BC Becky

Never Thought I’d Want to be a Breast Cancer Survivor

New Home Page

  • My improved body image

    I find it interesting that ever since my diagnosis, I have found that I have an improved body image. Sure I am carrying a few more pounds than I would like, but I am proud of the way my body looks. I rocked the buzz cut! Now with my hair patchy and falling out, I…

  • The transformative power of a bike ride

    One of the hardest things I’ve done lately, was to get out of bed after my afternoon nap, and get on my bike. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the energy for it – I did. I’m in a strong phase right now. It was that I was sad. And not the type of sad…

  • Moving forward

    I now have a surgery date – December 17th. It isn’t exactly the date I wanted, but it is something that I can work with. With that in place, I can now start to move forward with my life. Over the last week I have started to move beyond my diagnosis. My life is becoming…

  • Every day a new side effect

    Chemo has many side effects, so many, that they don’t tell you about them. What happens is, when you have a symptom, you contact your oncologist (or the oncologist on call) to see whether or not it is something you should worry about. There are so many side effects, many of which are rare or…

  • Bilateral Mastectomies

    A friend sent me an email with a recent article in the New York Times about the prevalence of bilateral mastectomies entitled “The Wrong Approach to Breast Cancer“. I read the article with much interest but also much distain. There are several issues that are not addressed in the article, but it also highlights some…

  • What does it mean to be a survivor? … I am a warrior!

    Today I found myself seeking out definitions of cancer survivor. In my context, I don’t know what it means to be a survivor. I certainly am a cancer warrior – I’m in treatment, I am living each day – but what does it mean to survive? Some definitions involve the time after treatment, when you…

  • Cumulative effects

    Yesterday, I was reminded of the cumulative effects of chemotherapy. I was remembering day four from last cycle, and thought that I would just bounce back after day three – unfortunately, the bouncing back didn’t happened quite as much as I’d hoped. I actually ended up overdoing it a bit yesterday (oops). I now have on…

  • Early morning walks

    One advantage to being wide awake at 5am is the ability to go out for a walk before the sun rises. Early morning walks mean I don’t need to cover my head or arms – I can walk and enjoy the feel of the light breeze against my skin. This morning, I walked with Scott…

  • Recommended reading

    Kelley Doyle Philbin writes an elegant post entitled “EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW IN LIFE I LEARNED WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER!” that I highly recommend. I found a lot of her words resonated – both with my experience and with the experiences that others have shared with me during various support groups…

  • Day 3 is just plain hard

    Today is day 3 and it is a hard day. It was a hard day last cycle too. I am thankful that there will only be two more cycles of AC and that means only two more day threes. Why is day three so hard? The neulasta pains are crazy. It isn’t a new kind…

  • Breast cancer, chemotherapy, and sexuality

    A question that comes up on various breast cancer online communities relates to sex and breast cancer – and more specifically sex and chemotherapy. I have been fortunate, in that several years ago, both my husband and I were trained as Adult Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality educators. I have also been trained to lead…

  • Seriousness is sinking in

    I’m starting to shed my hair. I noticed at first when I use the toilet, and then again when I dried my hair after the shower – seeing enough bits of hair in the towel that I had to throw it in the wash! At Wednesday’s oncologist appointment, when I asked about surgery timing, specifying…

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