About 30% of people diagnosed with breast cancer at any stage will develop distal metastasis. I am one.
Here is something silly and senseless: “You may not have lived much under the sea—” (“I haven’t,” said Alice)—”and perhaps you were never even introduced to a lobster—” (Alice began to say, “I once tasted—” but checked herself hastily, and said, “No, never”) “—so you can have no idea what...
In reference to Ms Keller’s astonishing piece “Forget funeral selfies. What are the ethics of tweeting a terminal illness?” published online on 8 January 2014. First, my full disclosure: Like Lisa Bonchek Adams, I have Stage IV (advanced, metastatic) breast cancer, although I am perhaps not as close to the...
Pink-to-ber n A portmanteau coinage used by many people who live with breast cancer to refer to October, the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is heavily dominated by marketing in the color pink and cute tags like “Save the tatas”. (See Komen, etc.) During the month of October 2013, I am running guest...
I know that no one ever promised life would be fair. I know there is no reason that this shouldn’t have happened to me and no reason why it did. I know that sometimes things just happen and we don’t know why. I also know that I’m fine in myself,...
Yesterday I was in enough pain to take the stronger medication for it. I was also sad and upset about several unrelated bits of bad news that I’ve received recently. I was feeling alone and needy and, truth be told, more than a little sorry for myself. I spent most...
I was listening to an audio book, a detective novel by Jeffery Deaver called XO, part of the Kathryn Dance series. The story is about a young country singer who is being stalked. This stalker is very clever, very intelligent, very skilled at not being where he might be expected to...
Will it surprise anyone that death and dying are fairly often in my thoughts? Not in a morbid way, but as an event I will soon attend, a fact of life, the next step. I’ve written several posts about it. My favorites are Living in an Undefined Space, It’s not death,...
It’s no secret that a cancer diagnosis makes people depressed and anxious. It is less known that some medicines used in the treatment of breast cancer can cause anxiety, particularly hormonal treatments.(1) It is even less well known that, in contrast to the depression, which tends to decrease over time,...
Slowly but surely, cancer is chipping away at my dignity, my autonomy, my self-image. Last week I agreed to my oncologist’s suggestion of treating my apparent depression and anxiety disorders as a quality of life issue, and accepted my GP’s prescription of an SNRI. I know that objectively that was...
I want to write a blog post today, but I don’t have a topic. I mean, it’s not like there aren’t plenty of topics floating around. I could just reach out my hand and grab one, but none of them are really calling my name. Yet I have the urge...
