Living

So the fun and games continue. And as it so often seems with me, nothing is straightforward and simple, which is annoying as I would much rather it was that...

The Beyond the Cancer Diagnosis Survey is now closed. Thank you for your interest! Receiving a cancer diagnosis can change life as you know it. While some treatments and side...

You've been diagnosed with blood cancer. What comes next? Usually, it's treatment. There are many different treatments for blood cancer, one of the most well known being chemotherapy. You may...

Having any form of a chronic situation can be very difficult. We know the script whether it’s the demanding treatment with hopes your body cooperates or managing your day-to-day while...

There is a tradition for Olympic wrestlers to leave their wrestling shoes on the edge of the mat when they have wrestled the last match of their career. When I...

Occasionally, unexpected and unplanned things happen in your life. Some things are good, others are not. My blood cancer diagnosis was one of those “not so good things.” Out of...

Wow! It’s been five years since my dial cancer diagnoses. The first was a blood cancer called polycythemia vera (PV). Invasive ductal carcinoma or breast cancer followed a couple of...

How do I feel about switching treatment? Luckily, that situation is not on the table at the moment. But, it has been. For nearly seven years, my chronic myeloid leukemia...

Recently I’ve been very paranoid about my cancer relapsing. It was funny because after my last time (third time) having it, I finished my treatments and about two weeks later...

My sister and brother-in-law were away and had kindly offered me their Wellfleet, Cape Cod, vacation house for a week in July. But my three children could only stay from...

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for participating! A winner has been chosen and contacted. If not claimed by Friday, Oct. 15, we will draw a new winner. We are...

Reading comments on Blood-Cancer.com and other sites for people like me with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), I definitely see a pattern. The reality of having chronic leukemia or any kind...

Do you remember the 1960s television show Bewitched? Have you ever looked around a messy room and wished that you could imitate Samantha? She would wiggle her nose, and the...

A bell chimes after your run with cancer is over? GET OUT!! I’ve only heard about this so-called tradition after one year living in the remission zone. I found it...

More and more lately I’ve seen talk about unsolicited advice. It seems that people just can’t seem to keep their opinions about your illness to themselves. Whether online or offline...

The sinking feeling you get when a well-known person dies of “your disease” has an opposite: The boost when someone overcomes it. The Spanish tennis player Carla Suarez Navarro didn’t...

A few months ago, I was talking with my nephew on the phone about his recent bicycling adventures. Riding is big in my family. I told him that I was...

Several years ago, I was single but still hopeful that I would find a life partner and possibly even get married again. Then came the myeloma diagnosis. The word ‘incurable’...

I was talking to a cancer agency social worker when she said, “So, what do you do to relax?” I ran through the list of the things I do to...

I have a photo of my grandfather wearing a dress. No, he wasn't a drag queen. The picture I treasure shows Grandpa Roy Hawes, around four years old, standing next...