One thing I didn’t realize until I got cancer is how opaque the experience of cancer is from the outside. We live our lives assuming that what we see is all there is. So and so’s hair has grown back; they must have recovered. We believe we see the whole experience when, in reality, we … Continue reading Inside the Mind of a Cancer Patient
An Insider View of Radiation Therapy Through the Eyes of a Cancer Patient
A few months ago, I underwent month-long daily radiation therapy for breast cancer. It was hard for my frail rail-thin body. The treatment left me physically, emotionally, and mentally depleted — like nothing I had experienced before. Several months after completion, I still suffer the side effects. (I know survivors who remain affected many years down the … Continue reading An Insider View of Radiation Therapy Through the Eyes of a Cancer Patient
How to Respond to “How Are You?” When You Are Not Okay
Many people are unaware of how difficult it is to answer social greetings when one is grieving. They ask "how are you" mechanically, without thinking. I too have done so in the past. My experience of cancer opened my eyes to the stress of social greetings. All the sudden, I became one of many struggling … Continue reading How to Respond to “How Are You?” When You Are Not Okay
