Bob's Columns

Bob Riter is the retired Executive Director of the Cancer Resource Center. His articles about living with cancer appeared regularly in the Ithaca Journal and on OncoLink. He can be reached at bobriter@gmail.com.

A collection of Bob’s columns, When Your Life is Touched by Cancer: Practical Advice and Insights for Patients, Professionals, and Those Who Care, is available in bookstores nationwide and through online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Positive Thinking

I’ve written about cancer and positive thinking in the past and have focused on whether positive thinking helps a person survive the disease. I now think that question often misses

Transitions of Cancer

My job is to listen to people affected by cancer and to help them however I can. With experience, I’ve come to understand that the periods of greatest stress and

Uncertainty and Commitments

Being diagnosed with cancer changes one’s sense of the future. You wonder if you’ll die from cancer and, if so, when. There’s rarely a definite answer to these questions, so

Uncertainty of Cancer

Before you get diagnosed with cancer, you assume that it will be an unpleasant experience, but one that is pretty straightforward. One might think, “I have this type of cancer,

Keeping in Balance

Yesterday afternoon, a woman about to begin chemotherapy came into my office and asked, “What advice do you have to help me get through my treatment?” I’ve been asked this

Cancer and Depression

Many people who have cancer go through a period of depression. It can happen during treatment or many months or even years later. What especially concerns me is that many

Living Well with Advanced Cancer

Many of the people I talk with on a regular basis have advanced cancers. They don’t expect to be cured, but they do enjoy a surprisingly good quality of life.

Cancer-Related Anxiety

The days following a cancer diagnosis are almost always filled with anxiety. (I have, however, talked with a few people who were relieved when they were diagnosed. They instinctively knew

Don’t Be Obnoxious

I sometimes hear people say that they best way to get good health care is to be obnoxious. By this, they mean that you should demand that the doctor see

The Art and Science of Oncology

I suspect most people-and many health professionals-think of treating cancer patients as being especially challenging. Some of those challenges are fairly obvious-people with cancer are often very sick, death sometimes

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