I AM NOT checking out anytime soon. The calcification in my right breast—ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS—mercifully is not the dreaded C-word. My surgeon Dr. Quan refers to this diagnosis as pre-cancerous.  Yesterday, there was a brilliant essay in the New York Times Not Everything We Call Cancer Should be Called Cancer. If you … More I am not dying…

Cancer Journey Post #6 RELENTLESS IS THE WORD OF THE MONTH. Relentless wildfires. Relentless cancer.  Relentless anxiety.  Harrowing updates from friends who escaped the wildfires in Lahaina have my stomach churning. And while my post-lumpectomy healing is going well (and I’ve been buoyed up by an outpouring of love), the surgical pathology report that landed … More Oh, damn…

Cancer Journey, Post #5 IN A BARBIE WORLD BARBIE’S JABS AT THE PATRIARCHY ARE SETTING OFF A FEMINIST CATHARSIS!  Could there be a better time to be thinking about breast cancer and body image?   I’m a Barbie girl in the Barbie world.  Life in plastic, it’s fantastic…. At 5:30 tomorrow morning, I’ll be heading … More In a Barbie World