pla·ce·bo (pləˈsēbō) a. A substance containing no medication and prescribed or given to reinforce a patient’s expectation to get well. b. An inactive substance or preparation used as a control in an experiment or test to determine the effectiveness of a medicinal drug. no·ce·bo (nəˈsēbō) A detrimental effect on health produced by psychological or psychosomatic…
Category: Cancering
Radiation
“There’s radiation on my windshield Paranoia in my mind and my heart is weighted down with the mistakes of my own kind.” Joanne Rand Back a few weeks ago when I was declared to be at stage 0, I decided to forgo radiation treatments. On Friday morning I received an upsetting call from the Radiation…
The Cure for Cowbirds
Yesterday on my walk with Joe, we saw one of the little yellow warblers flitting amongst the branches of a blooming scotch broom. They are so beautiful, with a quick cheerfulness and a loopy small-bird flight pattern – as if they are always skipping or dancing. We also happened upon a courtship routine of a few brown-headed…
Amazing Grace.
Today we traveled into Portland to have my post surgery follow up appointment with Dr. de LaMelena, and to have my drains removed. I got some news that makes my heart sing. The pathology report shows a Pathologically Complete Response. – which means they could find NO cancer-ing cells – in neither my removed breast tissue nor the…
Hell Yeah or No
Here is a bit of a modern proverb on how to negotiate our too busy lives by Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby!. It is only 1 minute long and definitely worth watching if you ever find yourself saying Yes to more than you can fit on your plate. http://vimeo.com/25496723 Since my diagnosis many people have offered…
Thank you for letting me know.
One thing is clear. If I am going to live the rest of my life without any of my cells reverting to the cancer-ing lifestyle, I need to transform, or perhaps to metamorphose is the better term? After I am done transmuting poisons, and healing from surgery, and recovering from any radiation treatments, my primary…
“When I grow up I want to be an Old Woman”
This last treatment seems to be a doozy. My blood counts, for red, white and platelets, were predictably at there lowest point when I went in for my last chemo treatment on the 1st. Because I am due for surgery on April 28th, Dr. Anderson scheduled a nuelesta shot for me- adding a whole new…
Moving forward
So, we actually decided against changing to the treatment plan outlined in the April Fools post – though we hear it’s working great for some (see 4/1 comments). Tuesday’s final session of chemotherapy went smoothly. Now we’re in recovery mode, and Preparation-for-Surgery mode. Iris is spending extra time horizontal, reading books pertinent to treatment. We’re planning…
Super Powers
If you believe that breast milk rocks, then you need to know about Hathor the Cow Goddess, really you need to. Many of the comics are a bit on the snarky side – so if you think babies breastfeeding in public is wrong, you probably won’t find the comic very funny. As of 1998, the…
Those who have gone before.
Today my friend Patty Adelsberger would have been 44 years old. She died from ovarian cancer in 2010, the year we turned 40, and just a few years after her beloved mother died of the same disease. I met her at the Cambell Club Student Coop in Eugene the day I moved to Oregon in September 1990….
Resiliency
Early on Dr. Allderdice had me fill out a whole page of questions, and sign it. One of the Questions was “How committed are you to your healing?” He was asking for a percentage. I said 100%. So when I feel whiny about taking 25 pills everyday, or doing hydrotherapy in the shower (which means…
Grateful
Wow. Thank you to everyone who attended last night – we were surprised to see so many venture out in the weather. What a beautiful event. Grace Episcopal is a gorgeous church, Andrew filled the sanctuary with sweet notes, and Rex held the audience spellbound with the fascinating story of Mozart. We snuck in at…
Riding the Pooka 