I wonder what would have happened to Sleeping Beauty had she slept for, oh, say 20, 30 years or so, but continued to age. I’m thinking Shrek, but with the change preempting the story instead of driving it. And what if she was not only wizened with time (like a
Continue readingTag: boobless wonder
A Puff of Absurdity: On Fostering Illusions and the Qualitative Leap
What do you do when well-meaning people dear to you advise you to ignore your doctors? (And what if the doctors are wrong?) I generally rally against non-scientifically verifiable medical claims. I’m pretty open minded and willing to try anything, but I also scrutinize any available research before I write
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Prevention as an Ounce of Cure
Here’s an update on what I’ve learned about lymphedema after an ALND. It’s way less scary now that I know how to manage it, but it’s still a drag. It takes about an hour away from me every day. I’m just in the earliest stages, and it possible to stay
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Chest Tattoo with a Side of Lymphedema
As a means of healing and prettying up my mastectomy scars, I looked forward to a chest tattoo. I envisioned never wearing a bathing suit top again! After my mastectomy, I asked my surgeon about it. His only concern was that it wouldn’t look good when I finally gave in
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Regret
I’ve taken many questionable risks in my life. I lean toward leading a life that’s lived fully over a safe and secure existence. Most I bounced back from easily from typical childhood falling from trees when I’ve climbed too high to dropping out of high school and somehow ending up
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On the Year that Kicked My Ass, and That Time My Ass Kicked Back
Well, it’s starting to kick back, ever so slowly. I went on another Wild Women adventure, this time to Georgian Bay to try my hand at kayaking for a change. I was with a whole new group of women, our ages spanning three decades and from a wide variety of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Lymphedema: A Research Study Overview
I’m cancer free, but very anxious about lymphedema. It’s become a bit of an obsession, so, for anyone googling it, here are all the studies that I really should have researched before consenting to the Axilliary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND) surgery that half my doctors told me I didn’t need,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Taking Comfort in Stoicism
When thing take a turn for the worst, no philosophy helps me like re-reading the writings of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. I had a dream last night that I was at a bike show (about bicycles, not motorcycles), talking to a distance rider, when, after a long conversation, I
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Another Trip to ER
Me: So, I have letter from my doctor. I was hoping that would make things go faster. It still took two full hours to get to this point, though. Triage Nurse: I wish family doctors would come to the hospital once in a while. They have no idea how things
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: More Doctors and Nurses, Less Waiting
I went to the CCAC yesterday after my surgery on Tuesday – the Community Care Access Centre – an agency I only heard about when they had a local whistleblowing scandal a couple years ago questioning the decision to reduce case managers instead of front line therapists, and then more recently, when
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Another Surgery Down
I feel like a pro at getting surgery now. That’s probably not a good thing. It occurred to me it’s kind of like travelling. The first time in an airport is a bit terrifying. It’s confusing and chaotic and nothing seems to make sense. Then after a few times, you
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Becoming a Woman – Mid-Life Edition
When I was around ten to fourteen, we were all inundated with information about our bodies – all the ins and outs of the magical, wondrous things that were just around the corner for us. It happened at school, but it was also the purview of some of the After School
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Becoming a Woman – Mid-Life Edition
When I was around ten to fourteen, we were all inundated with information about our bodies – all the ins and outs of the magical, wondrous things that were just around the corner for us. It happened at school, but it was also the purview of some of the After School
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Crazy-Making Cancer Treatment
I believe my doctors mean well, I really do, but their behaviour is not dissimilar from the crazy-making type of abuse wherein the abuser keeps telling a different story until the victim starts to question their own memory and doesn’t know what to believe any more. I’m really glad I write
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Crazy-Making Cancer Treatment
I believe my doctors mean well, I really do, but their behaviour is not dissimilar from the crazy-making type of abuse wherein the abuser keeps telling a different story until the victim starts to question their own memory and doesn’t know what to believe any more. I’m really glad I write
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Cancer Doulas
When last we left our heroine, she had just had an invasive tumour removed, but found out there could be traces of cancer left behind. She was left to choose between surgery, radiation, tamoxifen, or nothing. Let’s see what she does next… I had never heard of Healthcare Navigators before,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Cancer Doulas
I had never heard of Healthcare Navigators before, and it seems they don’t exist as much in Canada as they do in the more expensive and privatized healthcare to the south (except for Indigenous needs), but they’re becoming more of a thing here. In Ontario, some hospitals have them, and we’re
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: And the Saga Continues
Ok, so, after getting a preventative bi-lateral mastectomy, performed shortly after both a mammogram and MRI both showed zero cancer, of course they found cancer in the breast tissue sent to the lab. The good news is it’s all out, but… They found two non-invasive tumours about a centimetre each. The
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: And the Saga Continues
Ok, so, after getting a preventative bi-lateral mastectomy, performed shortly after both a mammogram and MRI both showed zero cancer, of course they found cancer in the breast tissue sent to the lab. The good news is it’s all out, but… They found two non-invasive tumours about a centimetre each. The
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Back to Work Boobless
I’m really glad I decided to go back to work part time for a week. I highly recommend that path for anyone getting this surgery. I thought I’d be completely fine the first day, but I underestimated my level of exhaustion. Being home by noon was a godsend. Some people
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