Blog
Here you will find useful articles filled with practical information and encouragement for your cancer journey.
Lifting the Mask of Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a special type of medicine used to treat cancer. It works by interfering with the division of rapidly dividing cells in your body.
Cancer cells are one type of cells that divide rapidly, but not the only kind.
Stepping into the Unfamiliar World of Cancer
Cancer cells start out as normal cells, but something happens to their DNA and their master file is not the same as normal cells anymore. Instead, these cancer cells now have a master file that is different from the genes of normal cells.
Let me try to explain cancer a bit differently
How to Support Someone Who Has Cancer
How to Support Someone Who Has Cancer is written from a patient's point of view of how a friend can support someone who has cancer, support their family, and support their self.
Crazy Cancer Thoughts
Crazy cancer thoughts go through your mind in all phases of cancer treatments. In no particular order, here are some of the crazy cancer thoughts that occupied my mind when I was going through cancer treatments.
Where We’ve Been And Where We’re Going
Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going gives excerpts of articles we have already discussed on our cancer journey, and introduces articles that will be presented as we go farther along this unwanted journey.
An Unwanted Journey
You don’t have to have cancer to go on an unwanted cancer journey. Though it is a different kind of journey than someone who has cancer, it is a cancer journey just the same. This article tells of one person’s multiple experiences with cancer.
What Can You Tell Me About Biopsies?
Your doctor told you that you need to have a biopsy done. You’ve heard of people getting a biopsy, but you never thought you would need one. And now that you do need a biopsy, you have a lot of questions. Continue reading and I will try to answer some questions for you.
Cancer Imaging Tests
Cancer imaging tests range from x-rays, to nuclear medicine tests, to various scopes inserted into your body. This article introduces you to some of these tests and how they are used to assist your doctor in identifying if you have cancer.
Is There a Cancer Test?
So, you want to know if there is a cancer test. And if so, is there a rapid test for cancer like there is for COVID? The answer is yes, no, sort of. While there is no one rapid cancer test like there is a rapid COVID test, there are multiple ways to assess for cancer. Let's look at some now.
What is a Cancer Journey?
What is a cancer journey? A cancer journey can be a wild, life-changing experience or just a side trip on the way to the rest of your life. This article talks about a husband and wife who each had cancer. One took a short cancer trip while the other will be on a cancer journey for the rest of their life.
Ask Folks for Help These Three Ways
Going through cancer is hard for you and your entire support team. Just knowing where to turn for help when you need it can relieve your anxiety. In this article, you will learn three ways to ask for help whether you use the direct approach, the indirect approach, or you are fortunate to have such a strong support team that you don’t even need to ask for help.
What to Say to Someone Who Has Cancer
Hearing that someone you care about has cancer can be very difficult. Whether you are hearing this news unexpectedly, wanting to offer help and support to the family and patient alike, or would like to share your own cancer experience when appropriate, knowing what to say to someone who has cancer can be challenging. The information offered here is by no means a complete list of things you can say to someone who has cancer but is intended to give you advice on how to broach a cancer conversation.
Who is MAB?
“Help me, Kelly,” my mother cried out in pain. “You know what to do.”
“I know I have breast cancer,” I said to the radiologist as she entered the room with a look of doom on her face.
“I already know I have breast cancer. The biopsy is just to find out which kind of cancer it is.”
My heart stopped. Not again!
3 PRACTICAL WAYS TO SINCERELY OFFER YOUR SUPPORT
By utilizing these methods, you can seize the opportunity to help others. Learn how to sincerely offer your support here.
Tell Folks You Have Cancer These Three Ways
Tell Folks You Have Cancer These Three Ways highlights how to tell folks you have cancer using three different approaches. You can use one or all of the approaches depending on the circumstances surrounding the conversation.
The Day Cancer Turned Pink…Again
My dad had had colon cancer. My mom had had breast cancer. My grandmother-in-law had had bone cancer. And I had breast cancer.
I was just finishing the final phase of my cancer treatments and thought, at last, I could put cancer behind me.
Until that day. Until the day cancer turned pink…again.
My heart stopped. Not again!
The Day Cancer Turned Royal Blue
Besides being my dad, Phil was a giant in my eyes. When I was young and we would go into stores together, my dad always had me hold onto his index finger so I would not wander off and get lost. I didn’t hold onto his whole hand because his hand was so large that my hand would only fit around his finger. Even as I grew older, my dad loomed large in my eyes…
He looked strange to me when he lost his hair this time. Not because he was bald, but because he looked vulnerable to me for the first time in my life. My giant of a father was shrinking into a sickly-looking man.
THE DAY CANCER TURNED PINK
We went to a wig shop to buy a wig when she lost all her hair from the chemo. I had fun having her try on some outrageous wigs making her think I thought she should get one of those. She caught on to my orneriness. In the end, she got one that closely matched her usual hairstyle.
After months of treatments, she was declared cancer-free. What a relief!
Or was she?
The Day I Met Cancer in the Mirror
The radiologist came into my room with a look of dread on her face after the tests were completed. She introduced herself, but she didn’t have to tell me the diagnosis — I already knew it.
I said to her, “I already know I have breast cancer.”
The look on her face changed to relief mixed with confusion. “How do you know you have breast cancer?”
“I’ve been waiting to be told I have cancer ever since my mom died of breast cancer,” I said.
An overwhelming sense of relief came over me.