Tips for Living with Blood Cancer
Be grateful you are still alive Don’t sweat the small stuff! Learn to live within your constraints with JOY .... ...not sadne…
therapy
Emotional distress and anxiety – how to get help #ThisIsBloodCancer
Whether you are in watch and wait, in the middle of aggressive treatment, or finished treatment and out the other side with a remission, then anxiety …
Letters to Mom
This is more or less written for me as I cope with the grief of the loss of my mom last month. I also wanted a way to remember my childhood, and was t…
Finding Christmas
What a strange year 2020 has been! Prior to the beginning of this year, I believe many of us had plans, hopes, and resolutions which quickly faded as …
Perspective in the Midst of Troubles
I have never seen really, really extreme weather where I live. Yeah, I was around for the Blizzard of 1977 in Western New York, but I was a kid and it…
Healing is a Journey
I cut my finger a few days ago. I was riding my bike....no, I was doing archery....no, I was skydiving...no, I was fixing something in the house. All …
Riding A Bike
This is not a picture of me. But perhaps it could be. Recently, my husband bought used bikes for both of us. We are having such a wonderful summer, ev…
Catastrophic System Failure-Why the Support Group Concept is so Important
This life is so strange. We hopefully live life as healthy individuals at least until age 40 or age 50, but inevitably, these bodies break down. Then,…
Handling difficult emotions – the role of friends and therapy
A very difficult childhood. Bereaved of her father at the age of nine. Taken into care. A teenage rebel. Bereaved again of her beloved sister when a y…
The Itch from Within-Hyper IgE Syndrome or something else?
This is a very serious post. I do not have any jokes about pets or condiments this time. As I felt sickness overcome me three times in the last 2 week…
The View from Above
We enjoyed some well-deserved time off this week. It is a beautiful summer here in Western New York, and the weather has been beyond excellent. Some s…
Facing the Son
I have a serious problem lately! I keep buying salad dressings! I do like to eat salad, but this is a lot of dressing. In the last week, I have bought…
Holding on Too Tight
We all have them. Memories of traumatic events we wish would just "go away". In my field of work, I hear the phrase Post Traumatic Stress Disorder way…
Sex and Blood Cancer Study
There are some subjects even I do not like to share about publicly. Sexuality and blood cancer is one of them. And since there has been almost no rese…
COVID-19 and Blood Cancer an Expert’s View – with Prof Peter Hillmen
Watch this video if you need a bit of hope from one of the World's Leading Experts in CLL. Just how risky is catching COVID19 for blood cancer patient…
Matching Socks
I have many flaws. Perhaps some would call my problem a little touch of OCD. I spend a lot of time on something, trying to get it "just right", and th…
Join a Blood Cancer Support Group
You do not have to be alone with your blood cancer. There are ways you can connect with others and get their advice encouragement and support. Some op…
Adrian’s First Walk in over Ten Weeks Shielding
So following yesterday’s change to the advice (and it was always only advice!) we decided to have a go at walking out. It was a bit scary. But we deci…
The tyranny of the positive
When I was struggling the most from an emotional perspective with my illness to be honest I found it hard to talk about how I was feeling. Nobody actu…
A blood cancer tsunami hit me three years ago today
I wake this morning feeling very sober. But also very glad to be alive. Mixed motions for sure. You could even say that I was "sorrowful yet always re…