waiting on a baby in the midst of all of this

I am still waiting for my doula clients to have their baby (the due date is today and the mom is 3-4 cm. dilated already) so as usual I’m juggling the various places I have to be, carrying my cell phone and birth bag around, and hoping the baby arrives before Friday or after. I […]

no walk-ins

Last Thursday I tried to get a second-opinion appointment at Dana-Farber with the breast oncologist most recommended by Dr. C., my oncologist, and was told she didn’t take walk-ins, only special requests by other oncologists. So I asked Dr. C. to contact her. He did, she said yes by e-mail on Saturday, and I have […]

down the rabbit hole again

Yesterday Dr. P. the surgeon called while I was out school shopping with Will. She said the final path. report from the re-excision showed “a single minute group of atypical cells consistent with ductal carcinoma,” only showing on the permanent (staining?) and not the frozen section analysis (that they did while I was in surgery). […]

what I dare to think I’ll be doing this fall…

…between chemo treatments. September 17: CABC board meeting in Valley Forge, PA October 13-15: Midwives Alliance of North America conference in Baltimore (I’m presenting) November 8: 15-minute presentation at the APHA in Boston on our MANA statistics Web system November 11: nephew Jacob’s bar mitzvah in Madison, WI November 22-26: Family Thanksgiving celebration in San […]

possible chemo regimen

Here is what my oncologist is leaning towards: taxotere/cyclophosphamide because “TC (docetaxel/cyclophosphamide, 4 cycles) has a superior disease-free survival compared to standard AC (doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide) in 1016 women with early stage breast cancer.” I like that 4 cycles. I would be done by Thanksgiving.

the 5th floor

On my way up and down the elevator from Nuclear Medicine the day before my first surgery, the doors kept opening on the 5th floor, where there was a big bright cheerful sign: Morrell Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Every time, I kept thinking, thank goodness this is about me and not them.

telling people is the worst

I don’t like being the center of attention. I don’t like giving people bad news. This is not a good recipe for someone who has to go around announcing that she has breast cancer again. Silver Bay, where there were maybe 50 people who needed to be told, was getting a bit agonizing. Hi, how […]

timeline (july-august 2006)

Here is a timeline of this summer’s breast-cancer adventure: Late May: found lumpy area in left breast. This was only the second time since my first breast cancer in 1995 that anything had worried me–and the first was in ’97 or ’98. Early June: went to midwife for annual exam, she agreed area felt worrisome, […]

what am I doing here? (said Persephone)

Good question. Given my reaction to blogging, nothing but something unusual and prejudice-shaking would bring me here. That something seems to be breast cancer, for the second time in my life, just before my 40th birthday. Though I have been sending out periodic e-mail updates to a large list of family and friends, there are […]