By: Annette McElhiney
One
Facing cancer makes you think about things you’ve never have before. It makes you feel things you wish you’d never have to. It forces you to change. Suddenly you find yourself a member of an unfamiliar … Read more
In her recent book, Reading & Writing Cancer: How Words Heal, Susan Gubar explores the various ways reading and writing about cancer can be a valuable, often therapeutic, tool for patients with cancer. Whether it’s writing a memoir, engaging … Read more
When a cancer diagnosis is given, many challenges arise for patients and their families or caregivers. One of the many challenges is role reversal. Men who have a partner who is diagnosed with cancer may have a change in their … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
When I was growing up in the 1950s, none of my immediate family, but many neighbors, distant relatives and acquaintances had cancer. Somehow, a cancer diagnosis always elicited silence, sadness, grief, and dread. Then, some people even … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
As a retired college professor, I firmly believe that knowledge is power and may also result in a longer healthier life. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, “How to Get Patients to Take More Control … Read more
I have been trying to write this for a while, but the morphine and lack of juicy cheeseburgers (what has it been now, five weeks without real food?) have drained my energy and interfered with whatever prose prowess remains. Additionally, … Read more
By: Susan Gubar
“No thanks, I already have cancer,” I said to the radiologist. Since the magnified images of calcifications in my right breast looked neither obviously benign nor obviously malignant, he had just recommended a biopsy. Even after I … Read more
By: Susan Gubar
Inside our new condo, the internet connection had failed. Two young men, sent by the cable company, had spent hours burying a cable to replace an antiquated line running into the building. As soon as they drove … Read more
By: Helen Palmquist
In May 1987 when I was 41, I suddenly noticed my abdomen was getting large. I phoned my brother, an obstetrician and gynecologist, long distance to tell him I looked four or five months pregnant. He told … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
Only a night from old to new!
Only a night, and so much wrought!
The Old Year’s heart all weary grew,
But said: The New Year rest has brought.”
The Old Year’s hopes its heart laid down,… Read more
Three weeks before her wedding day, Cheyann Shaw uploaded a video to YouTube, a space the fitness fanatic regularly filled with workout clips and health tips. But this time was different: She was now using the social video platform for … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
As an amateur artist who paints to heal, I see the various stages I’ve been through in my ovarian cancer journey hanging on the walls surrounding me. Some paintings are full of joy as when I first … Read more
A 14-year-old cancer survivor was cast in her dream role this holiday season only a year after the disease had dashed her hopes to perform as Clara in the Christmas classic The Nutcracker. Caitlyn Feddock, who will perform the role … Read more
In 1997 I was 27, happy, free, and traveling the world as a flight attendant. Newly married and ready to have a baby, I felt strong and invincible. My future was unfolding just as I expected it to. Until the … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
The word ‘community’ means something different to everyone! When I was growing up in rural Missouri, community referred to our neighbors on nearby farms; whenever a farmer became ill or died, pitched in to plant, till, or … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
Each of us wears a pair of glasses through the prism of which all things are viewed and interpreted. Having been diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2008, my glasses are forever skewed by that particular experience.… Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
“Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists. Whether you can be said to have it or not largely depends not on any particular psychological test but on the way your life unfolds. If you are lucky enough to … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
All my life women have surrounded me— so I am very comfortable in their presence. However, when I received my diagnosis of III C Ovarian Cancer in 2008, I felt like a lone rigid pillar of ice. … Read more
By: Annette McElhiney
Most of us are aware of how animals can affect our state of mind both physically and psychologically. For years I taught in an inner city urban college made quite accessible to people who were differently abled. … Read more
When you’re diagnosed with cancer, there are so many feelings to experience that it’s difficult to put a name to them all. A regular listing of emotions stretches from upset, shocked and dismayed to scared and anxious.
After being told … Read more
