The Elephant in the Room is Cancer. Tea is the Relief Conversation Provides.

Ovarian Cancer

The Things You Said, the Things I Heard

by Becky Holden September 7, 2023

The things you said versus what I heard… these are words that we hear and the way they warmed.

“I am happy to drive you”

Thank you for not only offering something specific but attaching emotion to this offer. Thank you for knowing that driving is not my favorite thing; my car is not reliable and driving can be exhausting.

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Dear Cancer, You Are Now My Chronic Illness

by Katrina Lopez June 28, 2023

Dear Cancer,

You have changed my life in ways you will never know. It was the beginning of January 2020 when we first officially met. It was a cool and cloudy day. I was sitting in bed watching HGTV when I received the call. I was 30. I had all of these plans and adventures I was going to conquer next, but this is far from what I had in mind. No one could have prepared me for this “adventure”—this diagnosis, my dad unexpectedly passing away, and the start of the pandemic all within months of one another.

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Dear Cancer, You Wanted to be My Only Friend

by Michelle Bell June 20, 2023

Hello Cancer,

I will never forget the day that we formally met. Your bad reputation had preceded you, of course. You had made a teasing visit in my life a couple of years prior, just to let me know that your presence was indeed a reality. You had visited a couple of other people in my life as well and I knew that you were going to be tough to stand up to. I vividly remember the doctor telling me as gently as he could that you had decided to move in, finding my ovaries to be a suitable place to set up your residence. I heard his words and then I went numb.

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Bird Mobiles

by Soraya Fata February 17, 2023

Fuchsia, yellow, turquoise and purple; sad birds on tired wires spin above me in a desperate ballet

Their soft feathery texture, here to warmly greet me in contrast to the cold hard table where I lay

A presence meant to calm and soothe, forget the void of living without the sound of children’s laughter

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Cancer Does Not Play by the Rules

by Allison Stults October 1, 2022

It can happen to anyone. Cancer does not play by the rules!

In Fall 2020 I was training for an ultra marathon. My goal was ultimately 50 miles! I was rocking it. In October I locked in 175 miles, and 150 miles in November, even though, surprise, I was expecting our fourth child!

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My Cancer Roller-Coaster

by Erin Pottgen April 5, 2021

Even though I have been traveling my cancer journey for 13 years, it is only just the beginning. I started riding this roller-coaster alone, but now my coaster train is filled and there is even a line of people waiting and wanting to ride alongside me.

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Warnings – My Ovaries Are Trying to Tell Me Something

by Laura Clark-Hansen March 8, 2021

Before I was discharged from the hospital my surgeon and my gynecologic oncologist had warned, “Stay off the internet. You’ll only succeed in terrifying yourself.” If their intent was to protect me by saying this they had both failed miserably.

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