About 30% of people diagnosed with breast cancer at any stage will develop distal metastasis. I am one.
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? *...
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...
Today isn’t really a good day, physically. I’m very tired and ache-y. It was beyond me to get up and get dressed so I spend the day in a housecoat and house shoes, not moving much more than from bed to kitchen to make some tea, over to the computer...
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...
I wrote this in June of 2013. A lot has changed since then, notably my feelings about progression. A lot has stayed the same, too. I recently reacted strongly to an episode of Call the Midwife that featured breast cancer. It made me remember this post. Have you noticed how...
Lord, I long to be with you. Is it time yet? I long to be reunited with my family who are already in your house. Is it time yet? I long for a glorified new body to replace this body of weakness and pain. Is it time yet?...
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...
Project Occupy Pinktober begins today. Throughout the month of October 2014, I am bringing guest posts from people who have been touched by metastatic breast cancer. Breast cancer is not pink and fluffy; it is a killer disease. This is not about saving breasts; it’s about saving lives. Thirty percent of everyone who...
“We all have to go sometime.” “Yes, but some of us already have our boarding pass.” That used to be my snappy comeback when healthy people tried to compare the natural end of their lives to the probability of an untimely end to mine. I stopped saying it for a...
Liza Weeks Mayeske, a young mother of two little boys, died yesterday from metastatic breast cancer. It happened so fast. On June 19th she posted this on her public Facebook page: I’m still on oxygen and bed and wheelchair ridden, but my tachycardia seems to have gotten a little better...
