getting a little help to ease the way out
Few topics are as controversial as assisted suicide. It's currently illegal in Canada but recently, a Canadian woman with an irreversible debilitating illness travelled to Switzerland, where the group Dignitas provides assistance with suicide, legally.I think most of us have contemplated our own deaths. When you live with metastatic cancer, it's impossible not to do so. I'm hoping that moment for me is in the distant future, but I find the prospect of a long, lingering death from cancer to be terrifying. However, is it more terrifying than the prospect of death itself?I differentiate that from euthanasia because I think th...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 30, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: metastatic breast cancer health care cancer blog chronic illness Source Type: blogs

10 years old
Dear Daniel,Yesterday, you turned 10. In honour of this momentous event, I thought I would list just a few of the things I love about you:You cherish being funny. Your humour ranges from the brilliantly witty to jokes that have a lot to do with farts.You are sensitive and full of empathy.You are fully awake from the moment you open your eyes, every day. Sometimes, you complete the sentence at dawn that you started before you fell asleep the night before.You revel in making others smile. You take great pride in being "a nice guy."You will make up silly walks the whole way to school.Some mornings, you say "I'm awesome" or "I...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 24, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: joy good stuff my kids Source Type: blogs

ask and ye shall.
Last night, I had dinner with my good friend Sharon, who has twice been treated for breast cancer. She's well now but we got to talking about asking for help during treatment.We both had teams of people, providing all kinds of support during our health care crises. We were fed, entertained and accompanied to appointments. My kids were distracted and cared for, my dog was walked. My friends even paid to make sure that someone would come and clean my house while I was recovering from surgery.To me, feeling healthy and strong again means requiring a lot less help. I speak with my oncologist over the phone. I breeze through ec...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 18, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: breast cancer lucky brain metastasis herceptin community my friends my love fear conversations cancer blog good stuff my kids Source Type: blogs

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By Peter H Reynolds.Found via http://www.themavenofmayhem.com/.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 - April 17, 2013 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs

going to Gil's Hootenany on May Day. I plan to sing my heart out.
I have a new post up at Frivolity about how I'm going to sing my little heart out with a bunch of other people."Despite the fact that I've been told since I was young that I can't carry a tune, I love to be in the middle of a room of voices raised in song. It feels to me like being embraced. Usually, I start with mouthing the words and get braver as the event continues.This May Day, I'll sing right along with everyone else, in memory of a wonderful activist and lover of music. If you live in the Ottawa area, come join us at Gil's Hootenanny in singing "Songs of Protest and Hope" on May 1st."You can read the rest of this po...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 12, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: joy community Frivolity good stuff Source Type: blogs

book review - But Hope is Longer: Navigating the Country of Breast Cancer*
“I felt like a snake having to shed its old skin... I mourned each layer of myself as I imagined it loosening and separating from me before I sloughed it off and watched it fall to the ground: my resilient good health, my identity, my hopes for a vibrant future. The shedding of each successive layer left me even more naked, raw and vulnerable. At that point, I had no sense that there was any regeneration underway or that there would be anything to replace the parts of myself I was losing.”-Tamara Levine, ButHope is Longer: Navigating the Country of Breast Cancer.Being diagnosed with breast cancer changes you, irrevocab...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 11, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: complementary treatment breast cancer book review health care books good stuff Source Type: blogs

let's help writer David Farland and his son Ben
A couple of months ago, I subscribed to the email list of author David Farland, on the advice of a friend. I read his "Daily Kick in the Pants" almost as soon as it arrives in my inbox. The emails are short, entertaining and full of concrete and useful advice. I know I've already become a better writer because of the help he offers other writers - free of charge.Today, David Farland and his son Ben, are in need of our help. Ben is 16 years old. Last week he had a terrible longboarding accident that has left him in a coma, with very grave injuries. Medical bills are spiralling into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The ...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 10, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: kids health care community books Source Type: blogs

i fear. but perhaps a little less.
“Kindness” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out. - Roger EbertAs an atheist, I'm often come across the o...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 9, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: metastatic breast cancer community fear cancer blog good stuff Source Type: blogs

do you have lymphedema?
Do live in the Ottawa area? Do you have secondary lymphedema (as a result of any kind of cancer)?University of Ottawa professor Roanne Thomas and her team are is running a pilot of a study and are looking for participants:I've lived with truncal lymphedema since my mastectomy in 2006. Very little has been written on this subject and the advice I've found online or been given in workshops all has to do with arm lymphedema. My arm is fine but my chest and back can become very uncomfortable, to the point that it can be outright painful to wear a prosthesis. And the measures you take to prevent lymphedema in the arm can make t...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 8, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: complementary treatment breast cancer community cancer blog lymphedema Source Type: blogs

grounding
This is a treatment week and it's different every time. I get Herceptin over 90 minutes, Demerol to keep me from reacting to the Herceptin and Gravol (Dramamine in the US) to keep me from getting nauseated from the Demerol. Fun times (the actual infusion of Demerol can feel sort of fun. For a while).  Afterwards, I never know how I'm going to feel. I've had doctors express surprise that I feel lousy after getting Herceptin, yet the nurses do not. I choose to believe that it affects me intensely for the same reason I reacted so strongly - because it's a drug that works for me.Some rounds are pretty good, the last one w...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 5, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: metastatic breast cancer book review herceptin my friends my love books cancer blog writing good stuff my kids Source Type: blogs

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I had the privilege of being an early reader of this book and it's fantastic. Even if you don't live with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) there is lots of advice in this book about pain management and living with a chronic illness. Lene is a friend of mine (in the interest of full disclosure). She's funny, smart, compassionate and wise and all of this comes through in this book. It's a must read for anyone who knows anyone living with a chronic illness but an especially important book for those newly diagnosed with RA.Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis can be purchased as an ebook from Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Kobo b...
Source: Not just about cancer - April 4, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: book review community my friends books good stuff chronic illness Source Type: blogs

it's not easy be(com)ing green
"You know what would make this kale smoothie better? Get rid of the kale."-Tim, March 9, 2013"I've added flax to my green smoothie. Now, all I need is a protein.""Like a side of steak?"-conversation between Tim and me, March 10, 2013*Really unappealing but tasty, I swear.A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about meeting with Heather, a cancer coach at the new survivorship centre. Her background is as a nutritionist and I have chosen to focus on that topic with her.She's impressed on me the importance of making small SMART goals. I've chosen to focus on getting at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day for the next ...
Source: Not just about cancer - March 10, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: complementary treatment breast cancer things i do for my health community my friends my love show and tell preventing cancer cancer blog good stuff food Source Type: blogs

i suspected as much
The headline reads, "Breast cancer among young women increasing" and cites a study conducted out of the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology program at the Seattle Children's hospital.I certainly know lots of young women with breast cancer (I worked with several of them but that's a whole other story). I also know and have known lots of younger women with advanced (or metastatic) cancer - which is really what this article from the Los Angeles Times is all about.As Rebecca Johnson (herself a survivor of breast cancer at 27) and her co-authors concluded, "An increasing number of young women in the United States will present w...
Source: Not just about cancer - March 4, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: metastatic breast cancer news health care activism pissed off show and tell preventing cancer cancer blog rants Source Type: blogs

musings on frivolity
"Sometimes we need to do something not because it’s good for us or because we ought to but because it’s fun. And because it will put a smile on our face and on the faces of people around us."You can watch a great short video and read the rest of the post over at Frivolity.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 - March 2, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: joy creative community Frivolity show and tell knitting good stuff Source Type: blogs

it's all about fit
Yesterday, I met with a cancer coach at the survivorship centre. My stated goal was to improve my health and prognosis by eating well and exercising more consistently. I shouldn't have been surprised that I was matched with a nutritionist but I groaned inwardly when my coach filled me in on her background.Two years ago, I met with a nutritionist weekly for nearly a year and I learned a few things but mostly I paid a lot of money to feel bad about myself. Someone else might have really liked the woman I worked with but I found her judgmental (for example, not only did she not drink alcohol, she could not understand any...
Source: Not just about cancer - February 22, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: breast cancer things i do for my health cancer blog Source Type: blogs