Crowdsourcing Cancer

May flowers

Pam — Tue, 03 May 2016 06:35:47 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text If April showers bring May flowers what do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims (Laugh track plays) Thanks folks you’re too kind I’ll be here all night. Corny jokes aside, this May I really am planting seeds and watching things bloom. First on the list […]

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Parties weren’t meant to last

Pam — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 22:40:55 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text I am a known Prince super fan. Within hours of his passing last week I received half a dozen calls and texts from friends and family to see if I was OK. I was not unaffected by the news of Prince’s death, […]

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Less is More

Pam — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 02:12:40 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text I had almost everything I needed and wanted. Or at least that’s what I believed before I was diagnosed. From my current perspective I can see the word “almost” in that sentence was a self imposed barrier to actually having it all, which is […]

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Witness

Pam — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 22:04:38 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text It occurs to me that a lot of my writing about cancer takes me to my experience with epilepsy as child. I didn’t have support groups, social workers, or websites to turn to for guidance back then so I journaled and wrote […]

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Post Postponed

Pam — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 21:28:04 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text April is National Poetry Month. I thought this month it would fun to share some of the poetry I wrote in the past. It surprises me how relevant some of the poems I wrote way before my diagnosis are to my cancer journey. I guess […]

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Putting Cancer on Notice

Pam — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 21:19:45 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text I shudder at “shoulds.” “You should do this” Or “you shouldn’t do that” are often tinged with moral absolutism, a premise that I began to question when I had my first seizure at 10 years old. If good behavior “should” yield […]

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When Life Gives Lemons

Pam — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 16:55:31 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text I’ve said before that I was alone when I found out that I had cancer. But in a manner of speaking no one who faces cancer does so alone. Having cancer sets us apart from the rest of the world at […]

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Breakfast Breakdown: Anemia

Pam — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 20:36:24 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text As a cowboy might say, chemotherapy was not my first rodeo. I grew up with epilepsy. My neurologist prescribed a number of toxic medications, many with long lists of side effects. At eleven years old I suffered from severe drowsiness as a result […]

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Facetime: A Cleansing Facial Massage

Pam — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 09:07:48 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text in two parts. Part one of the audio appears below the introductory post. Part two appears below the section titled How To Give A Cleansing Massage. She caught my eye when she walked into the infusion center. She had brown skin, […]

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A Buddy System for Courage

Pam — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 13:09:53 +0000

If you prefer listening to reading an audio version is available below the text. When my oncologist suggested chemotherapy I panicked. The word chemotherapy played like a movie in my mind fast-forwarding then stopping on scenes of frailty, vomiting, total loss of appetite, and incapacitation. As I began treatments I still had visions of potential pain […]

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