I Don't Care if People Know About My Cancer History
I used to hide the fact that I had cancer. There are people who knew me for decades before I told them about my thyroid cancer diagnosis. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I was a bit more open about it but I still kept it private to an extent.I think I cared more about it when I was working full time. I didn ' t want any potential employer to know that I had cancer because, even though people are not supposed to discriminate they do. If you are looking at two potential employees who have the same credentials, the one with a history of cancer will probably not be selected because they might ' get sick again ' . This ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 31, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer cancer history thyroid cancer Source Type: blogs
Devices
Where does the time go? I was looking at my calendaryesterday a few weeks back and I had so many plans for January. Now I have to shift all those plans to February. Or the rest of the basement and the dining room will never get painted.The biggest plans for this week are for devices:First I am getting a CPAP machine today. I am not looking forward to it. I have no idea if I will be able to sleep with something on my face. But if it makes me sleep better I am happy. Sleeping better can help you lose weight and feel rested. I would be happy with either result. I get the machine today and have to pay a total of about $200 ove...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 30, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: lack of sleep medical devices pain relief technology Source Type: blogs
A Conversation
I had a conversation with myself last night, with a few insights from my husband. Let me say I was very tired yesterday. I didn ' t get through my whole workout and my husband cooked dinner.After dinner, I made a mistake. I should have gone to bed and not sat down to watch TV by myself. This was the conversation:Me:I ' ll just watch a little more TV and then go to bed.Husband:Don ' t fall asleep in the living room (or you will be cranky tomorrow because your back will hurt.Me:Of course not. I ' ll be there soon.My inner self: Of course I ' ll be there in a few minutes but I need to get comfy for a bit.30 minutes later:Husb...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 28, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: humor lack of sleep television Source Type: blogs
More Breast Cancer Treatment Side Effects
What good is a treatment if it could kill you in the end? A new study (because we all need more research) shows thatmore than half of breast cancer patients have severe or very severe side effects after treatment, especially after chemotherapy." Overall, 45 percent of participants reported severe or very severe forms of at least one of these side effects. When women got chemotherapy, the odds of severe side effects were twice as high, though the side effects were just 30 percent more likely when chemo was paired with radiation.“We did know that some of these side effects were associated with these treatments, but we did ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 27, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment side effects Source Type: blogs
I See Potential
I finally met with my new pain management doctor. I liked him. He actually read my whole file (or at least the most recent relevant parts - the entire thing is probably close to the size of the complete Proust) before seeing me. Then he listened to what I had to say. Asked questions. Appreciated my seriousness - I was actually taking notes - and that I go to the gym. I think I am happyHe did tweak some medications but asked me what I thought about it instead of just saying ' up that dose ' or ' here ' s more pills ' . I am going to have injections in my back in a couple of weeks and follow up after that.There is such a dif...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 26, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: appreciation doctors happy uncertainty with doctors Source Type: blogs
News I Didn't Want To Hear or Dumb A$$ Cancer Cells
This isn ' t political news but it is really news that I didn ' t want to hear. Tamoxifen and AIs (Aromatase Inhibitors - Femara, Aromasin, etc) work by cutting off the supply of estrogen which feeds cancer cells. However thenew research (because we need new research forever) shows that cancer cells can evolve to develop their own food supply if it is cut off by the treatment." Approximately 70% of breast cancers are estrogen receptor positive which means they feed on the hormone estrogen. Breast cancer drugs such as tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitors work by limiting access to estrogen thereby starving the cancer...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer bonds breast cancer treatment Source Type: blogs
Coping
Because I had an awful cold over the holidays , we postponed Christmas. It was yesterday for our family. It meant a ton of cooking, houseguests, and a big family meal with three generations. It was nice. But I am exhausted. We have enough leftovers for a week. That means I don ' t have to cook all week. And can nap. Daily. I am exhausted (did I say that already?)Friday at the gym I was seated on the stepper next to one of the local ' characters ' who reminded me that we need to treasure those family events because not everyone will be there forever and we need to appreciate them why they are here.Yesterday I en...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 22, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer bonds coping death family friends Source Type: blogs
Blogging at the Gym
Im at the gym,blogging during cardiovascular. My laptop is having another momentary lapse after downloading Windows 10 updates. The guy at the computer repair place says it might be hardware. I disagree and am thinking in the old days I would have booted from a floppy and recovered. But since floppies are now obsolete, I can ' t use that option. So I am stuck with my tablet and can ' t access my non-backed up files on my laptop.In addition to my computer issues, it ' s been one hell of a week. Basically I had an unexpected cancer freak out for delusions in my brain but am fine. It looks meant four doctor appoint...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 20, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer hoax family gym holidays Source Type: blogs
Friends
We all have our best friends, our close friends, our coffee pals, our nod across the street friends, and our sort of friends. Then us special people have our cancer friends.I have two best friends, one from college who has lived 1000 miles away for the last 20+ years. We get together as often as we can, to cause trouble until about 9pm when we get tired and go to bed early. My other best friend lives about half an hour away. We can ' t get together to often because she has a big career and child and her husband works long hours as well. We do get together for lunch and shopping as much as we can. Both of them are the ones ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer bonds friends Source Type: blogs
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
I found thispicture andarticle and then learned about the organizationWorldwide Breast Cancer today. (I thought I knew about all breast cancer organizations, but obviously I am not as smart as I thought.)It ' s not a new concept but it uses a dozen lemons to show what breast cancer can look like. Who knew it could be so easy to show women what to look for instead of thee vague ' something different ' . This started 15 years ago and has been translated in 70 languages. And if you go deeper into their site you can see more in depth explanations. (Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog)
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 17, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer cancer diagnosis Source Type: blogs
I Took A Day Off
My husband has a long weekend so yesterday we took a day off. Together to just hang out and relax. It was nice.We drove up to the ocean. It was high tide , windy, and cold. But we walked a little on the beach. I made a big mistake and turned my back on the ocean . (NEVER turn your back on the ocean.) A wave came up behind me and I got sea water and sand in my shoes. Not a good idea. But then my husband got the bright idea to put my socks on the dashboard in the sun. And I turned on the defroster and dried my socks. And dumped the sand out of my shoes.Then we did a little shopping, had an unhealthy late lunch with vie...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 16, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: having fun husband relaxed Source Type: blogs
Bad Dreams
(Subtitle: How to drive yourselfinsane crazy.)Life on a medical roller coaster sucks. As a potentially sane person you do your best to tamp down any part of those ' what if ' fears during the day time. This is a big part of learning to cope with a crappy medical diagnosis, especially a cancer one.But then comes night time. You are trying to sleep and you dream about ' bad things ' . All those evil little ' what ifs ' come lurking into your head. Then you can ' t sleep. Then you are cranky because you are tired. And you can ' t control your brain because you didn ' t get enough rest. (Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog)
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: crazy dreams lack of sleep Source Type: blogs
Health Insurance
I am very concerned about the potential changes in the national health insurance program that is in place. In principle I like the idea of national health insurance so that patient ' s are not victims of their health insurance company or are tied to jobs they hate just to keep their health insurance.I also like the idea of no pre-existing condition clauses, young adults can stay on their parents insurance longer, and no lifetime insurance caps. And I want all of these items to stay. I also want every American to be able to get health insurance if they want.I would like to see changes that help reduce costs of insurance and...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 13, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient changes health insurance Source Type: blogs
Facing Anniversaries
So I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of May 2007 which means I am almost at my ten year mark. When I was diagnosed I hopped online for a lot of emotional support where I met a bunch of great people who really helped me learn, cope and adapt to this new phase in my life.I got online immediately (probably within a week of my diagnosis) and met so many people who were already through most of treatment and were diagnoses up to a year or two before me. Now I am still in touch with them and watch them celebrate ten years out from their breast cancer diagnosis. I am happy for them but I am not sure how I feel about me...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 12, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: anniversary breast cancer bonds Source Type: blogs
More Confusion
So a recent study shows that one third of all breast cancer diagnoses that are treated unnecessarily. I find this statistic a bit appalling.First of all, we are all aware of the issues of over treatment for breast cancer and other ailments. Technology is advanced to the point that it can find little teeny tiny things that may or may not turn out to be nasty. Second of all, the standard these days is to treat all these potentially bad things as bad things because there is no way to know which are good and which are bad.And that is my point. Since we don ' t know which ones are bad (i.e. potentially fatal) or not going to do...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - January 10, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient breast cancer treatment cancer research confusion over treatment Source Type: blogs
