About 30% of people diagnosed with breast cancer at any stage will develop distal metastasis. I am one.
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...
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”....
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...
On the phone with my dear friend Aliza: “I want to write a new post but I don’t have a topic.” “A good day.” “What?” “Write about a good day.” Hmm… It never occurred to me, but what a great idea! So here it is: what a good day looks like...
This is a scary topic. For some reason the thought of ocular (eye) metastasis horrifies us far beyond reason. I felt some of that when I read that a couple of the people in my metastatic breast cancer support group have eye mets, and that is why I did a...
I’ve had some scary experiences lately. * My cordless phone suddenly switched to speaker. I had no idea how it happened and could not for the life of me figure out how to switch it back until I had randomly pushed lots of buttons. * I somehow managed to delete...
It’s been a very difficult year for me. All those friends who died, first of all. In addition, the pain (I rebel at calling it “my” pain) increased and my resilience decreased to the point that in March I finally accepted narcotics for pain relief. I am glad I did,...
2014 marks my 19th Pinktober. In 1996 the “Pink Ribbon Culture” was in its’ infancy, everyone climbed on board. In addition to Walks and Runs “For the Cure” an entire cottage industry grew. Pink Ribbon pins, bracelets, and a plethora of other stuffs became available in the marketplace. Breast Cancer...
Pinktober is as alien to me as shopping malls, sporting events, politics and television. I just don’t go there, just don’t do that. I have gone to the local oncology center weekly for over a decade and come to expect the seasonal onslaught of pink promotions. But most of what...
Part I is here. I joined groups for metastatic breast cancer, overflowing with positive pink attitude, as I started to adjust to a different way of thinking, maybe it wasn’t curable, per se, but it was manageable. A chronic condition, like diabetes. I’d be fine. I could manage this. The...
