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…
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…
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…
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…
I have needed to go to the DMV for a while. I want to apply for my California driver’s license, but also want to get a California ID, in case I cannot get the driving test in a timely fashion. Yesterday at my oncologist appointment, I asked about getting a disabled parking permit (which allows us…
Today was my second round of chemo. It was actually much less traumatic than I expected it to be. It really helped that someone in the BC Connections Facebook group commented that her second round went a lot better than the first – so rather than hearing horror stories about the second round, I am…
I have been thinking about neuropathy a bit lately – in part because several strong women in my support groups have been having neuropathy – specifically with the Taxol chemo. I’m currently on AC chemo, but when that is finished, I do 12 weeks of taxol. Neuropathy is one of the potential side effects. It…
I’ve always been highly aware of my body. I know when it needs iron, I know when it needs food, I know when it needs electrolytes. At least I used to. Now, I’m finding that not all my normal cues are there – so I don’t know what my body needs. I find myself tired in…
I’m finding that my days are rather variable. If you ask me mid-day if it is a good day, I will likely have a different option than in the morning or in the evening. Sunday is a good example. I woke up early, unable to sleep. I wrote a blog post, but then I found…
My breast cancer pet peeve of the day is the word “lump” … cause, well, it doesn’t FEEL like a lump! The word lump actually is misleading and causes too many women to NOT get something checked out. It is part of why I waited a week (fortunately, I only waited a week). So, first…
