I grew up as an abused child of divorce in a big-blended, sometimes Catholic practicing family, during the late 90s and early 2000s. My education on love, dating, and marriage was unique and quite lacking. My life was spent trying to appease my abusers and anticipating their needs. I was obsessed with finding a life […]
Being a nurse, my job is to help facilitate solving an “unknown.” Let’s say a student shows up in my school health office feeling unwell. I have to find out their symptoms, take their vitals, and get a history. I get a picture of what’s wrong, try to determine what it is, and then make […]
A newish, but dear non-cancer friend (aka “muggle”) said to me once when I was lamenting on getting more involved in the cancer community, “You kind of let cancer become your whole personality.” I highly doubt she remembers telling me that—it’s most likely not verbatim what she said. I have no idea if she knows […]
I don’t recognize myself after the mastectomy. I’m saying “the” instead of “my,” because this week a respected mentor said don’t say “my”. It implies ownership and makes cancer a character trait. You don’t own the cancer. It’s not who you are. You aren’t the cancer, or in this case, the procedure. It’s just something […]
Monday was a busy day of appointments. It started with an ultrasound to check on my ovaries. Part of being BRCA2 positive means I am at an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Because of this, when I get my mastectomy I will also have my ovaries removed to negate that risk. To be able to […]