All I Want for Breast Cancer Awareness Month Is … Day 30
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the US. What’s on this survivor’s mind? Check back for a bite-sized insight every day from now until Halloween.
October 30 — All I want for Breast Cancer Awareness Month is … to explain why I’ve been writing this series.
Like I’ve said before, this has been the weirdest year of my life. I was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma in October 2021. I had a bilateral mastectomy, four rounds of chemotherapy, 25 radiation therapy sessions and tons of appointments with doctors in the months that followed.
Twelve months ago, I knew practically nothing about how cancer diagnostics and treatments really play out. I had images from Terms of Endearment in my mind, along with the TV movie of the week cancer archetypes — sweaty, heroic, frail nauseous characters in headscarves — and not much info from real survivors to draw on.
The inspiration for these articles was the awkward stuff I wish I’d known — the stuff nobody dares to ask cancer patients, and the stuff that people really stress about when they’re first diagnosed. Like how long it takes to get a treatment plan, what really happens with chemotherapy and radiation, and how to have great sex without breasts or estrogen.
I wanted to go beyond the pink-ribboned tote bags and lipstick that folks buy in October to feel like they’re helping a noble cause and share a look at what it’s really like living this twelve months a year. Whether I like it or not, every month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month for me from here on out.
Tuck all this info in the back of your brain in case you or someone you know needs to revisit it in the future. Feel free to reach out and ask me questions if there’s something I haven’t covered in these pieces.
Tomorrow is the last installment in this series.
Can you guess what it’s about?
If you’ve been reading these pieces as they’re published, thank you so much! If you’re stumbling on them weeks or years later — wow, we still have Medium?
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