Health & Wellness 2012

HEALTH & WELLNESS

A Special Supplement to the Dairyland Peach

May 2012

A Focus On Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health & Wellness Issues For Men, Women and Children

In this issue... YOU ARE WHAT YOU ... DRINK Beverages play a big role in personal health

REVAMPED HEALTHY EATING GUIDE Get a better understanding of what foods should fill your plate

GOOD HEALTH STARTS WITH THE SKIN Looking after your skin is essential for your health and well-being

Faith gets Julie Meyer through everything in lifE After skin cancer diagnosis, she now encourages others to protect themselves

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Dairyland Peach, Health & Wellness Edition 2012, Page 4

Faith gets Julie Meyer through everything in life After skin cancer diagnosis, she now encourages others to protect themselves By Jennie Zeitler Staff Writer

thologist’s report over the phone telling me the mole jennie.zeitler@ecm-inc.com was cancerous — melanoma,” said Meyer. One of the big pieces of “I didn’t know what to advice Julie Meyer offers to do. The doctor recommendothers is, don’t wait. If they ed a dermatologist, who see something out of the or- squeezed me in the very next dinary with a mole or spot day,” she said. “Then it felt on their skin, get it looked like there was a rock in my at immediately. stomach.” About eight years ago, The dermatologist didn’t Meyer, who grew up in Sauk realize that Meyer hadn’t Centre and now lives in even spoken to a doctor Watkins, had a small mole since the biopsy, and he on the outside of her upper walked into the exam room arm that she had barely no- and right away started ticed. “My mom told me I marking her arm where the should get it looked at, but I mole would be removed. forgot about it,” said Meyer. “I asked him to stop and During a routine physi- answer some questions first. cal several months later, He didn’t know I hadn’t after nearly forgetting it talked to anyone about was there, Meyer barely re- treatment options,” said membered to ask the doctor Meyer. “I was glad a friend about it. had come with me.” The mole had changed “Then the doctor numbed slowly over time, getting my arm, and the mole was darker and maybe slightly removed right there in the larger. office,” she said. The doctor immediately After that, there was did a biopsy on the mole. “A no further treatment. But couple days later there was Meyer underwent a shift in a message on the answering her entire way of thinking machine from the doctor’s as she considered what to office, but it was a busy sum- make of the experience. mer and I didn’t call back,” “It was a real mental shift Meyer said. for me,” she said. “I liked “Then, one or two days being in the sun, and liked later there was another1 mesoutdoors.” Gabes_OrthoFinal:Layout 8/16/11being 9:28 AM Page 3 StGabes_OrthoFinal:Layout 1 8/16/11 9:28 her AM Page sage. I called the next day With pale 3complexand they read me the pa- ion, Meyer had also vis-

ited tanning booths to get a healthy glow. She had a few bad sunburns as a child, with one extremely severe burn as a first-grader. She has no recollection of ever using sunscreen before. “Now I put sunscreen on and keep it handy. And I got used to being the person at softball games under an umbrella,” said Meyer. After her experience with melanoma, Meyer became involved in kickboxing through a friend, Nia Meierhofer. “I asked Julie if she wanted to come along to kickboxing, and she became very involved,” said Meierhofer. “Julie’s experience prompted me to immediately make an appointment with a dermatologist to have a full body scan. Now I use sunscreen faithfully, and buy it directly from my dermatologist. I wear a hat and three-quarter or long sleeves when the sun is strongest, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” said Meierhofer. At a kickboxing class, the instructor challenged the class members to consider eliminating sugar from their diets. They were to come back the following week with their answer. “I said I’d do it,” said

Meyer. “It was hard for about a month, until my thinking shifted.” “We didn’t always have desserts while I was growing up, and my mom always cut down the amount of sugar that was in a recipe, so I had never eaten a large amount of sweets,” Meyer said, “but it was still a change.” Since she has followed her mom’s lead, Meyer’s family are used to less sugar in desserts such as banana bread and apple crisp, even though they have not cut it out entirely. But when her eldest daughter was graduating from high school two years ago, Meyer was reminded that she would have to break down and buy pop for the party, which she did. Meyer used to go to a vending machine in the afternoons to get a candy bar for a pick-up. Once she cut out sweets, she felt a lot better and had more energy, she said. “Now I bring healthy snacks with me when I’m away from home. But there is still pressure from other people to eat foods with sugar,” she said. “At a party where I was honored, my friends had provided healthy snacks but still made a cake. When I had to refuse that, they still

tried to pressure me to eat it,” said Meyer. “When I told them that I do not give in to peer pressure, they were okay with it,” she said. After a couple years of kickboxing, Meierhofer again led Meyer into a new challenge — running. Meierhofer ran in a 5K first, and Meyer was so interested she started running too. “We progressed from kickboxing to walking together. Julie would walk so fast that I told her we could be running — so we did. She started running some 5Ks and hasn’t looked back,” Meierhofer said. “I used to run in high school, but wasn’t any good or anything,” said Meyer. “It was a new way to push myself a little bit. Now I feel I need to run, since it helps with stress and gives me more energy.” “If I know I’m going to have a rough day, I know I’ll be better off if I get up a little earlier and go for a run,” she said. “My first 5K was in 2009. They were becoming more popular, and I wanted to see if I could do it,” said Meyer. “Since then, I run about seven 5Ks a year, and have done maybe five 10K races too.”

“Two times I’ve been part of a triathlon team with two friends, where I did the running,” she said. “That was fun.” Meyer’s favorite part of races is seeing all the different people. Everyone is so friendly and supportive of one another, she said. “I like the whole atmosphere, just being there,” said Meyer. “But I’m really inspired by older runners, women in their 70s.” “And I like running in the rain. I do well in wet races,” she said. Meyer, who teaches seventh and eighth grade Language Arts at Sauk RapidsRice Middle School, uses opportunities in her classrooms to remind students to take care of themselves. If they look red, she asks them about being out in the sun. “Kids think nothing is going to happen to them,” she said. “My girls tell me I wouldn’t believe how many kids go to tanning booths.” “I strongly recommend to everyone to watch a short YouTube video called ‘Dear 16-year-old me,’” said Meyer. “It shows people who have had melanoma and what they would say to their younger selves about taking care of their bodies. Share it with friends.”

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“My ”” “Mylife lifeisisfootball, football,but butI Iwas wasblindsided. blindsided. “I gained a few yards down the sideline before someone “I gained fewrain. yardsWith down the sideline someone tackled me inathe one freak play,before I lost three tackled me in the rain. With one freak play, I lost sports in my senior year. It was hard to get over that,three but inwho my senior It me waswas hard get over that, but onesports person really year. helped Dr.toJohnson. He did one person who really helped me was Dr. Johnson. He did the surgery on my ankle and gave me a few pep talks along the surgery on my ankle and gave me a few pep talks along the way. After I followed his advice and rehab program, it's way.that After I followed his advice and rehab program, it's great tothe know I can still compete.” great to know that I can still compete.” —Zach Lanners, Royalton —Zach Lanners, Royalton

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Dairyland Peach, Health & Wellness Edition 2012, Page 5

Staff photo by Jennie Zietler

“I’m here because I love what I do.”

Julie Meyer survived cancer and runs to live. She is holding up the t-shirt she received at her very first 5K run, surrounded by shirts from other runs. She runs about seven 5Ks every year, and a couple 10Ks, too. That video can be found at: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM. It takes five minutes. “People need to know they don’t need a ‘base tan’ before summer starts or they go on vacation,” she said. “You don’t need a tan to look good.” Sunscreen needs to be put on 30 minutes before going outside. Meyer heard from her dermatologist to be sure not to forget feet and toes. People wear flip-flops and sandals and often get sunburned feet. Meyer is careful to run in the mornings when the sun is not as strong. “When I do 5Ks I look for those where the route will be in the shade,” she said. She continues to make regular visits to her der-

matologist, and has had several suspicious and precancerous moles and spots removed. “I encourage people to watch their moles,” said Meyer. “They should have family members or friends look at their back to check there, too.” “It was a shock to get skin cancer. Sometimes I kind of forget that I had it, and then something will remind me,” she said. “When I’m driving in the car and the sun warms up my arm, I’ll remember that I have to put sunscreen on in the car now, too.” Within the first year after the cancerous mole was removed, Meyer went to donate blood and found out she couldn’t because it was too soon after the surgery.

“I walked out of that place feeling very sickly,” she said. “I think everything happens for a reason,” Meyer said. “Maybe the cancer happened so that I can tell my students and other people to protect their skin.” “Julie is dedicated to health and to being educated about it,” said Meierhofer, “but she doesn’t push people. She just shares her experience and it speaks for itself.” “I will never be done with it; I will always have to be vigilant,” she said. “But my faith gets me through everything I encounter in life. God doesn’t give a person more than they can handle.” “Remember — being pale is ‘in’ and you’ll look better as you age,” Meyer said. “Wear hats.” C

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Warning Signs: The ABCDEs of Melanoma Moles, brown spots and growths on the skin are usually harmless — but not always. Anyone who has more than 100 moles is at greater risk for melanoma. The first signs can appear in one or more atypical moles. That’s why it’s so important to get to know your skin very well and to recognize any changes in the moles on your body. Look for the ABCDE signs of melanoma, and if you see one or more, make an appointment with a physician immediately. A - Asymmetry: If you draw a line through a mole, the two halves will not match. B - Border: The borders of an early melanoma tend to be uneven. The edges may be scalloped or notched. C - Color: Having a variety of colors is another warning signal. A number of

One Color

Multiple Colors

different shades of brown, tan or black could appear. A melanoma may also become red, blue or some other color. D - Diameter: Melanomas usually are larger in diameter than the size of the eraser on your pencil (1/4 inch or 6 mm), but they may sometimes be smaller when first detected. E - Evolving: Any change — in size, shape, color, elevation, or another trait, or any new symptom such as bleeding, itching or crusting — points to danger.

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Source: www.skincancer.org

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Kristi Hughes ND

Lee Aberle ND

111 17th Avenue East Alexandria, MN 56308 www.DCHospital.com 320-762-1511 Nicole Dotson Kristen Haabala ND ND, LAC

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