October is Breast Cancer Month
And someone I know got hit with it this month, again. I’ve been keeping up with her on Facebook, and on her blog Dishalicious: Cancer is the New Black.
Photo of the IAC building in New York by Grufnick
A theme in the blog, which is honest, funny and well-written, is trying to get women in their mid-30’s to get mammograms. She writes, “Here’s the thing ladies, I have NO history of BC in my family. I am 32 years old. That BS you always hear about starting mammos at 40? Not true. You should have your first one at 35 and then yearly ones at 40. I don’t think everyone knows that.”
After six months of remission, she just found out that she has a malignant lymph node. In a post entitled, “Cancer Hearts Me,” she writes:
“Doc Schwartz was shocked. So, so surprised and upset, and he’d certainly never seen me cry before. Or scream or bawl or yell cliches like, “Why? I don’t understand?” Pathetic, so unwriterly of me. He’s always had good news for me. This is yet another ‘unusual’ case—would we really expect anything less from me? It’s unusual that it came back on the right side, when my tumor was on the left. It’s unusual that I’m fucking 34—okay, yes, I just turned 30fucking4—got it at 31 and was only Cancer-free for a year and a half. Basically, only because I was on Herceptin. It literally came back less than six months after stopping Herceptin.
I guess that I now have to accept that I’m going to be on Cancer pills for the rest of my life just like head pills. Chemo and SSRIs in the mornings along with coffee. Seroquel and Klonopin at night with Tykerb. Awesomeness. Isn’t life just fucking great? Isn’t it? Fucking brilliant. Happy happy joy joy, fuck you Cancer. Fuck you. Seriously, instead of a collective “Ohmmmmm,” can we all just scream a big “FUCK YOU, CANCER?!”
Hey ladies—gotten your mammograms yet? No? Now what are you waiting for.”
