Category: examined life
15 Random Things
I can’t stand talking about cancer at the moment. Still no report from the “alien baby” biopsy. Still no respite from the pain. So no cancer talk from me today. Instead, a day (week? fortnight?) late and a dollar (pound? euro?) short, here are 15 random things about me that...
Using It, Still Losing It
So here’s the background. When home computers first became available, I was smitten. (Yes, children, there was time when personal computing was but a glint in Knot’s beady little eye.) Wow! I could do amazing things, I could write a program in BASIC to balance my checkbook! A few years later...
Cancer Gratitudes
A few of my thoughts You know how we say that something resonates with us? The word literally means that it reverberates, creates an echo in us. That is how I felt when the moment I saw this absolutely spot-on cartoon by Teva Harrison. I felt that it was ping-ponging around...
What Was Taken, What Remains
Cancer is a thief, a cowardly thief. A mugger. A highway robber. Cancer waits at the side of the road until you walk by, just going about the business of living, and swoops down to denude you of almost everything. It’s an ambush. What did cancer steal from me? *...
Ending Treatment: A guest post by Sherri Fillipo
Sherri Fillipo is a now-retired registered nurse. On her blog she writes “This is my story – living and dying with metastatic breast cancer. Once a nurse and now a patient, I love how seaglass captures what cancer has done for me – softened and rounded my hard edges. Like the...
Why I Lied to My Doctor
Even people who are generally honest and trustworthy may lie on occasion. Maybe they want to avoid something unpleasant: Sorry, boss. There was a road accident and that’s why I’m late. (I overslept.) I wish I could go to the collectibles exhibition, but I have the most awful headache. (Nothing...
Birthday Thoughts: On Turning Sixty
When I was a teenager my little brother was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it to 21. When I was 28 a plane I was on had to make an emergency landing, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see 29. For an infinitely long split second when I was...
Survival Revisited
I’ve been considering survival as a concept for a long time and my ideas have developed and changed. Two of my early posts, in October of 2011, were “Have I Survived Yet?” Part I and Part II. At that time and until recently I disliked—even resented—the label “breast cancer survivor”....
Dying, Not Losing
Today I read a wonderful post by Nancy Stordahl of Nancy’s Point about the phrase “lost his or her battle with cancer”. I agree very strongly with Nancy on this point and it made me think of some posts I’ve written on the same topic, but with a more personal...