We tell ourselves stories in order to live. ~Joan Didion
This is the story of lung cancer and me.
It’s not a love story.
It’s part memoir, part medical thriller, and part letter-from-camp, because good cancer days feel like the best days of summer vacation.
I write to keep friends and family up to date. I write to make sense of my experiences.
And I write so that maybe someone else with lung cancer will feel less alone.
Because lung cancer is one hell of a lonely scary ride….
Just know I’m not a scientist or doctor– I’ll probably make mistakes, and my experience is not my advice. Listen to your medical team. Keep researching until you understand what you need to.
Scroll to the bottom of the About page and let me know what you think.
And, please pass this on to someone who might need it.
Thanks for visiting.
February 2021, Soon After My Diagnosis
The First Days After weeks of a cough that just wouldn’t quit, several doctor appointments, all the typical asthma treatments, I took myself to immediate care
Whaddya Mean, I Have Lung Cancer? (below) moves on from Lung Cancer Began In A Blur, with key moments of the early days.
Or, read the posts chronologically, from the start.
Or check out “Chapters” of The Story:
Or, read one year at a time. (See the menu bar, above.)
. Just when you imagine spring with happy anticipation of gardening and bicycling, you get a reminder that you are not In Charge. We’ve been in a bit of turmoil
Cancer checkups are almost better than a BOGO offer at the grocery store. You have a test, you get a visit to Dr. Oncology.
The first weeks were a tsunami of details and shock.
I was told the process was moving at warp speed for the medical system. It felt more like we were stuck in molasses.
(Sometimes folks in the lung cancer community say waiting is one of the special agonies of lung cancer.)
Here are some key moments as we waited for diagnosis.
Current Diagnosis: This is a Big Fucking Deal
Feb 22 2021– The intake meeting with a thoracic surgeon and the unofficial diagnosis.
Mar 3 2021– In which I have an MRI to see if there is cancer in my brain.
Feb 23 2021– Tests, tests, tests. Lots of initials & unfamiliar terms: CT, PET, MRI, EBUS.
Ya Can’t Make Me Feel Better By Saying “We Don’t Know Anything For Sure”
Mar 8 2021– No matter how they keep trying to cushion the blow– We don’t know anything until all the tests are in— things are serious.
Mar 25 2021– Rounding out the team of amazing women taking care of me is Dr. Radiology.