Nathalie's Angels

06/02/2025

This year National Cancer Survivors Day comes with a rush of mixed emotion 🥰😊🤔😔. We celebrate survivorship , resilience and the amazing accomplishments in treatment that have saved lives as well as the current trend towards de escalation of therapy with the goal of continuing to cure but lessening the side effects that can linger on after treatment and impact functional recovery. Cancer research has been on an amazing trajectory ⬆️⬆️⬆️🔝. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been the backbone of funding resource that has kept the United States at the forefront of this push to conquer cancer. Many researchers count on NCI for seed funding to support discoveries that are later on funded by private industry that completes the studies and ultimately brings new therapies to patients. With the cost cutting the NCI has experienced de funding of large areas of clinical research. Worrisome 😞 So as we celebrate today let’s also keep our eyes 👀 on the future. Let’s stay united and use our voices collectively to advocate for continued support of Clinical research 🔬 🧐 🧬 in cancer. We hold hope for a future with better prevention, targeted therapies and personalized care🫆🫆. We are 🧗 🧗🏾 climbing to the top and this is no time to stop 🧪🩻💊. Happy National Survivors Day! In it to win it 🏅

01/01/2025

Welcoming 2025 with thought and reflection. We are each on our own journey and yet our paths are intricately interwoven. How wonderful the tapestry we make together. Each year we challenges ourselves to focus and grow. We are sharing a few of our hopes , areas to strengthen and grow. What’s your focus for this year. 🤔🤔🤔 …. Let’s stretch together 🎆🎆🎆✨🥰

11/28/2024

The world is hectic and crazy. Life comes at us fast sometimes but today we pause to reflect and give thanks. We call out all the is positive in our lives. Wishing you a wonderful day of thanks and Friendsgiving 🍁🍁🍁🥰 From the Legacy Medical Group Surgical Oncology Team

06/05/2023

It’s National Cancer Survivors Day. Cancer …….. Not a word you really ever want to hear related to your or a family members Health. Yet , every year more people are diagnosed with cancer and thanks to treatment advances there are more and more survivors. 🥰. Despite the many advances in care 🔬💊🧬🩸💉 walking through cancer is a sobering experience and today we remember, recognize and lift up all those who have made that journey as well as those who have walked beside them. This year would love to hear stories of growth…. What did you take away from your personal experience or what did you learn from watching or helping someone through theirs ?…..
Will share this just a couple thoughts from survivors to get us started ….
One person shared- Appreciate your body not your defects

Another reflection was this.…. Vulnerability is a strength not a weakness

Feel free to comment ,share thoughts , and feelings that might lift someone else in this journey of survivorship 🩵💗🖤💜🩶💙❤️🧡💚🤍🤎🩷 We are better together 💯💯💯

12/31/2022

As we come to the close of the old year and forge into the New Year it seems a natural time to pause and reflect 🤔🤔🤔. For many it’s been a year filled with tremendous physical and emotional changes. For others it has been yet another year to look in the rear view mirror and be thankful for the distance traveled. We all though, should take the time to reflect , embrace the good with gratitude and be honest with ourselves on the ways we have opportunity to grow in the coming year. Including a link to an article on self reflection that reviews the process in a practical and helpful way. https://thriveworks.com/blog/importance-self-reflection-improvement/ #:~:text=Self%2Dreflection%20is%20the%20key,do%20I%20feel%20this%20way%3F%E2%80%9D

Here’s to 2023 and to our growth! 🎆🎆🎆 Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind 🎶 Should auld acquaintance be forgot for the days of auld Lang syne🎶🎶🎆🎆🎆

11/23/2022

Reflecting as we enter our day of gratitude…. Came upon an article that was impactful. It asked some questions…. Name the 6 wealthiest people in the world, name 7 people honored by Time Magazine as persons of the year……Can you recall those? 🤔🤔🤔 Next questions…. Name a teacher that had an impact on your life, Name one friend who has always been there for you. Think of someone who inspired you to be better…..☺️☺️☺️ Bet the second set of questions are much easier to answer and so much more meaningful.
These questions and answers remind us that connectedness , relationship and love are the things that bring us joy , that elevate our spirits , that we should hold on to and the things we should cherish most….. be abundantly GRATEFUL for. Have wonderful day of gratitude 🙏🏾💕💕💕❤️🍁🍁🍁

10/29/2022

Ever heard of epigenetics ? It’s an evolving science that helps us understand more about how our genes 🧬 function over and above our DNA. You are probably wondering 🤔 what does that mean exactly. Glad you asked. We all inherit genes and we initially thought that everything you express is a result of those inherited genes but it turns out it’s not that simple. For instance, identical twins are born with identical genes and yet they can express different diseases. It turns out that the older they get the less their genes express in the same way. Why would that be ? Another interesting example came from studying babies born from mothers exposed to the Dutch famine. During the years of famine those babies ended up with higher rates of schizophrenia, hypertension, and diabetes. Babies born before and after the years of famine did not end up developing those diseases at the same rate. It turns out that our environment can cause something called methylation of our genes 🧬 that can turn gene function off and on. Scientists did not initially understand this phenomenon when they mapped the Human Genome so it has been called the 👻 Ghost in our genes. It explains why environmental exposures can impact our health and how that impact maybe seen over several generations. Dr Cynthia Aks gives us a little snippet on Epigentics. Including a link to an interesting video if you are interested in learning more or Google Ghost in Our Genes. The Nova series is a little older but also quite fascinating 🧐

https://vimeo.com/geneimprint

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mwr5i

10/25/2022

10/25/2022

The most incredible legacy anyone can leave behind is to impact the lives of others positively.

Check out more here: https://lnkd.in/ewvwKhu

10/22/2022

Oncoplastics….. it is the concept of thinking / planning surgery for breast cancer or disease in such a way that the tumor is removed and an excellent cosmetic result is achieved. Years ago the focus was on removing the tumor, saving lives and accepting whatever resulted whether it changed the shape or look of the breast or not. Now, we have evolved to new techniques, Oncoplastics, in which we treat the tumor and leave the breast with good shape, form and symmetric to the other side. 😊😊😊. This can be accomplished in many ways. For some we remove the tumor and reshape and lift the breast. For others the incision is placed so that it is inconspicuous and we move tissue around to fill out the area removed to maintain the shape. For others requiring mastectomy we can perform ni**le sparing which preserves the ni**le( if not involved with tumor) and has been shown to have excellent outcomes in women needing mastectomy and wanting reconstruction. The surgeons at LMG Surgical Oncology offer all these techniques. This also includes aesthetic flat closures (carefully crafted) for women choosing mastectomy with out reconstruction. More recently we also perform Goldilocks closure , in which some of the inferior flap is used to simulate a small breast mound without the use of implants. This makes a breast that is not to big, not too small but just right 😃…. Hence the name Goldilocks. 💕💕💕 pictured here are drawings of lumpectomy in reduction mammoplasty which is one of the Onco plastic techniques. If you’re interested in learning more here’s a link to a great article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4886147/