Long time no post people. I am still here, and theoretically not cancering. Part One is about Chemo Brain, and Part Two is an update of sorts… Part 1 : Chemical Brain Remodeling So, the Brain, what is up with the brain? If I know anything it is that the cancering treatment experience resulted in…
Category: Chemotherapy
Is it time to retire my Oncologist?
Joe sent me a thought provoking article from the New Yorker on the need for incremental medicine, the kind practiced by old fashioned generalists, contrasted with the heroic medicine practiced by specialists. Which of course had me thinking about how Cancering treatments might be different if we valued the more subtle aspects of medicine as much as…
Going Platinum – Visions of Carboplatin
Platinum, the rare, the noble, the impervious to corruption. Also a toxic heavy metal when administered as the drug Carboplatin. What does it mean to go Platinum? I will answer that today, continuing the summing up of my take on the chemo drugs I took. Why would I want to do that? After all it has been over two…
Movie Review: Living Proof, the story of Herceptin
Last night we finally watched Living Proof, the Story of Herceptin which came out in 2008. The central character is based on researcher Dr. Dennis Slamon, and was played by Harry Connick Jr. in the film. The story was first captured in the 1998 book HER2, the making of Herceptin by Robert Bazell. Usually I am distracted while watching a film adaptation of…
The Teeny Tiny world within.
You are what you eat. Food is Culture. The way to a person’s heart is through the stomach. Let food be thy medicine. Food is Love. You eat first with the eyes… and on and on. Everyone eats, and we have countless adages about food that attest to this. The question is how can we eat to…
Dreams of Yew, or coming to terms with Taxotere
While reading on the blogs of some gals, who are currently going through chemo, I have been reminded of the immense respect and love I now feel for the beautiful Pacific Yew tree. These complex and gnarly trees are in a fabled family associated with mystery from way way back. Like two hundred million years…
Any way you slice it, the fiscal realities of cancering
Let me start by saying I am immensely blessed. That even though the financial consequences of my cancering extend into the foreseeable future, I get just how lucky I am. I get that the good fortune is inclusive of my financial picture. Despite the fact that my healing sabbatical led to taking on debt to cover my lost wages,…
Body Sovereignty
Tomorrow we travel to Portland to visit with both Compass Oncology for a blood draw and check up, and to Hai Shan clinic for acupuncture and a reset of my swamp tea formula. The two sides of my treatment coin at the moment. After watching the huge TTAC documentary a few weeks ago, and then…
The Questions We Ask
This post is another one from the draft drawer. It was written February 2014 about half way through my chemo treatments, but not posted at that time. The information still seems very relevant to me today, as I am still actively questioning and reframing. I read voraciously. When the bakery was getting started I read lots and…
An Over-Expression of the Heart
Every three weeks I entered the infusion room with a sharpie marker. I used it to write little messages or blessings on my IV bags. Things like ” Thank you yew tree” on the bag of Taxotere, or “Avoid the heart” on the Herceptin. The little ritual of checking to make sure it was my name…
The Happy Anniversary Conundrum.
A year ago yesterday I was given a diagnosis, and got on the Pooka’s back, thereby starting my wild transformative journey. I could not even say the word mastectomy out loud then, I had lots of fear. (I now know that some of my anxiety the week of my biopsy and diagnosis was directly related to a…
Busy Signals
I have been very busy these last few weeks. Tuesday while traveling into Portland for appointments I was thinking about time and phones. When I hold a cell phone with my left hand, and usually when I try holding one to my head, it looses reception. Full bars to zip in an instant. For…
Riding the Pooka 