Coping with Women's Cancers
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
“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
Thanks to the power of synchronicity, I received a Facebook message and a telephone call at almost the same time this morning from two warm and wonderful women friends who had wise words to share. Their communication methods were different, but their basic theme was the same: women facing difficult diagnoses have decision-making power and, for… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Wise Words from Warm, Wonderful Women– Getting by with a Little Help from My Friends . . . Synchronistically
If it is difficult for me at age 61 to face a diagnosis of uterine cancer and the imminent loss of my "female organs," imagine what a woman who is 40 years younger must need to cope with. I'm wishing sister blogger Emily, age 22, the very best this week as she faces her total abdominal hysterectomy--and a… Continue reading My Story – Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer: Emotional Factors–The Cancer Community & Beyond
The Patient Path 