update on the fly
I am finally feeling like myself again. I realized that today, in fact, despite the fact that I have a cold, gifted to me by my children.Since I last wrote, I had a wonderful week in Florida. I then attended my son's Grade 6 "leaving ceremony" and had treatment.Today was spent attempting to get ready for a little family vacation. There is so much catching up to do that it seems a little silly to be going away but it will be good for us.The neurosurgeon says all is well. No heavy lifting or dyeing my hair for three months. My head still hurts enough to need Tylenol a couple of times a day. I have an MRI at the end of August...
Source: Not just about cancer - June 29, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog family good stuff joy surgery Source Type: blogs
others' eloquent voices
< span style= " font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; " > I was actually doing much better between when I blogged last time and when I went in for < a href= " https://www.cancercare.on.ca/common/pages/UserFile.aspx?fileId=58029 " target= " _blank " > CyberKnife radiation < /a > last Thursday. I was walking and eating (and had even been out for dinner once and gone to book club). I was still needing to rest a lot but I could see the improvement in every day. And that was heartening. < /span > < br / > < span style= " font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; " > < br / > < /span > < span style= " font-family: Arial,...
Source: Not just about cancer - June 8, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: activism brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog chronic illness community cyber knife good stuff metastatic radiation show and tell surgery writing Source Type: blogs
others' eloquent voices
I was actually doing much better between when I blogged last time and when I went in for CyberKnife radiation last Thursday. I was walking and eating (and had even been out for dinner once and gone to book club). I was still needing to rest a lot but I could see the improvement in every day. And that was heartening.CyberKnife was a major setback. I remember that it was last time, too (so much so that I never really wrote about it - just wanted to move on). That's just how it goes for me, I guess. I had brain swelling, headache, nausea, loss of balance, fatigue (yet little sleep) and a very odd taste in my mouth.I still do....
Source: Not just about cancer - June 8, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: activism brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog chronic illness community cyber knife good stuff metastatic radiation show and tell surgery writing Source Type: blogs
twilight zone
Week two was harder than week one. This is partly because I am more impatient and partly that I think this is what happens at week two. It's two steps forward, one step back.I had my staples out on Tuesday. And then slept for hours.I'm walking a little further every day.I still have trouble concentrating and haven't read anything. I have a writing contest to enter for the first time and I am not sure I can do it.I watched Baby Mama this week, finished Brooklyn NineNine and Midsomer Murders.My head hurts. Apparently it's quite swollen. I'm also told there are sutures inside my head, which is kind of weird.Last week I had th...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 23, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog CT scan metastatic pissed off radiation Source Type: blogs
for tim
In 1991, Tim and I, newly in love, had just moved to Toronto. Very soon after, he left on a pre-planned trip to the West Coast of the US and Canada. When we were re-united three months later (an eternity when you are 24), I had my own home, my own friends, job and way of doing things.We were still madly in love. We joined up some things but continued to lead our own lives with separate interests and friendships in addition to the ones we hold together. This is why it struck us both as so very funny when, on our wedding night in 1996, after all the madness was over, I got quite drunk on all the left-over free wine (our gues...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 18, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog chronic illness community good stuff joy my friends my love Source Type: blogs
healing
Waiting for surgeryIn the end, I was in surgery for 9 hours. It was hard but every day was a little better. And by Sunday night, I was home.7 inches of staplesDr. S doesn't shave his patients before surgery.A shiner that appears to have been caused on the inside.I have no idea why there are staples in my forehead.All three spots were biopsied and then removed. The one at the original site (that has caused the roller coaster we've been on since the summer) was necrotic tissue. So was the new one that had just appeared, not too far away. But the other one, the one nearer to the brain stem that was a bit hard to see from diff...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 16, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog CT scan cyber knife health care lucky metastatic radiation surgery Source Type: blogs
it's on
< span style= " font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; " > Tomorrow morning. I have to be & nbsp;there at 6am. Surgery scheduled for 8am (when Tim will be kicked out of the hospital and forced to go to Costco). < /span > < br / > < span style= " font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; " > < br / > < /span > < span style= " font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; " > Tim will be updating, as he has news & nbsp; < a href= " https://twitter.com/tmwayne " target= " _blank " > on Twitter < /a > (as he says, his stream will now be news of me and how much he hates the drivers at Lansdowne). Don ' t look for too much t...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 6, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog my love surgery Source Type: blogs
it's on
Tomorrow morning. I have to be there at 6am. Surgery scheduled for 8am (when Tim will be kicked out of the hospital and forced to go to Costco).Tim will be updating, as he has news on Twitter (as he says, his stream will now be news of me and how much he hates the drivers at Lansdowne). Don't look for too much too soon, as the surgery has been booked for 7 hours, so he's unlikely to have news between when he leaves me and at least 3pm or so (last time it was 9 hours. Sometimes, it takes longer and it doesn't necessarily mean anything went wrong).Tim will likely have biopsy results of all three spots once the sur...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 6, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog my love surgery Source Type: blogs
2 more days in the sun
Yesterday, I had the best massage of my life. During my appointment my phone was off. When I turned it back on, there was voice mail.My surgery was delayed for two days until Thursday, May 7.Maybe it was the massage or maybe it was the chance to have two more days to enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having but the delay didn't bother me at all. It helps to remember that not much bumps a brain tumour - whoever had surgery instead today must have needed it very badly.So today, I worked my way through my to do list, walked the dogs, puttered a bit and had a visit with an a old friend. We had a wonderful dinner, ate Di...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 6, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog good stuff health care metastatic surgery Source Type: blogs
pre-op
Some people need to gain some interpersonal skills.Yesterday, morning I had my pre-admission appointment at the hospital.First I checked in with admissions, gave them my insurance info, requested a private or semi-private room, if available and declined to rent a TV or phone (note to self: make sure to pack phone and charger and load up tablet with mindless videos).Next we went to the pre-surgery unit (not it's official name but you get the idea) where we met with a bunch more people (last time, I remember going from room to room instead of having folks come to us but my memory of the last time is extremely untrustworthy)....
Source: Not just about cancer - May 1, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: brain metastasis breast cancer cancer blog health care metastatic Source Type: blogs
winners!
The random number generator has spoken and Shari and Jo will get copies of "Getting Past the Fear. A Guide to Help you Mentally Prepare for Chemotherapy." I just need your contact info! You can send me an email by clicking on the photo of my book (Not Done Yet) in the right sidebar. Congratulations!If you are reading this post on a site other than Not Just About Cancer (besides Facebook or a feed reader), you are reading stolen content. (Source: Not just about cancer)
Source: Not just about cancer - July 8, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: book review chemotherapy good stuff show and tell Source Type: blogs
bloggers who live with mets and write about that and other things
The other day, Katherine O'Brien shared a Pinterest board called "Metastatic Breast Cancer: Stage 4 People and their Stories." I'm not on Pinterest but I clicked through and was floored by all the beautiful and interesting people from so many different walks of life. So many are so young. So many of little kids, as I did when I was first diagnosed.It got me thinking how much connections with others has mattered to me over the last 8 years. I looked back at some of my own lists. I looked at the blogrolls of others. And I realized that far too many of these amazing women are no longer with us.Today's post is not about t...
Source: Not just about cancer - June 20, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: activism breast cancer cancer blog community good stuff identity metastatic my friends pissed off show and tell writing Source Type: blogs
book review: Getting Past the Fear. A Guide to Help You Mentally Prepare for Chemotherapy
Nancy Stordahl is an outspoken breast cancer advocate. She's been through treatment herself and lived through her mother's illness and death from metastatic disease. She started her blog, Nancy's Point, when she was still in treatment and continues to write there today. Nancy is generous with her experience and supportive of others living through breast cancer. Who better, then, to write a guide to conquering the fear of chemotherapy?Not just another advice manual, Getting Past the Fear: A Guide to Help you Mentally Prepare for Chemotherapy is full of advice and personal observations. It's not a long book, only 60 pages, b...
Source: Not just about cancer - June 17, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: book review books breast cancer cancer blog chemo chemotherapy community good stuff metastatic show and tell Source Type: blogs
not just about breast cancer
Today's post is a guest post from the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. This is the first guest post ever on this blog but I wanted to share this issue and felt it would be best if someone from MCA explained the issue in their own words.Here are some facts provided by Cameron Von St. James, whose wife Heather is a mesothelioma survivor. Note that while Cameron is in the US and writes about that country, asbestos is not banned in Canada, either (Update: This is the June 16 editorial from the Globe and Mail: "Ottawa's sunny outlook on asbestos is out of step with the facts."). In fact, Canada's Mesothelioma Center says our count...
Source: Not just about cancer - June 16, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: cancer blog community preventing cancer show and tell Source Type: blogs
health care is an election issue
I heard on the radio this morning that health care has not been a key issue during this provincial election. I disagree. Maybe the media hasn't picked it up, but health care has been very much on the radar for several groups and the people who support them.The Fair Cancer Care campaign asks that everyone sign a petition and get their candidates to support access to the best chemotherapies regardless of cost or ability to pay.Cancertainty has pulled together more than 40 organizations to get the province to pay for oral chemotherapy. The majority of new chemotherapies will be oral and are not currently paid for by OHIP, as ...
Source: Not just about cancer - June 11, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: breast cancer cancer blog community health care metastatic rants show and tell Source Type: blogs
