Questions submitted for the 2012 National Brain Tumor Society Summit
Before I left for the National Brain Tumor Society’s annual summit I asked The Liz Army blog readers if you had questions you would like me to ask doctors and health care professionals I would presumably meet at the event. Keep in mind, I had never attended an NBTS summit and I did not know...
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...
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...
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,...
To have a slow-growing brain tumor
Three and a half years after my diagnosis my health care system finally hired a neuro-oncologist for the Sacramento area. You’d think the California state Capitol would have a fancy oncologist a bit sooner than that, but apparently neuro-oncology isn’t a popular field (what with brain cancers representing only 1% of all cancers). Kaiser would...
Changing careers during brain cancer
So, I got a new job. This is a time for celebration, I get to take on new challenges and I have an exciting job title, blah blah blah. But that is not what this post is about. I’m writing about the anxiety-wrenching situation I was/am in when it comes to health care and a job change....
Each moment is bittersweet
It has been almost three years since I experienced the first significant symptom that I had brain cancer. It was one week after my 29th birthday that I lost consciousness at work, suffered a grand mal seizure, convulsed uncontrollably for five minutes, then peed my pants in front of the boss. I had no history...
Hair health for people on Temodar
It’s been about two full months since my last week of Temodar. I got a haircut over a month ago but lately my ‘do has been looking like a don’t, so I made an appointment to get another haircut today. If you don’t know what I look like, you should know that I’ve had short...
Cancer tattoo; it’s going to be badass
I like tattoos, in case you didn’t know. I don’t have a whole bunch of them, just 2 or 3 large-ish tattoos. (I say 2 or 3 because two of them kind of go together and could be considered one. I dunno.) I understand that not everyone has positive views on tattoos, so feel free...
