Coping with Women's Cancers
Dear Readers, Thank all of you for following The Patient Path since its inception two years ago, when I began my journey with Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer. Please continue to visit throughout 2016 for more information, insights, and inspiration for becoming the most important member of your healthcare team as you embark on your own journey with gynecologic cancer and… Continue reading Happy New Year from “The Patient Path”
As I prepare to publish a special post in honor of my son’s 31st birthday tomorrow, I pause to remember his father on the first anniversary of his death on July 17, 2014. IN MEMORIAM – HONORING A VIETNAM VET On the eve of my son's 30th birthday last month, his father passed on to the… Continue reading Repost: My Son’s Father’s Story – Lung Cancer
Photo Credit: “Serenity” by Cheri Lucas Rowlands, WordPress Staff Member Mid-January already! So much to write, so much not written. But I am being patient on the path as I sort through my list and take my to-dos all the way to dones. While I gather my thoughts, I thought you would like to hear from someone who… Continue reading Serenity – Could it be yours, no matter what?
On the Monday after we turned back our clocks in 2013 (November 4), I received a phone call at 9:17 AM, about the time I am writing this post the Monday after we turned back our clocks in 2014. You tend to store certain moments as if they're in an ice-cube tray in your freezer. But time… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Turning Back the Clock and Looking at “The Fault in Our Stars”
"...have a secure foothold when facing unexpected troubles." By coincidence—or not—my book group is reading a 2001 novel by Swedish crime/thriller author Henning Mankell, who wrote the "Wallander" series of books that were the basis for the TV series shown on PBS starring Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander. However, this book, The Shadow Girls (released in… Continue reading Feeling Grounded When Your World Is Shaking
“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
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come “Ghost of the Future! . . . I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company,… Continue reading Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer & Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Scalp: Cancer No More–Lessons from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Ghost of Christmas Present Note: This post contains my final diagnosis. See Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer – My Story & More and Radiation Therapy for Uterine Cancer – My Story & More for details of my post-surgery progress and follow-up care. December 19’s post focused a little hard on the “tragedy mask” side of the life coin. The Ghost of… Continue reading Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Cancer No More–Lessons & a Final Diagnosis from the Ghost of Christmas Present
Still my favorite story of all time, A Christmas Carol was published 170 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. The Ghost of Christmas Past… Continue reading Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Cancer No More–Lessons from the Ghost of Christmas Past
Need a comfy mental place to think about my life as I prepare for the next stages of it. This seems to be a very nice one. You may not see me sitting there, but I am--and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come are right there with me. Yesterday’s post was about the details of… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Cancer No More: Emotional Reflections in Blue Places
The Patient Path 