Coping with Women's Cancers
Illuminating Enlightening Women about Uterine Cancer Central New Jersey-Area Residents: Please join me on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at 2:00 PM at the Hunterdon County Library Headquarters (Route 12) in Flemington for a conversation about uterine (endometrial) cancer—the 4th most common cancer in US women and the most common gynecologic cancer. (Registration information appears below.) Although… Continue reading Enlightening Women about Uterine Cancer: A Live Conversation
Still Life: Basket of Peaches by Raphaelle, Peale, 1816 Display Peach for Uterine Cancer Yesterday, June 14, 2016, I saw my regular gynecologist at the 30-month mark post-hysterectomy for uterine (endometrial) cancer. I thought the “no-Pap policy” discussion had been lain to rest . . . but not quite. You Can Say Anything If You Smile Since… Continue reading My Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer Story: Two-and-a-Half-Year Checkup–Pap or No Pap?
Image: Micrograph of a Pap Stain Update: As noted in the March 5, 2015 post, since my hysterectomy for uterine cancer (endometrial adenocarcinoma) on December 13, 2013,* I have had five Pap tests, all but one of which were normal. It was that pesky first test done last summer because of ongoing vaginal discharge, which… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Pap-Free at Last
Still my favorite story of all time, A Christmas Carol was published 171 years ago, on December 19, 1843. Click the book to view the only existing manuscript version of the novella. See it in person at the (J. Pierpont) Morgan Library & Museum in New York. Do take a look—it’s a treasure. On that same date last… Continue reading Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Post Christmas 2014 Reflections on “Christmases Yet to Come”
A beautiful bowl of summer cherries . . . Yesterday, as I was preparing to leave the house to visit my friend Pat R. for lunch, I saw that I had missed a call on my cell phone while I was upstairs getting ready. An assistant from my gynecologic oncologist’s office had called, something that… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: A Surprise Bowl of Summer Cherries
Photo Copyright 2003, Nelson Soucasaux In the July 10, 2014 post, I explained why I underwent a colposcopy and biopsy on July 9. It took two weeks minus one day to get the results, which I received by way of a phone call from an assistant in the doctor's office at noon today. I don’t know why it… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Biopsy & Re-reviewed Pap Results
Balanced decisions require weighing all factors. Don't get caught with your scales tipped. The answer is YES if you are getting radiation therapy for uterine (endometrial) cancer, breast cancer, or any other cancer. Once you make the decision to undergo this treatment, don't give up partway through—persevere until you have received the full dose. See the… Continue reading Do you always have to do what the doctor says? Part 1: When the answer is YES
“I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to [me] what it concedes to the butterflies!” Charles Dickens, Bleak House. If you’re not familiar with Bleak House, which is one of the most complex—and one of the most rewarding—of Dickens’ novels, perhaps you've heard this quotation in Butterflies Are Free, a 1972 film (based… Continue reading Illness Is Not Identity: Butterflies Are Free
Final lessons from a pretty, but fragile, aqua bulb lamp. The Patient Path . . . Yields Illumination Last weekend, I got the call from Pier 1 that my “new new” lamp was finally in. I had broken the “old new” lamp 10 days before while making the purchase and had… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: You Can’t Unbreak Glass…but the Fragments Can Be Contained-Update
Lessons from a pretty, but fragile, aqua bulb lamp. This story was updated on March 19, 2014. Shattered Glass & Fragmented Spirits Part of my personal treatment plan is to sort through all of my possessions—mounds of them, many of them paper records and memorabilia—and consolidate and clear out as much as possible. This is… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: You Can’t Unbreak Glass…but the Fragments Can Be Contained
The Patient Path 