At 4:30 a.m. on this winter solstice during the weirdest year EVER, I turned 42. When I was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer in 2017 at the age of 38, I wondered if I would even see 40 since just getting the diagnosis felt as if death was imminent. Well, I saw 40 and then … Continue reading One More Trip Around the Sun
Weekly Round-Up
T for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me …Weekly Round-Up
Metastatic Parenthood
I count myself blessed to be surrounded by amazingly talented and resilient advocates in the MBC community. Everywhere I look, there's another advocate who saw the missing pieces of support in his/her own life or in the lives of the people around them and is seeking to address that gap. I've often said that the … Continue reading Metastatic Parenthood
One hour person
I was recently watching The Resident on Fox and one of the depictions of the patient's really resonated with me. As an aside, if you don't already follow The Resident, let me suggest you try it out. Lots of really interesting behind the scenes depictions of health care! I'm sure it's not 100% accurate; at the … Continue reading One hour person
Review of 2020 on tickingoffbreastcancer.com
Whilst 2020 has been a terrible year for everyone thanks to COVID-19, cancer has continued impact the lives of so many people. Which means that it’s …Review of 2020 on tickingoffbreastcancer.com
SABCS 2020
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) occurs every year and is the largest gathering of breast cancer researchers and clinicians in the world that I know about. I've attended the conference in person the last two years and it's overwhelming in size and content. For 2020, as with most conferences, SABCS shifted it's content … Continue reading SABCS 2020
Presentations
Even before I went to graduate school to get an actual education degree, I've spent a lot of time in my life teaching. This role was given to me early on in life as the eldest of six and continued as we were all homeschooled, most of us through middle school. While we didn't have … Continue reading Presentations
Different types of courage
I've written before about courage in the face of Adversity and how it takes a special kind of courage to keep going while living with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC). As I've been learning more about myself and my own personality, I realize that I tend to gravitate towards more concrete parts of courage … Continue reading Different types of courage
Wire Localization
Sounds a bit medieval, right? When I showed up for my pre-surgical appointment, I was told for the first time that a radiologist would be inserted wires in my breast tissue to guide the surgeon in ensuring that she cut precisely and removed both tumors and then weird space in between that looked like it … Continue reading Wire Localization
Thanksgiving 2020
I just want to say at the outset that I'm well aware of the fact that some of the history and the basis for the holiday involving the Pilgrims and the Native Americans is extremely problematic. For us, in our family, we focus on togetherness and sharing what we are thankful for. This year, I … Continue reading Thanksgiving 2020
