cancer
February 20, 2009
- When writing about illness--either in fiction or narrative nonfiction--there is a tendency to walk lightly over the effects and reality of the illness than to present it for what it really is--a generally horrible and fear inducing experience (see sample piece below). There is a great blog post from a day or so ago titled "Writing the Forbidden" where the writer discusses issues related ...
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February 2, 2009
- As a rectal cancer survivor I regularly check in to a web forum that provided me with a lot of information and support during my year-long treatment. Each day there is normally a lot of questions regarding medication, side effects, and those seeking advice after having just been diagnosed.Today, however, there were two posts that struck me the moment I saw the headlines. One said "A ...
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January 15, 2009
- There are words to live by in almost every situation, so why not this one? This moment. This time and place. It resembles homesickness, but I know that can’t be what I’m feeling. Because I’m not homesick. My home is 45 minutes away on the 1C bus route. It’s a hollowness. Wondering. What happened to childhood? Why does everything change, when you aren’t expecting it? Or even when you are ...
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January 13, 2009
- Six years ago today my father dropped dead of a heart attack while running on the treadmill at the gym. He was 59. He had run his whole life, or at least from the time, at age 7, he ran away from the Catholic orphanage in which he'd been deposited by his widowed mother who could not afford to care for him and his younger sister. He ran from the nuns and priests who employed him to clean stone ...
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January 9, 2009
- When I think back to enduring the pain of cancer treatment and the intensity of it there are two memories that come instantly to mind. The first is while enduring the pain of radiation I sat down to write my two young children each a letter in case I died during surgery or some other area of treatment. I spent days and more working through each one having to stop as the thought of leaving them ...
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December 30, 2008
- My friend Marianne invited me to her home for Cookie Day 2008. Sure, sure, I’ll go. Christmas cheer, whether I like it or not. Marianne was one of my sweetest classmates in high school. Always friendly, always trying, always smart, always pretty. But I was always partying, always cool, always disconnected and didn’t foster our friendship. Over the years, I realized my coolness is vastly ...
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December 19, 2008
- ISBN Number: 978-0-615-20180-1 Four-Time Cancer Survivor Releases New Book to Help Cancer Patients. St. Clair Shores, MI, December, 2008 – A new book just published, offers a truly inspiring story about a young man who faces and defeats cancer (4) four times in a 5-year period. In This Time’s a Charm; Lessons of a Four-Time Cancer Survivor, Donald A. Wilhelm tells his real-life story from ...
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December 4, 2008
- Yesterday I read a post on a website for people who have recently been diagnosed, are going through treatment and/or who are considered cancer survivors (to me anyone who remains alive and is bravely dealing with this disease counts as a survivor). In the post a woman who has stage 4 colorectal cancer (the same cancer that I was treated for) asked the community if they have given any thought to ...
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December 1, 2008
- As I write these words — the day after Thanksgiving — my stomach won’t stop bubbling and squealing. Yet my biggest regret about this Thanksgiving isn’t the gluttony in which I engaged, but rather the fact that my wife and I were sent home without any leftovers. It’s enough to make one feel cheated and, dare I say, somewhat thankless. Three weeks ago I had a “radical neck ...
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November 29, 2008
- At 3 a.m., the hospital is in stasis. On the floors with patient rooms, all lights are turned down to a softer hue and patients, for the most part, are tucked in their beds. At one end, the nurses station remains a pocket of bright light, where the night shift of doctors and nurses intersperse hushed clinical talk with chatter about their personal lives. Occasionally, laughter pokes through the ...
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