Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago, I'm Jane Monzures.
We're starting today's show by talking about something
that can completely rock someone's world, cancer.
It's a battle back to health physically,
but it's equally important
to address the emotional side of that diagnosis.
This next woman says, "Art therapy is what helped her
"handle that aspect of breast cancer."
(soft music)
As it does for many women, Connie Kubik's experience
with breast cancer started with the discovery of a lump.
- I had a mammogram and an ultrasound.
Once they did the biopsy,
then it proved to be Invasive lobular carcinoma.
I was petrified, I was terrified, I was extremely nervous.
All I did was cry.
- She had a lobular breast cancer,
which is one of the two most common
originates from the lobulars in the breast tissue.
The stage were localized, which is great,
which means it hadn't spread.
Breast cancer is cells in the breast
generally in the lobular ducts
that have gone out of control for lack of a better term.
They start to grow more than they should.
One in seven to one in eight women in the US
get a breast cancer at some point in their life.
So it touches almost every family in the US.
- They felt I had a death sentence.
He said, "No, this is totally treatable."
So we went from there.
- [Jane] Connie went on to have a mastectomy
followed by radiation.
- Good morning Connie, good to see you.
Radiation reduces the risk of the coming back
by actually making the cancer cells unable to divide
and to improve survival.
- Radiation was kind of tough.
All of a sudden your emotions come out.
They get pushed back a little bit
during the process of all the physical aspects
of a cancer diagnosis.
- [Jane] Connie found out that would help to process
those emotions was Art therapy.
- It at times,
brought out emotions
and at other times I will get just immersed in the Art.
- Art therapy is the use of Art-making
within the therapeutic relationship.
There's a belief that you may not have the words to describe
what's going on internally,
and so we use the art to kind of express those emotions,
different media can evoke different emotions.
So sometimes I might encourage a patient
to try something different.
- We look at some of the Art therapy data,
it actually reduces people's stress levels
if they're into it.
So I think that Connie got a lot out
of the actually that kind of support.
- [Jane] Beth says, "Another benefit of art therapy
"is that it puts choice back in patients lives."
- Don't even talk about it, I think about--
- I think that so many choices are taken away
from an individual when they're going through
an oncology diagnosis.
So when I can infuse choice for patients,
I really like to give them that opportunity.
I think that it gives them control over something
within the situation and gives them a grounding place.
- She always gives you options,
so if you're working on a project, you can tell her,
"I don't like it, I want to work on something else."
- Taking care of your emotions,
taking care of how you're thinking how you're doing
is really important.
We want people to live as long as possible,
but also live as well as possible.
- [Jane] After successful treatment aided by Art therapy,
Connie decided that she wanted to make Art
an ongoing part of her life.
- Cancer pretty much was the door opening
to get back into Art.
There's quite a few things that I wanna try.
I like to attempt drawing mountains
because to me, they symbolize strength, majesty,
and it's like, "Wow, I made that, it's fun."
- [Jane] Connie and her care team hope
that her story will remind others
going through breast cancer to seek out support
for their emotional well-being as they undergo treatment.
- It's a shock to the life,
it makes people really nervous and in concern.
The more supportive things, the more things we can do
to help life go on 'cause life goes on the better it is.
- I feel good physically.
I lost a breast, but that isn't what defines me.
Being healthy and continuing on
with life is what defines me.