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Blogging, Breast Cancer Treatment, Culture of breast cancer, Facebook, Health Activist Writer's Challenge 2013, Health Statistics, Language of Cancer, Memoir, Pink Ribbons, Social Media, television, Themes of childhood, Twitter, Van Morrison
on television, Twitter, & the truth
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful. … said Edward R. Murrow in his keynote address to the 1958 Radio-Television News Directors Association convention. Were he still alive, I imagine he could say the same of Twitter in 2013, an instrument that has become a source of truth and power for me. It is my…
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in my hands
Even when rendered illogical and unreasonable, she by raging adolescent hormones, me by the effects of Tamoxifen, we are as two peas in a pod. We have the same hands. We love dark chocolate-covered anything, ice-cream, the smell of books, toasted coconut pancakes from Cost Plus World Market and The Daily Show. We are almost the same height, and she can walk in my shoes. We know we fill the heart of a husband and father. We know anything can happen, but sometimes we forget. When she was a baby, I was one of those mothers who picked her up the moment she began to cry at night. My mother encouraged me to…
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Culture of breast cancer, Health Activist Writer's Challenge 2013, Language of Cancer, Memoir, Memoir, Poetry, Toxic Workplaces
breast cancer ice-breaker
I don’t care much for today’s WEGO Health Challenge that aks if my health condition were an animal what would it be? It reminds me of those frivolous team-building activities often employed to “break the ice” at professional retreats or new employee orientations. We’ve all been there, and I know I am not the only one who silently groans when a well-meaning facilitator announces, “We’re gonna’ start with a quick icebreaker. Go stand next to someone you don’t know. . . . ” or some version of that scenario. The ensuing game will require a level of cooperation and politeness, with us showing our best sides as we reveal little known facts about ourselves,…
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Breast Cancer Treatment, Cancer Language, Chemotherapy, Health, Health Activist Writer's Challenge 2013, Health Statistics, Language of Cancer, Mastectomy, Radiation, World Health Organization
prescribing health
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is . . . a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Living as opposed to surviving. Wholly well rather than declared NED (No Evidence of Disease), the state commonly used to describe a patient’s status after treatment. Breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Deanna Attai, explains that, “we can never truly say a patient is cured of cancer – the best we can do is say that we find no evidence of it … NED is not perfect (very few things in life are), but still a good place to be.” Day 5 of the Health Activist…
