I often think about how we respond to fear with either a fight, flight, or freeze response. I can immediately identify when I go in freeze mode. My heart drops. My breath gets caught. My chest constricts. My jaw clenches. I pass a Baylor Scott & White…freeze. I see a post about cancer recurrence…freeze. I …
Tag: young adult cancer
Triggered Trauma
Is it too much to ask for a normal doctors appointment where ZERO red flags come up? 😅 I had my well-women’s exam at the gynecologist about two months after finishing RAI. I was coming to terms with the bodily changes I was going through, and was trying to stay positive about healing from this …
How to Show Up for Your Cancer Friend
The world needs more people to show up for others. Too many people, for whatever reason, are afraid to be vulnerable, to sit in silence, to try and understand and empathize others. The reality is, not a lot of people stick around when life gets messy. It sort of felt like my life was a …
“Young and Healthy”
The first time I had to check “yes” to having a history of cancer, it felt like a punch in the gut. You’re immediately put in this high risk box. You can visibly see your doctors eyes light up when you mention that six letter word as they think, "Well this case just got more …
The Little Things
When you're going through surgery and treatments, people sympathize. But the hardest parts are not the big moments. It’s the moments after, when you’re grappling with this new invisible limb, that are the most difficult. Cancer and it's side effects do not go away overnight. It likes to show up in simple and unexpected ways. …
Why the “good” cancer?
“If you had to pick a cancer, this is the one to get.” Cancer can’t be equivocated with the word good, yet so many doctors, friends, and strangers assured me that thyroid cancer was “the good cancer”. As grateful as I am for things not being more serious, I am still saddened and scared by …
The "Good" Cancer 