TICKLED PINK

Out of the blogosphere comes the most exciting stuff: Caroline, one of my awesome fellow BC bloggers, recently posted about a documentary entitled Pink Ribbons Inc. The film had its debut at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and opens in Canadian theaters on February 3, 2012.

That just happens to be the one-year anniversary of my bilateral mastectomy. My how time flies. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to reflect on this coincidence.

(Courtesy National Film Board of Canada)

What's cool about this movie is that it is about the very brouhaha that erupted in October among breast cancer bloggers. I am relatively new to this whole cancer dance, so I was unaware how timely our ranting and raving really was (see my post on The Hunt for Pink October here). Turns out, Anti-Pink Ribbon Fever has been brewing for a long time... long enough ago for this savvy little film to be conceived, birthed — and premiered.

Here is the trailer. See what you think. I hope it turns the tide in a sea of pink. I also hope it makes it to a theatre near you. And me!

PS For more on the origins of the pink ribbon, Think Before You Pink has an entire page devoted to its history here.

HORMONE SURVEY

Calling all Arimidex, Aromasin, Femara and Tamoxifen takers! Dr. Susan Love's Army of Women needs YOU for a short online survey.

The requirements:
1) You are female
2) You have been diagnosed with breast cancer
3) You are currently taking (or have taken in the past 12 months) Arimidex, Aromasin, Femara or Tamoxifen
4) You live in the United States

The goal of this research study (a joint project of the University of California/Los Angeles and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston) is to better understand your feelings, physical symptoms and behaviors as they relate to your taking endocrine therapy for breast cancer.

It is simple, takes little time (I completed it in 15 minutes), is anonymous, and a great way for your voice to be heard. Log on here for more information and to sign up to take the survey.

My thanks to fellow blogger (and Army of Women leader extraordinaire) AnneMarie over at chemo-brain.blogspot.com for the head's up about this survey!  ;-)

THE RUBIES

In the spirit of a new year (and inspired by my blogging pal Marie's thought-provoking queries), I want to open 2012 with a question. Anyone reading this post has either been diagnosed with cancer or knows someone who has. It doesn't matter if you are in the former or the latter group; our collective world is shattered and splintered by The Big C.

But among the fallout and the rubble of cancer come The Rubies — the people who keep us grounded, or safe, or sane, or distracted, or engaged during all the rolling ruckus.

The Rubies are there at the right time, in the right place, and we have the foresight to recognize them as the rare gems they truly are.

As a person dodging the minefield of cancer, I am fortunate to have many Rubies. And without the internet I would never have "met" the majority of them. I count among my Rubies the courageous cancer bloggers who are telling their tale with honesty and humor and bravado. They paint a deeper, fuller, more complex and truthful picture of cancer in all its crazy colors — and we all can benefit from their wisdom. I feel stronger and less alone in my struggles because of them. And so I say thank you to the women and men of the blogosphere.

I also am lucky to have Rubies in the form of a group of women I met online at BCO. We are seven in total, and range in age from 27 to 53. We all were diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 2010. Five out of seven of us had bilateral mastectomies; one had a single mastectomy; one had a lumpectomy. Three had chemotherapy; five are on Tamoxifen. No one lives near the other (though some ladies did manage to meet in 2011) and I have yet to meet these fair maidens myself, but we "talk" every day. They are my lifeline, my sanity, and my strength. And so to my six Rubies, I say thank you for always being there. I couldn't do this journey without you.

But getting back to you, dear reader: Who was/is your Ruby when you were dealing with The Big C in your life?