Sorry, I Don't Have Time For Cancer

Tag: anxiety

  • Masking the pain of breast cancer

    This month the world is celebrating breast cancer awareness. Maybe “celebrating” isn’t the right word…as I can honestly tell you there is NOTHING about having breast cancer to celebrate! This month the world has focused on this horrific disease and bringing as much awareness and information as possible to women everywhere. One in seven women…

  • Looking to get away this summer? I don’t recommend a hospital holiday!

    Summertime, and the living is easy…unless you’re me. I was fortunate enough to get away to the cottage for some R and R. I needed it…we all do. We’ve all been in lockdown for so long that even the idea of getting away on holiday is exciting. Unfortunately, I was hit with an acute stomach…

  • Join me as I share my journey live tonight.

  • How Will You Be Remembered?

    Three days ago I lost a family member, My Aunt Gayle. She actually was my father’s first cousin, but I’ve always thought of her as my Aunt. She was a firecracker of a woman. She was as wide as she was tall, loud and full of joy. She was warm, compassionate and always ready and…

  • Incanceration; life without parole

    It was three years today that I underwent my bilateral mastectomy. Three years now served of my life sentence with cancer. Since beginning this journey, I have tried to maintain a positive attitude, always trying to remain hopeful and happy that I am “cancer free”. This however could change. I have met and know of…

  • Spring Forward…Fall Way Back

    It’s that time of year when the clocks go back an hour. It’s darker in the mornings and darker earlier at night. And for me it feels darker all the time. When I was a kid; and having just had a birthday this week, I can assure you I am no longer a kid; I…

  • I’ve grown accustom to wearing a mask

    “How are you doing?” It’s a question we ask and get asked constantly. “I’m fine.” is a typical answer, at least for me. Saying I’m “fine” is just so much easier than actually divulging how I’m really feeling. “I’m fine,” makes it easier to move on with the conversation and really, it’s such a standard…

  • I’m not chronically ill… I’m medically interesting!

    This week I had a “catch up” call with my family doctor. I haven’t seen her in months as she isn’t seeing patients in person due to Covid-19. I had to bring her up to speed on how I am feeling. She had scheduled the call for ten minutes. Let’s just say it went a…

  • Break on through to the other side…

    …The Doors hit from 1967 was blaring in the operating room as I lay down to have epidural steroid injections in my back. It was a good thing that the music was loud so it would drown out the sound of my heart beating against my chest. It’s been seven months since my last procedure.…

  • Marching to the beat of a different drum

    Its been three days since my last fluid injection into my ever growing tissue expanders. I have had three injections now of 120cc’s of fluid on both sides plus the 390cc’s that were put in at the time of my surgery. My “mounds” as I like to call them are starting to take shape. The…

  • I’ll take Breast Cancer for $1000 Alex

    Since my diagnosis April 30 I haven’t stopped reading every article, blog, book and tweet I can find about breast cancer. I never knew there were so many types of breast cancer, seven I believe. And although I am certainly no expert, I joke with my family and friends that I could go on Jeopardy…

  • If not for the kindness of strangers

    I have now joined a club I never wanted to be a member. No one does. But I will pay my dues, do my time and then drop out as quickly as possible. Actually that’s not true. Yes, I want to resign the post “I have cancer” and replace it with “I survived cancer”, but…

  • A matching pair

    A week later I was meeting with the reconstructive/plastic surgeon assigned to my team. Just so we are clear, breast reconstruction is not a boob job. Reconstruction of your breasts after mastectomy is a long process. In fact, the plastic surgeon said it will take another nine months after my mastectomy scars heal. So this…

  • My boobs are in good hands

    Waiting to meet my new surgeon was a completely different experience. There was none of the angst of waiting for a diagnosis. I knew what that was…I have breast cancer…so tell me what’s next, PLEASE. The door of the examining room opened and in came one of the most energetic, confident and enthusiastic people I’ve…

  • Juravinski, what a difference a week makes

    A week after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I had, thanks to my family doctor, an appointment at the Juravinski Cancer Centre. I had googled the hospital to find out as much as I could before my appointment. The facility, the programs and services and even the look of the place was impressive. I read…

  • April 30…excuse me…I have what ?

    I got the call on Friday to say the surgeon wants to see me. She had my biopsy report. I knew that things probably weren’t great. I was expecting to hear that I had an infection or maybe a cyst. It was now Monday. I had spent the weekend trying not to think about the…