The Cancer Diaries, Part 2
There was an episode in the original Star Trek series called The Deadly Years in which Captain Kirk and some of his companions aged rapidly. At one point, the ship’s…
cancer
The Cancer Diaries Part 1
I should have started this a while ago. Perhaps when I received the first news something as wrong. But it took a while to really sink in. And then it…
Great Cycle Challenge Canada
A dollar per kilometre. This year I’m taking it to 2K. Be part of this journey. I just bought my kid her first road bike. She’s put 65km on it…
A Diverse Diet may Starve some Cancers
Cancer is awful and destroys far too many lives, but what if we can help people survive by augmenting their medicine with better diets? New research is revealing that a…
Cancer and Lymphedema: Two Year Update
In the span of one year, from August 2016 to July 2017, I was told I had three tumours in my left breast which led to three surgeries, which provoked…
A dollar per kilometre: Great Canadian Cycle Challenge
This June I’m riding the Great Canadian Cycle Challenge to raise money to help the Sick Kids Foundation fight cancer. Participants pledge to ride a certain distance and raise a…
Abby and the heartbreak
She was a small cat. At first we thought she might be not much older than six or eight months, but no, we were assured, she was fully grown. Just…
Reduce Your Cancer Risk by Eating Earlier
A new study has concluded that when we eat our supper is an important factor in reducing risk of certain cancers. The researchers monitored people’s eating times and noticed that…
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…
(Un)civil discourse
This column appeared on the CBC on July 31, 2017 “It is simply impossible to overestimate the love, bordering on worship, that reporters in Washington long had for McCain, and…
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…
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…
Lower Your Risk of Cancer and Heart Disease by Cycling to Work
We all know that encouraging bicycles as daily transportation is good for cities, economies, and traffic flow. Cycling is really good for you too and the evidence that you should…
Cancer Survival Rates Higher Thanks to Years of Progress
Science is awesome! Over the last few decades survival rates of leukemia have increased thanks to research into how cancer functions and how to stop it. Cancer is incredibly hard…
Giving back at 50
For 50 years I’ve lived a pretty comfortable, privileged life. Time to give something back. I’m giving up my birthday up to fundraise for the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Read…
Caregiving for Cancer in Seniors: Mesothelioma
Recently I’ve been thinking that I’d like to begin a mini-series of posts about caregiving for loved ones who have a rare disease. If YOU are a caregiver of someone…
Caregiving for Cancer in Seniors: Mesothelioma
Recently I’ve been thinking that I’d like to begin a mini-series of posts about caregiving for loved ones who have a rare disease. If YOU are a caregiver of someone…
Cancer Treatments and Cures – Natural and Conventional: An Overview
Here’s a thorny, delicate, controversial subject – but then again, when have I ever been known to shy away from such things? Peoples’ lives and well-being are at stake.…
Dandelions may save your life
I love dandelions. In early spring, when the landscape is still grey-brown, and the streets are filthy from the accumulated sand and salt laid down over the winter, that sunny…
Psst – Hey Buddy, Can You Spare Some CPU?
Next to Alzheimer’s Disease, it is probably the scourge we fear the most. And as they say, few lives, either directly or indirectly, are unaffected by it. Cancer is pervasive.…