Tag Archives: friends

Past Tense

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Scorchy

The paperwork is in. Fifty pages compiled by four people and faxed to two insurance companies. Disability. I didn’t want to do it. Indeed, for two years I fought hard to crawl my way back to who I was. I can hardly … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, My Stage IV Life, Social Commentary, Stage IV Musings, Uncategorized | Tagged advocacy, breast cancer, Cancer Culture, career, Diagnosis, fear, friends, Information resources, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, vulnerability | 45 Comments

STFU

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Scorchy

So I’ve been attempting to write post after post after post, inevitably trashing them all. I tried one on depression, one on anxiety, one on pink. Whatever I tried it just never worked. And I have to say that through … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life, Social Commentary, Stage IV Musings | Tagged "cure rates", anxiety, Attitude, awareness, Beyond the Pink Moon, boredom, boring, breast, breast cancer, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cancer Culture, cancer loop, Cancertown, career, Diagnosis, Exemestane, Facebook, fear, friends, frustration, knitting, Komen, Lyrica, MBC, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, OxyContin, Philosophy, pink ribbon, Pinktober, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, STFU, stigma, strong, support, TODAY, Treatment, vulnerability, whiney | 61 Comments

Remission

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Scorchy

The Catch-22 of having metastatic breast cancer is this: when you’re caught in a period of crisis all you hope for is that your scans will improve, the pain will lessen or go away, your energy will return, and that … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life | Tagged Attitude, awareness, breast cancer, breasts, cancer cell, Cancer Culture, career, Catch-22, Diagnosis, Exemestane, exhaustion, friends, frustration, Humor, knitting, Lupron, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, PET/CT, Philosophy, remission, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, Tamoxifen, Treatment, vulnerability, Xgeva | 40 Comments

Released from Prison

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Scorchy

Where the hell have I been these past few months? Well, ever since my last episode with radiation of a painful bone tumor in my sacrum, I seem to have misplaced my voice. It could likely be lost among my yarn stash, but … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life | Tagged breast cancer, breasts, career, compartmentalization, denial, depression, friends, frustration, guilt, knitting, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain, pain management, pain. chronic pain, prison, scan, self-worth, social life, socialization, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, stigma, support, Treatment, vulnerability | 20 Comments

The Road to Ruin

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Scorchy

I have been blessed with relatively good health all of my life. I did go some years without health insurance as a professional student, but I came through that okay. The closest I came to chronic disease was reading about … Continue reading →

Posted in Finances, My Stage IV Life, Stage IV Musings | Tagged advocacy, awareness, breast cancer, co-pays, expenses, friends, frustration, health insurance, Information resources, insurance, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, pink ribbon, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, Treatment, vulnerability | 27 Comments

A New Life of Accommodation

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Scorchy

It has been a few months beyond a year that I started blogging. And to tell you the truth, it’s been a little difficult for me to get back into the swing after my latest hiatus. Blogging has been the … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, My Stage IV Life | Tagged accommodation, advocacy, awareness, being alone, being single, breast cancer, cancer, disability benefits, friends, human resources, Information resources, long term disability benefits, Lyrica, Marcus Aurelius, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, Methadone, normalcy, Oxycodone, OxyContin, pain management, stigma, support, Treatment, vulnerability | 37 Comments

Kobayashi Maru

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Scorchy

My latest paincation was intense and it was made more so by the experience of radiation. Now, like most things in this disease I was fortunate: only five consecutive days and maybe twenty minutes of my time each day. But … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life, Stage IV Musings | Tagged advice for patient, anxiety, breast cancer, breasts, cancer cell, career, Diagnosis, fear, friends, frustration, health, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, psychiatrist, Radiation, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, the machine, Treatment, Varian, vulnerability, Xanax | 42 Comments

Emergency Room

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Scorchy

It has been awhile since I have posted. I apologize for my silence; you can probably reason that it takes quite a bit to shut me up. And you would be right. But this paincation has been particularly brutal. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, My Stage IV Life, Stage IV Musings | Tagged advocacy, alone, breast cancer, Cigna, constipation, emergency contact, friends, impacted bowel, invisibility, invisible, invisible patient, Letrozole, Lupron, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, Methadone, nerve ablation, nerve block, nuclear constipation, Oxycodone, pain, pain management, pain scale, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, Tamoxifen, Treatment, Twitter, Valium, vulnerability | 72 Comments

In Which I Don’t Tell People What to Say

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Scorchy

I read a lot of blogs–not all cancer-related. Indeed, if I knitted as much as I read the blogs of knitters I’d have knitted a sweater for every human being in my neighborhood–not to mention a few chihuahuas. It amazes … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life, Social Commentary | Tagged advocacy, Attitude, awareness, breast cancer, Cancer Culture, Diagnosis, friends, frustration, Information resources, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, vulnerability | 63 Comments

The Downside of Virtual Interaction

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Scorchy

Since my breast cancer diagnosis and–48 hours later–the creation of this blog, I have sung the praises of social media. As my readership grew and my Twitter numbers blossomed, virtual roots that were planted started to flourish in a garden … Continue reading →