Smiling Again
BUTLER TWP — At a frightening and confusing time, support services offered by the Butler Health System Medical Oncology in partnership with UPMC CancerCenter facility at the Benbrook Medical Center can provide comfort and ease the stress of a breast cancer diagnosis.
Stacy Meyer, the medical social worker for support services, said many and varied programs are available to patients and their families during every stage of the cancer treatment process.
Providing emotional support, assisting patients and families with any needs they may have during treatment, creating living wills and assisting women who have lost their hair during treatment are some of the help provided by support services, Meyer said.
“Support services helps,” she said. “A lot of people come in crying (due to a new diagnosis) and leave smiling and laughing.
“With the proper help, they're not drowning in thoughts of, 'How do I do this?'”
One of the most upsetting aspects of chemotherapy during treatment for breast cancer is losing an entire head of hair and many times their eyebrows too, Meyer said.
“It's very traumatic,” she said. “It's a very somber time for patients.”
But Meyer said support services offers help to women who are losing their hair.
Meyer buys wigs and hair halos through Creative Hair Solutions, a boutique in Allison Park that helps people who are losing their hair.
“I have a wig cupboard at the office,” Meyer said.
At a salon at the support services facility, stylists from Creative Hair Solutions will come and cut the wig selected by a patient.
Hair halos are a circle of real human hair worn under a hat that precludes the need to wear a full wig.
“It gives an illusion that you have hair, but it's cooler in the summer and can be curled, permed or colored,” Meyer said. “It gives you more options.”
She said many salons in the county donate hair to use in the halos, which is collected by Meyer and passed along to Creative Hair Solutions, which has them made into hair halos.
Donations from Riding for the Cure, the breast cancer support group at support services and other organizations pay to have the hair halos and wigs made.
She said a small percentage choose not to use a wig or hair halo once chemotherapy has affected their hair.
“Most women do want to wear a wig or halo because they want to look themselves,” Meyer said.
The support services' program Styling it Right sees Creative Hair Solutions owner Pat Julkowski helping women who are beginning to lose their hair up to those whose hair is growing back after treatment.
Julkowski and her assistant steam and cut wigs and cut hair halos for the women who attend.
Meyer said when hair begins growing back in, the growth on the back of the head comes in first and often needs to be trimmed until the remainder of the hair grows in.
“We also talk about losing your eyebrows and how to draw them on and look natural,” Meyer said. “One woman said once she lost her eyebrows, the expression on her face was gone.”
She and Julkowski also talk about what to expect and how to look natural when the hair returns after treatment.
“We try to help transition them for when their hair comes back in,” Meyer said.
In the Look Good, Feel Better class at support services, which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, women learn from a cosmetologist who is trained in cancer care how to apply makeup so they can look their best throughout treatment.
“Each woman who comes gets a makeup bag with $200 in cosmetics inside,” Meyer said.Another program offered at support services is Reiki, which is a natural healing method in which Reiki masters place their hands inches away from certain parts of the body to share healing energy.“It's a time for them to relax and focus on themselves,” Meyer said.The cancer support group started out as a head and neck cancer group.“We have blossomed to a pretty large group, and we have all types of cancer patients who attend,” Meyer said.The support group is held at 10:30 a.m. on the last Tuesday of each month at support services.Service dogs provided by the Butler Dog Training Association visit the waiting room and chemotherapy area to meet and greet patients and their families.A crochet group offers “knitted knockers,” which are breast prostheses made of a colorful yarn pattern exterior and a batting interior.Meyer said everything happens at the support services facility on the second floor of the Cancer Center at Benbrook Medical Center.Items provided to breast cancer patients at support services include wig stands, hats, chemo beanies, scarves, wig-care products, specialty cosmetic pencils for eyebrows, videos on exercising after treatment, a lending library with books on everything from nutrition to the various forms of cancer, and even money for co-pays, transportation to treatment and doctor's appointments, or to help with other financial needs experienced by breast cancer patients.“A lot of times people take a break from work (for breast cancer treatment) and their income is hit hard,” Meyer said.The goal of the support services facility, Meyer said, is to create a nonclinical space that reduces the stress of breast cancer patients by providing any assistance they need, Meyer said.“I try to treat people like it's my home and I welcome them in and make them feel like we're here for them,” Meyer said. “They come in very upset the first time, and I tell them, 'We're going to go through this together.'”
