I go to SCCA two, three, or four times a month to volunteer with the Patient and Family Advisory Program and Council. Those visits are often inspiring although we are often dealing with grave topics. I get to work with SCCA/UW/Fred Hutch staff and other cancer patients/survivors and caregivers on […]
When I look at these pictures of myself, the greatest change I see is dissipating fear. In the bottom right was a woman who was 6 months in remission who feared/“knew” she would die of her cancer returning. A year ago, I lived in the fear I would die a […]
On February 3, I celebrated the two year anniversary of my first day of chemotherapy. I spent the entire day celebrating, both inwardly and outwardly: Celebrating the fact that my mind was clear and not foggy from chemo and that I was able to successfully make it through a stressful […]
Life never slows down. No matter how much I plan my days, schedule time for myself, schedule work in actual “work hours”, I find my days passing before I’ve realized that I’ve experienced them. Since I last blogged, I fortunately have been lost in living a life that has been dizzyingly, blissfully […]
I had a busy start to my fall that started with my trip over Labor Day weekend to visit my family in Alabama. After getting back from visiting them, I launched into weeks of work travel, hitting new cities weekly and spending more nights in hotels than in my own […]
I can’t believe Labor Day weekend is upon us. It feels as though the past three months passed in a matter of minutes despite the fact that this summer has brought several profound experiences where I felt like time stopped altogether. The summer started off on a pretty rough note […]
On April 23, I ran my first ten miler. This race was incredibly special to me for multiple reasons. It was the Chapel Hill 10 Miler that benefitted UNC Lineberger, which I wanted to run last year but I couldn’t participate because I was in the midst of receiving chemotherapy there. This year, […]
Before I started treatment and even through the first round of chemotherapy, I expected that research and preparation would force my experience with chemotherapy to conform to known experience and plan. However, despite a lot of research and lengthy conversations with my medical team, I realized on the first day of chemotherapy […]
In the scheme of life after diagnosis, this has been a big week. April 2nd marked one year since I was declared “NED” (or “No Evidence of Disease” for all of you who are fortunately not versed in cancer-speak, and which marks the start of remission for DLBCL). It was a […]
We are a month into that period where everyone is checking their progress toward their New Year’s resolutions. On New Year’s Eve, my fitness instructor asked me if I was making a resolution. I scoffed, because with the exception of one year that I gave up fries, I do not […]
