On this week's episode we Vicki shares why we need rest and how to be intentional with it. She also shares tips to get intentional mental and physical rest.  First of all, what is REST…. It is freedom from activity or labor. It is a state of motionlessness or inactivity. This includes not moving your body, and resting your mind. Many times, our minds and our expectations of ourselves are that we need to do it all. We need to read that book, meet that friend, go to the gym, walk the dog, and so on. We then ignore the need to rest our bodies and our minds. How do you know you need more rest ..read more

On this episode of Sips with Survivors, Randalynn takes the show solo.  She will dive into how she shared that she was sick and that she had cancer with her then 3 and 7 year old children.  She shares when she decided she needed to tell them she was sick, how much she wanted to tell them and exactly what she would share with them. Navigating all of this as a divorced mom, she had to share with her family and her ex-husband. Randalynn wanted them all to understand what the kids knew, how it should be communicated and when they needed to let her know.  If you or anyone you know is ..read more

Today’s podcast is going to focus on choosing a guiding word. We recognize that we are already well into 2023, and many people choose a word at the new year, but we also want to remind you that you can select a word any time. You set the intention that you will be focused on that word from point A to B and you it as a guidepost.    Think back over the last few months or a year. What is something you want to be better at or you need a reminder to get you back on track with.  What do you want to achieve in the next few months or by the end of the year? We all want to be successful ..read more

It is safe to say that being a cancer survivor comes with certain levels of fear and anxiety at times. It’s normal to feel like this, but do not get stuck here. Work through it, manage it, and do not let it consume you. Fear creeps in when you are diagnosed, have a scan, sitting in the chemo chair - really anything related to a cancer diagnosis is scary!  It is obviously not just cancer either. Fear comes from a lot of things in life… Any illness creates a level of fear. Making a big change in your life, like a job/career can trigger fear, ending a relationship, dating. Some fears can be ..read more

Welcome back listeners to Sips With Survivors! We are excited to bring you new episodes and officially launch Season 2.  We decided in March of last year that we were both feeling the need to take a bit of a break from recording. We are honest around here, and we know that in order for us to keep showing up for you in the future, we needed to rest and reset. The break was a bit longer than we anticipated, but we are back.  We took the last 10 months and focused on enjoying our lives and spent some much needed time with our families.  We are back to recording, and plan to continu ..read more

We are using this episode to mark the end of our Season 1 of Sips with Survivors. April 12th will be the anniversary of our very first episode. We have had some incredible guests and talked through more topics than we can list! Thank you for tuning in each week, providing feedback, reviews and topics for the podcast. We appreciate each and every one of you!  One thing we want you to hear is that we’re not going away, we’ll be back with Season 2 soon.  Like many of you, we need to hit the pause button for a bit, reflect on this last year and all of the things we’ve accomplished.  ..read more

This week Randalynn and Vicki are excited to introduce you to an incredible human. She is a fellow podcaster, a writer and a professor with a PhD in English- Meghan Hurley Powell. Meghan has so much to share with the world, but on this episode we had her deep dive into journaling and how to approach writing your own book - which she just did! So many survivors in our community want to work through journaling but do not know exactly how to start. On this episode we chat about getting started.  Meghan helps us tackle some ways to journal and get pen to paper so to speak. She even has prompt ..read more

On this episode the ladies are chatting about Anxiety, Stress in relation to check ups, Scanxiety…whatever you want to call it. The stress and anxiety around the time of your checkups is real. Why is that? The reality is many times the worst has happened…when you were least expecting it, especially when you’ve been told you have cancer. A check up could turn into a reoccurrence or another ailment. It is stressful and even though we don’t want to, we play out worst case scenarios because the worst many times seems to have already happened to us. On this episode Randalynn and Vicki wil ..read more

On this episode Randalynn and Vicki are diving into what is Lymphedema, tips for managing it and tips for a proper diagnosis. We are chatting with the incredible Kelly Sturm (Reed), PT, DPT. We found Kelly not that long ago, as Vicki has been dealing with lymphedema issues from some of her recent surgeries and her past cancer surgeries. She is a wealth of knowledge and sharing it with the cancer community.  Kelly is a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and she specializes in oncology and lymphedema, as well as pelvic health. Her YouTube channel is FULL of so much information! If you ha ..read more

It’s something we all do in the beginning after a life changing event… we live in fear. On this episode Vicki and Randalynn chat about how we can learn to live WITH fear… instead of IN fear all the time. There comes a point where we have to accept and process the fear, but we also must not allow it to control our lives.  If we constantly live in fear, how do we continue to live our lives?  How can you transition from IN fear to WITH Fear:    Having someone who’s been through a similar situation to talk with. Someone that understands where you are at, and can help you work ..read more