Several weeks ago, I went to see one of my favorite people, Glennon Doyle, speak about her life and career. Glennon is an author, activist, and the founder of Together Rising, an incredible non-profit which rushes in to help people in crisis. The house lights were nearly off in the theater, but I wasn’t going to miss my chance to take notes, so I scribbled in the dark with my notebook practically held up to my chin. One of the moments that will stick with me for a long time is when Glennon explained that she is asked, all the time, how to find peace and happiness. Her response is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard. She said (and I’m paraphrasing from my notes, which are a little bit on top of each other, so forgive me):
Peace and happiness? I don’t know what peace and happiness even means! I don’t know how to find them! But I do know how to find your purpose. Don’t ask me what brings you happiness. Ask yourself what breaks your heart. Be brave enough to go there. Rush to the places that break your heart. Stand there. You will find your people.
There are so many heartbreaking things in our messy, beautiful, broken world. There are so many places to rush to. But right now, this tumor’s breaking my heart… a lot. And the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation has been the place I have rushed to, since the night I was officially diagnosed, to find others whose hearts are broken by this disease too.
Running for Answers 5k
The 2018 Running for Answers Survivors Photo. Unofficially speaking, The Patient Meeting and 5k are the largest annual gathering of desmoid tumor patients in the world!
This year will be the 10th Annual Running for Answers 5k in Philadelphia. Last year was my first year participating, and it was a blast. While this event may have been born of heartache and frustration, it has become a celebration of community, strength, and resilience. This event is one big morning-long party, and I like to think the presence of the Unicorn Squad has a lot to do with it! Last year, we were the team with the highest online fundraising amount- which was super exciting! I was the featured speaker, and once those duties concluded, I walked the route and ate ice cream. Then I basked in the glow of how lucky I am to be so supported.
If you missed out on the fun last year, here’s your chance to join the Squad this year! The 10th Annual Running for Answers 5k Run/Walk will be September 22, 2019 in Fairmount Park. For $35 you get race registration, music, free cheesesteaks, free ice cream, post-race yoga, and word on the street is that the first 400 registrants get a cool bandana as well. And if you register by tomorrow, August 15, you get a free Unicorn Squad tshirt as well! (I know, ack, this is late notice – I could have sworn I shared about it earlier. Sorry! Chemo brain! But if you register after August 15, you’ll still get all the cool perks, just no tshirt.)
Summary: $35 donation. September 22. Music. Walking. Running. Hug from me. Food. Massive fiesta feeling. My eternal gratitude.
Want in? Click here to register and join Team Unicorn Squad!
FAQ’S
Q: Rats! I don’t know if I can make it that day! What can I do? A: You’re still welcome to register by tomorrow, 8/15, if you want the tshirt! Your $35 registration fee will go right to the DTRF, and I’ll get in touch with you to give you the shirt at another time. If can’t register until the day before, that’s cool too! You’re always welcome to join!
Q: I can’t make it, but I would love to make a donation. Where do I do that? A: Thank you so much! You can click on this link and make a donation by clicking on the “donate” button, under the image of the colorful unicorn.
Q: Unless I’m being chased by a rabid animal, I don’t run. Can I still register? A; Absolutely! I walked last year. There’s always a solid contingent of walkers.
Q: I am a Very Serious Runner. Can I register?
A: Of course! This is a timed course and there are prizes in each age group as well.
Q: This is not a question. But my child is the next Wilma Rudolph.
A: Wow! That’s impressive! You should register your kid – there’s a 1/2 mile fun run they can participate in right before the 5k kick-off!
Q: Can I bring my human baby and/or my fur baby? A: For sure! The course is paved and stroller-friendly. If your kiddo is of the four-legged variety, bring them on a leash!
Q: I have a question that’s not listed here!
A: You can probably find the answer on this Event Details website. You can also message me here on the blog!
Let’s get this out of the way: I had a scan last Thursday. My tumor hasn’t changed significantly. There’s a very tiny measurement of growth. One of my lymph nodes is notably enlarged, which they think is an immune response at this point.
Bottom line: I’m suffering all of these side effects with no real difference in my tumor.
It sucks.
I’ll probably have three more rounds of Doxil, as scheduled. I may be eligible for a clinical trial. A lot is up in the air, as usual. I’ll let you know as I know.
After the phone call, I holed myself up in my apartment. I cried. I told my parents to ask people not to call. I cried some more. I ignored text messages and phone calls, opting to post my disappointing news on Facebook and Instagram to rip the Band-aid off and relay the news as quickly as possible. I watched four straight episodes of Chernobyl, because nothing made sense except for the world being on fire and people looking at each other asking, “how could this have happened?”
In the days since, I struggled to get out of bed. (I’m increasingly grateful I have a dog to hold me accountable.) I’ve noticed a few thoughts circling in my head, and the more I think about them, the more they made sense. They are not nice or comfortable. They are not anything you will find on a greeting card. Maybe they are wisdom, maybe just my own thoughts cloaked in sadness, or bitterness masquerading as knowledge, but nevertheless, they’re hard-won and I believe them to be true, for me, right now.
Three Uncomfortable Truths
1. It is not my job to make anyone comfortable: it is my job to tell the truth.
I recently read a memoir by Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgarif, the hosts of one of my go-to podcasts, My Favorite Murder. There’s a beautiful passage in the book in which Karen describes a picnic she attended. Her mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and a friend asked her how she was doing. Instead of resorting to sugar-coating the truth or writing off her own experience, as she was accustomed, Karen said a “truer thought hit her.” Here’s what happened next. Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.
“Having a parent with Alzheimer’s islike living inside a horror moving that’s playing out in real time. It’s as horrifying and awful as it is tedious and mundane. It’d be like if you lived in the movie Jaws. You’re happily swimming in the ocean and then everyone starts screaming, ‘Shark!’ You start to panic, but then someone else yells that the shark is twenty miles away, so you calm down a little. But then a third person gets on the bullhorn and says you’re not allowed to get out of the water ever again. So you start panicking and flailing and fighting and yelling for help. You scream about how unfair it is, you having to be out in the ocean with this killer shark alone when all those other people get to be on the beach… You finally start to accept that it’s your fate. But then you start thinking everything that touches you is the shark. You can’t calm down because you can’t stop reacting to things that aren’t there. You grab wildly at anything that looks like a weapon, but every time, it turns out to be seaweed… You get really tired and cry so hard you think your head will burst. And then finally, you gather all your strength and turn and look at the shark. Now it’s 19.8 miles away. It’s the slowest shark in history, but you know it’s coming right for you. And after five years in the water, you start rooting for the [explative] shark.”
Karen said the mood of the barbeque changed. She was embarrassed that she overshared and brought things down. And then a friend who had his own experience with Alzheimer’s grabbed her by the shoulders and said she was so right, that he felt the exact same way. “After that, I never lied when someone asked me how things were going with my mom. Instead of worrying about the comfort of the person who was asking, I started thinking about whoever might be listening to my answer,” Karen explained.
I love this story for so many reasons. I’ve written before about how being on chemo without progress is like treading water. I have wanted the shark to hurry on up, too. But most importantly, like Karen, I have decided not to waste any more words or time on sugarcoating my experience.
I started this blog to keep people updated on my treatment and to share my experiences in an effort to increase understanding, but more than anything, it is a way for me to shout out into the void and say “hey! Anyone else out there?” And let me tell you, it’s such a relief that a few people have shouted back, “Yes! Here! I am here!” I have met several people, both in person and online, that are also facing this confusing, life-altering diagnosis. That this blog has a wider audience than just desmoid patients or cancer patients is still rather remarkable and surprising to me. So if it has some wider-reaching posts or more enduring wisdom scattered among the treatment updates – awesome. But I’m truly writing for the 5 people that are in the water too, who respond, “oh my gosh, this shark. It’s awful.” And for their sakes, I will not lie or water down my truth, because maybe, on the rare occasion when the stars align, it will be exactly what they need to hear.
As I read recently in the Benediction for an amazing woman who the world lost too soon, “[b]lessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are those who ‘still aren’t over it yet.'”
I’m sorry to tell you that sixteen months post-diagnosis, I’m still not over this whole tumor thing. On Friday, I wasn’t over my results being so disappointing. I’m still not. When your skin is blistering and peeling, your joints ache, ten hours of sleep is insufficient, and it hurts to simply have your elbows touch your bedsheets, it’s really hard to keep your chin up, to expect miracles, to stay positive. These are things that I hope to do, and I expect I will someday, but I do not have the bandwidth for right now, and I think I’m allowed to be furious and rage at the world for a bit.
As a society, we like our cancer patients bald and brave. We like the completed, abridged story: diagnosis, successful treatment, the afterglow.
There is a truthful but uncomfortable article that I came across last year in which the author writes, “I think that as a culture we place unreasonable expectations on the people we love when they’re very sick. We need them to be strong, upbeat, and positive. We need them to be this way for us… There’s nothing wrong with hope. After all, Emily Dickinson says, ‘hope is the thing with feathers,’ but not at the expense of canceling out all the other complex emotions, including sadness, fear, guilt, and anger. As a culture, we can’t drown this out.”
I am glad to be someone who is perceived as happy and hopeful… but I am no Pollyanna. And I certainly do not want the fact that I have cancer to distill my personality to brave, optimistic, and positive. Maybe I am those things, but if I read that character in a play, I’d call her boring, flat, and unrealistic. Ask anyone in close proximity to me and they’ll confirm: I can be moody and irritable, and bitter and sarcastic. (You know, human.) I do not have the energy to pretend to be something I am not. As I said in uncomfortable truth number one, I’m interested in the truth. If my truth is hopeful some days, then it’s hopeful. If it’s angry others, then it’s angry. Neither of those things is bad, and both of them are true.
It just doesn’t. Not after the pathology comes back. Not after telling the news a million times. Not after half a dozen MRIs. Not after starting a blog. Not at all. Sorry.
This is the analogy that makes the most sense to me, shared on a friend’s post on Facebook.
“Imagine you’re going about your day, minding your own business, when someone sneaks up behind you… You feel something press up against the back of your head, as someone whispers in your ear. ‘Sssshhhhh…. don’t turn around. Just listen. I am holding a gun against the back of your head. I’m going to keep it there. I’m going to follow you around like this every day, for the rest of your life. I’m going to press a bit harder, every so often, just to remind you I’m here, but you need to try your best to ignore me, to move on with your life. Act like I’m not here, but don’t you ever forget… one day I may just pull the trigger… or maybe I won’t. Isn’t this going to be a fun game?’ This is what it is like to be diagnosed with cancer. Any stage of cancer. Any kind of cancer. Remission does not change the constant fear. It never truly goes away. It’s always in the back of your mind.”
I can hear you asking: so if it doesn’t get easier, then what?
I don’t honestly know. I’m still working on it. But maybe you learn to celebrate the tiny victories that you can, like getting out of bed, making it through a class at the gym pretty successfully, or not needing a painkiller. You smile. You find professionals who can help you make sense of this mess and hopefully give you tools to cope. You cry. You hope and pray that some of this has a purpose. You try, with every breath, to put one foot in front of the other and remember that despite it all, you are here. And you try to be grateful for it. Maybe some days you’re successful, others not so much. But you try, and it is enough.
I took an Intro to Buddhism class in the spring of my sophomore year of college. Having grown up with enough Catholic education to navigate my way around symbols of saints and the metaphors of resurrection, I decided to immerse myself in a world totally new to me. For the sake of complete disclosure and honest journalism, some of my best friends were also taking it, and it filled a pretty sweet spot in my Tuesday/Thursday schedule along with dance class and dinner. The professor was an adjunct from the city and would cancel classes when his kid got sick – which we noticed always seemed to be on the sunniest, most beautiful days. He would teach while sitting in a chair, told a lot of stories, and seemed to genuinely care what we thought. We did a lot of laughing and listening, and because of this, I remember a good bit of what we were taught.
The concepts of impermanence and suffering are at the core of Buddhism. I suppose they are in many other religious, ashes to ashes and all that, but the Buddhists hold this as their central tenant and arguably discuss it more than anyone else. The Buddha taught that we are trapped in this thing called samsara, an endless cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth, broken only by reaching nirvana and obtaining enlightenment. (This led us to joke as our laptops acted up that they were attempting to escape samsara.)
Consequently, the Buddhists have a lot of labels around suffering. There are many different types, but my favorite is hands down the Suffering of a Fine Meal. A delicious dinner, the Buddhists would argue, is a form of suffering – because it’s in our human nature to miss what we had. We don’t just think, “wow, what a great meal!” but, “wow, what a great meal! Man, that was just SO good. I wish my portion were larger. I wouldn’t have been able to finish it, but taking some of this home would have been great. Think we can come back here again?” Way back before foodie culture, the Buddhists knew we’d be taking photos of our food to proudly post on Instragram.
I’m learning a lot about impermanence these days. The infusion cycle is different for everyone, and while there are general patterns, nothing can be certain. Here’s the general pattern: on infusion day, you get steroids in addition to your prescribed poison, and you feel kind of great. They hang out in my system for a few days, giving you a little boost of fake energy. During these days, I try to make the most of it and do some cleaning, socializing, and gym going. I see a previously unprecedented number of Broadway musicals. I feel guilty for being out of work and miss my students. During that time, I often think that this chemo thing really isn’t so bad and maybe I can be like those people on 60 Minutes who train for marathons during treatment. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s a heavenly meal.
About a week later, I’m brutally humbled as the wall of fatigue hits. As though little weights are attached to all of my limbs, it is a struggle to put my feet on the floor next to bed or ignore the siren song of the couch and Netflix. In the coming days, I’ll also possibly enjoy a metal taste in my mouth, painful mouth sores, peeling and burning hands, itchiness, a rash, and increased tumor pain. Before I know it, my thoughts have become patterned in the opposite way. I think that I will never have energy again and wonder if I will ever get to do anything I love, like travel or dance or wake up to watch the sunrise, ever again. Ah, that meal, remember how delicious it was?
Sound dramatic? Fair enough, but I think it’s universal and part of this human nature business of not believing in impermanence. A comedian named Jim Jefferies accidentally gave him and his son food poisoning. In the throws of his son’s illness, he described the pattern of thinking as, “well, this is me now. This is how things are from now on.” I would venture to guess that most of us have had that very thought in a similar situation, whether four or forty four. Think back to the last time you had a stomach virus. Not a quick one and done job, but a real rocking, bring the blanket in and sleep on the bathmat trip. Hard to believe it would pass then, right? (And if you have gracefully edged around this with a level head and a wisdom beyond your years, and you think I am just catastrophizing, remember that not too long ago, I bounced from doctor to doctor and was told I was making a big deal out of nothing, only to be told it’s a sarcoma… So bear with me; I’m fighting my own experience here.)
Eventually though, that “this is my life now” feeling does pass. I’ll start to feel almost normal. A few days before my next infusion, the combination of renewed energy or anxious anticipation will lead me to do insane things, like re-pot houseplants at midnight. (So, not quite normal, but you get the picture.) It’s absolutely bittersweet because I want to enjoy the normalcy, but I know the next part of the story. I know I’ll feel terrible again soon. It’s really stinking hard to be present, and live in the moment, to live, laugh, and love, or whatever the other wall art in Homegoods is preaching these days.
An Explanation
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” — Walt Whitman
In trying to create a context for my experience, this “chemo samsara” really helps me understand myself. It is why I feel some days that I have been called to be an advocate for patients with a rare diagnosis, but others, I don’t want to talk about how I’m feeling. It’s why I am itching to write a blog post on some days, and others I opt to numb out with another season of Parks and Rec. It’s the reason why I wear a “Straight Outta Chemo” shirt at the gym and also why I can’t motivate myself to go. It’s why, despite years of saying I fell out of love with New York, I take the train in so I can be just another face in the crowd.
It’s why many days I want people to text me and so I don’t feel forgotten, and other days, I want to be forgotten completely. It’s why silence is scary and why, despite having practiced and taught both yoga and meditation, I drown myself in podcasts to listen to anything other than the sound of my own thoughts echoing in my head. It’s why, on the days where I feel like complete crap, I hate being called brave, even though it is a huge compliment and a perfectly wonderful thing to say to someone. But I don’t want to be brave. I would rather be a coward and have my old life back. Like a child screaming from the back of my throat, “please, I’ll be good, I promise!” I am clawing at the leg of something bigger than me, begging for that thing I just had in my hands moments before.
This round of chemo, while in many ways made more tolerable by being out on disability from work, is infinitely harder because I don’t have work to distract me. I’m living in a house of mirrors, where every moment is a stern invitation to look at myself. In all this physical mess, I’m also being challenged to answer that great, question of, “who am I?” Like a second adolescence, it’s changing every single day, perhaps exactly as it was before, only now I have nothing to distract me from this business of discovering who I am.
I’m still figuring it out, but here’s what I’ve got so far: contradictory multitudes. I am complex and straightforward, defeated and resilient. I am hopeful and discouraged, angry and I am grateful. I am healthy and sick, grief and laughter. I am no longer and I am in spite of. And on the days when nothing else makes sense, I take a page from the poet’s book.
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” — Sylvia Plath
This post is the third and final in a series I am writing on the subject of chemotherapy and fertility. It has taken me the most time, intentionality, and courage of anything I have written to date.
As always, the experiences and opinions voiced in this article are mine. My story is not the story of all women, but a tiny piece in the large mosaic of the complex issue of fertility. I wrote honestly and openly – mostly because I wish I had the opportunity to read another patient’s account regarding fertility treatment. The intent of this post is not to overshare, nor is it to cast judgment on others who would, or have made, different decisions. I believe that every person deserves the right to make informed choices about their bodies, and that includes reproductive health.
April 21-27 was Infertility Awareness week in the United States. 1 in 4 men and women struggle with infertility. I believe that the more we share our truths about the complex issue that is fertility, we can help mitigate the stigma and end the cycle of isolation, shame, and grief that is so often at the center of fertility struggles.
A pile of my discarded medical waste from fertility treatments.
On the day of my egg retrieval, I arrived early to check in at the front desk. I had filled out the paperwork to appraise the medical staff of my history, and then sat down. A few minutes later, I was called up to the front desk and told to swipe my card as instructed for payment. I squinted, blinked, and looked again. The total displayed on the screen was nearly $500 more than what I had agreed to at the clinic. I explained this to the front desk attendant, who told me there was nothing she could do. I looked over to my Mom, and then down at the total again.
There was no going back. I couldn’t start the process again, and there was no time to try to contact the fertility clinic. Drawing my lips together into a firmly held line, I swiped my card and took a seat.
Everyone I spoke with that day was as nice as could be, but it didn’t keep my heart from pounding as I was called back and got into a gown for surgery. My hands were shaking, my eyes watering, and no amount of yogic training could keep me in a steady rhythm of breathing. I had a pre-surgical meeting with the doctors and was told I was in great hands. I flinched at any reference made to how the anesthesia would be “the best sleep ever.” After what seemed like simultaneously hours or seconds, it was time. I was taken back to the operating room, where a radio was playing and everyone in the room was laughing and making jokes. It strikes me each time that I’m in a hospital that while this is a pivotal day in my life, it’s just someone else’s Saturday. With my palms sweating and my arms retrained for surgical prep, I struggled to keep myself calm. The anesthesia started through my IV, and then there was nothing.
I came into consciousness in a curtained room. I was sore and I didn’t see anyone I recognized. I hated not knowing how long I had been out or how I had been seemingly interacting with the nurse before remembering or realizing. As the nurse checked my pain level, I was told not to exercise for two weeks – which was news to me and another disappointment, as it eliminated any plans of getting in more normalcy before starting chemo. After a little while, my mom was brought back and we were released to go home. I was cranky and in pain. I had re-lived my most painful memory and paid more than I expected on top of it. I was tired. I just wanted to go home and watch Netflix.
As I lounged on the couch a few hours later, sore and tired, I got a phone call from the surgical center. A staff member informed me that they were able to retrieve seven eggs. Of those seven, three were usable.
My heart stopped. I had not prepared for this.
In the research I had done, numbers mattered. There was the possibility of 0 – 30 eggs during the retrieval, with the far ends of the spectrum being less frequent or likely occurrences. The younger you are at the time of your retrieval, the more eggs the doctors are typically able to retrieve. Of the eggs retrieved, 60% are usually viable for freezing. Most people about my age were able to have at least 12-15 eggs retrieved, and my doctor stressed in our consultation appointment that at 29, I would be happy with the results.
But I was far from it. They’d retrieved well under the number of eggs I had hoped for and fewer than half were viable.
The number game quickly continued. That meant that if I chose to go through IVF down the road, 70% of those mature eggs fertilize successfully. I’d have one to use and one as a backup. For my age and the number of eggs retrieved, there was a 16-38% chance of IVF resulting in a child’s birth.
16 – 38%.
That felt like nothing. If there’s a 16 – 38% chance of rain, I don’t bother to pack an umbrella. Hell, I’d get on a motorcycle if offered, and I’m pretty cautious.
I was crushed. I had convinced myself that undergoing these fertility treatments would secure my options, but in reality, I had paid a lot of money to secure another very expensive gamble in the future. I was crying and I wasn’t even able to name why. Was I crying for the children I maybe wanted and now felt were out of reach? Or was it because my body had failed me, betrayed me, yet again? In the days following, it was harder still was telling people who knew about the procedure and asked how it went. “Well, you don’t want more than three kids, do you?” “All you need is one!” “Three is better than nothing!” Well-meaning, I’m sure, but each remark smarted, the wound still raw. I wondered, for the millionth time, how much more heartbreak I could endure.
It’s been just over a month since my retrieval. I’ve had time to get a little bit of distance and perspective. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t. Regret is a tricky thing: I did the best with the knowledge I had, but it doesn’t stop it from hurting. I wish I had been prepared for the possibility of disappointment. Over and over again, people told me I was making the right decision and assured me it would work out fine. Looking back, I realize now that the majority of those people were mothers – those who both can’t imagine their lives without children – and doctors – those who can profit, exponentially, off of the desire and desperation of others to have a baby of their own. I am not saying that their words were motivated by anything other than comfort or assurance, but there’s an innate bias in their opinion.
I don’t think I’ll do anything with these eggs. I’ll probably donate them to research after the five years of freezing I’ve prepaid is up. Truthfully, I cannot forsee a future in which I’m willing to open myself up more to the potential heartbreak of pregnancy or IVF. I’ve already been hurt enough, and the process hasn’t even included an attempt at pregnancy. My fertility decisions were initiated in the interest of preserving choice and options. My heart aches for those who have endured this cycle hoping for pregnancy, month after month, and been disappointed. The emotional and financial stress of fertility treatments is staggering. One round of IVF, without medication, is $14,000 (national average, USA). These are rarely covered by insurance. The cost for surrogacy is between $70,000 – $100,000. Even if I find myself in a place where my emotions are changed, I cannot see a reasonable future for myself where that is not a shattering financial undertaking.
“The final stage of healing is using what happens to you to help other people.” – Gloria Steinem
In this narrative of loss, here’s what’s left, my truth and my story.
If I sound bitter, I am. If this all seems indignant, you’re right, I am. If this wisdom seems hard won, it is.
I do not understand why my fertility was never a topic of conversation before it needed to be decided upon, and fast. As I journey through this experience of having an orphan disease, a rare one in a million tumor, I am learning that my doctors know about as much as I do about my diagnosis. I’m also certain that in this country, women’s health – their pain, their instinct, their voice – is taken less seriously, or at the very least, with less consideration, by those who have the power to make decisions.
If I could do it all over again, I would take the money and go on a trip. Spend five days in the islands or maybe Italy, and come back with a clear head and a tan, heartache-free, ready to put those chemicals in my veins. If I could do it all over again, I would have asked my doctor about possible risks to my fertility when IV chemo was first mentioned as a possibility last year.
If I could do it all over again, I would hold the hand of the girl in the purple sweater who sat in the thoracic surgeon’s office. I’d wipe her tears and tell her that yes, it is a sarcoma. That yes, it will hurt, more than you ever thought imaginable. But, your heart will continue to fold in on itself, shatter, repair, and expand in more ways you ever thought imaginable.
Yes, I’d say, your body may have failed you, tricked you, deceived you, and betrayed you. But your magnificent, beating, hurting, growing, divinely human heart is intact. It will amaze you.
Someday, years from now, if my tech-savvy thirteen-year-old is reading a cached version of this blog, simultaneously cringing at the faintest hint at my reproductive organs and beginning to simmer an argument about being unwanted, calm down. You were wanted: very much so, so much so that something huge and wildly transformational happened to change my mind. Go clean your room.
And if no child of mine ever reads this, or no child of mine ever exists, and it’s seventy-year-old Christina reading this on some futuristic device I can’t yet imagine, hello. I wonder what you would want to tell me. I wonder how your heart has grown.
This post is the second in a series I am writing on the subject of chemotherapy and fertility. It has taken me the most time, intentionality, and courage of anything I have written to date.
As always, the experiences and opinions voiced in this article are mine. My story is not the story of all women, but a tiny piece in the large mosaic of the complex issue of fertility. I wrote honestly and openly – mostly because I wish I had the opportunity to read another patient’s account regarding fertility treatment. The intent of this post is not to overshare, nor is it to cast judgment on others who would, or have made, different decisions. I believe that every person deserves the right to make informed choices about their bodies, and that includes reproductive health.
Last week was Infertility Awareness week in the United States. 1 in 4 men and women struggle with infertility. I believe that the more we share our truths about the complex issue that is fertility, we can help mitigate the stigma and end the cycle of isolation, shame, and grief that is so often at the center of fertility struggles.
The next day at the fertility clinic, I was taken back to a tiny room with no windows. A woman who spoke very quickly and a touch too loudly put photocopied papers about in-vitro fertilization in front of me. She proceeded to draw all over them, numbers and figures and arrows zigzagging and punctuating the infrequent pauses in her sentences. I clung to the facts that I could. I would need to give myself injections for nearly two weeks and come to the office every day for monitoring. The egg retrieval would require me to go under anesthesia, something I deeply feared since my last surgery. Was I married? In a relationship? The doctor cautioned me against freezing embryos with donor sperm, because if I had a partner someday, they may not want to use them. I needed to have an ultrasound today, now, if I wanted to move forward. They’d also need to move my chemo date back. What’ll it be?
I didn’t talk and I didn’t move. Everything was happening on hyperspeed. I felt small and powerless. This was not a woman who knew what to do with an indecisive patient.
She and her assistant talked around me, to each other, to my mom, and suddenly, without any spoken on nonverbal consent from me, she left the room and started preparing the other room for an ultrasound.
I can’t begin to tell you how dehumanizing this was. I may not have known if I wanted an ultrasound or not, but I sure as hell deserved the dignity of being treated as an autonomous human being.
The day continued in tears. Everything was moving faster and faster. I was inconsolable, unable to think of anything else, and desperate for guidance or a sign of what choice I should make. A friend of mine who was navigating her own fertility decisions encouraged me to get a second opinion. She reminded me, gently and lovingly, that even if I did go through with the retrieval, I wasn’t obligated to use the eggs. This was a way to preserve choices and options, something I did not have otherwise. She shared the name of a fertility clinic closer to home, a half-hour away. Over email, the clinic gave me an estimate of cost, and it was a third of the cost of my first opinion. I didn’t want price to be a driving factor, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a consideration.
I went to get a second opinion at the clinic she recommended. This room had windows, which made me feel less claustrophobic, and I came prepared with my own tissues. I explained to the doctor the specifics of my diagnosis and my deeply held fear of surgery and anesthesia. She listened carefully, explained more about the process, and how they could, fortunately, start treatments at any time given my personal medical history, which was really encouraging. The number of days in the preparation and retrieval process varies as they monitor your hormone levels with daily bloodwork. The surgery would likely fall the second weekend of March, and any physical activity would need to be stopped in the days before the retrieval to reduce the risk of any complications.
I hesitated. I was in a production of Peter and the Starcatcher, and we ran for two weekends in March. I had been rehearsing since December, jumping all over boxes and platforms. I had no understudy, and more so, I did not want to miss the one thing I was looking forward to before my life changed for the foreseeable future. When I shared this, there was an undercurrent of judgment, likely a combination of both real and imagined circumstance. I understood that to someone else who knew that parenthood was what they wanted, it sounded insane to choose a community theatre production over having a child. But this was my source of joy, the thing I had to call my own before turning my body over to the imprisonment of chemicals and poison for a term of 6-13 months. I valued this artistic commitment and the fulfillment it brought me over undergoing a costly medical procedure that I wasn’t even sure I wanted.
The doctor proposed another idea. What if we waited, maybe another week? It would delay the retrieval until after the show had closed. I could delay chemo by one week, and I’d be in the clear.
I felt I had found my answer, and that maybe, this time, I could have it all. With tears of relief, I agreed to start fertility treatments.
The contents of my fridge: raspberry preserves, quinoa, almond milk, spinach, eggs – and three bags of fertility medication.
After a blood test and another ultrasound, it was time to start fertility injections. I was fortunate enough to receive the medication completely free of cost from the LiveStrong foundation. When the box arrived, it was nearly too large for me to carry. I quickly stashed it in the refrigerator, where it would need to be kept to maintain efficacy.
Here’s how a day on fertility treatments looks: I’d have an appointment between 7 and 8 AM almost every morning. They would draw blood, which would be tested for various hormone levels, and perform an ultrasound to see how the eggs were developing. Following the results of the blood test, I would be called, usually by 2 PM, with instructions for that evening. I’d have at minimum one shot to self-administer, usually two, at the same time each evening. It sounded scary, but there were videos to watch online, and soon, they became routine. I would swab a spot near my belly button with an alcohol pad, use either the pre-mixed pen (easy) or would quickly mix and fill a syringe with the hormone shot needed. Soon, my stomach was full of tiny pea-sized bruises as souvenirs of my courage.
You know the saying: another openin’, another show, another injection.The beard really completes the look.
Since I had rehearsals most nights, I’d duck out of running a scene, grab my insulated lunch box with my medication inside, and give myself the injections. Mind you, I was playing Smee (of Peter Pan fame), so I was doing this all in costume while wearing an artfully applied beard. There was an evening that I was a passenger in a car when the time came to give myself the shot. I politely shielded myself from my friends in the backseat and injected at a red light. I even administered the final timed, intramuscular “trigger shot” on a New Jersey Transit train, which thankfully had stopped at Secaucus at 10:31, just sixty seconds after the prescribed and water-tight time of 10:30. I joked to friends that, god forbid, I ever had to do this again – I should start a youtube channel and give myself the shots while skydiving.
Fertility treatments are not insane by any means, but not what I’d call a comfortable process. I constantly felt bloated and like I had basketballs in my stomach. In addition to the emotional weight of the chemo situation and telling my students that I wouldn’t be returning to work, I was pumped sky-high full of hormonal as well. In the final scene of Peter and the Starcatcher, I had to deliver the line, “until one night, many years later, she watched as Peter flew off, with her daughter in tow.” Its emotional significance was not lost on me.
As the end of the process neared, I knew the next hurdle would be preparing to undergo anesthesia, which filled me with fear. The last and only time I went under for surgery was when I thought my tumor was a lipoma, and this nightmare road to diagnosis had begun. In the time since, I have experienced nightmares in which I black out and wake up presumably hours later with no control over what had been done to my body. But through a stroke of luck, one of my best friends who is an OB-GYN works at the center where my retrieval would take place. He promised to get coverage so he could be there to hold my hand as I went under.
As we neared the “any day now” territory, I waited for the call each day that meant my retrieval would take place two days later. The call finally came and the nurse told me it would be two days later, on a Friday. I called my mom and asked her to take off work so she could drive me to the surgical center. Unfortunately, I had called her too soon – just a few hours later, I got another call from the fertility clinic. My retrieval would be Saturday instead. I sent a text to my friend so he could arrange for coverage at work. “Oh no,” he responded. “I can’t be there then, I have a meeting I can’t get out of.” He promised to talk to the anesthesiologist and find out who would be on surgery that day. I understood, and I was so grateful for his help, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
This post is the first in the series I am writing on the subject of chemotherapy and fertility. It has taken me the most time, intentionality, and courage of anything I have written to date.
As always, the experiences and opinions voiced in this article are mine. My story is not the story of all women, but a tiny piece in the large mosaic of the complex issue of fertility. I wrote honestly and openly – mostly because I wish I had the opportunity to read another patient’s account regarding fertility treatment. The intent of this post is not to overshare, nor is it to cast judgment on others who would, or have made, different decisions. I believe that every person deserves the right to make informed choices about their bodies, and that includes reproductive health.
Last week was Infertility Awareness week in the United States. 1 in 4 men and women struggle with infertility. I believe that the more we share our truths about the complex issue that is fertility, we can help mitigate the stigma and end the cycle of isolation, shame, and grief that is so often at the center of fertility struggles.
There’s a small sign that hangs in my office at school that my coworker was gifted years ago. It reads, “just take it one gigantic, earth-shattering crisis at a time.” I love that sign. It’s honest, isn’t it? Because life doesn’t usually hand us challenges in neat packages. Instead, you get something akin to those Russian nesting dolls. You think you’ve tackled your problems, but as you unpack it and delve deeper, you reveal more and more than you saw upon first sight.
In the middle of March, I was prepared for the start of IV chemo. What I didn’t expect was the life-changing decision I’d have to make before it even began.
The day I agreed to start Doxorubicin is a bit of a blur. Thankfully, I had done my homework on the drug, so as my oncologist rolled through the list of side effects during our appointment, I simply nodded in understanding. I knew that fatigue was the biggest side effect, as well as hand and food syndrome, lack of appetite, nausea, and mouth sores. Check, check, check, check, and check.
I paused when he mentioned there were other, less common side effects that I’d need to sign off on. I was handed a plastic electronic pen with which to sign a consent form. This digital consent form was my acknowledgment that, among other things, there is a small but real chance that my monthly infusions could leave me with leukemia, send me into early menopause, or eliminate my fertility. My oncologist recommended in the next breath that I set up an appointment for a fertility consultation. A nurse from the sarcoma program would coordinate with the fertility office and call me to schedule.
I took a deep breath. I signed.
The next day, while in a tech rehearsal for the musical I was choreographing, I received a phone call from the nurse. The fertility clinic couldn’t see me until April, which would be pointless, as any fertility treatments needed to conclude prior to the start of my treatments. Luckily, there was likely to be a cancellation the next day so I could be seen- provided I could call and confirm in the next fifteen minutes before the end of business hours. I did, sent a text to my mom asking her to accompany me the next day, and quickly shot off a flurry of emails to find a sub for my classes.
As rehearsal continued, I sat and struggled to make sense of what just happened. I googled the cost of egg freezing, the process through which my future fertility would be more possibly secured. I tore through the desmoid tumor patient facebook group, searching for the terms fertility and egg freezing. I got a vague understanding that this consultation would need to be the start of a much longer, much more involved process than I had anticipated. The weight of this decision slowly settled in.
While this may seem like a cut and dry decision of whether or not to freeze my eggs, there’s something you need to understand about desmoid tumors. Scientists have no idea what causes them, but there is some evidence to suggest that they’re hormonally driven. My own tumor tested positive for estrogen receptors, which indicates that any change or increase in hormonal activity gives the tumor a chance to grow. It’s a common subject of discussion on the desmoid facebook group. Many women shared that their tumor grew exponentially during pregnancy, presumably both from the change in hormones and the inability to treat the tumor while carrying a baby. An article was just published on March 20 of this year with the partial title “Bedouin woman with a dormant neck nodule that grew explosively during her pregnancy.” And while the risk of infertility after this round of chemo was small, I already had this rare disease, this one in a million tumor. A 1% chance of something going wrong had already proven itself 100% possible.
Was I willing to freeze these eggs if even carrying a pregnancy would be that risky? Every woman whose tumor had grown said they wouldn’t change a thing because it meant they had their beautiful baby, but I couldn’t imagine needing to undergo more intense treatment immediately after giving birth to a child. Surrogacy was another option if I wanted a biological child, but with a teacher’s salary, the $70,000 – $100,000 price tag seemed unattainable, especially when adoption was something I would be willing to consider. And then the deeper question: was motherhood something I even wanted? I never had that deep, unflinching “yes, absolutely” when asked if I wanted kids someday that so many people I know carried with them, as certain as their own name. I didn’t worry too much about it, especially since I wasn’t in a relationship, and I was 29. Wasn’t there time to think this all through?
It turns out, I had even less time than I thought. Treatments take several weeks. I would need to begin immediately.
I had 19 hours to make a decision on whether or not I wanted a biological child, and if so, how much I was willing to pay for it. Because while it was a side effect of my necessary chemotherapy treatment, insurance wouldn’t cover a dime.
With exasperation and fury, I remarked to someone that it felt like a bad crossover season of The Handmaid’s Tale and 24. I could barely see past the start date for chemo. How on earth was I supposed to make a level-headed decision about the rest of my life? I paced back and forth across my living room floor, unable to sit down, frantically searching for the right decision.
This is the unspoken battle of any life-altering diagnosis: it robs you completely and utterly of any sense of security. I cried more in those 19 hours than I had in the year since my diagnosis. Grief is not relegated to death, at its core, it is the deep and painful acknowledgment of loss. At 29, I was grieving the loss of a life I thought I would have all over again. Any sense of freedom is derived from having agency and choice, and I was watching my choices disappear behind variables, side effects, life events I couldn’t predict, and dollar signs. I wondered how much more my heart could continue to break and repair itself.
It’s been about a month since my last update, and a lot has happened since then. Here are a few updates, which, in an effort to re-frame my personal productivity, I’m calling my accomplishments.
Accomplishment #1: I started a girlmeetscancer instagram!
I’ve started documenting my chemo journey via instagram. I’m treating it like a mini-blog of sorts, with photos from my infusions, some chemo experiences, and insights I hope can help others. I’ve followed accounts with a similar focus in the past and they’ve been really helpful in making me feel less alone. Already, it’s put me in touch with so many other patients and has served as a great resource.
Accomplishment #2: I survived my first infusion of Doxil!
The days leading up to the first infusion were worse than the infusion itself. I was an anxious mess: tossing and turning at night, jolting awake multiple times in the middle of the night, constant racing heart and sweaty palms, the whole deal. I was itching to go ahead and get it over with.
I started my Infusion Day with bloodwork followed by an appointment with the nurse practitioner with the Sarcoma Program. She went over possible side effects with me, took my height and weight (update: I’m still 5’2″) and then sent me upstairs to wait for an infusion chair. After waiting for a while, I got a primo spot for the infusion: a corner location with the sun shining through the window.
The nurse came over and gave me a round of three pills: an anti-nausea, a steroid, and (per the nurse practitioner’s suggestion, and my welcome approval) an anti-anxiety med. They gave those about 20-30 minutes to enter my system before finding a vein for my IV. Unfortunately, an abundance of scar tissue has formed around the veins at my elbow crease, and I’m a “tough stick.” After hemming and hawing and consulting a few different nurses, they went with a vein just below my left wrist: a super awkward and slightly painful spot, but if it keeps me from having a port, I’m all for it.
I’m not going to lie, an anti-anxiety med is a marvel of modern medicine for moments such as this. I felt a bit more ease enter the picture, enough to give me a clear perspective and make me feel almost normal again. To any patients considering it, please don’t hesitate to ask for something like that. It can make an extremely overwhelming situation a bit more tolerable. I wouldn’t have thought to mention I was anxious unless a cancer survivor friend of mine suggested it and the nurse practitioner straight up said to me, “I can see how anxious you are. We can do something about it.” Reminder: it doesn’t make you less strong to ask for help, it makes you human. (If you need me, I’ll be repeating that to myself until it sticks.)
And then, I waited. When the infusion began, I got a super metallic taste in my mouth and a heavy feeling in my chest for a few moments, so they stopped the drip until the weighted feeling past. Once it dissipated, I was back as planned to the drip. I read on my Kindle and spent a lot of time talking to the nurses, who were extremely helpful in giving me an overview of the Infusion Suite and its resources. It took about 90 minutes for the infusion to finish, and when it was nearly finished, I was hungry for the first time all day. Mom and I ordered food and ate it in the park before driving home. It was a fairly long day – my bloodwork was scheduled at 10:45 and I got home around 4.
In the weeks since, I’ve had a laundry list of side effects: chills, fatigue, no appetite, and body aches in the week following, and since, more fatigue, hives, mouth sores, and a metallic taste in my mouth. The biggest one is the fatigue: I’m unable to get out of bed until 1 PM on most days. Some of my side effects, such as hives and the bad taste in my mouth, are triggered by exercise, so I have a theory that I’m sweating out the poison and chemicals. (I’ll make my thesis title sound much more professional than that.) Being on Doxil hasn’t been easy, but it feels more tolerable than the drugs I was on previously, probably because I’m on disability.
Ah, disability. There are days when I’m feeling really good, and being away from work seems foolish and unnecessary. But then a super lousy day will strike, and the side effects circle back… and I know now, three weeks in, that there’s no way I could be the teacher that I want to be if I went into work five days a week. I miss my students and my coworkers daily, but I’m really fortunate to be able to make my health my full-time job.
I’m due for my next infusion on Monday, and already, I feel more relaxed knowing what to expect.
Accomplishment #3: I went to Denver!
… Wait, what?
Yes! You read that correctly. I went to Denver for an incredible conference called CancerCon.
Here’s how it all went down: remember that instagram account I mentioned? Well, one of the features of Instagram is that it will suggest accounts for you to follow based on “likes” you’ve made, searches you’ve done, and accounts you’ve previously followed. Think of it as low-key algorithm stalking with a purpose. One of the suggested accounts was for an organization called Stupid Cancer, which I’d never heard of before. Stupid Cancer is a group for young adults with cancer, and their instagram account had a post about something called CancerCon 2019 from April 11-14 in Denver. Coincidentally, they invited any new attendees who were not registered to send an email and be in the running for a partial scholarship to attend. I sent an email and made a deal with myself: if I got the scholarship, I’d splurge on the flight. Sure enough, 14 hours later, there was an email congratulating me on my partial scholarship in my inbox. I booked the flight and got my packing list in order so I could leave the following week.
It’s impossible to describe the CancerCon experience without having been there firsthand. It also deserves far more attention and space than I can give it in this overview; I’ll probably return to it for another post later on. So here’s what I want you to know: it felt really, really good to not need to explain myself. I spent four days with other patients and caregivers who also had their lives interrupted by a devastating diagnosis. They were people I had never met, but they were far from strangers: they were the community I’ve been searching for and didn’t know I needed. I won trivia with my team. I placed a respectable third in the scavenger hunt. I listened to people’s stories of pain and struggle and shared my own. I attended breakout sessions and discussions on really meaningful topics. I shared insights, meals, dance moves, tears, and many, many laughs. I made friends who I’ve been texting since the moment I left for the airport. I am overwhelmed with gratitude at having this incredible network of people that I can count on when I need it. If you’re a young adult cancer patient in need of a community, check it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
What’s next?
I’m still here, and the weather’s beautiful. I plan on taking lots of walks with Daisy. I’ve been reading a ton of books and expect I’ll do more of that. I’m spending Easter with my family this weekend and I’ve got an infusion coming up on Monday. If the last year has taught me anything, it’s that my expectations will always be challenged in some way, sometimes for the worse, but also for the better. Even if it’s just for today, I’m at peace.
Have you seen this quote from Brene Brown making the rounds on social media lately?As always, Brene speaks the truth.
As I’ve shared my challenges with friends, family members, and coworkers over the past several weeks, it’s been uncomfortable. No one likes to feel pain, and looking at others in pain can sometimes invite our own right in. Instead, we look away out of fear and discomfort. We resort to platitudes or silence. I understand that impulse. I’ve been there.
A few honest friends have confided in me that they’re worried about saying the wrong thing. I’ve been there, too. I’m positive that when I’ve spoken to people going through challenges I’ve never faced, I’ve said things that were not as helpful, comforting, or meaningful as I intended them to be. Call it “foot-in-mouth” disease or a manifestation of social anxiety – it can be hard to navigate what to say when the people we care about are suffering.
What I want to ask – even challenge you to do – is to do it anyway. When people are struggling and hurting, what gets them through is the feeling that they are not fighting alone.
In that spirit, I’d like to share with you some helpful guidelines on how to speak to someone who is facing cancer. Please note that all of these are guidelines and suggestions from my own experience. Someone else might require or ask something of you that’s not listed here. I also freely acknowledge that I may mess up, as will you. We are allowed. We’re both learning.
If you don’t know what to say, keep it simple: say exactly that.
“I don’t know what to say, but I am here to listen” is perhaps the most straightforward help you can offer. A cancer patient’s challenges are likely different than your own; news they are processing with might be overwhelming for you to consider. I’ve been told several times, “Wow, I don’t even know what to say.” I have always, always appreciated that simple honesty.
I promise, I’m not trying to be smart-alecky. This is something I’ve done countless times when friends have faced miscarriages, child loss, loss of a spouse, or divorce… you name it. I was terrified of screwing it up, so I sought advice.
I will continue to share this video on empathy until everyone in America has seen it. If you have not seen it, stop what you’re doing and watch it now. I’ll still be here.
Saying “at least” is something we are all programmed to do. We like finding a silver lining or want to comfort a person we don’t want to see in pain. I am sure that I have said “at least” when talking to others about their own struggles; I am learning and actively working on correcting it myself.
Here’s why these words, while well-intentioned, can do a lot of damage: it is a daunting task for me to share candidly and allow myself to be vulnerable. When I do open myself up about my emotional messiness and others advise me to see the positive, it sends me into a shame spiral. I feel guilty that I can’t just be happy. I feel ill-equipped to handle my daily life. I shut down and feel like I shouldn’t have shared at all. This doesn’t help anyone and has the opposite of the intended effect.
As I wrote in a post back in March of 2018, “People say things which unintentionally minimize my struggle. ‘Look on the bright side!’ kind of comments or comparing suffering is not always helpful, even when well-intentioned. Yes, I sometimes make ‘it can always be worse’ comments because some days that’s where I am. But on the days when my fingers feel like they’ve been shut in a car door or I have no appetite and the thought of eating anything makes me sick, I’m not interested in the bright side.”
What can you do instead? Be vulnerable, too. Sit with the person in the discomfort and the pain without trying to mitigate it. You can’t change the challenges they’re facing, but you will certainly help them feel supported as they face them. When someone allows themselves to be present through the bad and the ugly, we all feel less alone.
If they say “I’m so disappointed,” you can respond “I’m so sorry you’re disappointed.” If that person says, “it’s so hard,” you can say, “that must be so challenging.” It sounds crazy, but it lets the person know you’re listening and their feelings are legitimate. Often times, patients aren’t seeking advice, they just need someone to listen. Everyone deserves to know that their feelings and experiences are valid. Mirroring their language is one way to let them know they are seen and you are there for them.
If you need some time to prepare what you want to say, send a card. Emily McDowell is a wonderful artist whose cards are honest and say exactly the kinds of things patients want to hear. They’re heartfelt and sometimes funny, such as:
“There is no good cards for this. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m really sorry I haven’t been in touch. I didn’t know what to say.”
“I’m so sorry you’re sick. I want you to know I will never try to sell you on some random treatment I read about on the internet.” “I know there’s no normal to go back to. But I’m here to help you build a new one. (And I’ll bring snacks.)”
You can buy her cards or read her wonderful words here.
I’ve received so many beautiful cards and I’ve saved every single one: they are hanging in my kitchen on a clothesline since I have run out of space on my fridge. So many of the most impactful cards are those I’ve received on my hardest days – something the sender could have never anticipated. Needless to say, it’s a win-win.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
This is my all-time favorite photo of Daisy as a puppy. I’ll take any excuse I have to share it.
Is there an inside joke you can make time for? A distraction you can offer? Figure that out and offer it up often.
I have one friend who sends me photos of her dog whenever she thinks of it, another who sends me photos of her cat. Two other friends have appointed themselves Official Meme Senders and send me silly photos and videos on Instagram almost daily. They are a welcome distraction from my daily life of appointments and treatment prep.
Have leftover food from a party? Offer to bring it over in case your friend or a caregiver could use a meal. Do you work in the medical field? Maybe you can help navigate some of the research that’s related to their diagnosis. Have a stellar movie collection? Offer to drop some DVDs by for the person to enjoy. Strong personality? Make those calls to the insurance companies on someone’s behalf!
“Let me know if you need anything” is great, but when chemo brain sets in, I’m more likely to remember the specific tasks offered. I’ve had several friends offer to assist with specific tasks: coming over to keep me company, making vegetarian dinners, walking my dog on days I don’t feel up to it, researching what can help with chemo side effects. This is extraordinarily helpful, because if some day in the near future I think, “I really can’t walk my dog around the block today,” I know who I can call.
I worry a lot – daily, if not hourly, that I am a burden on those I love and or that by sharing honestly what I am going through, I am driving away people that are close to me. Having spoken to others with cancer or chronic conditions, it’s a rather common and shared experience.
It means so much when people reach out without expectation or when silence is met with compassion. A few days ago, I did not have the energy to respond to anything or anyone. When I didn’t respond to the first text, a friend sent a message the following day saying, “No need to answer me. Just sending you love.” A few other friends, when I apologized for not getting back to them sooner, told me not to apologize. They just wanted me to know I was in their thoughts.
“I am so sorry you are going through this.”
“This sounds so hard. I am thinking of you.”
“I’ve been thinking about you a lot recently.”
“I love you.”
“You will not face this alone.”
“What do you need from me?”
Final Thoughts
A cancer battle is awkward and challenging – for everyone involved. I hope these suggestions help you feel better equipped to navigate tough conversations or discussions. At the end of the day, as long as you let the person know you love them, it will be enough.
Thank you to the many of you who are willing to be uncomfortable with me. I am humbled and grateful.
I’ve been sitting with some news for a few weeks, and I’m ready to share it with you.
Starting next Thursday, I will be undergoing IV chemotherapy at UPenn to try to shrink the tumor in my chest. Infusions will be once a month for anywhere from 6-13 months. This specific chemo is called Doxil, and its nickname is the Red Devil.
I think I knew somewhere, deep down in my heart, that I would end up here. When the medication I tried for nine months, hailed by those in the medical community as a Top Oncology Breakthrough of 2018, failed to shrink this thing or halt its growth, I had my suspicions that I’d need to treat this aggressive tumor aggressively.
The knowing doesn’t make it any easier. The knowing and the coming to terms with are two completely different things.
Over the past month, I’ve done my research and explored the shortlist of options I was left with after my last scan. I requested a consultation regarding cryoablation, a specialized surgery in which my tumor cells would be frozen and hypothetically, my tumor would begin to die. The specialist told me pretty immediately that I was not a candidate: given its size and location, there was a good chance they would paralyze my arm in the process of treating the tumor. I got a second opinion at Johns Hopkins, where the oncologist confirmed the course of treatment my doctor recommended. I considered HIFU, which is only done at Stanford University and would require consultation, massive travel expenses, and temporarily uprooting my life (not to mention a family member). I ultimately determined I did not want to go down that road unless I absolutely needed to do so.
My alternative to all of the above was to wait and watch. It’s the one I struggled with most. On one hand, I desperately long to go back to my normal life. I’ve been enjoying living treatment-free and all the seemingly mundane perks that go along with it: going to classes at the gym, being in a show, eating whatever I feel like without nausea, having enough energy to stay up until 10 PM. But behind all of these gifts, I would be living with a “somewhat stable” tumor with the potential to do irrevocable damage. My pain has already increased. The measurements have only gotten larger with each scan. I can’t watch this tumor continue its slow, destructive march.
In the end, I decided that it serves me far better to put in the time for more aggressive treatment now, as a young, healthy, single twenty-nine year old, rather than potentially face the same conclusion when I’m older and life is somehow, mind-blowingly enough, even more complicated.
There are lots of things I have to say about the last few weeks. I want to tell you why it’s sometimes hard to be called brave, how the show I performed in became my blissful escape from reality, and what it was like to share the news with my students. I share because it helps me process this experience and gain perspective on what this whole mess could mean. But there’s another reason, the one that led me to create this public blog rather than keep a personal journal. In the last few weeks, I’ve been blind-sided by things I wish I had known about earlier. I cobbled together advice from professionals and put one foot in front of the other, hoping for the best. I want to share because I found so few resources that I really needed. If putting these experiences out there into the world can help even just one person, it might, somehow, in some small way, be worth my own heartache. I could begin to alchemize this pain and these challenges into something concrete, meaningful, helpful, or even beautiful for someone else.
For now, I’m squeezing as much as possible in the space I have between myself and treatment. I’m seeing two Broadway shows this week, because why not? I have a list of errands to run and people to see. I will have plenty of time while I’m on disability to tell you more. (Trust me, I’m on day two of my regularly scheduled Spring Break, and I’m already a bit bored.)
Please know in the meantime that I’m okay. This has been unimaginably hard. But as I repeat to myself daily, and put on the letterboard in my kitchen a few weeks ago more with the intention of convincing than reminding: “You can do hard things.” It doesn’t always feel true. But I’m proving to myself with each step that it’s at least possible.
I didn’t know it when I took the photo, but my life was about to be turned upside down.
I sat waiting in the office of a Thoracic Surgeon with the University of Pennsylvania, number six in the line of doctors I’d seen about the swelling near my collarbone. I had grown restless and annoyed as I waited. He was late, and I was already reeling from the radiologist’s recent assessment: a hematoma, caused by my surgery three months prior.
The photo I sent to my mom as we waited in the office where I’d be told a short time later I had cancer. “Un-selfie,” January 31, 2018.
I took a very ridiculous, very unflattering selfie, (the one seen above), as I have done more than several times. In an effort to break up the silence and my own irritation, I sent it across the room to my mom, who had insisted on attending. A few friends offered to come in her place, but being the World’s Best Mom, she felt better being there, just in case.
Over an hour passed. Finally, the doctor came in with a nurse practitioner, shook my hand, and started to speak. Not particularly quickly. Nothing different in his tone than as if he were explaining how something worked in a piece of machinery; say, a car. But he had a lot to say. He explained that as I waited for the past hour, he had been trying to reach a radiologist he trusted to look at my scans. The radiologist didn’t feel it was a hematoma at all.
And then he used the word sarcoma.
He kept talking. No one moved or made any sounds, as though we were listening to a discussion about someone else’s life. I stopped him. “You said sarcoma. Are you telling me I have cancer?”
I don’t remember his response.
The room didn’t spin. The floor didn’t tilt, my legs didn’t give out from under me. Everything was unnaturally cold and still. I excused myself and rushed to find a bathroom, where I let out a wail that was more animal than human. There were no tears, which felt fair. How could there be enough tears to match the scale of the news I’d just received?
A few moments later, I let myself back into the room. There was a lot of talking. My mom was asking questions, writing down notes, furiously springing into action. There was a folder passed to her with handouts and phone numbers of places to call. The words biopsy, MRI, and catscan were used. Not knowing what else to do, I made a joke about having a team now. My mom drove me back to my parent’s house.
I don’t quite remember the rest.
I know that at some point, I sent texts to a few friends. I told my boss the news and that I wouldn’t be in for the rest of the week. In the coming days, I collected medical records from various doctors. I went to the Perelman Center for the first time and had an MRI, a catscan, and a core needle biopsy done.
I waited. Days passed.
I went to the movies and saw The Greatest Showman. I watched the previews and wondered if I would be alive when the advertised movies opened. I slept when I could, ate when I could. Monday came. I went back to work, because I didn’t know what else to do. I told my coworkers all at once, in a meeting, because it was easier than facing whispered speculation or fearful yet compassionate glances in the hallways.
One memory stands out from the rest of the rest, crystal clear in its detail. It was late, and I stepped outside to bring my dog out. It was cold, but quiet and calm – so much so that even the frosted tufts of my breath seemed too garish for the evening’s simple beauty. The moon was bright. I remember looking up and thinking, if this is it for me, I could be okay with that. I was loved by the most wonderful friends and family anyone could ask for. My profession fulfilled me personally, professionally, artistically, and spiritually. I enjoyed too many adventures to name: singing with a jazz band, training with a circus, walking 500 miles from France to Spain. I loved and had been loved. I certainly want to stick around, but if I had no say in the matter, I held the knowledge that I had done the most with the time I have. Peace- quiet and small yet strong- settled somewhere within me.
More days passed. Valentine’s Day came and went. And on February 15, I finally got a call with my diagnosis: fibromatosis, desmoid-type. A google search said it wasn’t cancer. I called my thoracic surgeon and my nurse. They kindly replied that while google might say that, it very much acted the same way and needed to be treated as such.
The rest is a blur.
January 31, 2019
It’s been a year: 525,600 minutes, for any Rent fans who may be reading this. Those movies I saw in previews have long ago opened and closed. I’m still here.
There have been times where I have felt forgotten, that I cannot convince people to take me seriously, or that I have every reason in the world to despair. At other times I have felt guilty, that others have it worse, or that I am making a big deal out of nothing. My life has never been harder. It’s also never been filled with so many reasons to hope.
I’ve been shown the kind of immense generosity, kindness, and compassion that pops up in occasional news articles about goodness in the midst of tragedy- the type I’d read about and believed in but never experienced firsthand. I received cards, messages, kind words from people I have never met. In eight months of fundraising, you’ve donated over $23,000 for the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation.
When I last wrote, it was with the news that I was trying another oral chemotherapy called Gleevac. Unfortunately, it did not work out as I was unable to tolerate the side effects. I put on ten pounds in two weeks. My face was so swollen in the mornings my eyes could barely open. My joints and muscles ached and my pain skyrocketed. The day after Christmas, I was taken off of it, fearing that the treatment could have actually made my tumor grow. Fortunately, once off of the drug, my pain improved. Better still, a scan done two weeks ago showed that my tumor did not grow. It remains “mostly stable” with “small amounts growth.”
Mornings on Gleevac, December 2018.
I’m at a crossroads with treatment once more. While stability is in many ways good news, it’s not shrinkage. My tumor is still close to my brachial plexus. It’s taken my pectoralis major, my clavicle, and two of my ribs and pushed a lot more out of the way, rendering my shoulder area unable to operate as a healthy person’s shoulder would. My pain has increased. In order to finally shrink this tumor, now the size of a grapefruit, it’s looking like aggressive treatment will be necessary. I haven’t made any decisions yet. I’m taking time to meet with more doctors and make the decision that’s best for me, my health, and my life. I do not have any updates yet.
What I do have is the thing I once feared most I would lose: time.
Here, Now.
Self-portrait, December 2018.
I’m calling today my Cancer-versary. I’m not quite sure what one does to celebrate a Cancer-versary, so I’m making it up as I go. I bought myself flowers and took the day off of work, my first personal day this year. I spent the morning snuggling with my dog; I think I’ll read and make cupcakes later.
With the chaos of the past several weeks and an indeterminate plan for the future, I didn’t really know how I’d feel leading up to today. Now that it’s arrived, I mostly feel what I did that night I stepped outside under the bright, beautiful moon: I’m thankful.
Thankful for my mom and dad, who have shown me the true meaning of unconditional love, and who would (and have) done anything possible to make my life easier.
Thankful for my family, especially my brother and sister, who take the time to check in on me during their full lives and have been there every step of the way wanting to know how they can help.
Thankful for my friends, who, when it’s hard to know what to say, let the silence sit between us without judgment, and who provide a steady stream of photos, memes, and stories to keep me laughing.
Thankful for my coworkers, who offer their unflinching support and always say yes to any of my requests for help.
Thankful for my students, who give me reasons to smile no matter how I’m feeling and whose innocence, empathy, and love remind me what’s truly important.
Thankful for my medical team and the Desmoid Tumor community, who have embraced me and guided me through this terrifying maze with a voice of resilience.
I’m thankful for being here and for having so many reasons to fight.
“With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” – Desiderata
As always, Brene speaks the truth.
Girl Meets Cancer 