truesurvivor

Another great breast cancer blog

Just stumbled upon my Breast Cancer blog. It's full of great stuff.

Stuff no one talks about

When you are diagnosed with breast cancer your first thought is: "I'm going to die."  What no one tells you is that five years on, you may be alive but your priorities are now totally upside down. The little things are huge – smelling lilacs and roses, giving a word of encouragement or advice to a fellow survivor, watching Samantha's speech at the cancer benefit on Sex in the City for the fortieth time, or having an orgasm (it doesn't matter how you get there _  – you're just grateful to be alive to enjoy them).   

And the big things seem so much smaller. The perfect house, the perfect job, the perfect weekend of incredible sex no longer matter nearly as much. Okay, so this comes from someone who's been on tamoxifen for nearly 5 years. The goal of this treatment is to remove all the estrogen from my body. This has also turned me from a normal hot blooded catholic girl, to someone who thinks about sex less often than a fish thinks about riding a bicycle. Estrogen is as foreign to my body as red meat is to a vegetarian or alcohol is to a Mormon. The problem is that estrogen is terribly taken for granted. With it, despite what you think, us gals think about sex pretty often. All those trashy novels that talk about getting  "wet" – that's the estrogen doing its thing.  And, sadly, it's also a major contributor to breast cancer recurrence. So without it, all of us survivors have a much better chance of surviving. But without it, concepts like sex and  "getting wet" are about as likely as a Ralph Nader presidency. 

The problem is, that no one talks about this stuff. We worry about the loss of our sex appeal if we have to have a mastectomy, but we don't think about what happens when you still look sexy, but just aren't up to the task. We're all supposed, I suppose, to be so grateful to survive that we shouldn't have any expectation that survival might include a sex life. WTF???? How is it that the pharmaceutical companies can come up with half a dozen ways to make men stiff, and they can't come up with a decent way to allow cancer surviving women to have comfortable sex.   How is that spontaneous sex is an oxymoron, and if you're really going to indulge you need 2-3 over the counter assistants to make it possible?

I was told, when I was going thru chemo, that the reason that they didn't come up with a chemo drug that didn't make your hair fall out was that in the big picture, hair didn't matter. So I suppose that to the medical industry, the reality is that sex doesn't matter, or at least isn't supposed to. But I would argue that it does mater, a lot, and just because sex isn't as much fun as it used to be , doesn't mean that you don't still want to enjoy it. And sadly, we learn that "use it or lose it" isn't just an old-wives' cliché.

Which is why I'm so excited about my friend Helen's new line of products: Women's Intimate Solutions. First the lubricants are certified organic, made from herbs not chemicals. Secondly the whole package is designed for women, by women, and specifically with breast cancer survivors in mind, so you feel like you're pampering yourself, not doing something that your mother would disapprove of. Try it and let me know what you think.

It was another amazing day at the 4th Seacoast Concert for a Cure 2008

In case you missed, it this is what today looked like at  Seacoast Concert for a Cure 2008 -

Off to the 4th Annual “Breast Fest”

It will soon be 5 years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and every year since that first awful year, we've put on the Seacoast Concert for a Cure to raise money for cancer research and survivor support. It never ceases to amaze me what the good will, hard word and determination of a small band of dedicated men and women can accomplish. Everything is donated, volunteered or done for a very reduced cost. And every year we raise between $15 and $20K for the causes we support. After months of meetings, worrying and guilt over what we haven't done yet, somehow the day dawns, the people arrive and all is well. This year is no different. We had our share of hiccups, musicians whose schedule changed, venue issues, and a few sponsors who in these tight times didn't return. But ultimately, it all comes together. This year we're adding a plant sale to the mix which has given me something to do with all the excess plants I seem to produce on a regular basis. So if you're in the neighborhood of Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth, NH today. Stop on by. We'd love to see you, and so would the survivors we support.

Fill the Gap celebrates first anniversary

Link: Local breast cancer hotline Fill the Gap marks one year.

Can a Plastic Pad Make Breast Exams Easier? - WSJ.com

Link: Can a Plastic Pad Make Breast Exams Easier? - WSJ.com.

Take time to smell the roses

There's something about knowing you only have so much time left on the planet that makes the tired cliche "take time to smell the roses" a lot more meaningful. I wish I could blog the scent as well, but I took the time to smell These over the weekend.

New drug cuts recurrence by 35%

Good news here for survivors, a new drug shows great promise: a new drug cuts recurrence 35%.

Please read and share, this is an incredibly story for those struggling with testing

I met Eden last week at MESH. She's  a smart, vibrant, beautiful, energetic lady well-versed in social media. She asked me what I though about her going public with her story. I told her that I hoped she would share her story so others could learn from it. So she wrote this:  A healthy woman’s battle with breast cancer.
A number of my friends are struggling with the concept of genetic screening, and I hope they all read this and remember the outcome.

Passions collide

For those of you who follow my other blog Coos Conversations, you'll know I'm pretty passionate about the North Country of New Hampshire. So imagine my delight when I heard that there will be a Breast Cancer  Walk at the Mount Washington  next September 18th.