Category: Mental Health
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I can see CLEARly now
Another scan and another clean report! The moment the nurse or doctor steps into the room doesn’t get any less tense. If it’s anything more than a “Hello, how are you doing?” I am practically passed out on the floor. Most brain cells (the ones that chemo didn’t kill off) shut down and nothing coherent…
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But Maybe This Seems a Little Too Routine Now?
My scan from April 7th was good and clear! No evidence of disease. Nothing to note. Grateful, thankful, blessed. I was pretty relaxed this time around, all things considered. God has been so good to me. And the more time that passes, the “easier” it gets. BUT, there’s always the IF. In fact, I felt…
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The Good News Bearer
I am less than a week out from another surveillance scan. The first one since I was “upgraded” to getting one every four months, instead of three. The extended time period has been nice, but the scanxiety seems a little worse this go-around. There was something reassuring about going more frequently. On the other hand,…
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Things I’m Still Struggling With
For friends who have seen my social media recently, everything may look pretty good. We had a wonderful weekend in New York City and celebrated a friend’s birthday in Sarasota/Longboat Key. In general, life is going really well on this side of cancer and I’m incredibly thankful. But there are a few things that I…
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I’m Fine. Everything’s Fine.
I think I shook myself up after the chemo post (and that wasn’t even the half of it – ug). Since that post I haven’t felt completely fine. A bit of stress has been hitting from all angles and I have another 3 month scan coming up this Friday (August 5, 2022). When I do…
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Nothing Short of a Living Hell
I started a post about my chemo treatment. I want to share the ins and outs and ups and downs of it, and I want to provide more detail and emotion than what I may have written on Caringbridge. So I started writing the post and going back and researching the names of the drugs…
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PTSD Awareness
I don’t believe notifications were sent out about my last post (it has a few more details about our recent trip to Utah and Grand Canyon). But you can view it here! Today (June 27, 2022) is PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) Awareness Day. There’s a day for everything now. Donuts, llamas, sunglasses, flipping a coin…
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Things You Should Say to a Cancer Patient
I previously wrote a short list of things you probably shouldn’t say to someone diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, there’s a flip-side of things that cancer patients want to hear – need to hear. The following list contains words that I could never get enough of during treatment. “I’m praying for you.” I believe that no…
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Things You May Not Want to Say to a Cancer Patient
At first, I was going to title this “Absolutely Do Not Say These Things to a Cancer Patient.” But in reality, some of these things are hard not to say to someone in a difficult situation. We will never know exactly how another feels and we don’t know for sure how they will respond to…