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Lifesaving Information: Which Cancer Screenings to Schedule

Important Cancer Screenings to Schedule for Proactive Health

Sometimes making check-up appointments and getting blood drawn doesn’t feel all that important with the hustle and bustle of life. Cancer screenings get pushed to the next year or worse, are forgotten entirely. However, getting screenings is one of the most essential things both men and women can do for their health because the sooner you have all the information, the better.

Check the lists below to see which cancer screenings should be done at which time of life and when you should discuss with your physician so you can be proactive about your health.

Nutrition in Cancer Care

Nutrition matters.

Maintaining a nutritious diet is important for everyone, especially for patients with cancer.

Proper nutrition can promote healing, as well as help patients maintain energy and strength throughout cancer treatments. Eating nutritious foods can help patients experience less toxicities from treatment.

A patient’s nutritional needs may vary depending on their type of cancer and treatment. Treatments may involve radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, biological immunotherapy, and/or surgery.

Lovelace Cancer Center offers energy-based approach to health and healing

Lovelace Cancer Center is proud to introduce Healing Touch, a form of energy therapy to support the health and facilitate the healing process for patients and caregivers.

A new approach to healing

Healing Touch is a biofield (the magnetic field around the body) therapy in which practitioners consciously use their hands in a heart-centered and intentional way to support and facilitate physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.

Protect Yourself Against Cervical Cancer… One Pap at a Time

Ladies, we understand that walking into your well-woman exam isn’t always the most exciting feeling. But knowing that cervical cancer is 100 percent curable if detected early through screenings? Now that is something to smile about.

With nearly 13,000 women in the United States diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, Lovelace Health System honors the importance of cervical cancer screening as part of a woman’s routine health care.

"A 3D Mammogram Saved My Life!"

As the director of diagnostic services at Lovelace Medical Center, Rita Matteucci, 50, has always made her preventative health screenings a priority.

An annual mammogram is still to recur on Matteucci’s calendar, and this year was not different,  landing on August 3, 2018 at Lovelace Women’s Hospital Breast Care Center.

The Breast Care Center uses 3 dimensional (3D) mammography to detect early forms of breast cancer. Compared to a standard 2D mammogram, 3D mammography can penetrate breast tissue layer by layer, showing more accurate results.

Lovelace Offers 3D Mammography

If you schedule a mammogram at Lovelace Women’s Hospital Breast Care Center, did you know that you are scheduling a 3 dimensional (3D) mammogram? 3D mammography allows our specialists to detect smaller and earlier cancers, which in turn helps lead to better outcomes. Dr. Timothy Erwin, a radiologist at Lovelace Women’s Hospital, answers your 3D mammography questions in the interview below.

What is the difference between a 2D and 3D mammogram?

Local Woman Encourages Smokers to Get Lovelace’s Cancer Screening

Millicent “Millie” Wilson, 60, was watching television one evening when she came across a commercial about a low-dose CT chest scan offered at Lovelace Cancer Center.
 
“Knowing that I smoked cigarettes for over 40 years, I researched online to see if I qualified for the low-dose CT scan,” said Millie.
 
The $99 low-dose CT chest scan for lung cancer screening is simple, effective and can improve the outcome with early diagnosis.
 

Celebrating Men’s Health by Understanding Prostate Cancer

In the month of June, we want to bring awareness to men’s health and more specifically, prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men and one out of every seven American men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.

The prostate is a small gland in the male reproductive system that is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum. This organ surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder. The prostate is typically the size of a walnut, but can grow larger as men age.

Skin Cancer Sit-Down with Dr. Calvin Ridgeway, M.D.

Albuquerque has on average 280 sunny days per year. That means an increased risk of developing skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States and it is estimated that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of seventy. Dr. Calvin Ridgeway, M.D., F.A.C.S., of the Lovelace Women’s Hospital Breast Care Center, provides key insights about the most common skin cancers, the warning signs, risk factors and how you can protect yourself.

What are the most common skin cancers?

Lovelace employee receives unexpected gift from the Warrior Princess

This is the story of Keesha Furniss, the Warrior Princess from Memphis, Tennessee.

Keesha Michelle Furniss was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastasized breast cancer in November 2013. At that time, Keesha was thirty years old and worked at a local daycare. 

Metastatic breast cancer, also called stage IV or advanced breast cancer, is the most advanced stage of breast cancer and has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body. The cancer cells break away from the tumor and travel through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system.