June 22, 2010 My telephone vibrated in my lap. I asked my hairdresser if she could turn off the blow dryer. As I answered the call, I knew, even before the breast radiologist told me. Six previous biopsies had been benign (non-cancerous), but I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be so lucky with biopsies […]
I am girly-girl in all the traditional interpretations of that stereotype. My love of pink has carried over throughout the decades. (The owner of Nido, a Georgetown boutique, has commented that she can't look at a pink purse without thinking of me.) I don't know how I feel about people sporting pink in October in […]
I’m so close to being finished with treatment that I can taste it. My last IV is scheduled for September 14, 2011. I can get my mediport (the small, implanted device through which I receive medications) removed later that week. And, then, I’m done. DONE. Hopefully. For the past month, I’ve had this feeling that […]
Every 30 seconds, someone in the United States is diagnosed with cancer. Last year, at age 37, I was one of those people. I needed a lumpectomy to remove the two cancerous areas in my right breast, six rounds of chemotherapy and 30 sessions of radiation. I knew that treatment would be tough, but I […]
In late May, I started an oral medication, tamoxifen, to block the estrogen in my body in the hopes of preventing my cancer from returning. (Research has shown that tamoxifen is as helpful as chemotherapy in that regard.) On one full dose and four half doses over the course of five days, my body expressed […]
If a person is diagnosed with breast cancer, a doctor runs tests on the cancer cells to determine if they are: 1. Estrogen receptor positive; 2. Progesterone receptor positive; and 3. HER2/neu positive. What does that even mean? Well, for the first two, do estrogen and progesterone (hormones that naturally occur in the body) cause […]
A year ago today, I was sitting in my stylist’s chair at my hair salon, when my cell phone vibrated in my lap. I saw that it was Sibley Hospital and excused myself to answer the call. As I remember how I felt when I heard the news from my doctor that I had cancer, […]
Eleven years ago, I was in the middle of treatment for breast cancer. I was diagnosed with an aggressive strain at an early stage. I wrote a lot about cancer and how tough chemo was for me. Some called me an inspiration. Some said I used cancer to get attention for myself or my blog. […]
Twelve years ago this week, I wrote my first blog post. The topics I’ve written about have changed as my life did – from my dating debacles to sexual health to cancer to parenthood to diversity in education. And, today, I’m shifting gears again to write about something that I almost avoided posting about: Menopause. […]
10 years ago this week, I sat down at my laptop and clicked on WordPress.com. I didn’t think much about my handle and template, as I set up a blog. Within an hour, I wrote my first post about getting asked out by a younger man and pressed publish. The act of blogging was simple. […]