Last November I was contacted by a journalism student attending Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She was working on a paper about BRCA gene mutation testing, the monopolies held by two genetic testing companies and the recent controversial rulings on patents. She also wanted to include some thoughts and insights from a person directly influenced …
Breast cancer
This past week I learned something about my new identity as a breast cancer survivor/blogger that I was not entirely prepared for. I found out how much I genuinely care about the new friendships I have formulated over the past few months with other survivors/bloggers. As I mentioned in an earlier post, A Thank You, one of the very …
Last week I had my first follow-up appointment with my oncologist. A weird way to look at it is if I’m really lucky, it will be the first of many. While I did experience familiar nervous moments of apprehension and anxiety before entering the now all too familiar hospital/clinic, I was struck by how calm …
Elizabeth Edwards — my connection. Do you ever wonder why we connect with famous people who have cancer? I was stopped in my tracks when it was announced further treatment for Elizabeth Edwards was deemed unproductive. It’s interesting how such decisions are put into words as gently as possible. Those words really meant time was …
After a cancer diagnosis, then what? When you first receive a cancer diagnosis, you likely feel overwhelmed by the number of appointments you suddenly need to schedule and show up at, the questions you have with no certain answers, what your treatment course might be like and the general feeling of loss of control over …