Hodgkin’s lymphoma
I Am Not Your Cute Subplot: Cancer in Media
Next time, give me a cancer character who is too exhausted from their chemo to do the dishes so they take their pills with a coffee mug. Give me a cancer character whose chemo fog causes them to forget to text their roommate to get toilet paper at the store and the moment they realize it they cuss. Give me a cancer character who hates taking the dog out because every time a neighbor stops to ask them how they’re doing, even though they just spoke to each other yesterday, so why would it have changed? Give me a cancer character who is annoyed at all of the people they’ve ever known on Facebook posting on their wall about how bad they feel for them.
Read More...Picture Perfect is Overrated
I’ve realized that things are never going to be picture perfect. Some days that I thought would be not a big deal meant the world to me. And other days that I put so much into, were underwhelming. I can’t control what the outcome of anything is going to look like, and I’m learning to be okay with that.
Read More...Crocs and Socks: Bringing Hope Through Treatment
I stood in front of my dresser with the top middle drawer sitting open, filled with multicolored socks galore, pulling them out one by one. Trying to find pairs and match them, I was reorganizing for the first time in a long time.
Read More...Do The Thing, Even If You’re Not Exceptional
Do the thing. As I sit in my backyard listening to the calming music of artists like dodie and mxmtoon, I don’t know what to write. This is supposed to be my spot, my place where inspiration strikes and my writing flows.
Read More...Masking It
Recently, I’ve seen numerous people talk about how difficult it is to wear a mask. “It’s too hot.” “I can’t breathe in it.” “It makes me feel claustrophobic.” I’ve had several people ask me how I can possibly stand wearing one all day at work.
Read More...The Grief of COVID-19
One day, we will celebrate again. Together. With those we love and miss. And we will once again be able to grieve together the ones we have lost during this time of isolation. We’ll never get back these days, these memories, these times. But we continue to prove, time and time again, that nothing is lost when we have hope for better days to come.
Read More...Seven Year Cancerversary: An Isolated Celebration
Seven years. I’ve looked forward to today basically all of 2020 so far, as I do every spring. In the dreary winter and rainy spring months, March 18th is the day that I live for, and defines the first quarter of the year for me. But I’m spending it so differently from what I had planned, as I’m sure you are.
Read More...COVID-19 and Cancer Patients
Self-isolation. With COVD-19, that’s what I’m hearing from everyone now. Aldi was completely sold out of meat, and almost of veggies. Sam’s Club was sold out of rice. Everyone, of course, is sold out of toilet paper.
Read More...Reflecting on the Past
I decided to do some reflecting on some of my journal entries from a few years ago. Five years ago to be exact. Five years. That seems like an eternity ago, and just yesterday all in the same moment. Rereading this reminded me of that girl.
Read More...Tales from the Cancer Data Free Zone
I had cancer when I was 29. Hodgkis Disease, stage IIA. Had cancer. Past tense. I did my 6 cycles of ABVD, got a clean PET, pulled out the port, and went on with my life. I didn’t embrace the “survivor” label, didn’t raise money, didn’t even really talk about it. Sure, I followed up with oncology… for the most part. Truth be told I was “lost to follow up” for a few years.
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