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...
Back on the exercise wagon, for reals this time
I’ve always loved this Henry Rollins quote, Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp. As a long-time straight edger, it’s been easy to keep my blood “clean”. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. (Except for Temodar, I was HOOKED on that stuff.) <– inside joke for those...
Survivorship strategy: distract yourself
Take a load off. Watching a video like this helps me to stop worrying about myself and puts the world in perspective. The universe is far beyond my own terrestrial problems. View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.
Together we’re giant: forgetting about brain cancer for a day
Which team is the best in Major League Baseball? The San Francisco Giants, of course. If you’ve read more than a couple posts here on my blog you may have figured out that I am a Giants fan. And lately some of my posts have focused more on baseball than on cancer. But I’m in...
Living is hard work
An acquaintance of mine posted a photo to a social media account of her working out at the gym. The caption read: Dying is easy. Living is hard work. I wanted to comment on the photo caption. But then I stopped. The more I thought about what she said, the more my response changed. Was...
Baseball: the ultimate cancer therapy
I didn’t grow up in a family that was into sports. My annual exposure to sporting events was the Super Bowl, which was primarily an excuse to consume meatball subs and large amounts of French onion dip. I never played Little League. In high school my favorite P.E. class was singles tennis. I never had the...
Should a 32-year-old with brain cancer save for retirement?
Help me decide: Should one save for retirement when they have an incurable form of cancer with a high mortality rate? There are a few different ways to look at this situation. I could think on the bright side: I may live until I am 85 years old. I should be saving my money in...
Lobbying with my emotions: brain tumor advocacy is conjuring up all kinds of dirt
A typical young adult cancer experience So there I was, lobbying members of Congress on the importance of brain tumor research, funding, and parity for oral forms of chemotherapy, when suddenly I got emotional. I didn’t think it would happen to me. The majority of my cancer experience has been tear-free like a Johnson &...
Brain tumor advocacy in full swing: it’s time to educate Congress
Apologies: This was typed on my iPad and I didn’t have time to do much editing. I’m in Washington DC today to do something pretty amazing. I’m working with the National Brain Tumor Society to lobby Congress for two things: Lobby our elected leaders to focus on brain tumor research Ask for “chemo parity”...
MRI one-year post Temodar chemotherapy
It has been one year since I was on Temodar chemotherapy and the results are in. [drumroll] My brain tumor is stable. See for yourself… The scan on the left is my brain today, and the scan on the right is my brain one year ago after completing 24-months of Temodar. Since I am psychic,...
