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A stick in the foot
Read more: A stick in the footI follow the nurse into the infusion treatment area (ITA). There is a familiarity to it, and yet it is new to me. I reflect on how nice this ITA is. This is the ITA that I chose not to use when I did my treatment. Not because of the niceness. I knew that the…
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Incidental findings
Read more: Incidental findingsThursday, September 8th My eyes quickly scan over the MRI results. The summary diagnosis states “Neural foraminal stenosis”, I flip through the page reading further. “Broad disc bulges” stands out. I flip through to the second set of MRI findings. My eyes fixate on the word “T2-hyperintense area … lesion” In addition “there is a…
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Book launch: Agony and Absurdity: Adventures in Cancerland: An Anthology
Read more: Book launch: Agony and Absurdity: Adventures in Cancerland: An AnthologyTomorrow (Wednesday) at about 7:30pm Pacific I’ll be reading my chapter, titled “Window Shopping” for the launch of the latest Bay Area Young Survivors (BAYS) anthology titled: Agony and Absurdity: Adventures in Cancerland: An Anthology. I hope to have my reading periscoped – and if we manage that I’ll put the link in here. If you…
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Allan R Hogue – July 7, 1949-Aug 21, 2016
Read more: Allan R Hogue – July 7, 1949-Aug 21, 2016Yesterday at 4:30pm my father took his last breath. He died peacefully surrounded by many friends and family. I’m so glad that so many people got to see him, as he was afraid of being alone. We got the news just after we landed in Buffalo. Somehow, I already knew it. I had felt it.…
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An embargo on doctors appointments
Read more: An embargo on doctors appointmentsIt occurred to me yesterday, that I was able to take a two week vacation from any sort of doctors appointment by physically going on vacation. Then I thought, why not create windows of doctor appointment embargo even when I’m staying at home? I figure I might as well try it. It might help with…
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You are being selfish
Read more: You are being selfishYou are being selfish, I tell myself. Her death isn’t about you, it is about her. And yet my mind keeps bringing my thoughts back to comparisons – comparisons of her cancer to mine. I need mine to be different in some way, so that I can stand on the hope that mine won’t come…
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Tears of fear
Read more: Tears of fearI scan over the document that she hands me, and immediately my eyes fixate on one word malignant. An uncontrollable wave of emotion hits me. Tears start streaming from my eyes. Just at that moment, the ultrasound tech opens the door to the waiting room and calls my name. She introduces herself but I totally…
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More things they don’t tell you
Read more: More things they don’t tell youI’ve been thinking a lot about the things they don’t tell you, thanks to Caroline’s blog post. I think about where I am today and wonder. One thing they tell you is that if you have a double mastectomy, you won’t need to screening every 6 months – so no more mammograms. What they don’t…
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What if patients made the recommendations?
Read more: What if patients made the recommendations?I was reading through Caroline’s post about What I wish I had known before treatment. She mentions an article about recommendations from breast surgeons regarding prophylactic mastectomy. There is concern that more patients are opting for them, even though there is no oncological benefit (article is here – if you want a copy and don’t…
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Quality of life #patientchat
Read more: Quality of life #patientchatI stumbled onto #patientchat on twitter yesterday where the conversation was around quality of life. My first reflection was that it was something I didn’t really think about – quality of life wasn’t on my radar before cancer. T1 I didn't really understand quality of life until cancer treatment … now I think about it…
