Cancer Care Nova Scotia Excellence in Patient Care Nomination

Cancer Care Nova Scotia

Excellence in Patient Care

Nomination for Dr. Robert Rutledge, MD, Radiation Oncologist

Dr. Robert Rutledge exudes health and life. He understands his personal power as a doctor and leader and clearly practices the reality of eating, exercising and living well. Within this ‘health’ context, Rob – as he will be quick to tell you to call him – has developed the practice of being completely present when you are with him. It’s just you and Rob (and your loved one, if appropriate). It’s as though he has nothing else in the whole world to do but be there with you, listen (and listen) to your concerns and when necessary, deal with them. No matter what state you arrive in (usually stressed and fearful), you will leave his presence calm and collected with a sense that ‘all is well’ regardless of what you are facing with cancer.

Rob is extremely professional, which is particularly crucial considering the intimate types of cancer he deals with: breast and prostrate, as well as children’s cancer. He prefers to talk to you in your real clothes and not the Johnny shirts that so strip you of your sense of dignity and identity. He is honest, frank, compassionate, thoughtful and incredibly observant. He is confident without being arrogant and he is always looking to see what kind of a patient you are – what level of care do you require? This is the critical question that separates him from most others.

Are you looking for science to fix your cancer? He’s got that. Do you need someone to help you face your very real (and often dark) emotions? He’s not afraid to ask the tough questions with you. Is your support structure sagging? He is clear about the benefits of support groups for you and your loved one, and he is quick to tune in on yours, and your loved one’s, emotional frequency. Are you seeking spiritual answers for the sorry health prognosis you are facing? Rob can comfortably respond to that too. It’s as though he is sporting three antennae – physical, emotional, spiritual – with a sonar scan to pick up your overall state-of being. He misses nothing. Respects all. Never condescends. He can meet you where you are, no matter where you are!

What’s more, Rob offers hope regardless of the statistics and prognosis. Add bad cancer news to Rob Rutledge and the sum equals hope and possibility. He knows cancer is a head game, and he comes right alongside whatever is happening in your head to work towards the best possible outcome.

Although only in his mid-forties, Rob has spent his life’s work wanting to extend his help beyond his regular medical practice. “I realized early in my career I wanted to understand the human side of the cancer experience and apply those learnings to help others,” he said. Cancer as a disease carries an unbelievable burden of doom with it, despite how much greater survival rates are, and it is this doom that Rob enables patients to face – and reframe – into something bearable and very ‘carry-able’.

All these qualities – his personal wellness leadership, mindfulness, professionalism, commitment to respond to patient questions and concerns – merit the committee’s deep consideration for this award. However, Rob was not satisfied staying within the medical system to empower people on their journey to wellness. Early in his career, Rob and his colleague, Psychotherapist Tim Walker, PhD, decided to develop a weekend retreat workshop called “Skills for Healing Cancer”. Really. Healing Cancer. Two words you rarely find together on conventional cancer websites patients are directed to for information and support. Since 1993, they have, on their own time and dime, led over 30 weekend retreats in 15 cities in Canada and abroad, helped more than 1,000 people face, and reframe, their cancer experience. More, in 2003 they developed Skills for Wellness programs for healthcare providers to empower their colleagues to extend the reach and impact of the work they had started.

From the weekend retreats, they created the Healing and Cancer Foundation, now a registered Canadian charity; wrote a book being launched May 6, 2010; and created a website (www.HealingandCancer.org) offering all their weekend retreat wisdom and cancer patients’ true stories free of charge to anyone who wishes to view (and use) them. While this is a team effort, Rob is the heavy lifter and the energetic driver that keeps this huge and inspiring body of work moving in the right direction – endorsing conventional medicine while gently awakening and encouraging patients to see the mind-body-spirit connection.

When people are asked to describe Rob, most often the response is ‘he is a very special person’. Using Rob’s phrasing, we would say he is ‘super special’.

I hope you will seriously consider Dr. Robert Rutledge for this very deserving award. I do not think it is too bold a statement to say he has positively impacted the lives of any one he has encountered on their cancer journey.

Sincerely yours,

Kelly Hennessey

Rob Rutledge’s patient, 2008-09

What is Wholeness?

Firstly, consider what it means to heal. A woman with breast cancer told us at the start of the weekend retreat that she had either hid her diagnosis from family members / or minimized her symptoms and concerns from those she told. In essence, she was 'doing it alone'. By the end of the weekend retreat, she felt compelled to be open and honest, and to ask for help when it was appropriate. Healing in this case took place at a social level - perhaps spurred on from a healing of a psychological wound.

Another obvious example of healing occurs when someone who is angry at their diagnosis can begin to come to terms with it - to find acceptance. Somehow, we all intuitively know that holding onto anger at life creates more suffering - it poisons our relationships, and eats away (in some real way) at our body. That's not to say we shouldn't feel anger - but not to hold onto it, not let it fold up upon itself, and squeeze the life out of our heart. It's healthier to feel and express this anger - to let it flow through us, so that we can move on to experiencing the fullness of our life.

Wholeness, for me (and Tim would have a richer description) has to do with being able to hold all of ourselves - all of the anger, all of the issues we have with our family members, all of our strength - everything. Wholeness is a change in perception - not a change in reality.

When we can see ourselves fully, when we can love ourselves wholely, it creates a space which better allows the process of healing to occur - whether it be to reconnect with others, let go of unnecessary anger, or empower our immune system. Wholeness allows us to see ourselves as perfect just as we are - "I love and accept myself just as I am right now - and I honour that I am on the ongoing process of healing my life."

Lessons learned from the ‘metastatic’ cancer support group

As I walk down the hallway in the British Columbia Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Clinic, I can hear the excited Voices and chuckles from the first arrivals of my first ‘metastatic’ cancer support group. Sydney Foran, the social worker who has led the group for several years, walks beside me, her stride is smooth, and her face shines as she looks forward. Sydney will mentor me alongside this remarkable group of women. As a full-time oncologist with a passion for empowering people beyond getting physical care, I feel like I’m coming home.

There are eight women who gather this particular afternoon. They have traveled from near and far, play different roles in their outside lives, and vary outwardly in appearance and life history as much as any sample of society. But there is something very refreshing about being with them. Perhaps it’s the way they greet each other or the way they offer me a chair so readily in their group. You can see it shining in their eyes. I see little of the masks that most people wear at work and in the social circles. They care deeply about each other. As they catch up with each other before the group starts, the first lesson is dawning on me.

The support group is not something that they’ve tacked on to their lives. It’s not an extra parcel in a large bag of tasks to be performed each week. The group here is at the very core of their psychological (and sometimes practical) support. They have literally created a web of friends who deeply understand each other, who love each other, and will be there on the phone or otherwise in a heartbeat. I feel lightened by being in the midst of a truely caring community.

The group starts with a simple exercise to bring the energy of each person back into the present – to ground them in the here and now. And then people speak from their heart. People typically feel completely and utterly safe to tell their own truth. It’s refreshing. One week I heard a woman speak about the grief she is suffering thinking about all the changes in her life. I don’t remember exactly what she said but she talked about the effect of the cancer on her family, and how she would miss them, and the frustrations of it all. Her voice was wavering, and the tears were pooling in her eyes. And in the same breath she told us of the incredible peace she has been experiencing, like she was being held in these loving arms, cradled in a source bigger than herself. This was my second big lesson.

People can experience turbulence at the psychological level and still be held by a deep inner peace. Like walking on the beach during a hurricane, the waves crashing, the wind blowing and soaking you to the skin, may represent the difficult psychological times on the cancer journey. But the same storm viewed from a mile up in the sky or 40 feet under the water’s surface is a much more peaceful place. This woman taught me that we can hold both perspectives at the same time.

There are many more lessons to be learned as you sit in the circle. From the very practical ways to negotiate the medical system (a woman in this group told us how she went to medical records directly to get the results of her CAT scan instead of waiting a week for her doctor to call her) to the deeply spiritual. Perhaps the most important lesson is that the wisdom is already there in each of us. We each heave a golden heart, the wise and kind part of ourselves, which can help guide us along the journey. The beauty of the support group is it provides us the time and space to listen to our own inner voice. It was a true honour to be part of the group and to learn from these remarkable women.

Type C Personalities

Question: Are you familiar with the body of psychology research done on Type "C" personalities?

This is the mirror image of a Type "A" ... i.e. the really nice people who bottle up their emotions. Also, why they are more prone to getting cancer?

-Anonymous

A response from Rob:

This idea has been examined for a long time. ie repressed immune system. - or energetic constriction of energy causing cells to mutate.

I don't know if there is a causation of repressed character and higher chance of cancer. Perhaps for a small percentage this may be true - but from a population perspective I don't believe it. The studies also show that there is no obvious connection between a recent major stressor experience and onset of cancer.

Cancer is so complicated and multifactorial in its development that I don't like to try to create simplified theories about causation. I respect the intuition of any one individual about why they think they developed cancer - and to use cancer as a catalyst to make the changes in their life that they would want to make regardless of whether it is the cause or the cure. Working towards wholeness is justified in itself.

Sorry I can't elaborate - but the "don't know" state keeps me open to all these possibilities.

Namaste.

Rob

What Caused My Cancer?

I'm reading "Grace and Grit" by Ken Wilbur, a brilliant man who has been able to integrate writing from around the world into a coherent map of the spiritual journey for humans. His wife, Treya, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and this book is about their amazing journey together.

When first diagnosed Treya asks the obvious question "What caused my cancer?" She was 36 at the time, and had a perfectly healthy lifestyle. She questioned whether there were mental, emotional, spiritual or other causes (beyond the physical) which if she addressed and corrected would lead to her recovery. For instance if she believed that repressed emotions suppress the immune system which lead to cancer, then learning to express emotions in a healthy way would empower the body to fight cancer.

I've heard and read many, many of these theories over the years. And the fact is that for any one person any of these theories may apply - so I don't discount the possibility especially if the person who is telling me believes it is the cause of their cancer.

But the reality is that I don't know. I believe that the vast vast majority of cancer are simply due to chance. As people age the cells degenerate with time, allowing for the cells to eventually carry enough changes in their genes to begin to divide out of control. Exposure to toxins like smoke or a fatty diet/lack of exercise can speed up the process, but essentially chance determines who gets cancer and when they get it.

I like Ken Wilbur's answer to his wife's question. "Since nobody knows what causes the cancer, I don't know what you should change in order to cure it. Why don't you use cancer as a metaphor and a spur to change all those things that you wanted to change in your life anyway."

So beyond getting the best care convential medicine has to offer, and empowering your body with healthy habits, practicing a relaxation technique, and working on finding peace and meaning in your life, use cancer as an opportunity to change in a way that's just right for you.

A few words from Rob

A few months ago I sat on my back deck being interviewed by Boyd Sharpe- for footage we'll use for a documentary for people affected by brain tumours. At the end of the interview, Boyd wanted to the audience to know more about the personal side of my life so he said "Tell me about yourself."

I think he wanted me to say things like "I make an outdoor hockey rink in my front yard each year" or "I attend a karate class with my 15 year old son - it's a rare way to stay connected with my teenager" or "I love to ballroom dance with my wife."

But inevitably my mind goes blank when I'm asked to talk about myself. I don't think it's because I'm a humble person (I am blogging). It's more to do with a deeper spiritual feeling I have which is this:

There is no "me". Sure there's a body here that feels many sensations, and a personality for sure, and there's all these activities and thoughts and beliefs. But I can't identify the "I".

In the last few weeks I've had the urge to go to the library - and I found a book called the Translucent Revolution by Arjuna Ardagh. And I think it explains what I've been feeling. When asked the question 'who are you really?' I'm left with this incredible feeling of spaciousness and joy - a deep love for life itself.

Thankfully in this book many other supposedly normal people who are going through a spiritual transformation describe the same feeling/awareness.

So if you see me smiling while I'm flooding the rink, kicking my son, or floating over the dancefloor - you'll know why.

Please help us

Jan Morrison just sent us a wonderful blog - but being a physician, I'm still struggling to figure out how to respond to her. (Jan, you can email info@healingandcancer.org to contact us directly)

For anyone else interested in helping us grow - please visit http://healingandcancer.org/support-hcf

Thanks everyone for your interest.
robr