Tamera Anderson-Hanna is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Addiction Professional, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and became a Registered Yoga Teacher while coping with breast cancer in 2015. She owns Wellness, Therapy, & Yoga in Florida where she provides personal wellness services and coaching and she is a public speaker on wellness-related topics.  You can connect with her at www.wellnesstherapyyoga.com.

Tamera Anderson-Hanna

In approximately 4 weeks, I will be presented with the option to take a vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine is being offered to me since I work in a high-risk position as a first responder. It is optional for me to take the vaccine, so I need to ask myself what are the pros and cons of taking the vaccine?

Reasons I might consider taking it are to reduce the risk of having complications related to contracting COVID-19 without having any immunity to support my body and the chance of severe complications. I observed a family member contract COVID-19 and end up in the hospital, gratefully, remdesivir was available to my family member along with a plasma treatment. Their lung function was impacted, and it has been taking time for them to build back up their physical stamina and lung function following hospitalization.

What Patients With Cancer, Survivors Need to Know About the Emergency Use Authorization of COVID-19 Vaccine

Prior to getting the vaccine, one of the first things I am doing is speaking to a couple of my health-care providers regarding their thoughts about actually getting the vaccine. In their opinion, I will want to know if getting the vaccine is a recommended choice knowing my medical history with cancer. What I will be weighing with my medical team is if the benefits of taking the vaccine are better even with potential side effects than contracting the virus. I currently assume they will say take the vaccine or live with the risk of experiencing the full effects if I contract COVID-19, which according to antibody testing I still have not contracted.

What are some of the side effects? Well, what I have read thus far, the common side effects include pain at the injection site, fatigue, muscle aches or pain, joint pain, headache and depending on the vaccine is given, potential fever, which is short-lived according to the recent 

The injections appear to be given approximately one month apart. Earlier this year, I was due to receive a vaccine for pneumonia and I was encouraged to obtain a flu shot, which I have not personally taken for almost the last 10 years. I obtained both of the recommended vaccines my primary care physician suggested along with starting the vaccine for the shingles, which much like the COVID vaccine is given in two separate injections. Surprisingly, I was informed I could take all three together and my side effects included a stomach upset, loss of appetite along with a headache that lasted around 24 hours. 

The benefit is hopefully having fewer to no problems with pneumonia or ever getting the shingles. I would hope if getting the COVID-19 vaccine I could expect the same, but I will also ask if it is known how long potential immunity or partial immunity will last. To be honest, COVID-19 concerns me as the virus seems to impact lung function along with sometimes having other unusual symptoms that to me seem more severe than your typical flu.

Other concerns of not getting vaccinated have included being able to get proper medical care and attention while there is a demand on the healthcare system for COVID-19 treatments. Also, the potential for supportive treatments to not be available should I get COVID-19 while traveling, for example, and away from home. I would like to resume a more normal lifestyle if possible in 2021 and get back to traveling and enjoying life more fully. 

I also see and hear about providers who are getting burnt out and are themselves continually being put at risk for infection every time they need to treat a new patient. I do not want to add to that.

One of my biggest concerns when having to monitor for infection was not wanting to pass COVID-19 on to someone who might be immunocompromised and find the virus to be more harmful than it might be to myself, as I now am NED but still have a higher risk for severe complications because of my asthma. Maybe I will be able to feel better about helping to protect the community I live in if vaccinated.

Celebrating A ‘Cancerversary’ In A COVID-19 World

I don’t look forward to getting ill from a vaccine, but maybe the payoff will be having fewer negative complications and helping myself to avoid having hospitalizations due to the side effects of COVID-19 as I saw my family member experience.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to

Articles

With the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized by the FDA, a cancer survivor weighs the pros and cons of taking a COVID-19 vaccine and what more information is needed.

Weighing The Pros and Cons of Receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine

In February of 2020, my family and I made plans to travel back to my hometown for the holidays in December. This was before COVID-19, and before I would experience some of my family members contracting COVID-19. My parents and husband have contracted COVID-19, and of those three individuals, two are cancer survivors.

COVID-19 has not been a pleasant experience for my family. My husband was hospitalized, and not to invoke fear, but I truly believe if it were not for Remdesivir and plasma treatment, I am not sure he would have left the hospital without progressing to the ICU. So, making plans to minimize any further risks is important to me. Best case scenario, he will be out approximately 30 days minimum recuperating from COVID-19 after contracting it as a first responder in the work setting. The question is now, do we travel out of state, and if so, how can we do so safely for me and other family who have not yet had COVID-19 or who could, by theory, potentially become reinfected?

I have other family members who don’t understand being hesitant to travel, but yet are aware I am at a higher risk for complications should I contract COVID-19. They ask, why are you living in FEAR?

I don’t believe I am living in fear, but rather making educated choices. I follow and respect guidelines if it means keeping others safe and making calculated choices for the safety of my family. I also don’t relish the idea of experiencing symptoms while out of town or contracting COVID-19 if I can avoid doing so. I have had to set boundaries.

These days, the choices of another person could be a matter of trust and I find making these choices is not dependent on what they say, but rather observing behavior and choices they have made. This means I may avoid in-person contact with these individuals at this time. If I do choose to spend time with a smaller group of my family over the holidays it will be with individuals who follow suggested guidelines and are lowering risks for infection both for themselves and others. If I can’t trust another individual’s choices then this year, my answer will be a no to having dinner or sharing in indoor activities at this time. Boundaries are sometimes not fun or easy, but they can help us to set our own guidelines for health and wellness and they may not always be a match with other choices and opinions. It might mean we don’t experience our typical holiday gatherings, but it might mean we protect our health in a manner that allows us to experience more holidays and events in the future. 

Distance, wearing a mask and observing choices and setting boundaries are things we have in our control. I don’t know how December will work out. If the state shuts down and hospitals in the area continue to see record numbers of cases, then my family will further restrict or cancel plans for travel. In the meantime, I have found tools that can help individuals to evaluate the area they are living in or where they may be traveling to. The 

 was developed by researchers at Georgia Tech. It uses updated COVID-19 data and characteristics you can use, such as selecting how many individuals you plan to interact with. Some may not need this tool. Just knowing and limiting high-risk activities might be enough. There are ways to evaluate choices and to do so not by living in fear, but by evaluating choices for risk and safety which are not a guarantee but may limit risk for contracting COVID-19 and unknown consequences.

I by no means wish to suggest what your boundaries are or what choices you should or should not make in life but are just ideas for consideration in what is changing and challenging times. There are individuals I love and care for, but who I would currently not feel comfortable spending time with in person this year. 

I hope that eventually when it is safer to associate some of the challenges and differences in opinion can be overcome on more common ground, but until then, may my family remain healthy and well so they enjoy many holidays yet to come.

Figuring out boundaries and safety in relation to COVID-19 has been an ongoing challenge this year, and with the holidays coming up pressure is mounting. Here is how one cancer survivor considered their boundaries this year.

Cancer, Boundaries, Safety and COVID-19 Considerations During the Holidays

2020 has been a challenge for many of us.

To help pass time this summer, and build supportive connections with fellow survivors, I arranged an online paint party. I love art and find painting and making stained glass and other such projects therapeutic. I was craving socialization, so I had the idea to combine art therapy with socializing and sought out a private group to help arrange a professional paint party.

It was just my luck that a local nipple tattoo artist known in my town shares a business with her partner, in which they were offering live wine and paint parties before COVID-19 entered into our lives. Being unable to tattoo during the lockdown, the ladies moved their business idea online and began hosting paint parties along with shipping out paint packages for children, adults and their families. Needless to say, they were open to my idea of hosting a private paint party for myself and a group of fellow cancer survivors.

The event was fun and therapeutic. The theme for the painting was a butterfly, due to the idea of transformation as those of us who participated were breast cancer survivors. They provided all of the supplies to anyone in need, and the template to get us started with our creation based on a common theme. The project was personalized with our adding any ribbons correspondent to the colors of cancer we were diagnosed with, and maybe wanted to add.

My painting followed a suggestion for colors we were given in our paint kit and it was outlined in a blue. The blue represented to me support and light blue is the color for prostate cancer, which my husband was diagnosed with last year. While I would have never asked for a cancer diagnosis, I have not regretted what I gained from the experience—the friendship and camaraderie of several fellow cancer survivors.

Together, we learn to laugh, cry if needed and help one another when experiencing all the steps to our cancer journey. The group I painted with was started by a lovely fellow survivor, Patricia, who began Link of Hope Sista’s after her own breast cancer journey. As for the two lovely artists who ran our event, Art for Good Paint Parties continues to offer online painting and Suzanne is gratefully back to the incredible work she provides as a Professional Nipple Tattoo artist in Miami.

Together, we found a way to support one another during yet another journey which was COVID-19. My finished art piece, which I have submitted for consideration for the 

. Maybe the lesson in life is we get the opportunity to grow from our experiences and some of the most difficult can lead to beautiful new beginnings and experiences.

COVID-19 has upended how cancer survivors can interact with each other, but through a virtual party and some art therapy, one survivor details the new ways of finding community.

How Art Therapy Helped One Cancer Survivor Manage COVID-19 Lockdown

Yoga is a beneficial exercise and outlet for patients with cancer, and their caregivers, to help handle the mental and physical side effects that come with cancer, including issues of lymphedema. But with the COVID-19 pandemic it’s become harder to continue yoga routines, but virtual yoga still has its benefits.

 Tamera Anderson-Hanna, a registered yoga teacher and owner of 

in Florida, she discusses transitioning to yoga classes over video and how they are still beneficial for patients with cancer and their caregivers.

I think one of the things that I at least focus on is, somebody who's going through cancer can attend, but also the caregiver, the husband, the wife, the spouse, the partner, whoever that (support) person might be. They're also usually welcome to attend the classes, and that could be support as well. You'll notice I'm wearing a compression sleeve. So, when you attend a class, where somebody who has a little bit of a background working in cancer, and knowing the concessions that have to be made, we can look at how you need to use different props. I've got some blocks out because this is what I would use in my classes. And what I've been teaching people is they might not have the block in their home, but we can take a chair, we can take a stool, we can take different things that a person come to so when we go from a standing pose, which is like a mountain pose, then exhale down, you're coming down onto this block. So you're not having to come all the way down to the ground.

And we can adjust chair height, we can adjust the stool height. When I'm doing this kind of class I've been doing in person, I might have six of these blocks, I might have eight of these blocks, because it depends on how far the person can come down based on what range of motion they have. So, it's just a lot of different work that we do. I focus a lot on teaching people that have lymphedema. I didn't have the swelling in my arm or a little bit of that restriction, that tight feeling, probably until about three years out from my post cancer surgeries. And I really didn't think I was at high risk, but we have individuals in the cancer community that are experiencing loss of their lymph nodes or impairment product function.

So, I like to talk to people through the yoga not only about keeping good mental well-being as we go through the class, I talk about the poses and benefits. So a lot of the things that I do is I'm teaching people to bring your arms up, for example, and I will talk about the importance of bringing up lymphatic fluid all the way back down towards the heart center, and down towards it being detoxed through the body. What we're doing through yoga is if you think about it, kind of like when you're wringing out a dish cloth or a towel, and we're bringing up water and moisture, but for our body, which were mostly made up of water, so we're trying to detox that system. And as we're moving if we get that lymphatic fluid going in the right direction, that's the end of the fingers, for example, the facts the heart center, we do have we're helping to decrease that fluid.

Check back later for the full interview and brief yoga demonstration from Tamera! 

Videos

CURE® interviews Voices contributor Tamera Anderson-Hanna on the benefits of continuing to perform yoga at home for both patients with cancer experiencing lymphedema, as well as caregivers looking to address their own mental well-being.
 

Tamera Anderson-Hanna | Contributors

Weighing The Pros and Cons of Receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine

Cancer, Boundaries, Safety and COVID-19 Considerations During the Holidays

How Art Therapy Helped One Cancer Survivor Manage COVID-19 Lockdown

CURE Community Vlogs: Staying Active At Home Through Virtual Yoga

Latest News