Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women; and the second-leading cause of death after heart disease. But there is good news: WomensHealth.gov reports that lung cancer deaths in women continue to decline each year, thanks in part to federal programs to help women quit smoking …
Read More »Fear
I had an incredible dream early this morning. My dreams are typically interesting, vivid and in color but on a rare occasion I’ll experience a dream that I know I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. This particular dream was about fear. I wasn’t running from monsters, …
Read More »”Living” with Endometriosis
Before you go running for the antibacterial wipes I just want to let you know that I’m not contagious. What I have is not catching. What I’m about to relay will not travel through your computer’s innards as a deadly Trojan virus or spread through the air like an uncovered …
Read More »Strength
Strength is a powerful word. Physical strength is very obvious to the human eye. Internal strength is something different and more difficult to define. Not only is it difficult to define it is hard to determine where one finds their internal strength. It varies from person to person. When I …
Read More »Kids Interrupted – Children with Pediatric Heart Disease
I went to visit two heart kids the other day at the hospital. My mom and I make an effort to go and visit the kids and their families whenever we can because we know how much it meant to us when people would come to comfort us when we …
Read More »“Hope” by John
I had a strained relationship with hope before my wife was diagnosed with cancer. To me, hope was a high waiting for a low, a fix with a nasty flipside. Far from the precious entity exalted by legions of poets and philosophers, hope was just another coordinate on the pain/pleasure …
Read More »Finding Balance When Battling Chronic Illness
One of the hardest things for me is balance. No, I don’t mean walking a beam like some Olympic gymnast. I mean the kind of balance every woman struggles with–work, home, family, friends, and self. There are things we HAVE to do, like make sure the kitchen is clean enough …
Read More »How My Breast Cancer Diagnosis Changed Everything
The one thing I hear is the idea that having cancer changes your outlook on life. One of the first letters we received from a friend when I got my diagnosis of breast cancer contained such sentiment. We were all, not yet 40, with small children, careers, stability finally just …
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