MY LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH MY CHEMO

I compare my love/hate relationship with chemo to how I felt when I got my first hearing aid at age 6. I had to wear this ugly, awkward, square box on my chest with a cord going into my ear. My mother made a little cloth cushion and the aid was attached......

COPING WITH CANCER RELATED FATIGUE

It is early afternoon and I am enjoying lunch with my friends. We are laughing, talking and having a great time. Without warning, their voices begin to fade and I can no longer concentrate. I excuse myself politely, pay my check and drive home. I immediately fall into bed and sleep for......

THE ROLLER COASTER OF MDS

“You have Myelodysplastic Syndrome,” the oncologist told me soberly. “The average life span for your type of MDS is 104 months.” I couldn’t pronounce this rare disease, much less spell it! I stammered back that we had caught it early, so what did this mean? She explained this type of cancer didn’t......

ARTICLE ON MDS

Cancer in itself is lonely but MDS is even moiré lonely. No support groups, no navigators, no one to tell you what happened to them. It is so nebulous s- no stages The chemo is so new can cause haring loss Am on chemo forever Wish for more definition – but life......

THE MAKING OF AN ONCOLOGIST

Before I had cancer, I wondered why anyone would want to be an oncologist. My thoughts were you took care of all these really sick people who were bedridden with tubes running everywhere. You lost more patients than any other doctor. So why would anyone choose this specialty? I was naïve and......

LIVING NATURALLY

One of the benefits from a cancer diagnosis for me was a complete lifestyle change. I was fortunate to have several friends and family to help me along the way. Sometimes a patient with cancer goes into remission, other times they don’t. Even the patients who are in remission need an extra......

I WALKED IN WITH ANEMIA AND WALKED OUT WITH CANCER!!!

The moment a patient is told they have a cancer diagnosis the world stops. We remember that moment forever. It is the same sensation as remembering where we were during a terrible time in history such as Pearl Harbor, or when President Kennedy was shot, or 911. However, I didn’t learn the......

THE WONDER OF THE ONCOLOGY NURSE

One of the most under rated professions in the world is that of the nurse. The doctors are definitely at the top of the medical pyramid, but any smart doctor will acknowledge that they couldn’t administer care or cure their patients without the nurses. It is the nurses who are in the......

IS YOUR CHEMO CAUSING HEARING LOSS???

The world is getting fainter and fainter. You are missing conversations you heard before. You no longer can distinguish the words to a song on the radio. You ignore it all because you are a cancer survivor and have more important things on your mind like chemo, radiation, doctor appointments and just......

CAN A CANCER DIAGNOSIS CAUSE PTSD?

“Well – the average length of time for people to live with this type of Myelodysplastic Syndrome is 104 months.” I stared at the oncologist numbly and felt the room swim. I shut down completely while she droned on about treatments. I thought, "My wonderful and happy life is changed forever.” Once......

MY SERVICE DOG’S JOURNEY WITH MY CANCER

To my alarm, soon after I was diagnosed with the cancer, Sita began snapping at other dogs when they approached me. It happened several times and I was hysterical because this one vice could end her career as a service dog. I was driving my car with a friend who was a......

WORRY OR EMBRACE WITH CANCER: IT’S MY CHOICE

The doctor said expressionless, “Well you need to know that the average life span for this type of cancer is 104 months.” I shut down totally and felt the room spin. I left the office devastated. I had walked into this office a few days ago with anemia and came back out......