This is a hard post to write. Last weekend I had a joyous Thanksgiving with my very large family. The next morning, I joined another family to mourn and celebrate an exceptional woman. Her name was Peggy and she died at age 66 from ovarian cancer. Peggy and I served on the Pathways Women's Cancer [...]
Tag: uncertainty
Six Truths I’ve Learned About Resilience
We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one. John Updike What does surviving every moment teach us? Quite simply, that we are resilient. If you're like me, you've had your share of challenges. Cancer is certainly up there on the list, but it's not the only entry. You've been around the block [...]
Summer’s Over! Time to Face the Next “New Normal”
The time is finally here! Our daughter is off to college and we're facing yet another "new normal." Because this week has been devoted exclusively to spending time with her, I didn't make time to write a new post. Instead, I thought I'd rerun the piece I wrote last year entitled "What the Last Weekend of [...]
What’s Your Plan B?
Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson Last week I blogged about the wisdom of expecting the unexpected. It turns out that this is the basic tenet of the chaos theory, a term coined by mathematician James Yorke of the University of Maryland in 1974. The theory is complicated, but boils [...]
Meditation Monday – “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Steve Jobs
Although I try to focus on the gifts of cancer, its losses are eternally present. The death of Steve Jobs is a momentous loss from cancer – to his family and to the world. We have lost a genius, innovator and leader. As a fellow cancer survivor, I am stricken by the reminder of how [...]
Reliving the Fear of Cancer as Hurricane Irene Approaches
Talk about an uninvited knock at the door! Last week, while I was trying to practice the “Gracious Declining” meditation practice of visualizing a rambling thought as an “uninvited salesperson, knocking on your door,” we had an earthquake, hurricane and a few small tornadoes here on the East Coast. I have to admit that the [...]
Are Your Cancer Survival Issues Not Getting the Attention They Deserve, Repeat after Me, “You’re Fired!”
You don’t have to be a corporate CEO with bad hair and a TV show to authoritatively state, “You’re fired!” As cancer survivors, we have the right to work with professionals who are responsive, competent and compassionate. If we can’t get the care we deserve, then we have a duty to ourselves to terminate the [...]
Tsunami Waves Washing Over Us All
The devastation in Japan is unspeakable and horrific. The television shows the same video over and over, tsunami waves rushing over the beach, into villages and beyond. Lives in literal upheaval, with no rhyme or reason as to who survives and who does not. I’m painfully aware again of how brutal life is. Each one [...]
Where We Go Now 