Blogs

My cancer surgeon is retiring. Here’s a fond farewell to the man who saved my life — multiple times.

Cancer is talked about more openly nowadays, and while watching a movie with my daughter, a scene portraying a character in hospice care gave me flashbacks to our cancer experience.

After learning that I had Lynch syndrome and a MLH1 mutation, I changed my lifestyle to hopefully prevent a cancer diagnosis.

The last year was tough, but with a new cancer treatment center and other opportunities, I’m going to sit tight and bloom where planted.

Even though I had no symptoms, my prostate cancer was caught thanks to frequent follow-ups with my doctor.

I’m giving cancer’s “battle language” an update and focusing my survivorship plan on emotional wellbeing and honesty.

I recently was asked to speak at a banquet for my cancer center and saw that as a great opportunity to recognize those who cared for me.

I'm no longer the "helpless patient with cancer," though sometimes I need a reminder to keep myself in check.

After being homebound for two years from the COVID-19 pandemic, I was eager to get out, though I did have many cancer/COVID-19 concerns.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how I drew the superhero that I wish existed to fight my wife's cancer.

Among the many lessons I’ve learned since my diagnosis with cancer, there’s one in particular that I refer to daily. It’s a lesson learned from wearing a pair of odd-looking shoes.

From bald heads paired with lush eyebrows to the typical emaciated patient, there are certain tropes of how cancer is portrayed on TV that bother me, as they do not represent the experiences of everyone with the disease.

My doctor once told me that if you're old enough to fight for your country, then you're old enough to get breast cancer.

As I reflect on four years of “warriorhood” since being diagnosed with cancer, I wrote a letter to my younger self and others who are just receiving diagnosis.

I am still here fighting, fighting hard and I will continue to do so to make sure I have more graduations, more weddings, and more everything that I can squeeze into my precious time left here on earth.

My choice to not undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer was not an easy one, but looking back, I don’t regret it.

Cancer and COVID-19 took away my yearly “benchmarks” of time, when I fly out to see friends and family.

As I recover from the traumatic effects of cancer, I’m realizing that success has much to do with mindset and optimism.

I was shocked at a recent doctor appointment when practically nobody in the office was wearing a mask.

I’m playing the cancer cards dealt to me as best I can, and am trying to stay healthy.

Gender be damned, a mother bear’s “fierce compassion” became my default mode as I cared for my ailing adventure partner and soul mate.

“Love Story,” the story about a young woman who falls in love and then dies of cancer, affects me differently now than it did when I was a teenager and no experience with either love or cancer.

I must remember to be kind to myself, and not compare my current abilities to my pre-cancer days.

Hearing the news of Olivia Newton-John’s death shocked me. I’d loved this lady since the early 70s. But shock wasn’t the only emotion I faced — along with it came overwhelming sadness and fear.

It’s hard to watch other people fight cancer, but I must remember to stay inside my safe zone — my hula hoop — and only run to aid them when they ask.

I made too many late-night purchases for things that I thought I’d need after my mastectomy. Thankfully, the STOMP group helped me get rid of some of these items.

When my grandmother passed, I noticed my aunt was ruder than usual, and I wondered if I was like that during my cancer experience... and if the pain I was going through excused that behavior.

I recently read a book about the psychology of money, and actually related much of the content to my life after osteosarcoma.