THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Related posts:

Courage

Cancer Credo

A Poetic Cancer

Acrostic Breast Cancer

To Suffer and Be Strong? Sublime!

THERE IS NO CURE FOR CANCER

I've been writing about Pinktober since I started this blog in 2011. See 2011's The Hunt for Pink October, 2012's Six-Word Memoir, 2013's Pinktober Preparedness, 2014's Sugarcoating Cancer. (For more about the Pinktober phenomenon, last October I compiled a list of posts written by my bloggy BC friends; click here for a good read to go with your coffee this morning.)

This "Pinktober 2015," I'm writing about Metastatic Breast Cancer. 

STUPID THINGS PEOPLE SAY TO CANCER PATIENTS

Nancy over at Nancy's Point recently blogged about a phenomenon that many of us have to deal with post cancer: people saying stupid stuff to us.

As Nancy points out, "There are way too many people telling patients how to feel, how to act, how to do cancer and yes, how to do survivor-ship." True, dat.

(Copyright 2015 TheBigCandMe)

And dat got me thinking. (Play along with me here.)

See if you can recall something someone said to you during (or after) your cancer treatment. A comment that struck a negative chord inside you. Maybe it was something like, "You'll feel stronger soon, and then you'll be able to put this whole event behind you." Or "You'll be back to normal in no time." Or maybe they said nothing at all. 

15 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME

Copyright 2015 TheBigCandMe.blogspot.com

Thanks to Nancy's Point, I'm tossing my sun visor into the "15 Random Facts About Me" ring. It's been too long since I've blogged, and this is exactly the push I needed. (Thanks, Nancy!)

Without further procrastination, here are 15 random facts you probably didn't know about me...

MOTHER'S DAY: IT'S COMPLICATED

I wanted to share a beautiful, personal and poignant essay that my friend Kim wrote about the many complications of motherhood. It's entitled "My Mother, Mother-In-Law, and Me: A Love Triangle" and WOW, what a great read. It's featured on Buzzfeed today...

ARE YOU A BC BLOG READER?

Do you find breast cancer blogs helpful? If so, please consider taking a brief survey by fellow breast cancer blogger Rebecca Hogue. Rebecca blogs over at BC Becky and she is studying the impact that BC blogs have on breast cancer patients, their caregivers, their friends, and their family members. 

If you or a loved one has had breast cancer...

PHOENIX, RISING

Lisa Bonchek Adams was like a phoenix, rising.

(Copyright Lisa Bonchek Adams)

She was a beacon of honesty. The transparency in her blogging was unsurpassed. 

She wrote in great detail about her life with metastatic breast cancer — the good, the bad, the ugly. She wanted — needed — to tell it like it really is. Like it really was. Like she really felt.

She didn't sugar-coat s#@%. 

She wrote bluntly, bravely, beautifully...

CAN YOU KEEP YOUR HAIR DURING CHEMO?

(Copyright 2015 TheBigCandMe)

I'm woefully behind in blogging. Six weeks into 2015 — and this is my first post.

I'm jumping in today to talk about a topic I have absolutely no experience with: Hair loss during chemo. 

Though I didn't have chemo, I feel the need to become knowledgable about a certain aspect of it. My good friend R. was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last week. She is still reeling from the diagnosis, still recovering from the (very) invasive surgery, still bereft about the thought of losing her cascading hair. 

So I did some research on Cold Caps...