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Patients
The stories and experiences in this category are written by people currently going through treatments for cancer. Read these stories to find inspiration and know that you are not alone in your experience with cancer.
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Cancer, You’ve Changed Me
I know last time I wrote a letter I said I would always call you by your full name but for brevity’s sake, I will call you that (or your even cooler nickname, LGLL).
Read More...What’s Your History?
Do you have a history of this? No. Do you have a history of that? No. Sorry, these are just routine questions. I must ask some more.
Read More...Done, right?
So you’re done, right? You’re back to normal! Are you going to be increasing your work hours? See, I told you you’d put this behind you!
Read More...Cancer is…
Cancer is… an uncomfortable high heel which the heel broke on, and is squeezing your baby toe
Read More...Everywhere and Always
Dear Cancer, As far as I know I’m not supposed to be stopped in the grocery store in front of all the bread, frozen in my body by a sudden wave of dread and images of sickness. I’m not supposed to be listing chemo drugs in my head as I drive or zoning out of a conversation with my neighbor wondering whether they are scared of death too.
Read More...The Plan
You lie in a hospital bed. People in and out of your room, introductions, tests, bloodwork, scans, IVs, all a blur. This wasn’t part of the plan. You repeat your speech: name, date of birth, and why you’re here to all the hospital staff who enter all day and night. This wasn’t part of the plan.
Read More...I wish someone told me
I wish someone had told me—Told me how much it would hurt. Not the blade that cleaved my skull, To extract the unwelcome guest, Nor the threads that stitched the wound shut, Or the scar, fracturing my head, Like parched and cracking earth.
Read More...Raspberry Sorbet Swirls in the Sky
I woke from the deepest sleep the doctor was above me what happened? I asked wearily you had a hysterectomy she said
Read More...The Part That Died
When I found out I could not carry a child, a hush fell inside me—not silence, but something colder. A part of me dropped dead.
Read More...The Give and Take of Cancer
Cancer is greedy, in the most ravenous and insatiable way. It has taken my energy, my routines, my sense of stability, and any sense of predictability I ever thought I had.
Read More...