I was proud and happy to see that Nancy Hamm, one of the incredible survivors I have interviewed, was on the popular TV show The Doctors today. They were talking about a cutting-edge radiation therapy that erradicated her liver cancer after doctors told her she had little more than seven months to live. You can [...]
Thanks to everyone for your supportive and loving comments. I really didn’t intend this blog to focus on me, but I guess my experiences are part of the package here.
After interviewing dozens of ”miracle survivors,” I discovered several shared attributes. Faith makes the top of the list. While they had different beliefs, almost every one [...]
I just returned from the oncologist who reported my scan results. My bone scan was clear, but the PET scan showed some of the pesky spots came back in my armpit and one on my liver. He said on a scale of 1 – 100, the amount of cancer was a five, and he feels confident that we will again knock this [...]
There are a few survivors I’ve interviewed who live in my city, so I get the pleasure of seeing them from time to time. Yvonne Cooper, who I mentioned in my last post, is one of them.
I stopped by Yvonne’s beautiful home today to pick up some ceramic tiles I purchased from her (at a very, [...]
I’m having a bone scan today as part of my routine scans. I get a radioactive dye shot in my veins and three hours later come back to get the scan.
I’ve had a few of these, but this is the first time I received a form that gives me security clearance in case I go [...]
For about a year now I have been attending Healthy Steps at The Wellness Community. It’s an exercise class focused on getting the lymphatic system moving for those of us who have had breast surgery.
I have always enjoyed my instructor Sally, who is also a survivor, because of her positive, upbeat attitude. Yet I have never [...]
I had my PET scan yesterday and, PR person that I am, I told the technician about this blog so she could pass it along to patients. At least I’m not in there tweeting, “Lying here getting my PET scan …” LOL!
Anyway, I digress. She actually looked up the blog while I was getting the [...]
Tomorrow I get a PET scan, which I have every three months. It is with gratitude that I’m able to say I no longer eat myself up with anxiety over it. I am choosing to look at it as a blessing that my oncologist is watching me closely. So far, I’ve had three clear scans [...]
One of the great things about launching this blog has been the chance to catch up with many of the people I interviewed for the book.
I first heard from Jack in February after my call for stories was published in the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s volunteer newsletter. As luck would have it, Jack lived in Ohio [...]
In my effort to appear modest (ha, ha), I forgot to mention that a great organization where I live called Cincinnati Women Bloggers picked Miracle Survivors as blog of the week! You should check them out; there are lots of great blogs connected with them on various topics. Here’s the link: http://cincinnatiwomenbloggers.com/.
A big thank you to my friend [...]
Last week, I interviewed another incredible survivor, Suzanne, for my book. I found out about her after my brother-in-law Tim rode in Pelotonia, a 180-mile bike ride to benefit The James Cancer Center at OSU. Suzanne did the 50-mile leg of the ride even though she was still dealing with anemia from treatments, was quite overweight when she started [...]
Yesterday I met with a neat woman who recently found out she had Stage IV breast cancer, when initially they told her it was Stage II. Despite this shock and some side effects from chemo, she appeared to be in great spirits.
I learned we have lots in common, including a love of books, coming from Jewish [...]
My heart is deeply saddened by the passing of Patrick Swayze. Like millions of women of my generation, I fell in love with him in Dirty Dancing and Ghost. But my admiration only grew as I watched his determination and grace as he shared his experience as a pancreatic cancer survivor.
At the same time, I [...]
Thanks to all of you for coming to this site and passing it along to your friends. It’s been three days since it was launched and already 105 people have visited.
Many of you have said that you’re looking forward to hearing stories from the book. I can’t think of a better person to start with [...]
First of all, thanks to everyone for the sweet comments, e-mails and tweets. It makes me feel good to know that you’re out there supporting this and passing it along to others.
One fellow survivor who was recently diagnosed posted a very good question: “How do you deal with the fear of the cancer coming back?” [...]
Welcome to my new blog and my very first post! OK, I admit I’m a little nervous, but excited too.
Enough about me, let’s talk about this blog and why it’s here. Miracle Survivors is not just for survivors; but anyone who has been touched by cancer. Considering there’s more than 11.1 million cancer survivors living [...]
