Living

Cancer never leaves you. I know, you’re like, “uhh, no duh Dan, why don’t you just tell us the sky is blue.” Well, smartypants, the sky isn’t actually blue, but...

Through self-care, we pay attention to our needs, strengthen ourselves, and build resilience. A study by Yale University in 2011 reported that benefits include improved quality of life, better treatment...

A couple of years ago, I took a road trip with my nephew and my dog, Gracie. We explored Flagstaff, Arizona, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, Moab, and visited...

I was trying to think about a topic to write about today and realized my brain has been on overdrive lately with overthinking. So let’s open up a discussion about...

Living with cancer. We talk about how to manage it, how to work around it, and how to be happy in spite of it. Recently a friend of mine did...

Blood cancer survivors: Have you ever had a nightmare about relapsing? It wouldn’t be surprising if you did. I have had them for sure. Nightmares and flashbacks can be a...

On December 7, 1941, my grandparents were on their way to see a movie at the Coleman Theatre in Miami, Oklahoma, when they discovered that the Japanese had bombed Pearl...

Since finding out that my egg reserve is really low, I’ve been thinking about this and the fact that it’s highly likely that it’s the impact of 14 years of...

When thinking about blood cancer and any related treatments, it is easy to focus on the possible impacts chemotherapy and radiation may have on you or a loved one. From...

When I was growing up, I remember my mom was quite obsessed with her weight. It was interesting because she probably weighed 115 pounds soaking wet. Still, every morning she...

The way I sleep – curled on my right side in a little ball with my hands under my chin – is not good for the chronic pain under my...

Many people who develop cancer have to work, or at least try, during treatments. Crystal was fortunate enough to be able to come home during treatment and still get partial...

We never really see ourselves. I mean that literally. Our eyes face forward at the world around us. We have no real way of seeing what others see when they...

Cancer affects each of us with a range of feelings and emotions that may change daily, hourly, and even from minute to minute. I am usually an “in control” person...

The one eye-opener (though it’s been so many) that the COVID-19 virus has shown us, is how vulnerable we are to stuff. One area of insanity that stuck out for...

Grief. This is an emotion we usually associate with death and loss, but not necessarily cancer. The thing is, when you are diagnosed with cancer it is a sort of...

There is an inside group, a club no one wanted to join, of cancer survivors, no matter what kind of cancer the one has had, there is an automatic membership...

Chemotherapy may harm normal cells in the mouth, affecting your teeth, gums, the lining of your mouth, and the glands that make saliva. These side effects can alter your ability...

When diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2011, I, like so many newly diagnosed patients, had never heard of this blood cancer. Also, like most others, I googled myeloma and was...

Having spent more than a year trying to convince my former primary care doctor that something was wrong, I have experienced wrongly being branded paranoid or a hypochondriac. What I...