Honoring My Grandmother’s Memory
by Samantha Schwear Joel Barlow High School, Redding, CT Fall 2013 We sat on her bed with pained smiles. As my grandmother fought her mounting exhaustion, my cousin and I fought to keep her awake. We discussed family recipes, we reminisced about games of hide and seek in her shop, and we promised to keep […]
Defining Bravery
You are so brave. I’ve realized over the years that those four words grate on the nerves of many cancer patients. I’m always up for a compliment, so I wasn’t quite sure why others were bothered by the phrase. Their explanation: “I’m not brave, I’m just trying to survive.” So I wondered…maybe I’m not brave. […]
The Big Win
We first read Phoebe’s poem in the Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) newsletter, VolleyBiz (Vol. 6, Issue: 8), and she gave us permission to share it here on the Side-Out blog! Thank you, Phoebe, for this beautiful poem. It so eloquently explains the joy of our sport and the camaraderie of a team. by Phoebe […]
Xeloda: A Great Drug
I’ve been traveling the road of Living with Cancer for almost 6 years and for 3 1/2 of those years Xeloda kept me stable. It is a wonderful drug that is taken by mouth not IV so the chemo lab is not in the picture.
Bah Humbug-Xmas Scrooge
For years I have disliked holidays because it’s like you’re being forced to be happy and enjoy! Well you know sometimes I am not happy and I can’t enjoy
Skin is an Organ Breast Cancer Affects
Having been on Xeloda for more than 6 months and doing fairly well I just received a report from my dermotologist that a bump she removed from my back tested Breast Cancer. This is not a great surprise for me because that is indeed the way I discovered my reoccurence on my skin. 5 1/2 […]
Go Dig Pink Go!
Last night I had the privilege of being at my son Rick’s Dig Pink volleyball event held at the school where he coaches. It was fabulous and beautifully orchestrated. Most everyone bought a Dig Pink shirt so the bleachers were filled with pink. The event spirited the teams and they played forcefully and it was […]
October Breast Cancer Awareness Month
ALERT! October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and our Dig Pink Rally has already begun. After a visit to Congress, October 13th is delegated to be a special day for Metastatic Breast Cancer. Unfortunately, that is my diagnosis and gratefully after five years, I am still very much alive and hopeful. Metastatic Breast Cancer is […]
To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question
Since my last entry I’ve been doing well on my Xeloda treatment. The dreaded hand and foot syndrome is annoying and hard to control but I am familiar with it so I just cream myself and hope for the best. Stomach problems occur at the end of the pill regimen and that is hard to […]
