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The elephant in the bedroom – yeah, I talked about sex after cancer treatment

3 Aug
elephant

Illustration by Kimberly Carney / Fred Hutch News Service

Sex after cancer is complicated. You know what else is complicated? Writing about sex after cancer.

I tackled the topic last week in a two-part series for FredHutch.org. And even though it felt like I was walking around in my underpants when the stories came out (I talked a little bit about my own experience in this realm), I’m glad I covered it because it’s a big issue for cancer patients and it doesn’t get a ton of attention.

As I said in the story, cancer cuts us to our sexual quick. We lose body parts. We lose our libido. Oftentimes, we lose our sexual selves. Men struggle with impotence; women are plunged into menopause decades before they would naturally arrive; and many are left to sort it all out on their own.

Why? Because people often don’t feel comfortable talking about this stuff – not doctors, not patients, not even their partners. Sex after cancer has become the elephant in the bedroom.

Here’s a link to Part 1, which covers the sexual aftermath of cancer treatment and how surgery, chemo, radiation and hormone treatments — all those things they do to keep us alive — can cause all kinds of sexual side effects, from fatigue and body image issues to erectile dysfunction and vaginismus.

And here’s Part 2, which offers a few experts tips and tricks that we as patients can use to hack our post-treatment sex life.

As I said, it’s not easy to write about this stuff or talk about this stuff. So I’d like to give a huge shout out to two amazing patients: stage 4 anal cancer patient Michele Longabaugh and testicular cancer patient Jon Dibblee. Both were kind and courageous enough to talk about the sexual challenges they’ve faced since treatment and I can’t thank them enough for their candor and insights. Many thanks, also, to Nicki Boscia Durlester and her private breast and ovarian cancer Facebook group, Beyond the Pink Moon. It’s so important to have safe, supportive places like this where patients can bond and bare all.

Did your cancer and treatment lead to sexual side effects? Did your doctor downplay the damage or mention it at all? Let me know in the comments section. Still have more to say? Please join me and the folks at Fred Hutch  tomorrow (August 4) at 10 a.m. (Pacific) for a tweetchat on the topic. Use #ChatFredHutch to join the conversation.

tweetchat image.png

Coming to terms with your post-cancer body

7 Mar
Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch News Service

Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch News Service

Once you’re flagged as somebody who might have cancer, you’re basically strapped onto the world’s worst carnival ride.

The ride starts off slowly at first with biopsies and consultations but then once you’re diagnosed, it picks up speed. Then there are scans, MRIs, surgery appointments, oncology consults and shopping excursions to buy things you’ve never heard of like surgical camisoles. Suddenly, the Merry-Go-Round or Tilt-a-Whirl or whatever it is starts going at breakneck speed. You go through surgery, you go through chemo, you go through radiation, you do it all. You get used to this new reality, this tumultuous spinning wheel of blood draws, port infusions, belly shots of Neulasta, daily blasts of radiation. You go around and around, back and forth, up and down, over and over. You’re strong and on top of things one day; you’re addle-brained and couch-bound the next. You spend all of your time in pajamas and patient gowns. You forget how to talk to people. You forget who you are. You’re bald, boobless, beaten down and burned to a crisp. And then suddenly, you’re pushed off the Tilt-a-Whirl or Octopus or whatever it is and told to go back to your normal life. The ride is over.

The only problem is, you’re still spinning.

Ever see somebody get off a high-speed carnival ride that’s suddenly stopped short? They stagger. They lurch. They might even walk into a pole. Or do a face plant onto the sidewalk.

That’s what life after cancer treatment was like for me: a great big WTF. I couldn’t trust the ground under my feet. I couldn’t trust my own body. I couldn’t even trust the reflection staring back at me in the mirror.

I tried to capture what it was like coming back from that and coming to terms with my new body and my “new normal” in this latest essay for FredHutch.org.

Writing about post-cancer body changes – and body image — has, by far, been the hardest thing to put into words and share with others. To be honest, it feels a lot like showing up at work in your underwear. But as vulnerable as it makes me feel to put this out into the world, I think it’s important to let people know about the collateral damage of treatment. And let other cancer peeps know they are most certainly not alone.

As always, thanks for the read, people.

What if people treated other cancers like they do breast cancer?

15 Sep

I’ve been recuperating at home the last week or so, healing up after my fourth and FINAL breast reconstruction surgery (just need to “dot the i’s” and I’m done, folks – high five!). Anyway, like any good invalid, I’ve spent most of my time watching Netflix, devouring books and reading social media posts from friends, colleagues and fellow cancer buddies.

I especially liked But Doctor I Hate Pink’s recent call-to-arms, Pinktober, Metastasized, a series of blog posts that takes on a few of the more inane “awareness” campaigns that have popped up so far.

As most women with breast cancer can tell you, the month of October is a huge pink clusterfuck. There are your Boob-A-Thons, your giant bouncing boob races, your Save The Ta-Ta’s wet T-shirt contests (because women who’ve been forced to have mastectomies love nothing more than having healthy normal breasts shoved in their faces). Stores sell everything from pink clogs to pink stun guns with a fraction of the profits going towards yet more “awareness” as opposed to research which could, hello, save women’s LIVES not just their boobs. Even the NFL, which has so clearly demonstrated its love of women in recent days, gets into the act with pink cleats and pom-poms. As I mentioned, a clusterfuck.

Follow the bouncing boob. More importantly, follow the money.

Follow the bouncing boob. More importantly, follow the money.

Particularly annoying are the wrong-headed campaigns encouraging women, including survivors and metavivors (women with metastasized breast cancer who are not exactly “surviving” this crap) to post cryptic and vaguely sexual status updates on Facebook (“I like it on the floor!”), don T-shirts adorned with vapid boob-related slogans or bedazzle their bras (provided they still have them) with lace and sequins, again all in the name of breast cancer awareness.

But Doctor I Hate Pink does a great job of taking on these egregious offenders in her posts (she’s also started a cool new #mycancerisnot4sale social media campaign to fight the pink profiteering). “After five years of being truly, horribly sick, I can tell you that [breast cancer] is not a cute, fun little disease that you can play with or have a party about,” she writes. “Breast Cancer is the most trivialized disease in history … Do they have a tighty whitey decorating party for anal cancer?  Let’s put a little brown glitter around the back end of the underwear, hey? Maybe some red sequins to show one of the signs that cancer lurks in that area? Yeah, let’s tell that cancer story through decoration.”

I love her feistiness and her humor and I especially love her point. You really don’t see other cancers – lung, liver, colon, bladder, prostate, anal, cervical, ovarian, etc. – being trivialized and/or sexualized in the same way that breast cancer has been over the last decade or so (although there is a rather interesting “put your cock in a sock” testicular cancer campaign currently rampaging through the interwebs).

What would it be like if other cancers were treated in the same ridiculous and demeaning fashion that some of these PR geniuses and clueless clods treat breast cancer? Read on to find out (with sincere apologies for those going through colon and testicular cancer). My edits are in italics. The rest is verbatim. As always, looking forward to your thoughts.

NATIONAL BRA (Breast Reconstruction Awareness) DAY promotion letter 

Testicles are so much more than just “the boys” or “gonads.” They’re fabulous. They make us feel sexy, whether we’re in our best outfit, lounging around in our favorite flannel PJs, or just bare butt naked (sic). This fall, we want to spread this sensation of beauty and testicle empowerment to testicular cancer patients and survivors, as well as men nationwide.

Many men who undergo orchidectomy aren’t adequately informed about reconstruction options and reimbursement.  In order to help raise awareness of these available options, we’re celebrating National TRA Day 2014 with a grassroots social media campaign using the hashtag #WHATSUNDERHERE.

Each participant receives a pair of boxer shorts with the #WHATSUNDERHERE hashtag on the front. In addition to the shorts, each kit comes with a set of cards with fun and thought-provoking sayings, such as: “Is Cancer Free,” “Looks Great Naked,” “Will Not Take Cancer Lying Down,” among others.

NATIONAL ‘NO BRA’ DAY – Facebook post from July 2011 

Colons are Fantastic… We all think so. And what better way to express the way we feel than to support a full day of colon freedom?? Humans are magnificent creatures, and so are their colons. Let us spend the day unleashing colons from their colon zoos.

Support breast cancer? Really? Does this hideous disease really need our SUPPORT?

Support breast cancer? Really? Does this hideous disease really need our SUPPORT?

People, free your colons for 24 hours by removing those dreadful (but at times oh-so-helpful) underpants. Our poop chutes should not be hidden! It is time that the world see what we were blessed with. Your colons might be colossal, adorable, miniature, full, jiggly, fancy, sensitive, glistening, bouncy, smooth, tender, still blossoming, rosy, plump, fun, silky, Jello-like, fierce, jolly, nice, naughty, cuddly… But the most used adjectives to describe your colons on this day should be joyous, wild, and spectacular.

Everyone can participate! If you don’t want to free your colon, then your job will be to support everyone else by rocking something brown. It can be a brown tie, brown boxers, brown socks, a brown Colon Cancer Awareness Ribbon, I ♥ Colons Bracelet…. If it is brown, it supports us. (Your support means quite a lot to us…)

**If wearing underpants on this day is absolutely necessary, you can definitely show your support by wearing something brown.**

Yay for colons!

Pardon my dust …

23 Aug

under construction signJust a note to let you know this site is under construction. Not the website: me.

Since January 2013, I’ve been working with a great plastic surgeon at UW Medicine to reconstruct my girls, lost to breast cancer in April of 2011. I had high hopes that I’d be able to keep all of you up to date on my progress, but between the multiple surgeries, the creepy complications, the healing process, the physical therapy, the emotional upheaval, the fabulous new job (took a full-time writing gig at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in January) and my other much-less-fabulous job – dealing with the aftermath of breast cancer and treatment – I’ve just been too dang busy.

So instead of beating myself up about not putting up a blog post every ten minutes (or ten months, for that matter), I decided to post this electronic version of a yellow “Under Construction” sign.

My next surgery is slated for early September. Yep, just a few days away. I’ll be going through more micro fat transfer (i.e., having fat liposucked from my lower body and injected into my top, particularly Lefty, who had rads) plus swapping out my cereal bowls … er … tissue expanders for “real” implants. I’ll still need nipple construction and tattooing after that but those procedures should be a little easier. Famous last words, right? ; )

If you’re looking for a laugh, here are a couple of links to recent essays on TODAY.com.

Chemo curls: How cancer, and my new hair, helped me grow

Not your Mrs. Robinson fantasy: The brutal truth of dating after 50

And if you’re curious about what I’m doing in the new job, please feel free to check out my stories at www.fredhutch.org.

Thanks for stopping by and for your patience and support as I make my way down the long road to reconstruction. Looking forward to catching up with you all once the dust settles.

Reconstruction is not a boob job and other scary stories

31 Oct

October has been a bit of a crazy month for me. I had my second reconstruction surgery at the end of September – followed by a couple of post-op complications – so for weeks, I’ve just been trying to bootstrap my way off the couch and back to normal life. But since it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month – aka Pinktober – I’ve also been busily cranking out essays and stories about the crab monster and the various ways it messes with our lives.  

Two of those essays went live today.  The first, for TODAY.com, is about how Reconstruction After Breast Cancer Isn’t a Boob Job. Anybody who’s been down the long road to recon knows this (and how), but there are still many people who think reconstruction is something that’s done as simple day surgery in a plastic surgeon’s office. Breast cancer? No problem! Here are your new magical boobs!

For all of those people who think building new breasts is as easy as baking a cake and all my BC sisters who’ve been through hell and back just to regain what cancer stole from them, a few thoughts on the subject:

It’s been nearly a month since my last surgery and the new girls are still a little scary looking. Righty’s recovering from a post-op infection that had me in the hospital on IV antibiotics for two days. Lefty’s missing most of her nipple, a casualty of my first surgery back in May.

They’re bruised and bandaged and look a bit like they’ve been in a bar fight. But they’re mine, thanks to the wonders of breast reconstruction surgery. Or as it’s popularly known, my “free breast cancer boob job.”

I’m being sarcastic, of course. Only a fool would confuse breast reconstruction with a boob job, but sadly, there seem to be a lot of fools out there.

I should know; I used to be one of them, until a radiologist uttered those three little words that have made such a difference to so many peoples’ lives: You have cancer.

After that, everything changed, including my understanding of what women have to go through to get their girls back. And trust me, it’s not easy and it’s not quick.

Unless you’re lucky. Or Angelina Jolie.

And here’s a link to the full essay.

The second piece, written for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s website, doesn’t specifically focus on breast cancer. In fact, many of these tips could apply to anyone diagnosed with a debilitating disease. It’s on 8 Things You Shouldn’t – And Should – Say To a Cancer Patient.

As always, I’d love to hear about your experiences, either with reconstruction or cancer comments that have left you speechless. Sorry for the short post but as I said, this month is crazy.  And it’s not over yet – today’s Halloween! Take care and thanks for the read, my friends.

Oversharing is caring

11 Aug

showandtellI was standing in line to check in at the plastic surgeon’s last week when a woman tapped me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Did you write about your breast reconstruction for the University of Washington alumni magazine?”

I nodded and introduced myself and the two of us talked “shop” for a few minutes. She was fresh out of chemo and going in to consult with a plastic surgeon about recon before her double mastectomy. I was heading in to schedule my second round of fat transfer surgery but, as usual, was happy to discuss my chest with another BC buddy (and her husband, as it turned out).

I never talked about my boobs that much until I got breast cancer. Ironic, I know, since the creepy crab monster pretty much stole my boobs. What’s there to talk about, right? But since I was diagnosed, had a double mastectomy, stumbled through treatment and most recently, started down the path toward reconstruction, it seems like all I do is blather on and on about my girls.

And now, god help me, I’m not just talking about them – or writing about them – I’m baring my chest, and my soul, in new and very public ways.

Three weeks ago, I went in to see my oncologist for a quarterly check-up (blood work all came back fine, by the way) and afterward, went up to the surgeon’s office where I stripped down to show her and her colleagues the results of my first fat grafting surgery. It’s a new process and not that many doctors — or patients, for that matter — are familiar with it. I let them poke and prod and ask all kinds of questions about the science experiment I’m conducting on my chest. Not because I’m some kind of exhibitionist but because I’ve always felt knowledge is power and anything that I can do to help educate and inform other BC survivors and/or the people who treat them is worthwhile. 

I have to admit, though, the old me sort of watched in horror as one white coat after another moved in for a closer look at what I’ve come to call my “foundation” (after one round of Brava/fat transfer, I sort of look like a 10-year-old girl entering puberty). Before cancer, I would never have been so blasé about showing my boobs to a room full of strangers. Well, not unless it was Mardi Gras and I’d had more than one martini (kidding!). But after living with breast cancer for 2.5 years, I’ve grown accustomed to opening my gown to whomever happens to wander into the exam room. One of these days, I’m going to scare the bejesus out the janitor, I’m sure.

I’m not just showing off my girls in person, though. I’m also talking about them — on TV, no less. Last month, I was asked to appear on a Seattle talk show called NewDay NW, to chat about my madcap cancer adventure (still can’t use the word “journey”) with Justine Avery Sands, a 32-year-old BRCA gal, who opted for a prophylactic double mastectomy with immediate recon (otherwise known as “The Jolie”). I managed to get through the 8-minute segment without throwing up, fainting or dropping an f-bomb (TV still makes me nervous).

More importantly, I was able to get across some crucial points regarding mammograms, dense breast tissue, the importance of self-exams, and, I hope, through my attitude and demeanor, convey to others – particularly newly diagnosed sisters — that a double mastectomy does not destroy your sense of humor or your strength or your soul or your lust for life. Or your lust for anything, for that matter. Here’s a link for those interested in watching.

The intersection of cancer and self. August 2013.

The intersection of cancer and self. August 2013.

These games of show-and-tell have become part of my new normal. But sometimes I do wonder if I’m mentally ill for being so open and upfront about all my BC stuff. It certainly hasn’t done much for my dating life. I’ve had more than one enthusiastic suitor flee after discovering my high cancer profile (Google me and you’ll see what I mean). Whether they’re turned off by the cancer itself, by pics of me mid-treatment, or by my willingness to discuss the “C-word” publicly (without whispering or anything), I’ll never know.

I do know, though, that a year ago, I wasn’t able to have a conversation about my mastectomy with doctors or family members or friends without tearing up. These days, I’m talking – and even making jokes – about the whole ordeal on TV, in print and in line at the plastic surgeon’s.

I never set out to become the woman who talks about her boobs – or lack thereof — all the time. But I think I’ve been able to help others by serving up a few straightforward answers and insights (along with a healthy slice of attitude). As I mentioned in the interview, for me, sharing is caring. And also, apparently, therapeutic.

So what about you? Are you open about your breast cancer with everyone – even strangers — and if so, has it been a positive or negative (or both)? Or are you more stealth about your diagnosis and treatment? Do you think being open about BC helps you process it? Or is it just time, itself, that helps heal those wounds? Would love your thoughts. And as always, appreciate the read.

You are entering a reconstruction zone

6 Jun
Photo by Erin Lodi, Columns Magazine

Photo by Erin Lodi, Columns Magazine

It’s been a tough couple of weeks here at Recon Central. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m currently going through breast reconstruction, and contrary to the Hollywood version (i.e., a woman decides to get new breasts following her mastectomy and a half hour later is sporting a pair of perfect, perky boobs), my experience has been less than immediate. Or ideal.

Without getting too technical — or too graphic — let’s just say the body’s healing process can be excruciatingly slow, scary and gross. Especially when you’re dealing with radiated skin which is touchier than a hornet on steroids. I’m currently a month out from surgery and Lefty (my radiated breast) still looks like something you might see on The Walking Dead. But while it’s not pretty (or healthy — yet), the takeaway is that I actually have two small breasts where I only had well-developed pecs before. 

And that’s huge (the news, not the boobs).

For those who may not know, I’m doing a different kind of reon than most women (Angelina included). Instead of doing a flap procedure (i.e., where a plastic surgeon cuts a slab of tissue, muscle and blood vessels from one part of my body and sews it to my chest to make a boob) or going the tissue expander/implant route (radiation put me out of the running for that), I decided to use an external tissue expander known as the Brava coupled with fat transfer surgery.

Basically, the plastic surgeon “liposucks” fat from where you have it (goodbye saddlebags!) and injects it where you don’t (hello boobs!).

But before any of that happens, you have to prep the area with this crazy suction cup device known as the Brava. I started using the Brava – or the Barbarella, if you prefer – in early April and wore it for 10-12 hours a day for a month before going in for my first fat transfer procedure.  Wearing the Brava – or as I put it, serving time in “boob jail” — is a trip. The domes are huge and unwieldy and are about as subtle as having two roasting pans attached to your chest.

By wearing them, though, I was able to stretch the skin and promote the growth of blood vessels, both of which helped create a welcoming environment for the tiny droplets of fat my plastic surgeon injected during that first fat transfer procedure (I’ll need at least one more to get my “B-girls” back, by the way).

Not surprisingly, this cutting edge procedure piqued the interest of my editor at the University of Washington alumni magazine, Columns, who asked me to write a personal essay about my recon experience. As usual, I decided that sharing is caring (seriously, I hope this will help people understand what breast cancer and reconstruction can be like for women) and took him up on his kind offer. Here’s the top to the essay and a link to the whole piece.

As always, thanks for the read.  Also, BC buddies, if you’re willing to share your reconstruction stories, I’d love to hear them.

Reconstructing hope

It’s 10 o’clock on a Sunday night and I’m sitting on my couch watching Mad Men, a glass of red wine at my elbow. In many ways, it’s a typically tranquil spring evening — a cat on my lap, the lull of the television in the background — except for one small detail.

I’m in boob jail.

That’s the term I use to describe the two gigantic domes I’ve got strapped onto my unnaturally flat chest. Prescribed to me by my physicians at the UW Medicine Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic, where I am a patient, the Brava device, as it is officially called, involves two domes made of hard plastic with a thick gelatinous rim that sticks to your skin like bare thighs on a hot vinyl car seat.

There’s also tubing and a little motor and a blood pressure-type hand pump — all of which help you achieve the proper amount of suction. For the past three and a half weeks, I’ve spent 10-12 hours a day with this bizarre contraption suctioned onto my chest. And I have many more hours and days and weeks of boob jail ahead. Why? Because as annoying and cumbersome and claustrophobic as the device is, it — and my UW Medicine health-care team—are helping me do something rather spectacular.

They’re helping me grow new girls.

To read the full essay, click here.

Climbing back into the mouth of the beast

24 May

attack of the crab monstersFor those of you who haven’t noticed (as far as I can tell, there are about three who have),  I am the world’s worst blogger.  Or maybe I should say, the world’s most sporadic blogger.

When I was going through treatment, I blogged about the breast cancer beast a lot. Probably because treatment is pretty frigging surreal and you have to write about it and talk to other people who’ve gone through it, otherwise, you start to feel like maybe you’ve gone slightly insane. Nurses purposefully injecting you with poison? Technicians tying you up and easing you into a machine, then fleeing the room while they blast you with radiation? WTF? Who would do such a thing?

But that’s cancer and what the docs like to call cancer “treatment.” You come out of that crap and your hair starts to grow back and your strength returns and you just want to keep walking — or in my case, running — as fast and far away from Cancerworld as humanly possible. You want to forget it all and just live your life, worrying about the trivial crap you used to worry about BC (before cancer). I can’t meet any decent single men. Hrmph. I’ve got fun plans this weekend and now it’s going to rain. Waaaaaah!

You don’t want to think back to how hideous it was dealing with those drains after the double mastectomy or how your bones felt like they were being ground into powder by a giant during chemo or how horrifically ugly and dehumanized you felt every time you looked in the mirror when the doctors were finally through with you. Bald, board flat, chest burned to a crisp, I looked like a stand-in for Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Not something you want to keep on speed dial when it comes to calling up memories. I wanted to forget.  And part of forgetting for me, has been ignoring the fact that I’m supposed to be writing a breast cancer blog.

If you’ve been there, I’m sure you get it.

Also, if you’ve been there, I’m sure you understand how difficult it is to suck it up and climb back into the mouth of the beast yet again.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not experiencing a recurrence or anything like that (knock wood). Instead, I’m currently going through the joys of breast reconstruction which for me has been every bit as difficult and painful and worrisome as the original surgery and treatment. And I’m just getting started.

I’ve had one surgery so far and am still very much in recovery from that. At this point, things are a little iffy and I’m hoping to write more about my recon and what’s happening with that in days to come. And that just might happen since my doctor has advised me to forget exercise and activities and basically just lie around my apartment like a three-toed sloth doing this incredibly boring thing called healing.

What the hell, might as well fire up the blog again, right?

For the moment, I can tell you that I went with a new type of recon known as Brava / fat transfer. Here’s a link to a story I wrote about it for TODAY.com last year. This type of recon is supposed to be less invasive than traditional recon, particularly those flaps, where the plastic surgeon cuts a slab of tissue, muscle and blood vessels from your stomach or your back or your inner thigh, sews it to your chest and magically turns it into a boob. 

I knew reconstruction was serious business going in, which is why I put it off for a year and a half after treatment. I wanted to make sure my body – and particularly my left radiated breast – had healed. I boxed three times a week to stay fit – and to keep those pectoral muscles full of healthy blood flow. I ran to keep my weight down (more accurately, to keep those tamoxifen pounds from glomming on) and to keep my heart rate good and strong.

I exercised to keep the beast from catching up with me again. And to get into shape for recon surgery. But it still kicked my ass.

I had my first fat transfer procedure two weeks and two days ago (May 8) and if this is the less invasive kind of reconstruction, I don’t even want to think about what my BC sisters who’ve had flaps and tissue expanders and implants have gone through. Seriously, the next time some moron refers to breast reconstruction as a “boob job,” I’m just going to coldcock ‘em – literally, metaphorically, whatever. As soon as I get my left hook and my right cross back, that is.

Anyway, I know this post is somewhat scattered. A little weak in some places, a little angry in others. A bit purple here and quite dark there. In fact, worrisomely dark there. But it’s also a pretty accurate reflection of what’s going on with my body right now. At present, I’m on antibiotics and don’t appear to have an infection. Yet. But things are starting to go sideways which, as anyone who’s dealt with cancer can tell you, is par for the course.

I’m trying to hang in there; I’m trying to be patient. And though it’s difficult, I’m trying to remember back to what I went through two years ago – the surgery that took my girls, the chemo that took my hair and my strength, the radiation that turned me into a crispy critter – taking comfort in the fact that I made it through all of that. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the strength – or maybe just the sheer orneriness – to get through this, too.

Hope you’re all doing well. Thanks, as always, for the read. And for those who might be interested in what I’ve been working on lately, here are a couple of links to recent stories I did for nbcnews/TODAY.com on breast cancer-related topics.

Mom’s virtual cancer family helps daughter cope with loss
Like an idiot, I wrote this story one day after surgery. I do not recommend this.

Breast cancer bras a no-go for Victoria’s Secret
The latest on the push (no pun intended) for a Victoria’s Secret “survivor bra.”

Boxing, blogging and trying to ignore the breast cancer beast

30 Oct

Photo courtesy of Jim Seida / NBCNews.com

Yes, I know it’s been a while since I posted anything. I’ve had a busy summer — hiking, baking, boxing and most of all doing this thing I like to call “pretending I never had cancer.”

But summer’s over and fall is here and with it, October, the month when it’s pretty much impossible to forget your breast cancer because everywhere you look people are dressed like gigantic pink ribbons and/or talking about their battle with the beast. And I suppose I’m no different.

I wrote a series of essays last October about my BC diagnosis, my double mastectomy and what it was like to go “out there” and date while going through breast cancer treatment, to try to find love in the time of chemotherapy.

My latest essay, published today on nbcnews.com/TODAY.com, takes up where those other essays left off, delving into some of the ripples you experience after diagnosis and treatment, as you try to navigate that weird territory known as survivorship.  Here’s a snippet:

There’s nothing like having cancer to make you appreciate the little things in life — like buying shampoo, running a few miles or being able to forget the address of the hospital where you were treated.

After I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2011, I felt like I lived at that hospital. Today — a year out from treatment — it’s in the rear view mirror, along with the double mastectomy and debilitating chemo and radiation I wrote about last October on TODAY.com.

Not that there aren’t still plenty of daily reminders regarding my year of living cancerously: chemo brain, adhesion pain, hot flashes (courtesy of my new BFF tamoxifen) and, oh yes, my board-flat Olive Oyl chest.

But there have been good, uh, developments, too.

The biggest one — for me — is that I now have hair. For those of you who think baseball is slow and tedious, all I can say is try watching hair grow sometime.

I disguised my bald head with a wig from mid-June until New Year’s Eve then gratefully ditched it, along with the tape, the itchiness, and the constant fear that I’d accidentally spin the thing around backwards while swing dancing like some character on Gilligan’s Island.

Come January, I let my freak flag fly and began rocking a dark gray micro pixie.

“With the wig, I was trying to pass as a healthy, normal woman,” I joked to my friends about my super short ‘do. “Now, I’m trying to pass as French.”

You can read the full essay — and check out more pics of me boxing! — here.  As always, thanks for stopping by. And please feel free to share your story — or favorite survival tip. We’re in this together, people.

Looking for a ‘shortcut’ to bigger better boobs? Breast cancer ain’t it

9 Jul

Elisabeth Dale of TheBreastLife.com asked me to do a guest post on her blog the other day, which worked out quite well because I was in the middle of a hissy fit about something I find particularly irksome: people who think breast cancer is some kind of golden opportunity to get “bigger, better boobs.”

Here’s the start to my post and a link to the website where you can read the whole shebang:

I was talking to a breast cancer buddy the other day — one of the lucky ones who found her cancer at Stage 0 and got away with a minor lumpectomy — and was amazed and horrified at something she told me.

Apparently, while she was still learning about the staging of her disease, a handful of her friends told her they thought breast cancer was a great opportunity to improve her boobs (my friend’s always been small-breasted). As in, “You should totally do a double mastectomy and then get the boobs of your dreams.”

As someone who’s not only had a double mastectomy but is also currently researching reconstruction, I’d like to offer a little insight into this idea that breast cancer is a convenient way to “upgrade” your girls.

To read more, click here.

I got the “Now you can get bigger, better boobs!” chestnut from a few people after I was diagnosed. And have heard other BC survivors talking about people who’ve thrown that at them, as well. What about you? Have people told you how “lucky” you are to be losing your old/small/droopy breasts to cancer because now you can get bright, shiny new ones? Let me know. Maybe we can start a mob. ; )

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