app or visit the website BMHCareAnywhere.org to access the service.
When you need to see a provider, you simply log in, answer a series of questions about your health history and enter the name of your pharmacy and the reason for your visit.
You’ll have the opportunity to read short bios of available providers before
you choose the one you’d like to see. The provider will review your chart and within a few minutes, a real-time audio-visual connection will pop up on your screen.
Q How will the provider examine me? The provider can use the cam-
era on your computer or mobile device to view areas of concern. For instance, if you have a rash, the provider could ask you to point your phone’s camera over it.
Q Will I be given instructions on follow-up care?Yes. At the end of your virtual
visit, you will receive a PDF file with the
BMH CARE ANYWHERE
results of your exam, recommendations for your treatment and links to more information on your condition.
Q When is the service available? You can access BMH Care
Anywhere 24/7 from any location with wireless or internet service. So if you’re on vacation and develop a sinus infec-tion, fever or pink eye, you can log in from your hotel room and request to see a healthcare provider.
Q Do I need to be a Beaufort Memorial patient to use BMH Care Anywhere?
No. Anyone can use the service.
Q How much does a visit cost, and how do I pay for it?The cost of a visit is $59 and
can be paid by credit card. ■
Have an unwelcome encounter with poison ivy and need treatment for your raging rash? Now you can
have a virtual visit with a provider in minutes—and never have to leave home. Jessica Duke, BMH telehealth services manager, describes the new service.
SPRING 20188
You don’t have to hang upside down to do something great.
1875Matthew Webb, 27, became the fi rst person to swim the 21 miles across the English Channel (except, with the tide, he swam the equivalent of 39 miles). He fi nished in 21 hours and 45 minutes and drank brandy(!) on the way.
1953Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the fi rst climbers to reach the peak of Mount Everest, 29,029 feet above sea level.
1976 Romania’s Nadia Comaneci scored the fi rst perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history in Montreal. She went on to do it six more times in that Olympics and won the all-around gold.
2014 Dennis Kimetto of Kenya set the current record for the fastest marathon: 2 hours, 2 minutes and 57 seconds. He averaged almost 13 mph for 26.2 miles.
2017 American Harriette Thompson, 94, became the oldest person to fi nish a half-marathon race (13.1 miles).
Issue
TheGoals
GO FOR IT
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For most people, goals are small: Reduce stress, cook more vegetables, master a sun salutation. But it can be inspiring to look at some of
humankind’s major feats.
Motivated to achieve your own ambitions, even if they aren’t record-setting? Read on for help.
SPRING 2018 9
Rock
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s career is on the rise—just like his muscle mass. And we can learn from his regimen and attitudeBY SHELLEY FLANNERY
SOLIDDwayne “The Rock” Johnson isn’t like us. In addition to being one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, the
wide-grinned entertainer is massive, and getting bigger. At the beginning of 2016 while fi lming Baywatch, the 6-foot-4 Johnson weighed in at 238 pounds. But after fi lming wrapped, he decided to bulk up in preparation for reprising his role as Luke Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious. He packed on 22 pounds of muscle for the part.
With an Instagram video of Johnson crushing a shoulder press, the actor said he was stepping on set as “the meanest, strongest” version of Hobbs the franchise has ever seen. And at 260 pounds, we believe him.
So how did the wrestler-turned-superstar get so muscular? For starters, “The Rock is a genetic freak,” says Fabio Comana, exercise physiologist
10 SPRING 2018
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7Sources: IMDb, Fortune, FiveThirtyEight
Johnson comes from a family of
strongmen.
and faculty instructor with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. “No one can get that big without the right genetic makeup.”
But Johnson also is committed to a life of fi tness and physical activity. He’s put in the hard work, and it shows. And that’s where we can learn a thing or two.
Evolution of THE ROCKDwayne Johnson, 45, was born with wrestling in his blood. Both Johnson’s maternal grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, and father, Rocky Johnson, were inducted into the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame. But Johnson’s dream was to play football, so he joined the team in high school. Plenty of uni-versities were recruiting him, but he had his sights set on one that hadn’t been. He cold-called the recruiting coordina-tor at the University of Miami and asked for a spot on the team. Not only did he get it, but he was also off ered a full ath-letic scholarship.
Johnson played defense on the 1991 Hurricanes national championship
team, but a shoulder injury side-lined him.
A few years later, Johnson started wrestling under his father’s tutelage, and he joined the World Wrestling Federation (which later became World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE). It wasn’t long before “The Rock” became one of the more successful wrestlers of his time. His charisma and catchphrases earned him lots of attention and fans.
Before long, Johnson’s popularity in wrestling got him noticed by the main-stream entertainment industry. In 2000, he hosted Saturday Night Live, which garnered interest from Hollywood direc-tors, and the next year he landed his fi rst role in a major motion picture, play-ing the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns. His appearance in the fi lm was brief, but his character was popular enough to warrant its own prequel, The Scorpion King, which was released the following year. Johnson went on to star in Walking Tall, The Game Plan, Hercules, San Andreas, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Rampage.
Committed TO FITNESSThrough all of Johnson’s life stages and career choices, one thing has remained unchanged: his commitment to health and fi tness.
“My dad said, ‘I’m getting up at 6; you’re gonna get up at 6, too. I’m having my coff ee; you have your orange juice. I’m going to the gym; you come to the gym with me,’” Johnson told Esquire in 2015. “You gotta get up in the morning, you gotta get after it, you gotta put in the work, you gotta sweat.”
And put in the work he does. Johnson released several of the workouts he fol-lowed to get into shape for Jumanji in 2016, and just reading them is exhaust-ing. Fortunately, you don’t have to—and shouldn’t—match him toe-to-toe. Still, working out should be part of every-one’s routine.
“People need to realize we were built to move, to be active,” says Shawn M. Arent, PhD, a fellow in the American
College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
“Exercise has
Things You Might Not Know About
1 He was born in California but moved often as a child, living in Hawaii, Texas, New Zealand and Pennsylvania.
2 Johnson made his debut in wrestling as “Rocky Maivia,” a combination of his father’s and grandfather’s names.
3 He appeared in a cooking segment on Martha Stewart Living in 1991.
4 He is a skilled saltwaterfi sherman.
5 Johnson’s cousin Tanoai Reed is often his stunt double in movies.
6 Johnson was so big in high school that other kids thought he was an under-cover cop.
7 He eats a whopping 5,165 calories per day in about 10 pounds of food.
THE ROCK
12 SPRING 2018
health benefi ts across the spectrum. It helps with bone density, blood pres-sure, insulin regulation, cognitive per-formance as well as maintaining overall function and quality of life. It does a lot of the same things that prescription drugs can do for you without any of the side eff ects.”
One Step AT A TIMESo where to begin? Since you’re not The Rock (sorry), Comana recommends see-ing your primary care provider fi rst.
“You need to make sure it’s safe for you to exercise,” he says.
Comana also recommends meet-ing with a certifi ed athletic trainer or a physical therapist to ensure your body is well positioned before you start exercising.
“If you have bad posture or your joints aren’t aligned and you start load-ing those joints with weights and force, you could injure yourself,” Comana says. “Get a quick assessment to mini-mize risk.”
A trainer can also help you devise a custom workout based on your goals.
“That’s not to say you have to have a personal trainer all the time,” Arent says. “But if you’re really not sure where to start, that initial investment will save you a lot in the long run.”
If hiring a trainer isn’t feasible, Arent recommends turning to the internet.
“There are tons of workout programs and videos available online,” he says. Just be sure to check the source (is it from a legitimate fi tness organization or professional?), pay close attention to proper form and adapt the movement to any limitations you have. For instance, if balance is an issue, hold onto the back of a chair when performing stand-ing exercises.
When building your own workout regimen, it’s important to incorporate aerobic activity, strength training and fl exibility exercises. You want to work out routinely but also incorporate rest time so you don’t overdo it.
Johnson, on the other hand, works out six days a week, sometimes twice a day.
“When you’re going to be in a loin-cloth, it changes your training,” Johnson told Men’s Health while he was fi lm-ing Hercules.
For the rest of us—in regular clothes—ACSM recommends perform-ing moderate aerobic activity fi ve days per week and strength and fl exibility exercise at least two days per week.
Maintaining MOTIVATIONIt’s easy to assume that Johnson’s moti-vation in the gym is fueled by his work. But it’s also his escape.
“Working out anchors my day,” he told Bodybuilding.com. “For me, train-ing is my meditation, my yoga, hiking, biking, therapy all rolled into one. I love it. Generally, I’m always shooting or preparing to shoot for something, so that’s why I like keeping my condi-tioning in a certain zone. But even if I wasn’t, it would launch my day. It makes me feel good.”
Arent suggests adopting Johnson’s attitude toward fi tness to see results.
“The one thing he never trades is his exercise,” he says. “Schedule it like every other appointment. Integrate fi t-ness into your calendar.”
Another way to stay motivated is to track your progress with a weight-loss app, body fat calculator or heart rate monitor. Find activities you enjoy, and involve friends or loved ones.
“You’ll be more likely to stick with it if you’re accountable to someone,” Arent says.
Johnson knows not everyone is as motivated as he is, but he aims to be inspirational, like when he posted this on Twitter:
“Wake up determined. Go to bed sat-isfi ed. And somewhere in between eat a cookie.”
Maybe he’s not so diff erent from us after all. ■PH
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The POWER of PROTEINHas The Rock inspired you to add strength training to your workout routine? That’s great! But first, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting enough protein in your diet.
“A ballpark figure is 0.36 grams of protein per day for every pound of body weight,” says Beaufort Memorial registered dietitian Kim Edwards. “But nutritional requirements are always based on an individual’s goals and needs.”
An average 150-pound adult needs to eat 54 grams of protein a day to maintain existing muscle mass. If you want to build muscle mass, you’ll need more.
Edwards follows the recommendations of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. According to its guidelines, bodybuilders require about 0.63 to 0.77 grams of pro-tein per pound of body weight each day.
Consult with a dietitian to learn about the best proteins to consume to build muscle mass.
Here are some options:• 3 ounces baked skinless chicken
breast: 26 g• 3 ounces lean ground beef: 22 g• 3 ounces grilled salmon: 21 g• ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese: 14 g• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt: 12 g• 2 tablespoons peanut butter: 8 g• 1 cup cooked quinoa: 8 g• 1 large egg: 6 g
CALL
Body MakeoverBeaufort Memorial’s LifeFit Body Makeover can create a manageable and sustainable nutrition and workout plan to help you meet your goals. Call 843-522-5635 to learn more about this 12-week program.
THE BIG STORY
SPRING 201814
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You absolutely can achieve your health goals. But fi rst, you have to
get smart about what’s holding you back BY AMY SAUNDERS
SPRING 2018 15
Meet your nutrition goals by avoiding these sneaky sources of sugar, sodium and empty calories
IN DISGUISEPassing up the unhealthy foods we love is hard—and so is fi nding alternatives that are actually nutritious. The bread may have seven grains, but none of them is whole. The healthy-sounding soup is loaded with sodium. And the juice you swapped for soda contains just as much added sugar.
Junk Foods
FOODSure, they look
innocent …
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“The food industry uses the buzzword ‘healthy’ as a big selling point,” says Mascha Davis, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Many companies will put it on the label, whether it’s healthy or not.”
The best way to combat the confusion, Davis says, is by loading up on fruits, vegetables and other nutrient-rich and unprocessed foods. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of Americans don’t consume enough fruit, and 87 percent don’t meet the recommended veggie quota.
SPRING 201816
But for the many times when a salad and an apple won’t cut it, be on the lookout for these unhealthy foods in disguise.
Hidden SUGARSThe average American man and woman consume 21 and 15 teaspoons of added sugar each day, respectively. The recommended amounts? Just 9 and 6 teaspoons.
Added sugars provide no nutritional value, only calories that lead to weight gain and its ensuing health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes.
On nutrition labels, ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Look for sugar in the fi rst three ingredi-ents, as well as sugar alter egos such as high fructose corn syrup and sugar molecules ending in “-ose."
And watch out for these surprising sources of sugar:
3Yogurt: In yogurt, fl avors mean added sugar. Opt for plain yogurt and add your own toppings, such as berries.
3Oatmeal: The same is true for instant oatmeal. Ditch the packet for steel-cut oats topped with cinnamon.
3Granola: Oats and nuts aren’t sweet, but granola is, thanks to added sugar. “Instead, get something like a whole-grain, high-fi ber cereal and have that with milk,” Davis says.
3Juice: This sweet drink often con-tains added sugar on top of natural sugar. And without pulp, juice lacks the fi ber of fruit that helps us feel full and lower our cholesterol. Overall, juice off ers less nutritional value in more calories compared with whole fruit.
Sodium SURPRISESEven if you don’t have a saltshaker habit, you probably consume more sodium than you think: More than three-quarters of the sodium Americans consume comes from foods in packages and restaurants.
Dietary guidelines cap daily sodium intake at 2,300 milligrams, the equivalent
of just one teaspoon of salt. Going over the limit can lead to high blood pressure, one of the primary risk factors for heart disease.
To cut back on sodium, go easy on:3Sandwiches: A turkey sandwich
sounds healthy enough, but the deli meat alone may contain half of your daily sodium intake—and bread and condiments add even more. Look for low-sodium meats, or swap half of the sandwich for a salad.
3Soup: It may contain a vegetable medley, but a cup of soup can also push you nearly halfway to the day’s sodium limit.
3Frozen entrees: No matter how “lean” the cuisine, frozen meals go heavy on sodium preservatives. One healthy exception in the freezer aisle: frozen vegetables, unless sauce is added.
Grains That AREN’T GOOD FOR YOUAccording to the government’s nutrition model MyPlate, a quarter of your meal should consist of grains—as long as they’re the right kind.
Whole grains provide minerals and vitamins, as well as dietary fi ber that can help lower the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. But when grains are refi ned to make long-lasting foods such as white bread, rice and fl our, those nutrients are lost.
Be careful with these healthy-sound-ing foods that lack nutritional value:
3Bread: Just because it’s brown doesn’t make it healthy. Look for bread labeled “whole wheat.” Multigrain,
seven grain or 100 percent wheat bread may not fi t the bill.
3Cereal: That box with a healthy name may be full of both refi ned grains and sugar.
3Pretzels: While these may seem like a healthy alternative to chips, they’re another example of refi ned grains. “It’s not a terrible thing to eat, but it’s not going to have a whole lot of nutritional value,” Davis says. ■
SPRING 2018 17
ARE YOU EATING ENOUGH FRUITS AND VEGGIES? Most Americans don’t meet the govern-ment’s age-based dietary guidelines. Women need 1½ to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 2½ cups of vegetables daily, while men need 2 cups of fruit and 2½ to 3 cups of veggies each day.
What counts as 1 cup of fruit or vegetables?
“Think of a baseball or your fist as a cup portion,” says Beaufort Memorial registered dietitian Kassie Nicknadarvich. “Frozen fruits and vegetables and dried fruit count, too.”
Take note, ½ cup of dried fruit is the equivalent of 1 cup of fresh or frozen fruit.
“Choose whole fruits or veggies over juice to meet your fiber recommenda-tions,” she adds. “And remember to eat the rainbow daily from the fruit and vegetable groups to maximize vitamins and antioxidants.”
CALL
Nutrition AdviceBeaufort Memorial offers nutritional counseling by registered dietitians as part of its LifeFit Wellness Services. Call 843-522-5635 for more information.
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Your mom passed down her height,along with her tendency to procrastinate. Your dad gave you his hair color, plus a junk food addiction.
You can make bad habits as a household—and break them together, too
THE FAMILYIt Runs in
Bad habits can run in the family much like physical traits. It’s human nature to adapt to our surroundings and the people within them, says Amy Johnson, PhD, a psycholo-gist and the author of The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit.
“We want to be close to the people around us … we want to connect,” she says. “One of the ways we do that is we take on each other’s habits.”
Unlike hereditary traits like eye color, habits aren’t part of who we are—they’re part of what we think. And that means we can work to improve the bad ones.
The sins of the father …and mother … and kids.
FAMILY
SPRING 201818
Recognizing BAD HABITSEvery bad habit starts for the same rea-son, Johnson says: We feel discomfort, so we do something—eat a cookie, vent our complaints—to feel better. Having recorded that positive feeling, the brain reminds us to fi nd the same solution next time.
That’s why the fi rst step in changing habits, she says, is simply recognizing them as suggestions from your brain.
“If you know that’s just a thought fl owing through your mind—‘hey, let’s go get some cookies’—you know how that works,” Johnson says. “You don’t have to act on every thought.”
Willpower, though, is only a short-term strategy for stopping habits. It’s more eff ective to identify patterns and replace undesirable habits with healthier alternatives, says Jill Grimes, MD, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Family Physicians.
For example, dessert might be the follow-up to every family dinner. But instead of serving cake and cookies each night, you can start substituting fruit salad or chocolate-covered strawberries.
“Look for your rituals and see how you can make them a little healthier,” Grimes says.
Changing Habits TOGETHERIt’s hard to be the only person choosing salad over pizza, and it’s easier to adopt healthy changes with family support. Try these ideas for improving habits as a family—and bonding while you’re at it.
The habit: Your family constantly grazes on chips, cookies, candy and other unhealthy snacks.
3The fi x: Healthy snacks must be two things: easy and visible, Grimes says. Rinse and chop fruits and veggies when you get home from the grocery store, and store ready-to-eat servings in con-tainers at the front of the fridge.
“You’re going to eat what’s there. We all are,” Grimes says. “No one’s going to pick up celery over a candy bar sitting next to it.”
The habit: Most of your meals come from drive-thrus and restaurants.
3The fi x: It’s hard to follow a healthy diet at restaurants, where portions are oversized and many options are high in fat, salt and sugar.
Save dining out for certain nights of the week, and fi nd at least fi ve healthy recipes to prepare at home, Grimes says. Add veggies to family favorites, like pasta. And have children help in the kitchen so they feel ownership of the meal.
The habit: You rarely see a family member without a cellphone in hand.
3The fi x: Set house rules so that phones can’t be used after a certain hour or during meals. Don’t forget the rules apply to adults, too: You can’t expect kids to engage in dinner conver-sation when their parents are staring at screens.
The habit: After school and work, the whole family hits the couch for the rest of the night.
3The fi x: Make exercise a habit by incorporating it into your schedule, like taking a family walk or bike ride after dinner.
The habit: The TV is on all night, every night.
3The fi x: Start by turning off the TV at least 30 minutes before
bedtime—light emitted from TVs and other screens can aff ect sleep quality. Instead, end the day with screen-free activities, such as reading. Find substi-tutes for TV time, like a family game or craft. ■
SPRING 2018 19
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO FORM A HABIT?If you’re still struggling to break a habit after a few weeks of effort, keep trying. It can take months before a new behavior doesn’t feel new anymore, says Beaufort Memorial LifeFit wellness coach David Purser.
“If you chip away at one thing at a time, you’re more likely to succeed,” Purser says. “Whether you’re trying to stop a bad habit or start a good one, we recommend setting SMART goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reward-based and Time-bound.”
Behaviors become habits when they’re performed often enough to create a mental association between a situation and an action. At that point, the situ-ational cue triggers the behavior without your even realizing it.
Begin by creating a plan of attack, Purser says. If you’re building a daily walking habit, for instance, you’ll prob-ably see more success if you aim to do it every morning after breakfast than if you don’t specify a time.
CALL
Getting HelpNeed help getting started on a new healthy lifestyle? Make an appointment with the experts at the Beaufort Memorial LifeFit Wellness Center. A dietitian can teach you how to make more nutritious food choices, and a personal trainer will work with you on an exercise program. Call 843-522-5635 to learn more.
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Five signs it might be time for surgery to relieve your joint pain, and three signs it’s not
Are You Ready for JOINT REPLACEMENT?
The decision to undergo joint replacement sur-gery is usually months or even years in the making. Although the procedure is increasingly successful and common—more than 1 million Americans replace a knee or hip every year—surgery is still the last resort.
Most people can delay or avoid surgery if they fi rst try physical therapy and other non-surgical treatments, says Wayne A. Johnson, MD, a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
“The key is that you actually had an ade-quate trial of conservative care,” he says.
So how do you know if the time is fi nally right? Consider these reasons you may or may not be ready for joint replace-ment surgery.
You don't have to just accept being in pain.
EXERCISE
SPRING 201820
Why You’re READY1 You’ve already tried modifying
your lifestyle. At some point, aging joints don’t let you run and jump like you used to. But if you’re still in pain after you’ve traded running for biking or reduced your hourlong walk to 30 min-utes, it’s time to explore the next level of treatment options.
2 Pain is inhibiting you from every-day activities. You can change your hobbies and possibly even your job to accommodate joint pain, but you can’t eliminate the physical demands of sim-ply getting through the day.
“I have to be able to get off a toilet or chair. I have to be able to fi x meals for myself or walk to the mailbox. I need to walk at least a couple of blocks,” Johnson says.
3 You’re in pain more often than not. Johnson recommends starting a daily log in which you record the pain levels you experience on a scale of zero to 10.
“If you have more bad days than good days, maybe surgery is a consideration,” he says.
4 Your joint is damaged from osteo-arthritis. The bones of a healthy joint glide over each other thanks to carti-lage, the tissue that covers the ends of the bones and helps absorb shock. But when the joint is damaged by osteoarthritis, the cartilage breaks down, causing bones to rub together.
Your doctor will take X-rays to look for space between bones, which should be fi lled with cartilage. If bones are instead touching, Johnson says, “They’ve essentially lost all of their car-tilage … they’d be a candidate for total knee or total hip replacement.”
5 You’ve exhausted all other non-surgical treatments. Before recom-mending surgery, your doctor may prescribe physical therapy to alleviate
stress on the joint by strengthening the muscles surrounding it. Anti-infl ammatory medications or steroid injections to reduce swelling might be part of treatment, too.
If nothing helps manage the pain, you probably need joint replacement. But that doesn’t mean the time spent strengthening muscles during physical therapy was wasted.
“Your recovery will be that much better,” Johnson says.
Why You’re NOT READY1 You haven’t tried losing weight.
Extra weight means extra stress on your joints. A study in Arthritis & Rheumatology found that every pound of weight lost reduced pressure on the knee fourfold—so if you drop 10 pounds, you’ll take off 40 pounds of pressure. Losing weight can help you be more active and, in turn, prolong or even avoid the need for surgery.
2 You haven’t quit smoking. Studies show that joint replacement surgery is riskier and less eff ective for people who smoke. In one study, smokers were 10 times more likely to undergo revision surgeries and almost twice as likely to develop surgical complications, includ-ing blood clots and kidney failure.
A successful joint replacement sur-gery requires the bone to grow into the implant. But because nicotine constricts blood vessels, smokers are slower to heal and more prone to infec-tion and blood clots.
3 You’re not healthy enough for surgery. Joint pain can trigger a vicious cycle: A sedentary lifestyle and weight gain can lead to heart disease or type 2 diabetes that makes surgery risky.
If you’re not in good health, make it your goal to get well enough for joint replacement. It's worth it, Johnson says.
“The vast majority of patients have signifi cant improvement, if not com-plete resolution of their pain.” ■
SPRING 2018 21
TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT: A TIMELINE Getting back on your feet with a new knee may not take as long as you think.
“We get most patients out of bed and walking just hours after surgery,” says Beaufort Memorial board-certified ortho-paedic surgeon Edward Blocker, MD.
Here’s what recovery time may entail after surgery at Beaufort Memorial Hospital:
• Day of surgery: Walk the unit of the Joint Replacement Center
• Day 2: Begin group physical and occupational therapy
• Day 3: Discharge from the hospital• 2–3 weeks later: Walk without a cane• 4–6 weeks later: Drive• 3 months later: Return to most
activities• 6–12 months later: Return to full
strength and endurance“Every person recovers at a differ-
ent rate,” Blocker says. “I generally tell people to circle a couple of months on their calendar to dedicate to recuperating and rehab.”
WEBSITE
Sign Up for a SeminarBeaufort Memorial orthopaedic care coordinator Andrea Sadler offers monthly informational seminars on joint replacement surgery. Visit beaufortmemorial.org for a schedule of classes.
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22 SPRING 2018
LOSSYes,
POSSIBLEMeet real people—just like you—who lost weight, and know that you can do it too
BY STEPHANIE THURROTT
WEIGHT
23SPRING 2018
“Your whole mentality changes when you lose weight. You become more healthy spiritually, physically and emotionally.”
Stella
EverettAGE: 37
Make the plan
Clean eating
and exercise
Work the plan
Measures food,
eats smaller meals,
alternates workouts
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Stella Everett didn’t struggle with her weight as a child. But she became a mom, and she started to gain
weight. Two more babies added more pounds. As the years passed, two failed marriages, low self-esteem and depression triggered unhealthy eating habits that brought her up to a size 16.
She relocated from Minnesota to Texas four years ago, and the move motivated her to take care of her health. She took Zumba classes two to three days a week, but after six months she wasn’t seeing a signifi cant change. Her problem was her diet.
“I was still eating garbage,” she says. An online search pushed her toward a healthier path. “I literally Googled ‘clean eating,’ ” she says. She started by changing one part of her diet at a time. For break-fast, she ditched her doughnut and “frou-frou” coff ee for oatmeal with a banana and peanut butter or raw honey. Soda, sweet tea and juice were out, and water became her go-to beverage.
As she improved her eating, she followed a weight-loss program that promotes fi ve to six smaller, healthy meals a day. A container system helps her measure serving sizes and balance healthy fats, proteins
and carbohydrates.Her experience with Zumba taught her that she
eventually gets bored with workouts, so now she chooses a diff erent exercise four or fi ve times a week. She might run, take a Zumba class or do a strength or cardio workout in the gym.
Everett has dropped to a size 10 and is com-mitted to her plan, both for her own health and as an example to her sons, ages 17, 20 and 22. “Your whole mentality changes when you lose weight. You become more healthy spiritually, physically and emotionally,” she says.
THE EXPERT’S TAKE: “Clean eating I defi ne as highly nutritious, less processed, more from
the earth and less from the pantry,” says physician nutrition specialist Adrienne Youdim, MD, a fellow of the American College of Physicians. “It’s a great strategy. No matter what other method I prescribe, that’s part of the equation.”
24 SPRING 2018
Carl FranklinAGE: 50
Make the plan
Limiting carbohydrates
Work the plan
Sticks to meat, dairy
and vegetables,
particularly Brussels
sprouts, broccoli,
spinach and salad
Carl Franklin says, “I was a pudgy kid, and in my teenage and
early college years my weight started to get out of control. I tried to eat less and exercise more, but that approach usually only works for a few days—maybe a couple of weeks if your confi -dence stays up. You feel like you’re battling your own body.”
Franklin had some success losing weight with the Atkins diet in the late ’90s, but once he stopped it the weight came back, peaking at 366 pounds.
In June 2015, he got sobering news: He had diabetes. “My doctor sounded like she was reading me a death sentence. She said, ‘I’m really sorry. This is a progressive disease. I’m going to have to get you on medication.’”
Inspired by the success of a friend in controlling his diabetes, Franklin began strictly limiting his carbohydrates in January 2016. “It’s not a radical diet,” the Connecticut resident says. He loves to cook, so he found alternative recipes that didn’t have carbohydrates.
At fi rst, he turned to low-carb breads, and baked goods made with almond
For Carl Franklin, being able to see
his toes (thanks to a reduced belly)
is better than any food. Below right, a
“before” photo with daughter Emmy.
25SPRING 2018
CALL
Find a Primary Care DoctorYour primary care physician can help you get started on a weight management program. Don’t have a doctor? Call Beaufort Memorial’s provider referral service at 888-522-5585.
SWAPPING PILLS FOR POUNDSPrescription drugs for weight loss have a bad reputation. Some of that bias reaches back to the 1990s, when the weight-loss drug fen-phen was pulled after it was linked with heart problems. But some drugs on the market today can be effective in helping people drop extra pounds safely.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a handful of effective medications for weight loss, says board-certified internist Robert Vyge, MD, of Beaufort Memorial Lady’s Island Internal Medicine.
Among them are Contrave, an antidepressant medicine that can also decrease appetite, and Qsymia, a com-bination drug containing an appetite suppressant and an agent that makes you feel full after a small meal. Patients on these medications need to be moni-tored by a physician.
Reserved for obese patients, the drugs may need to be taken indefinitely for weight management, the same way you would take a drug to control blood pressure or cholesterol.
“There’s no magic pill,” Vyge says. “Weight loss requires a step progres-sion of remedies. You have to start with lifestyle changes that include diet and exercise to keep the weight off.”
DOES EXERCISE HELP?Exercise is a great choice for your health for many reasons. It can improve your cardiovascular fi tness, build strength and endurance, help you sleep better and enhance your mood. But when it comes to weight loss, it’s what you eat, not what you do, that deserves your focus.
“Exercise tends not to be a huge contributor to weight loss for most people,” says physician nutrition specialist Adrienne Youdim, MD, a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
But don’t give up your workouts just yet. Exercise does play an important role in weight maintenance, she points out. That’s because when you lose weight, you can also lose muscle, and losing muscle can slow your metabolism. Exercise can help you maintain your muscle mass and keep your metabolism up to speed. “Exercise is very important in that regard,” Youdim says.
fl our and artifi cial sweeteners, to satisfy his desire for carbohydrates. But he found that the desire went away after a few weeks. “I don’t feel tempted by carbohydrates,” he says.
Franklin sticks to meat, dairy and vegeta-bles, particularly Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach and salad.
Within two and a half months of modifying his diet, his blood sugar level dropped out of the diabetic range. Within seven months, he lost 80 pounds.
“I feel healthy, comfortable and strong. My blood sugar is good, and my energy is up. For the fi rst time in my life I’m eating all the foods I want to eat and not gaining weight,” he says. “I dodged the bullet of diabetes, and the weight I still have is not impacting my health.”
THE EXPERT’S TAKE: “I don’t think you need to eliminate carbohydrates. The carbs that are problems are pastries, pro-cessed bread and processed pasta. Those are the things that get us in trouble. There are a lot of benefi ts of including good carbs in your diet,” Youdim says. “That being said, if people are having diffi culty [losing weight] with a high-carb diet, by eliminating that category they are going to lose weight.”
“I feel healthy, comfortable and strong. My blood sugar is good, and my energy is up. I dodged the bullet of diabetes, and the weight I still have is not impacting my health.”
26 SPRING 2018
Katie Roye was an athletic child, and
she thought that all of her exercise would help her maintain her weight. But when she became pregnant, she gave in to her crav-ings and gained 80 pounds. “Having my daughter at such a young age, I dropped out of my sports and became less active and I just kept growing,” she says.
A skiing accident in 2012 led to two knee surgeries in a year—and more weight gain. From age 18, Roye wanted to have weight-loss surgery. But her parents encouraged her to try other methods before making such a sig-nifi cant decision. Her father is a weight-loss surgeon himself, so Roye valued his opinion.
She says she tried everything to lose weight—restricting her diet, counting calo-ries, Jenny Craig, Medifast, Atkins, SlimFast and medication. “I would lose weight, then gain it back. Nothing was eff ective,” the Texas resident says. She even battled anorexia and a problem with binge-eating.
In September 2016, at age 23, she decided to go ahead with the surgery, which would shrink the size of her stomach. She weighed 280 pounds, up from 150 pounds before her pregnancy.
“I learned that I have a huge emotional tie to eating, and I had to change that to view food as fuel. I don’t eat because I’m happy or sad. I eat to give myself energy for the day.”
“I know a lot of people con-sider weight-loss surgery the easy way out, but it’s not,” she says. “It has forced me to change the way I view food. I learned that I have a huge emotional tie to eating, and I had to change that to view food as fuel. I don’t eat because I’m happy or sad. I eat to give myself energy for the day.”
She eats small meals six times a day and drinks water 45 minutes before each mini-meal. On a typi-cal day, she might have a couple of pieces of fruit, an egg, a protein shake, yogurt or cottage cheese, chicken breast, a lettuce wrap with turkey, or vegetables.
She has dropped 75 pounds and is still working toward her 150-pound goal weight. But her weight loss has allowed her to get back to exercis-ing, and she’s adding muscle. “I’m not so concerned about the number as I am with how my body looks and feels. I’m 5 foot 11 inches, so I’d be OK with 175 or 180 pounds,” she says.
THE EXPERT’S TAKE: “People who are getting optimal medical follow-up, who are seen regularly and getting counseling on diet and exercise, can do really well with surgery,” Youdim says. “But clean eating and lifestyle modifi ca-tion have to continue, or weight regain will occur.” ■RU
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Katie RoyeAGE: 24Make the planWeight-loss surgeryWork the planEats small meals, six times a day
27SPRING 2018
How perfectionism aff ects your life and health—and what you can do to prevent it from sabotaging your goals and happiness BY ALLISON THOMAS
M y mom is the stereotypical perfection-
ist. Even at 73, everything must still be
just so, from her impeccable attire (the
woman irons her jeans) to her immaculate home and
well-tended garden—right down to her never-out-of-
balance checkbook. The rest of our family? Not so
much. In fact, we’ve always joked about her perfec-
tionist tendencies and penchant for creased denim.
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28 SPRING 2018
But what if we’ve had it all wrong? What if we each have a bit of a perfec-tionist in us, even if we don’t realize it? Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD, author of Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love, believes this is the case.
“We tend to think of perfectionists as people with obsessively neat junk drawers, or who overexercise or are too strict with their diet,” she says. “But perfection is an all-or-nothing mentality that can perpetuate a lot of unhealthy or extreme behaviors, including being overweight or inactive.”
Put simply: Most of us suff er from perfectionism in some form. So how can we avoid its pitfalls in our daily lives—the ones that keep us from persevering and appreciating our accomplishments? We’ll explore these “perfect traps,” and how to gain some perspective while cutting ourselves some slack.
to improve—we would all keep striving as opposed to giving up.”
Susan Biali Haas, MD, author of Live a Life You Love: 7 Steps to a Healthier, Happier, More Passionate You, concurs. “So many people never succeed in mak-ing the shift to healthy eating habits because they try to follow very strict routines or have unrealistic ideas about what it looks like,” she says. “Ultimately, your goal is not to have some perfect regimen, but to have a healthy way of eating that you enjoy and can sustain for a lifetime.”
PERFECT TRAP: Healthy Eating
There is perhaps no better example of the all-or-nothing trap of perfectionism than when we’re trying to eat healthy.
“It’s the idea that I had one cookie and I messed up my diet so I may as well eat the whole plate,” Lombardo
says. “Instead, just eat the cookie, savor each bite and move on. If we could incorpo-rate this mentality—not to be
lackadaisical, but to stop judging ourselves so much and continue
29SPRING 2018
PERFECT TRAP:Work
The drive to perform your job fl awlessly is a trap many of us fall into, and it can have many negative eff ects, from increased stress and related health issues such as high blood pressure to decreased creativity and diffi culty delegating tasks.
“A lot of times people say they’re stressed because they have so much to do and they’re working all the time, but it could actually be perfectionism,” Lombardo says. “Do they really have to work that many hours?”
Biali Haas encourages people to assess them-selves, or ask a trusted colleague, if they’re being realistic with job duties or aiming for perfection at work.
“Sometimes we don’t see it in ourselves, but our work and health can both suff er,” she says. She recommends identifying a realistic goal of what’s necessary for you to do a good job—and sticking with that even when your perfectionist tendencies tempt you to go overboard.
PERFECT TRAP: Exercise
Not being able to stick with a workout routine is the reason many people give up on exercise altogether, Lombardo says. “I joined the gym and I missed my workout last week, so I’m not going to go this week … and then it turns into never going again,” she says.
But one of the keys to breaking this cycle is to stop “shoulding” yourself.
“Shoulding is about judgment, whether it’s you or someone else,” Lombardo says. “When you change from ‘I should go to the gym, and I feel guilty that I don’t’ to ‘I would like to go to the gym because I want to have more energy and a healthier body,’ that’s so much more motivating.”
And remember that making it to the gym isn’t the end goal, Biali Haas says. “If you don’t have time for the gym today, go for a walk on your break at work or play with your kids. Find ways to get moving that you can make work for you.”
30 SPRING 2018
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PERFECT TRAP:Parenting
Perfectionism is a problem most new moms know all too well. You want to be the perfect mom, do it all without any help—and maybe even capture the perfection in your social media posts. Biali Haas recommends trying to reduce your exposure to the latter. “Social media is such a source of pressure. Even if you logically know that everyone on Facebook is curating their lives and you’re not seeing their messy reality, just scrolling through it can still have nega-tive eff ects,” she says.
So, why are moms so prone to perfectionism in the fi rst place?
“Because perfectionism is based on the notion of your self-worth, and that’s also why it’s so hard to shake,” Lombardo says. It takes making a conscious shift toward unconditional accep-tance, where you believe in yourself not because your child behaved perfectly or got into an elite uni-versity, but because of your own values and strengths.
“When you start doing that and changing how you perceive yourself,” Lombardo says, “then every-thing shifts.” ■
31SPRING 2018
9 SIGNS YOUR PERFECTIONISM IS IN OVERDRIVESetting high standards for yourself can motivate you to achieve. But when your quest for perfection goes into overdrive, you could end up harming your health. Here are a few red flags to watch for:
1. You set unattainable goals. “If your goals are unre-alistic, you’re sure to fail,” says board-certified nurse practi-tioner Maggie Thompson of Beaufort Memorial Sea Island Psychiatry. “This can lead you to become depressed.”
2. You have trouble sleeping. You can’t turn your mind off. “You’re so obsessed with getting everything right, it interferes with your sleep,” Thompson says. “You’re constantly making lists in your head.”
3. You have issues with anxiety. Being unable to meet your unrealistic standards makes you feel anxious.
4. It’s affecting your relationships. “Not only are you self-critical, you’re critical or judgmental of others,” Thompson says. “You expect your family and friends to live up to your high expectations.”
5. You frequently get sick. This is often a sign that you’re overdoing things and that your immune system is faltering.
6. Your quest for perfection turns into obsessive-compulsive behavior. “You’re obsessed with lists,” Thompson says.
7. You’re always stressed out. Elevated stress can adversely affect your health on multiple levels, from gaining weight to losing your hair to having gastrointestinal issues, so it’s critical to address it.
8. You tend to quit when you fail. Instead of beating yourself up over your failure, ask yourself what you could do differently the next time to achieve your desired outcome.
9. You’re chronically fatigued. “Setting unattainable standards for yourself leaves you feeling tired and irritable,” Thompson says. “In time, you become emotionally distant from your loved ones.” If you’re always feeling exhausted, you could be headed for burnout.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Psychological InsightsFor the latest news and research about how we think and behave, follow the American Psychological Association on Facebook at facebook.com/americanpsychologicalassociation.
THE QUICK LIST
7WANT MORE HEALTHY IDEAS? Check out our Summer issue, all about women’s bodies.
10 WAYS TO GET A LITTLE CLOSER TO YOUR HEALTH GOALS
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1 Don’t know where to start at the gym? Hire a personal trainer, or watch free
instruction videos online.
As soon as you buy fruits and vegetables, rinse and chop them. Put them in snack-sized portions in the fridge, so it’s easy to grab them.
5 Put your phone away
during family time.
8 Try not to be discouraged about losing
weight. It isn’t easy, but it is possible, and a positive attitude will help.
Working around-the-clock? Take a step back and ask yourself whether that’s really necessary. Seek out a colleague for a diff erent perspective.
6 If you’re in pain—say, from osteoarthritis—
talk to your doctor about ways to feel better.
10 Restrict your social media time, espe-
cially if you fi nd yourself comparing your friends’ lives to your own. Nobody has it all fi gured out.
93 7WANT MORE HEALTHY IDEAS?
3Schedule your
workouts—and honor your appointment.
Think about eating more from the earth and less from the pantry. That means fresh produce and lean meats over processed foods.
Read labels and skip foods that list sugar in the fi rst three ingredients.
SPRING 201832
THIS JUST INGOOD-FOR-YOU NEWS, CUES AND REVIEWS
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TIME TO DITCH COCONUT OIL?Coconut oil is a hip ingredient of the moment. (Haven’t noticed? Type “coconut oil recipes” into Pinterest and hold on to your seat.) It’s touted as a healthy fat, but an advisory from the American Heart Association casts doubt on that reputation.
The association said coconut oil has been shown to increase LDL cholesterol—popularly referred to as “bad” cholesterol—which is a cause of heart disease. Researchers said using coconut oil, with 82 percent saturated fat, is no better than butter (63 per-cent) or beef fat (50 percent).
Experts say the best choices for cooking are olive oil, avocado oil, corn oil, soybean oil, peanut oil and canola oil, which are all high in heart-healthy fats.
33SPRING 2018
THIS JUST INGOOD-FOR-YOU NEWS, CUES AND REVIEWS
KETCHUP KETCHUP HOT SAUCE Which condiment is healthier?
Condiments are fl avor enhancers, secondary to the main food act. But if you’re not careful, these supporting characters can take over the meal by adding sugar and salt.
Let’s put two popular sauces to the test: ketchup and hot sauce.
One tablespoon of popular varieties of ketchup contains 4 grams of sugar, the equivalent of one teaspoon. The sweet-ness comes from ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, an added sugar.
So if you consume a few tablespoons of ketchup at one meal—not hard to do when you’re eating a burger and fries—then you’ve had the equivalent of two teaspoons of sugar. That’s about 30 percent of the daily added sugar recom-mendation for women and 20 percent of the daily recommendation for men.
By comparison, most hot sauces have a short and simple list of ingredients: peppers, vinegar and salt. Both hot sauce and ketchup can be salty, but hot sauce is the winner again, with 35 milligrams of salt per serving compared with ketchup’s 160 milligrams.
THE VERDICT? Time to get spicy. Liven up your meal with hot sauce instead of ketchup so you don’t eat more sugar and salt than you intended.
34 SPRING 2018
CALL
Schedule Your Screening Today! To make an appointment for a screening mammogram, call the Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center at 843-522-5015 or Bluffton Medical Services at 843-706-8660.
BREAST CANCER ON THE RISE, BUT SO ARE SURVIVAL RATESIt sounds bad, but there is good news within: The number of women living with advanced breast cancer that has spread to other organs is increasing in the United States, but median and five-year survival is improving, according to a National Cancer Institute study.
The most important thing you can do to keep from adding to the number of metastatic breast cancer cases is to have an annual screening mammogram starting at age 40, says Beaufort Memorial breast nurse navigator Dana Wilson.
“Mammography can sometimes detect breast cancer long before a woman or physician can feel a lump,” she explains.
Breast tomosynthesis, or 3-D mammog-raphy, can improve your odds even further.
“It has been clinically proven to increase cancer detection and decrease false positives,” Wilson says. “With this new technology, a radiologist can see things that may not be visible with a tradi-tional mammogram.”
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66 is the median age
at diagnosis, though younger men
can have prostate cancer, too.
11.6PERCENT
of men will receive a prostate cancer
diagnosis in their lifetime.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer
Institute
98.6PERCENT
survive for at least fi ve years after
diagnosis.
PROSTATE CANCER
TRUE OR FALSE Sleep apnea is dangerous.
TRUE. Sleep apnea—when a person’s breath-ing pauses fi ve to 30 times per hour during sleep—is closely linked with high blood pressure and heart disease. The interrupted breathing prevents restful sleep and stresses the body. Treatment is available, so if you suspect sleep apnea, seek medical advice to avoid negative eff ects on your overall health.
CIRRHOSIS LINKED TO STROKEPeople with cirrhosis might be more likely to suff er a stroke, according to a recent study published in JAMA Neurology. Researchers tracked years’ worth of data for 1.6 million Medicare patients older than 66. They found that the average yearly rate of stroke doubled for those with cirrhosis, a stiff ening of liver tissue linked to excessive alcohol consumption. Two percent of those with cirrhosis suff ered a stroke, compared with 1 percent of those who did not have the liver disease.
Researchers said cirrhosis does not necessarily cause strokes, but it could impair blood clotting or aggravate heart risk factors.
FLU SHOT WITHOUT THE SHOTHate needles and the fl u? We have promising news.
Researchers have developed a fl u vaccine patch that allows the recipient to skip the injec-tion but still reap the benefi ts. A recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that the patch—which contains dissolving micro-needles—produced similar protection against infl uenza as injection with the vaccine. If the method is developed, it could boost immunization rates, which are around 40 percent for American adults. The patch will undergo further clinical testing.
MORE THAN3 million
men are living with prostate cancer
in the U.S.
35SPRING 2018
On your toes or on your knees,
they work.THIS JUST INGOOD-FOR-YOU NEWS, CUES AND REVIEWS
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WORKOUTS THAT WORK:PUSHUPSIf you’re on the hunt for the perfect exercise—one that will work mul-tiple muscle groups, increase strength and require no equipment—look no further than the humble pushup. Pushups engage muscles from head to toe, including arms, chest, core, hips and legs. Using your body weight to do pushups creates resistance, producing similar effects to working out with weights. For women in particular, it also promotes bone health.
To maximize results: 3When doing a pushup, don’t touch the floor as you descend.
Place an object—a book or rolled towel—beneath you so that you remain 2 to 3 inches from the floor.
3 If a full-fledged pushup isn’t feasible, try modifications. Use a low bench to elevate your arms, which eases strain; put your knees down to reduce your lifting load; or stand against the wall instead of lying down.
3To target certain muscle groups, change the position of your arms. When hands are placed halfway inward from the normal position, it works the chest muscles. When hands are placed outward, it works the triceps.
WATER BEST FOR MOM AND BABYPregnant women with gestational diabetes who regularly drink artificially sweetened beverages (think diet soda) are more likely to have kids who are overweight in early childhood compared with pregnant women with gestational diabetes who stuck to water, according to a National Institutes of Health study.
Pregnant women who drank at least one artificially sweetened drink per day gave birth to children who were 60 percent more likely to have a high birth weight and nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese at age 7.
The risk of children being overweight or obese at age 7 was the same for mothers who drank daily diet drinks and mothers who consumed daily nondiet drinks. (In other words, diet soda isn’t any better than regular.)
Your best bet? Drink water. Women who drank water reduced their children’s obesity risk at age 7 by 17 percent.
QUIZ
Work Out Your Fitness Knowledge Do you know the best time of the day to exercise, or whether you should lift weights until your muscles tire? Take a quiz at webmd.com/fitness-exercise/rm-quiz-fitness-dos-donts.
36 SPRING 2018
WHAT ARE THE ODDS
of having acne as a teen and young adult?
8.5 in 10Yes, most of us battled
pimples at some point as a teen and, sadly, so will
our kids. Many factors are at play, from overactive
oil glands and genetics to stress and diet. Typical
treatments include topical medications, oral antibiotics and retinoids, but therapies
take time to be effective.
A ROOM JUST FOR BABYNighttime sleep can be elusive for parents and babies during the first year of life, but a recent study in Pediatrics found that giving babies their own space might help everyone get more rest.
The study determined that babies who bunk in their parents’ room at 4 and 9 months old get less sleep and snooze for shorter stretches than babies who sleep in a separate room.
Room-sharing also was linked with unsafe sleep practices, such as having blankets or pillows in cribs or co-sleeping.
If you and your baby are not getting adequate sleep, check with your pediatrician about the best sleeping arrangement for your family.
CONTRAINDICATION describes when a drug, procedure or surgery should not be used because it may cause harm. Conversely, doctors refer to treatments as being “indicated” when they are desirable.
JARGON WATCH
37SPRING 2018
THE TRUTH BY AMY SAUNDERS
Many women find the months after childbirth challenging.
THE TRUTH ABOUT
THE POSTPARTUM PERIODFor new moms, physical, hormonal and emotional changes don’t stop when the baby is born
Through 40 weeks of baby-bump photos, many pregnant women record how their bodies change as they prepare to give birth.
The changes that come next aren’t as well-documented. Friends who swap pregnancy stories may not discuss uncomfortable topics like postpartum depression and vaginal health. And celebrity magazines show perfect post-baby bodies, not women struggling to lose one pound at a time.
Here’s the truth about “the fourth trimester.”
TRUE OR FALSE:The uterus usually shrinks to its pre-pregnancy size within six weeks.
TRUE. Your baby belly will start to disappear as your stretched-out uterus retracts. Plus, in the week after the birth, you’ll probably lose 10 to 15 pounds between the baby and excess water, blood and amni-otic fluid.
That doesn’t mean you should expect to see your pre-pregnancy body after only six weeks. Many women experience diastasis recti, a condition in which the left and right sides of the rectus abdominal mus-cles separate, resulting in a “pooch” that’s more difficult to lose. Before starting a situp marathon, talk with your doctor about when it’s safe to start ab exercises.
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38 SPRING 2018
TRUE OR FALSE:Postpartum depression is noticeable to you and people around you.
FALSE. The postpartum depression experienced by 1 in 9 mothers doesn’t always involve crying and sadness. Often, women simply feel anxious, overwhelmed or guilty, says Shannon Clark, MD, a spokeswoman for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Every new mom struggles with lack of sleep and worries about how to best care for her baby. But if your mind is con-stantly racing with fears, you can’t sleep or eat, or you feel as though you can’t make it through the day, those feelings are past the point of normal—especially if they persist for a week or two, Clark says.
Postpartum depression is treatable with counseling and sometimes medica-tion, but it won’t go away on its own. “If you feel something’s just not right, that’s all it takes to call your OB-GYN,” Clark says.
TRUE OR FALSE:It can take several weeks for the vagina to feel normal after birth.
TRUE. When you consider how much the vagina stretches to allow a baby through, it’s no surprise that things aren’t quite right down there. First off, expect to see blood, mucus and tissue from the lining of the uterus in the first several days after birth.
For weeks to come, the vaginal area may feel swollen and sore, especially if the perineum—the area between the vagina and anus—was torn or cut during birth. Those changes can cause inconti-nence and discomfort in the bathroom, while vaginal dryness caused by a drop
in estrogen levels can make sex painful. (When you do feel ready for sex, check with your doctor first.)
Share concerns with your doctor, Clark says, but know that such changes are normal and that healing takes time.
TRUE OR FALSE:Breastfeeding comes naturally to new moms.
FALSE. It may seem like the work of Mother Nature, but breastfeeding takes effort and persistence from the majority of new moms. A study in the journal Pediatrics found that in the first three days after the baby’s birth, 92 percent of first-time moms had at least one breast-feeding concern, like the baby not feed-ing well, breast pain or perceived lack of milk. While 8 in 10 women in the U.S. begin breastfeeding, only 19 percent ultimately breastfeed exclusively for six months, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Clark encourages moms to seek sup-port from lactation specialists—and not to feel guilty if they supplement breast-feeding with bottle-feeding and formula.
“You think your body isn’t going to fail you, but the reality is that it sometimes does,” she says. “It’s OK if things don’t exactly go the way you read they’re supposed to.” ■
39SPRING 2018
HOW QUICKLY CAN I LOSE THE BABY WEIGHT? Much as you miss your skinny jeans, the postpartum period isn’t the time for cutting calories.
For the first six months, your baby needs about 400 to 600 calo-ries daily. To produce good-quality milk for your baby, you’ll need to consume about 1,500 calories of healthy foods a day, says Beaufort Memorial lactation consultant Pam Ehret.
But those extra calories aren’t going to add to your waistline.
“The metabolic action of making milk in your body burns an estimated 500 to 800 calories a day,” Ehret says. “A lot of weight gain during pregnancy is fat stores needed to prepare for breastfeeding. When you nurse, you break down those fats.”
At first, you’ll lose about one pound every couple of weeks. The longer you breastfeed, the greater the weight loss, Ehret says. How much you lose will depend on your body type and metabolic rate.
“Bottom line, breastfeeding can help you lose weight,” Ehret says. “And it’s good for your baby’s health.”
WEBSITE
Teach Me How to Kegel Exercising the pelvic muscles helps with postpartum vaginal healing and bladder control. To learn Kegel exercises, visit the American Pregnancy Association at americanpregnancy.org/labor-and-birth/kegel-exercises.
HOW TO BY SHELLEY FLANNERY
HOW TO
LIVE BETTER WITH ARTHRITISDon’t let joint pain and sti�ness keep you from enjoying your life
Does just the thought of climbing stairs make your knees ache? Do you avoid travel because sitting for
too long hurts? Do you forgo certain foods because you can’t open the packaging?
About 44 percent of people with arthritis alter their lifestyles because of the disease. If you have joint pain and stiffness, you’ve probably learned how to deal with it. Now it’s time to learn how to live with it—and live well. Here are five ways to get started.
Sometimes you need to put a new twist on everyday tasks.
40 SPRING 2018
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1. Drop 5 pounds. Extra body weight adds stress on the joints, particularly the
knees. Every pound of body weight places 4 pounds of exertion on the knees. So if you’re 10 pounds overweight, your knees are actually feeling the stress of 40. That means losing a modest amount of weight—say, 5 pounds—can make a difference to your joints.
“The higher your body mass index, the more stress you’re placing on your joints,” says Ethel Frese, a physical therapist and spokeswoman for the American Physical Therapy Association. “Certainly, if you have a BMI of 30 or higher, losing even a small percentage of weight will significantly reduce the stress on your joints.”
And weight loss has benefits beyond your joints. Fat cells release chemicals that promote inflammation, so losing body fat helps to reduce pain and inflammation all over.
2. Lift some weight.Now that you know the ben-
efits of dropping weight, we’re going to recommend you add some—in the form of strength training.
“A good strength-building program is essential for people with arthritis,” Frese says. “Strengthening the muscles around the joint offers support so there’s less stress on the actual joint. The muscles take some of the pressure off.”
The Arthritis Foundation recommends strength training for 20 to 30 minutes two to three times per week. Stick with that schedule, and you should feel results in one to three months.
3. Ease up on sugar. Sugar not only contributes
to excess fat, but the substance itself
also causes inflammation, which exacerbates joint pain. The Arthritis Foundation suggests cutting refined sugar completely, but if you can’t do that, try some healthier alternatives: no-calorie sweetener stevia, synthetic sugar sucralose (Splenda), agave nectar or antioxidant-rich honey.
4. Get your posture checked. The source of aches and
pains isn’t always obvious. Pain in a joint may actually stem from a muscle imbalance elsewhere in the body. For instance, lots of back pain can actually be attributed to weak abdominals.
Work with a certified physical therapist and ask for a movement analysis.
“We get muscle imbalances when we adopt abnormal movement patterns that place repetitive stress on a joint,” Frese says. Physical therapists can ana-lyze patterns and suggest adjustments to make sitting at your desk or going down the stairs less painful.
5. Stretch it out.Stretching is important
for improving and maintaining range of motion in your joints. But static stretching (holding a stretch for a while) can be boring. Instead, try a dynamic activity that incorporates multiple facets of exercise.
“Activities like yoga, tai chi and Pilates are particularly good for stretching but also improve strength and balance,” Frese says.
Another option is swimming. “Aquatic therapy helps you strengthen
muscles without any joint compression,” Frese says. Find an activity you enjoy and really start living. ■
41SPRING 2018
AT YOUR ASSISTANCENeed help opening jars or button-ing your coat but don’t want to feel dependent on others? Consider assistive devices.
“There are a number of products made to help people with arthritis,” says Diane Haigler, Beaufort Memorial Outpatient Rehabilitation Services manager. “If you have trouble putting on your shoes, try a long-handled shoehorn or elastic shoelaces.”
She also suggests buying wide-mouth jars that are easier to grip and using an electric can opener, zipper pulls and utensils with bigger handle grips.
“An occupational therapist can help you adapt things to make doing daily
tasks easier,” Haigler says. “They can suggest devices and tools you can use to protect your joints and keep your arthritis from flaring up.”
There are also assistive devices to help you walk, including canes and walk-ers. If the devices become cumbersome or ineffective, it may be time to consider joint replacement surgery. Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks.
CALL
Ready to See a Therapist? Ask your doctor for a referral. Beaufort Memorial Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation Services offers appointments in both Beaufort and Bluffton. Call 843-522-5630.
QUIZ BY MONIQUE CURET
Emotional times can give us physical
symptoms.
Let’s face it: Life is stressful. With work, family and world events weighing on us, it can be hard to
tell whether a mood change is stress-induced or a sign of something more serious.
Matthew Burke, MD, a fellow and past board member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, walks us through some scenarios to help determine when symptoms are cause for concern.
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FREAK OUT OR CHILL OUT?Life can be a roller coaster—and sometimes our emotions follow suit. Here’s how to tell whether mood changes are run-of-the-mill or indicate a health issue.
42 SPRING 2018
TOOL
How Are You Feeling?Take Psychology Today’s mental health assessment at psychologytoday.com/tests/health/mental-health-assessment. It can help you decide whether you might benefit from seeing a mental health professional.
Q It’s the day of your daughter’s wedding, and you woke up feel-ing excited and energetic. Now it’s
almost time for the ceremony, and you feel jittery and short of breath.Is it: Anxiety or heart attack?
ANXIETY. Your child’s wedding is an occasion when emotions run high. If there’s no history of blood pressure or heart problems, then anxiety is the likely culprit, Burke says. He advises taking two minutes to breathe deeply and drink a glass of water. If your symptoms don’t improve in a few minutes, seek care.
Q You have been burning the candle at both ends as a big work project comes to a close. When it’s over,
you should be rejoicing, but you feel flat and emotionless. Is it: Exhaustion or chronic fatigue syndrome?
EXHAUSTION. “Exhaustion is a lot more common, especially in today’s society, when most of America is running a gentle sleep deficit,” Burke explains. Chronic fatigue syndrome is not very common, and many who suffer from it have had it in the past. “Absent of a long history of it or a major health change in your life, it’s unlikely to be that,” Burke says.
As long as you are not losing weight, are able to eat and are not having extreme mood swings, take a long week-end, get a few days of good sleep and then see how you feel. “If you do all of those things and still can’t get back in the game, go to the doctor,” Burke adds.
Q Your teenager has been feeling low for a few weeks, and then she brings home a bad grade on a big
test. She can’t seem to stop crying.Is it: Typical teenage angst or depression?
DEPRESSION. In this situation, suffer-ing school performance and the chronic nature of the symptoms are concern-ing, Burke says. Typically, teenage angst would not include impaired academic or social functioning. “Issues with school performance are a potential red flag for depression,” he says. Seeking care from a physician is a smart move.
Q For days, you’ve been irritated with everyone—your spouse, your boss, your kids—and nothing
seems to ease your annoyance. Is it: Premenstrual syndrome or generalized anxiety disorder?
PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME. If you’re within a week or two of start-ing your period, ask yourself whether you have a history of PMS and if these symptoms are in keeping with that
history. If symptoms have lasted for several days, it’s appropriate to wait a few more days to see if they improve. If symptoms persist, Burke recommends visiting a family physician. Typically, generalized anxiety disorder also includes physical symptoms such as dizziness, nausea and insomnia, he says.
Q Your elderly grandmother seems to have dramatic and frequent mood swings, sometimes act-
ing lovingly and other times lashing out angrily.Is it: Dementia or a side effect of medication?
SEE A DOCTOR. The bottom line: Don’t try to diagnose this yourself. “This is almost always worth a visit to the doctor,” Burke says. These symptoms could point to several issues: dementia, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid problems, inappropriate medication or overmedication.
Many problems that cause mood changes can be addressed, and all of them are best diagnosed and treated early. ■
43SPRING 2018
AT A GLANCE BY JENNIFER SMITH
THE BEST FOR YOUR BREASTSWhat you need to know about screening for cancer
Pink ribbons and fundraising walks off er steady reminders that the risk of breast cancer is real—and that it is treatable
and survivable. When identifi ed early, the fi ve-year relative survival rate of breast cancer is near 100 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
But the key is screening and early detection. Some methods are manual, where abnormalities are detected by touch. Others use technology to spot tissue that looks suspicious.
Read on to learn more about ways healthcare providers are working to fi nd breast cancer earlier, when it’s most eff ectively treated. Then talk with your doctor about the best methods for you, given your age and risk factors.
THE BEST FOR YOUR BREASTSWhat you need to know about screening for cancer
Pink ribbons and fundraising walks off er steady reminders that the risk of breast cancer is real—and that it is treatable
and survivable. When identifi ed early, the fi ve-year relative survival rate of breast cancer is near 100 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
But the key is screening and early detection. Some methods are manual, where abnormalities are detected by touch. Others use technology to spot tissue that looks suspicious.
Read on to learn more about ways healthcare providers are working to fi nd breast cancer earlier, when it’s most eff ectively treated. Then talk with your doctor about the best methods for you, given your age and risk factors.
44 SPRING 2018
MAMMOGRAMSMammograms are low-dose X-rays used to spot changes in breast tissue. Plates attached to the mammogram machine fl atten the breast slightly so the X-ray can capture the best images.
Pros: Mammograms save lives. Regarded as the gold standard in detection, they allow physicians to identify abnormal tissue growth that might warrant further testing.
Cons: Though medical professionals agree that they are safe, mammograms do emit low doses of radiation. There is also some risk of false positives, which could lead to unnecessary (and costly) treatment. But these cons are negligible when compared with the value of fi nding and treating cancer.
ULTRASOUNDUltrasound machines create images by sending high-frequency sound waves through a wand that is pressed against the breast tissue. The wand picks up the echoes of the sound waves and transmits them to a computer to create an image.
Pros: Ultrasounds can pick up some structures that are tough for X-rays to see.
Cons: The images aren’t as detailed as other imaging types such as MRI or CT scans, and (like mammograms) they aren’t able to discern whether tumors are cancer-ous, just that an abnormality is there.
MANUAL EXAM (BY DOCTOR)Healthcare providers check the appearance of breasts for abnormal shape or size and the skin for dimpling or rashes. Then, they use the pads of their fi ngers to feel the breast and underarm area for unusual or unexpected lumps.
Pros: Medical professionals know what to look for, so they can spot even pea-sized lumps that might not register during a self-exam.
Cons: Clinical breast exams, too, can result in false positives. And some masses can’t be felt from the surface of the skin.
BREAST SELF-EXAMIn an at-home exam, you use the pads of your fi ngers and, moving in a circular pattern around the breast, check for lumps, thick spots or knots.
Pros: Self-exams empower women to take control of their own well-being, and they keep women attuned to signs of possible breast cancer.
Cons: The research hasn’t proved that they’re particularly eff ective in early detection, and it could be in part because they’re not conducted correctly. Ask your doctor about the best way to do a self-exam. ■
Step one is always the same: Talk to your doctor.
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QUIZ
Breast Cancer Myths, Debunked Think you can spot truths and falsehoods when it comes to breast cancer? Test your-self at cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/breast-cancer-quiz.
MAMMOGRAMSMammograms are low-dose X-rays used to spot changes in breast tissue. Plates attached to the mammogram machine fl atten the breast slightly so the X-ray can capture the best images.
Pros: Mammograms save lives. Regarded as the gold standard in detection, they allow physicians to identify abnormal tissue growth that might warrant further testing.
Cons: Though medical professionals agree that they are safe, mammograms do emit low doses of radiation. There is also some risk of false positives, which could lead to unnecessary (and costly) treatment. But these cons are negligible when compared with the value of fi nding and treating cancer.
ULTRASOUNDUltrasound machines create images by sending high-frequency sound waves through a wand that is pressed against the breast tissue. The wand picks up the echoes of the sound waves and transmits them to a computer to create an image.
Pros: Ultrasounds can pick up some structures that are tough for X-rays to see.
Cons: The images aren’t as detailed as other imaging types such as MRI or CT scans, and (like mammograms) they aren’t able to discern whether tumors are cancer-ous, just that an abnormality is there.
MANUAL EXAM (BY DOCTOR)Healthcare providers check the appearance of breasts for abnormal shape or size and the skin for dimpling or rashes. Then, they use the pads of their fi ngers to feel the breast and underarm area for unusual or unexpected lumps.
Pros: Medical professionals know what to look for, so they can spot even pea-sized lumps that might not register during a self-exam.
Cons: Clinical breast exams, too, can result in false positives. And some masses can’t be felt from the surface of the skin.
BREAST SELF-EXAMIn an at-home exam, you use the pads of your fi ngers and, moving in a circular pattern around the breast, check for lumps, thick spots or knots.
Pros: Self-exams empower women to take control of their own well-being, and they keep women attuned to signs of possible breast cancer.
Cons: The research hasn’t proved that they’re particularly eff ective in early detection, and it could be in part because they’re not conducted correctly. Ask your doctor about the best way to do a self-exam. ■
Step one is always the same: Talk to your doctor.
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Breast Cancer Myths, Debunked Think you can spot truths and falsehoods when it comes to breast cancer? Test your-self at cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/breast-cancer-quiz.
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IN THE MARKET BY LEXI DWYER
Potatoes are great, but if you’re seeking a truly diet-friendly root vege-
table, take a look at radishes. One cup of raw slices has just 19 calories, and radishes also have little effect on blood sugar levels. That’s wel-come news to people with diabetes or anyone looking to control sweet cravings, says registered dietitian nutritionist Kelly Puryear, owner of Fuel for the Soul, a nutrition and fitness company in Tampa, Florida.
“Radishes are great sources of vitamin C and minerals like potas-sium, and they also contain the anti-oxidant compound sulforaphane, which may help guard against cer-tain types of cancers by inhibiting cell growth,” Puryear says.
And it pays to eat a mix of rad-ishes, as certain types have different antioxidant properties. Red globe and pink watermelon varieties have anti-inflammatory anthocyanins, while white icicle radishes contain flavonoids, which act as detoxifiers. Although dipping radishes in but-ter followed by sea salt remains one of the most iconic preparations, Puryear has three alternative ideas that are healthy but still delectable.
2 ROAST THEM Trim and quarter radishes, then toss them
in a bowl with olive oil, fresh oregano, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes at 425 F until they can be pricked easily with a fork.
THREE WAYS TO COOK
RADISHESThese healthful, candy-hued root vegetables can do far more than just spice up a salad
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1�PICKLE THEM This is technically not cooking, but stay
with us: Although there are dozens of brine reci-pes online, here’s one that doesn’t even require turning on the stove. Fill a 1-quart jar with thinly sliced small radishes (about 10 total). Add 10 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of peppercorns, 1 tea-spoon of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Add 2 cups of white vinegar and shake vigorously. Refrigerate for at least three days, shaking occasionally. For an extra kick, add seasonings like red pepper flakes and whole mustard seeds.
3 SAUTÉ THEM Trim and quarter radishes, then toss them
in a bowl with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Sauté on the stove over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once radishes begin to soften and brown slightly, transfer them to a serving plate and sprinkle with chopped herbs such as fresh parsley, chives or cilantro.
46 SPRING 2018
BUYING GUIDEHere is the lowdown on radish relations.
GLOBE Also called “cherry belles,” these spherical radishes tend to be about an inch in diameter and are often used in salads.
DAIKON These white radishes, which are popular in East Asian dishes, tend to be on the larger side. If you’ve ever tried those long, crunchy strands that create a bed for your sashimi, you’ve eaten daikons.
FRENCH BREAKFAST With a deep fuchsia color (except for the white tip), these small, oblong beauties have a refreshing, pleasing taste. They’re also sometimes listed as “flamboyants.”
WATERMELON The name comes from the pale green exterior and bright pink interior. These medium to large radishes have a mild flavor and look gorgeous when sliced and added to salads.
BLACK These charcoal-hued veggies have white flesh and a strong, pungent flavor that makes them ideal for pickling. You can also grate them raw as you would horseradish and add them to fish and egg dishes or vinaigrettes.
Expand your radish repertoire.
APP
Produce Help Ever stood in the produce aisle, unsure of what to buy and how to prepare it? The Harvest – Select the Best Produce app ($1.99, available in the App Store) not only has guides to selecting and storing more than 120 fruits and vegetables, but also lists the pesticide levels to help shoppers decide when it’s worth buying organic.
47SPRING 2018
HEALTH BY THE NUMBERS BY CINDY DECKER ILLU
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48 SPRING 2018
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Sources: AAA Foundation for Traffi c Safety, National Highway Traffi c Safety Administration
3,477deaths and391,000injuries.
660,000 PEOPLE are using cellphones or devices while driving at any given moment during daylight hours.
A distraction lasts in the brain 27 seconds after the activity has ended.
5 seconds is the average time eyes are off the road when texting—at 55 mph, it’s enough time to drive
the length of a football fi eld.
16%of crashes can be attributed to distracted driving.In 2015, distracted driving caused
THE CASE FOR PHONE-FREE DRIVING Put down that cellphone. Better yet, turn it off when driving.
Our brains can’t navigate both traffi c and a phone call from our spouse at the same time, however much we think we can multitask, says National Safety Council spokeswoman Maureen Vogel. Even simply listening to a phone conver-sation reduces the attention paid to driving by 37 percent, research has found.
The nonprofi t council and the National Transportation Safety Board have called for banning cellphone use by drivers, regardless of whether the device is hand-held or hands-free.
“Hands-free is not risk-free,” Vogel says. “When talking on the phone, drivers miss up to 50 percent of what’s around them.”
Cellphone use is a bigger concern than other distractions, such as drinking coff ee or
adjusting the radio, she says. Those tend to be fl eeting interruptions, whereas cell use lasts.
The council supports a threefold approach to combatting distracted driving: driver education, strong laws and consistent enforcement. People need to understand the risks and shed the idea that they must be connected to everyone at all times, Vogel says.
But even with education, some people won’t change until a law forces them, which is why the council wants more bans in place. Vogel notes that laws have helped raise seat belt use to almost 90 percent now, from 14 percent in 1984.
Drivers must be persuaded to pay more attention, she says.
“Driving isn’t a right,” Vogel says. “We don’t have any right to put other people at risk.”
WEBSITE
Pledge to Just DriveSign a pledge that you’ll “just drive” when you’re driving—instead of talking on the phone, taking selfi es or looking at social media—at nsc.org/pledge.
After undergoing an innovative hip replacement procedure, Carol James is looking forward to long walks on the beach and bike rides on the Spanish Moss Trail
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last spring. “It’s physically demanding work. I coped with the pain by tak-ing Advil and stretching when I had the chance.”
But after a while, the over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug provided little relief for her aching joints.
“I had a very deep pain in my left hip with accompanying sciatica,” James recalls. “Nothing I took would touch the pain.”
Taking an Innovative ApproachWhen the pain got worse, she went to see an orthopaedic physician in Virginia. He told her she had developed osteoarthritis and would need a total hip replacement. She decided to wait until she moved to Beaufort to have the operation.
“I was living in an area that was not conducive to a good recovery,” she says. “It’s very hilly.”
Once she had settled into her new home in Mossy Oaks, she went to see Beaufort Memorial board-certified orthopaedic surgeon Kevin Jones, MD. An X-ray revealed severe bone spurring on the joint.
“The cartilage in her hip had worn away over time,” Jones says. “It was pretty much bone on bone. To make up for the lost cartilage, the damaged bones started to grow outward and form bone spurs.”
To reduce the risk of the bone growing back around the new implant, she would need radiation treatment prior to the sur-gery. Jones also was going to use a new minimally invasive technique to replace her hip. Known as the direct superior approach, it’s gentler on the body than the three other approaches commonly used for hip replacement.
Carol James
Carol James is enjoying long walks again after hip surgery at the Beaufort Memorial Joint Replacement Center relieved her pain.
C arol James knew she wasn’t doing her body any favors for the 20 years she worked at a stable on the island of
St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.“It’s a very physical job,” the 75-year-
old says. “You’re tossing around 50-pound bales of hay and feed bags.”
Active all of her life, she went from ski-ing black diamond slopes as a teenager
to professional dancing and competitive horseback riding in her 30s and 40s.
The wear and tear continued into her 60s, when she switched careers and became a bartender at Virginia’s Mountain Lake Lodge, the film-ing location of the 1987 hit movie “Dirty Dancing.”
“I was either standing behind the bar or running around carrying heavy trays of food and drinks,” says James, who
worked at the resort for 12 years before moving to Beaufort
SPRING 201850
GET BACK IN THE GAMEMobility issues keeping you from the fairways? Beaufort Memorial Hospital Adaptive Golf Experience can get you back on the course and enjoying golf again.
Join BMH physical therapist Steve Giammona and his crew of volunteers the third Saturday of each month for free adaptive golf clinics at The Legends Golf Course at Parris Island. The program is open to anyone physically impaired or challenged as a result of stroke, injury, joint replacement and other issues.
Sessions are held from 9 to 11 a.m. and include instruction on putting, driving and improving your swing using adaptive techniques and tools designed for players with disabilities.
No matter your level of performance, you’re sure to benefit from a little outdoor time during one of the prettiest seasons of the year in the Lowcountry.
For more information, visit adaptivegolfexperience.com or the Adaptive Golf Experience Facebook page or contact Giammona at 843-522-5850 or [email protected].
In this type of surgery, the patient is placed in a side-lying position, allowing the doctor to make an incision in direct line with the femur in an area where there is little muscle.
“You get better outcomes with this approach,” Jones says. “Patients have less pain and fewer complications and they’re able to return to normal activi-ties sooner.”
Pre-Op PrimerThe innovative surgical hip replacement technique was developed to minimize damage to soft tissues and muscles that are critical to the proper function of the hip and leg. Using this approach, Jones could avoid cutting key muscle groups, including the iliotibial (IT) band that extends down the outside of the leg from the pelvis to the knee. If this mus-cle is damaged, it can affect activities such as walking and bending.
“He told me the new hip should last me 20 years,” James recounts. “I told him to go for it. I was ready.”
Several weeks before the surgery, James attended a class led by Beaufort Memorial orthopaedic care coordinator Andrea Sadler. A physical therapist with extensive experience in joint replacement care, she showed James and her fellow pre-op patients in the class a model of the implant and explained the surgical procedure.
“It was extremely helpful,” James says. “She told us every step of the recovery process and the things we would need to have at home—like a raised toilet seat and shower chair—after we were discharged from the hospital.”
Sadler also discussed exercises they could do to strengthen the muscles around their joint before the surgery.
“I did them religiously,” James says.
“I wanted to be strong going into the surgery.”
On the Go AgainJames received the prophylactic radia-tion treatment at Beaufort Memorial Keyserling Cancer Center, followed by the surgery in the hospital OR. Hours after the procedure, an inpatient physi-cal therapist had her up and moving with a walker.
The next day, the therapist helped her walk down the hall. She attended two group physical therapy sessions in the Beaufort Memorial Joint Replacement Center later that day and one more the next morning before being discharged.
“The staff at the Joint Replacement Center was absolutely amazing,” she says. “They couldn’t have been kinder or more professional. Even the ladies who delivered the meals were wonderful.”
A week after her surgery, James was able to ditch the walker for a cane.
“I never needed the opioid painkiller they prescribed,” she says. “I had a little discomfort, but I just took Tylenol. The
CALL
Don’t Suffer in SilenceIf joint pain is keeping you from enjoying the things you love to do, it may be time to see an orthopaedic specialist. A number of treatment options are available to get you back on your feet. To make an appoint-ment with Kevin Jones, MD, call 843-524-3015.
pain I had been experiencing in my hip was completely gone.”
Now fully recovered from the surgery, she’s once again enjoying long walks with her dog and is looking forward to cycling on the Spanish Moss Trail this spring. She’s even thinking about taking dance classes and finding a part-time job.
“I like to stay busy,” she says. “I don’t think I’ve been out of work this long in my life.” ■
SPRING 2018 51
After 11 months of breast cancer treatments at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Sondra Woodward is once again enjoying retirement in the Lowcountry
LIFEInterrupted
Like her mother before her, Sondra Woodward made it to her mid-70s fit and full of
life. She exercised regularly, cooked nutritious meals and had a full social calendar on Callawassie Island.
“My mother lived to 99 and had very few health issues,” Woodward says. “I thought I was following the same track.”
But her carefree life veered off course in September 2016 when a routine mammogram at Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center revealed a suspicious lesion in her right breast. After undergoing several more tests, she learned she had stage 2 triple-negative breast cancer.
After her successful treatment for breast cancer, Sondra Woodward is back to her regular life.
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“It was surreal,” she says of the diagnosis. “I didn’t feel sick, so I couldn’t believe I had something like that going on in my body.”
The Breast Health Center’s breast nurse navigator set an appointment for her with BMH board-certified general surgeon Perry Burrus, MD. After discussing surgical options with the physician, she decided to have a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy.
Evidence-Based Care“Women with stage 1 or 2 cancer that’s isolated to one particular seg-ment of the breast are usually candi-dates for lumpectomy,” Burrus says. “A lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy offers as good an outcome as a mastectomy and allows women to preserve their breast.”
The procedure was performed at the hospital as outpatient surgery. Along with the tumor, Burrus removed a lymph node that contained a small amount of disease.
More aggressive than other types of breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer does not respond to hormone therapy because the three most common types of receptors known to fuel most breast cancer growth are not present in the can-cer tumor.
However, studies have shown this type of breast cancer, when caught early, responds even better to che-motherapy than many other forms of cancer.
Following evidence-based proto-cols, BMH board-certified oncologist Majd Chahin, MD, prescribed a chemo regimen that included Adriamycin and Taxol.
Positive TreatmentWhile powerful, cancer-fighting drugs can cause some serious side effects, Chahin and his team were able to help Woodward manage the issues.
Three weeks after completing her 16 rounds of chemo, she started radiation treatments with BMH board-certified radiation oncologist Jonathan Briggs, MD, at the Beaufort Memorial Keyserling Cancer Center. A mammogram taken last fall shows she remains cancer-free.
“It was an extremely positive experience,” says the 78-year-old Woodward. “Everyone who was involved in my care went out of their way to make sure I was doing well.”
Fired UpIt wasn’t long after her energy returned before Woodward was back in the kitchen trying out new recipes.
“To me, cooking is creative,” she says. “I’m a recipe follower, but sometimes I adjust the ingredients to suit my taste.”
Married for 56 years, Sondra and her husband, David, enjoy travel-ing and make several trips a year to see their three children in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Fairfax, Virginia. This summer, they’re taking a cruise through the British Isles.
“My prognosis is good, so I’m not going to worry about it,” Woodward says. “I’m getting on with my life and doing the things I like to do.” ■
BREAST CANCER CLINICAL TRIALS CLOSE TO HOMEAs an affiliate of the Medical University of South Carolina Health System, Beaufort Memorial Keyserling Cancer Center is able to offer qualifying breast cancer patients the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
“Everything we know in medical oncol-ogy is evidence-based,” says Majd Chahin, MD, Beaufort Memorial’s medical director of oncology services and principal inves-tigator for the local trials. “We discover new cancer-fighting agents and treatment strategies through clinical trials.”
A number of trials are now open to BMH patients, affording them access to innovative treatment approaches that have the potential for improved outcomes when other cancer treatment options have been exhausted.
Having Beaufort Memorial Hospital patients participate in national studies has an additional benefit: It diversifies the population of the trials, helping ensure the treatments will be effective in a wide range of people.
WEBSITE
Do You Qualify? To find out more about the clinical trials being offered through Beaufort Memorial Keyserling Cancer Center, visit beaufortmemorial.org or call the cancer center at 843-522-7800.
“My prognosis is good, so I’m not going to worry about it. I’m getting on with my life and doing the things I like to do.”-Sondra Woodward
SPRING 2018 53
When Cathy Crocker and her late husband, Tom, came to Beaufort from
Massachusetts 18 years ago, they joined a community of active retirees.
Beaufort is a city with a long history and a rich diversity of residents. Many who have chosen to retire here have had successful careers elsewhere and have brought with them an abundance of knowledge and experience. They come to enjoy the weather, the scenery and activi-ties that range from golf and fi shing to
TAKING RETIREMENT SERIOUSLY Foundation board member Cathy Crocker hit the ground running
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fi ghting cancer could receive their radi-ation and chemotherapy treatments without having to travel to Charleston or Savannah. A former cancer patient himself, Tom knew from experience the burden of traveling for months of treatment. When asked to donate to the Foundation to help build what is now the Beaufort Memorial Keyserling Cancer Center, the Crockers’ answer was an immediate yes.
Now, nine years later and on her own, Cathy continues her late
husband’s legacy of getting involved and of giving. Last year she joined the Foundation Board of Trustees and is already leaving her mark. She serves on two board committees; she’s co-hosted a wine and cheese gathering for friends with a possible interest in greater hos-pital involvement; and she has given her own special gift (that is, a gift that confers on the donor the opportu-nity to name a room or a building). Cathy’s leadership and commitment are inspiring.
Asked why she feels volunteer work is important, she replies, “Well, some-body’s got to do it!” And she likes giving locally, she says, knowing her gift is going to help someone right here in Beaufort. That someone could be a friend or a neighbor or even Cathy herself. She says she understands life’s delicate balance, where things can change in an instant, and she wants to know that fi rst-rate care is close at hand for anyone who needs it.
Cathy brings so much to the Foundation and the community. We are very fortunate to have her as one of our strongest supporters. ■
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Ways to Get InvolvedTo learn more about supporting the BMH Foundation, call 843-522-5774 or visit the Foundation page at beaufortmemorial.org.
bridge and mahjong. And, in addition to recreation and some well-deserved relax-ation, many retirees want to engage with and contribute to their new community.
So it was with Cathy and Tom, who moved to Dataw and right away got involved in playing golf. They also began volunteering.
During this time, they attended a presentation by the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Foundation on the need for a comprehensive cancer center in Beaufort—a place where patients
Cathy Crocker enjoys a game of mahjong with friends.
SPRING 2018 55
The emergency room is probably the last place you’d expect to make a new friend.
But life is full of surprises.It was 3 o’clock in the morning when
Elvah Donald brought her husband into the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Pratt Emergency Center and met his physician, Linda Hawes, MD.
That was four years and many laughs and lunches ago. But Elvah still holds the experience close to her heart because of the special care Dr. Hawes and the entire staff at Beaufort Memorial provided.
Coming from a larger community in Ohio with much bigger hospitals, Elvah had no idea a comparatively small hos-pital like Beaufort Memorial could pro-vide such comprehensive, high-quality services. That night changed all her previous ideas, and now she can’t say enough good things about the level of care and safety here.
“Hospitals help defi ne communities!” she says. “Beaufort Memorial defi ned this community by the compassion, friendliness and genuine desire to give the best care when my husband and I ended up in its Pratt Emergency Center. BMH reminds me of all the good you expect in family.”
Over lunch with her new friend Linda Hawes, who was a recent addition to the BMH Foundation Board, Elvah was exploring ways to contribute to the Beaufort community. Thinking fi rst of the Foundation, Linda introduced Elvah to Debbie Schuchmann, associate vice president and chief development offi cer. Soon Elvah was touring not only the
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Honor a Friend—or a Caregiver!If you have a special friend, physician or caregiver you’d like to rec-ognize with a gift that will benefi t other patients and their families, or if you would like to set up an appointment with someone from the Foundation, call 843-522-5722 or email Debbie Schuchmann at [email protected].
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A SPECIAL FRIENDSHIPIt all began with a middle-of-the-night visit to the emergency room
Pratt Emergency Center, but also the Breast Health Center.
She and Debbie discussed the hospi-tal’s vision and its plans for enhancing the services it provides to the patients in its care. Inspired, Elvah considered the various ways to support Beaufort Memorial’s work and decided to join the Foundation’s Milestone Society.
As for the special bond between the friends, “she and I have kept up a friend-ship by having lunch periodically,” Linda says of Elvah. “We call our get-togethers ‘lunch and laugh’!” ■
Elvah Donald (left) and Linda Hawes, MD
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The BMH Foundation gratefully acknowledges the following tribute gifts received between August 2 and October 1, 2017. To make a tribute gift, please call
843-522-5774 or visit the BMH Foundation page at beaufortmemorial.org.
TRIBUTES
IN HONOR OF BMH 4th Floor Team
Dr. and Mrs. Fred J. BallengerBMH Emergency Room Team
Dr. and Mrs. Fred J. BallengerDr. and Mrs. E. Perry Burrus III
Dr. and Mrs. Fred J. BallengerDr. Evan Kane
Dr. and Mrs. Fred J. Ballenger
IN MEMORY OFGail Benson
Mr. and Mrs. John MeehanMrs. Barbara Fuerst
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon B. BaumMr. and Mrs. Anton Campanella
Mrs. June ChandlerMr. and Mrs. Dana M. Dudley
Insyte ConsultingMr. and Mrs. Elmer L. Knight
Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. PowderlyMr. and Mrs. Christopher H. Rand Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Willard
Mr. Harold MerrillMrs. Donna Patane
Mr. Wayne “Moe” MulhollandMrs. Karen Peluso
Ms. Jackie WellesMr. and Mrs. Jim Rein
LOOK.THEN LEAP.
BEAUFORTMEMORIAL.ORG
Out of 46 hospitals in the state, Beaufort Memorial was one of just 19 to receive an “A” rating on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades’ Fall 2017 report card. Our top score – for the third time in a row – is a testament to our ability to protect patients from human error and prevent hospital-acquired infections. In sum, we look hard at patient safety so that, when it comes to your care, you never have to take a leap of faith.
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