Support groups are not for everyone
I’ve been in a state of brain cancer reflection this week as I prepare for two upcoming presentations related to patient engagement through digital media. (I know, I’m a nerd.) Then I remembered this day… The bus About four weeks after my first brain surgery I decided to go to my first cancer support group...
How the rest of the medical community deals with cancer
Cancer has been following me around the past two weeks. I had my routine lady-doctor exam and all is well. Then the OB/GYN asked how everything was going with… um, you know… the brain cancer thing. “It’s the same,” I told her. My primary care doctor sent me to see a new physical therapist for...
Four months at a time: living between brain scans
I live my life four months at a time. After a good scan I am happy to move forward with my life for a while. In some cases I do long-range planning: I am going to a wedding this summer. My BFF wants to go to Seattle with me in the fall. Brett and I...
Your friend, Logan
I was at the gym working on my “clean and jerk” (which looks like this graphic), when the song “Complex“ started playing through the sound system. The band was Little Tin Frog. The drummer was Logan Whitehurst, a long time friend, fellow drummer, and the most well-respected musician/awesome guy/creative talent among my peers between 1997 and the...
December 2012 letter to friends
Note: Liz’s husband sent this message to a select group of family and friends. Constituents of the Liz Army, Yes, it has once again been a long time since the latest Liz update. As you may have gathered by now, we’re going with the “no news is good news” approach. Don’t worry, things are ok,...
Something is waking me up at night
I’ve had nothing medical to say for a long time, and now… this. Over the past two months I’ve been woken up in the middle of the night by a weird sensation. It feels like I bumped my elbow super hard, but instead of the sensation being in the elbow it is everywhere. And only...
Students needed: specializing in the field of brain tumors
Coincidence? I think not! (But it probably is.) Since joining a new gym in mid-July I met a woman who lost her mom to a glioblastoma, a young man with a oglioastrocytoma who recently finished Temodar, and the woman who is the scheduler for the doctor who performed my shoulder surgery! Coincidence? Probably. And this,...
What do you want me to learn at the National Brain Tumor Society Summit?
NOTE: I am no longer accepting questions to bring to the NBTS Summit. Later this week I am attending the National Brain Tumor Society’s (NBTS) annual summit in Boston, MA. According to the website, the Summit brings together “Patients and families, advocates, researchers, clinicians, and government and industry professionals who will connect, share the latest...
Lift with your head: the other 90% of my brain
In the past I have viewed exercise as a chore. Repetitive weight lifting and mindless jogs on a treadmill were never my idea of fun. But I still have cancer in my brain–so I need to do something to feel like I am fighting back. I strongly believe in the power of advocacy as an important...
My movie moment: brain surgery
That which does not kill us makes us stronger. – Frederich Nietzsche If this is true, I am going to be a fucking genius. Four years ago today I had my first brain surgery. On that day I woke up in my boyfriend’s apartment with a shaved head, adhesive markers still firmly in place from the...
What I really do… living with a brain tumor
Just made this gem. Feel free to steal and share with your social networks.
My brain: 16 months after Temodar
What’s the status from my latest brain MRI? No growth! Also, my new neuro-oncologist is proud I’ve started exercising. He mumbled something about exercise helping build a stronger immune system and remarked, “You’ve lost six pounds since you were last here.” What-what?! Say that again? Really? And oh yeah, a stronger immune system is also...
