Living

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...

I know one dog lover who didn’t do this and many others who have done it. I’m not against it but I’m not going to do it, at least I...

I learned today that I am going to soon lose a very close and new best friend due to some dramatic turns in my blood cancer. Who would have thought...

One of the very first things I experienced during Army basic training was the phrase hurry up and wait. The drill sergeants were constantly yelling at us to move quickly...

The internet is ripe with information on blood cancer and other cancers. Unfortunately, sometimes it can get to be a little too much. Perhaps it leaves you feeling like you...

I was totally unaware. But slowly I began to see that my time in the chemo lounge was passing more quickly and for some reason, the experience did not feel...

Not so Dear CML,You suck. I wish you’d go away and leave me alone. Yours truly, Susan. Only kidding. If you wrote a letter to your blood cancer, what would...

I’ve never written about this before because, frankly, I didn’t know how to approach it to make sure no one who reads it gets upset. Ha, ha, I know, right?...

The questions you must prepare to be asked the most are "How are you doing?", "How are you feeling?", and "Are you ok?". People especially ask when they first learn...

Living with cancer takes on so many responsibilities that sometimes get lost in the wind. Recently, I was intrigued with a program that gave light to how many in this...

Pain. The “P” word. It goes hand in hand with cancer, and yet so little is done about it until it’s an issue. So today I think we will talk...

When two people told me they were very anemic, I thought I could help even though their anemia was not caused by leukemia like mine was. I have a lot...

When my oncologist told me that I had myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in 2017, she showed me a chart with my life expectancy as ten years. Recently, I received my new...