Really interesting story from Atlanta

This article was so interesting and quaint in it's old-school newspaper style. But they make a point; other movements take back terms for empowerment, breast cancer awareness is so different. Queer is hardly a slur anymore it now refers to social consciousness about homosexuality.

http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/slang-is-common-at-601559.html

S

Pink Gloves in Times Square ( Now with photo)

Publish Post

Hi all, I got to go to the PGD2 shoot today. It was fun and very quick for a multi camera shoot. I think the new video will "drop" in September. I took my pictures with film, so I have to develop them before I post them. (I know some sorta blogger I am.) I believe the final product will have hospitals and survivor groups from all over the U.S., but you can not beat the look of Times Square on a crisp day.

S

Correspondent back on the job after breast cancer treatment

 Congratulations to Jennifer Griffin! This video clip may have you in tears, but they will be happy tears.
 http://www.mediaite.com/online/watch-shep-smiths-tearful-exchange-with-fncs-jennifer-griffin/

Take this duck and......

O.K. you don't get a whole lot of angry posts from me but here it goes. Yesterday the rep from a "supplemental" insurance company visited my workplace. One of the things they offer is cancer insurance. If you get cancer it helps pay for little things like time lost at work, transportation to treatments, etc. I was a freelancer and the past year it would have been good to have.

So I go into see the rep, I say I am interested in cancer insurance.

The rep starts blabbling to me about how awful cancer is, and how many people he knows died of it, and on and on. To shut him up I say, "I get it I had breast cancer last year."

Rep: Oh because of what you just shared with me,we can't insure you for 5 years. But if your husband would like a policy.....

So I am told how awful and deadly my condition is, therefor they will not help me. Nice!

Oh no supplemental disability for me, no life insurance for me, not from them at least. I really wanted to tell him what to do with his plucky mallard mascot.

Chutes and Ladders

Something Chemobabe posted on Facebook got me thinking, For those of us a year or so out from early stage breast cancer the ups and downs can take some getting used to. We are back in "the real world" doing our thing, then a twinge of pain, or a slipping foob, or a look at a scar takes us back to cancerland.

I think this is one of the things that is tough about lymphedema. You have to keep one foot in cancerland when you see a bug, or get a scratch, or for some unknown reason you are out having fun and your arm starts looking like a pool toy.

I hope and suspect these ups and downs are a "normal" part of recovery, and that we will learn to manage them better as time goes on. The ladders will get easier and the landings will get softer.

Suzanne

I still miss Izzy

I became attached to "Grey's Anatomy" back in 2006. I was dealing with a painful breakup, and the Meridith's heartbreak seemed to mirror my own. For an hour every Sunday I was not alone in my grief. I also worked at an ABC station at the time and I was proud network television could still be as compelling as cable or the cinema.

The show was never quite as great again. The storyline of Meridith's pain was so well written and acted it was hard to top. The show's weakness I always thought was a propensity for putting it's own character's in the hospital. I felt bad when, according to rumor, the writers gave Izzy cancer in retribution for Kathrerine Heigel's complaints about in adequate screen time.

Then somewhere between the cliffhanger finale when the chief decided to try to save Izzy, and the season premiere when she returned as a perky survivor, I got cancer too. All of a sudden Izzy's goofy wigs and determination to overcome her illness were personal. What seemed like just another soap opera twist, became a source of inspiration.

Sadly Izzy took off for parts unknown, and a string of mediocre rom-com's. Too bad, it was nice having her in the club.

Now however prime time has another stage 4 cancer patient, played by Laura Linney. Hopefully she will make better choices than Walter White in AMC's "Breaking Bad."
(Why is everybody so keen to knock off a dying man anyway?)

Here is an article about the new program on Showtime.

Breast cancer patients can win a luxury silk scarf from Hermes

Interesting column from Sun-Times writer and breast cancer survivor Mary Mitchell. She recalls how much a really nice scarf meant when she was going through treatment. Now Hermes is giving 31 scarfs to readers who submit an essay. The link is below. Good luck!
http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/2591216,CST-NWS-mitch12.article

We did it! 1000 followers!!!!

I still remember when deb and I had oh....half a dozen followers. Now we have 1000 followers. A grand, 1K, how ever you want to slice it!!!!

Thank you!!

"Breaststrokers" paint and paddle to fight breast cancer

Cute story from canada about a charity event which included boating and breast-painting. Yep I made that a verb!
http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Breast+cancer+survivors+leave+mark+artwork/3374010/story.html
Suzanne

Cool! Post about my post!

http://www.navigatingcancer.com/groups/breast-cancer-group/discussions/tv-characters-with-breast-cancer-role

Samantha,"Sex" and breast cancer

So in one of those only in NYC moments I found myself in an elevator with Kim Catrall of "Sex and the City." Since I have briefly met SJP and Cynthia Nixon, I joked to her, "All I need is Kristin Davis and I have a matching set."

We had an elevator-length chat about Samantha's symbolism as a breast cancer survivor, and I mentioned that I found that plot line in the TV series finale reassuring when I was diagnosed. She said she had heard the same thing from women all over the world and credited the writers with handling the development well. She added that I looked nice and healthy now and wished me well. All in all it was as nice a chat as you can expect with a random celebrity meeting.

But I wanted to say more.

While I liked the movie sequel more than most people I know,  I thought the producers threw breast cancer survivors under the bus.

I could understand a decision to not mention breast cancer at all. Perhaps cancer does not,"test well," as they say in show business. But the movie had Samatha behave in ways that made no sense for a survivor.

Not only did the plot have Samantha blithely jumping on a 14 hour flight with out the slightest lymphedema precaution, the running gag in the script was how Samantha was consuming and practically bathing in any phytoestrogen she could find to fight menopause. Wallowing in wild yam puree, for example. It made no sense, most likely someone in their 40's would have been kicked in to menopause by chemotherapy, 6 years earlier.

I didn't say any of these things because of course, Catrall was not the screenwriter. However, to add insult to injury, Cynthia Nixon who plays Miranda is a breast cancer survivor in real life and was a Komen spokesperson.

I'm not saying the movie needed to be "Sex and the City 2: Samantha's Recurrence," but somewhere along the line, somebody should have at least silently respected the fact that one of our generations most memorable symbols of sexual liberation was also a breast cancer survivor.

Suzanne

Serviceman calls "Attention" to breast cancer with pink ribbon buzz cut

Great picture of a California man who really is using his head to fight breast cancer.
Here is a link to the article.