Thyroid Cancer
How to Support Friends Through Survivor’s Guilt
I think it is important to support cancer patients who are going through their cancer journey. There are many cancer survivors who are struggling with survivor’s guilt and have lost someone who has been through cancer.
Read More...Finding and Losing Myself
In 2012 I was invited to a celebration for cancer survivors at which I spoke about finding my sense of self again after cancer. I still have a printed photograph from the event. On that glossy paper I was captured wearing a sleeveless white dress with a red sash. I looked healthy, and I was smiling. I was 22 years old.
Read More...The Invisible Battle
It all started when I was diagnosed with Graves disease and thyroid nodules in the summer of 2020. I was told I was a complex case but my endocrinologist never said the word cancer to me, so it never even crossed my mind. Being 33 years old and diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer is never something I could have imagined.
Read More...Will I Ever Fully “Survive?”
Survivorship – this word itself is loaded. I always thought that to survive meant that you “fought” something and you “made” it. You are now living and existing, despite facing a difficulty. On some level, to me, the word survive itself implies that you are not living your life to its full potential. My core belief has always been that life is meant to be lived fully.
Read More...How I Overcame My Fears During Thyroid Cancer By Using My Faith
Two years ago I went through total thyroidectomy surgery on June 3rd, 2020. Since I was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma thyroid cancer on June 5th, 2020, it felt like my whole world has turned upside down. It’s like I was in a downward spiral with all the emotions of feeling lost, lonely, depressed, and angry when I found out that I was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma thyroid cancer.
Read More...Panic! At the Ultrasound
Alone, I walk into one of the buildings in the conglomerate towering over me. Past the check-in desk, then left across the atrium. Pink ribbons dapple the windows looking into the waiting room I am heading toward. It isn’t long before a young woman in pink scrubs appears and calls my name. She seems remarkably unbothered, while I am bracing for the ground to drop out from under me. It could happen at any second.
Read More...Prescription of Nature
I’m tired. Like to-the-bone weary, at a point where I switch into autopilot mode and float, not present in the moment, or really in the past or future, just tired. So, let’s talk about how I got here. It’s a mix of a glorious adventure in nature and sterile walls and fluorescent lights all in the matter of a week.
Read More...In the Mountains, I am Free
The golden sun warmed the brown and gray mountains. Short alpine grasses leaned into the wind and reached for oxygen at the high elevation, always finding a way to bloom. I was sitting in the passenger seat of my mom’s car with the windows rolled down, so I could take in the sweet smell of pines and the crisp Colorado air.
Read More...The Loss of My Grandfather
In May 2011, at the age of 71, my Grandfather John was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer. I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was a sunny and warm day. My grandparents came to my parents’ house to tell us about the news after his doctor’s appointment. He was told he had to start multiple rounds of chemotherapy as soon as possible.
Read More...Unpacking Mindfulness
Mindfulness. Is it a state of being? Understanding? I’m not quite sure, but I think I have finally gotten there. By there I mean a state of mind where I’m not filled with fear or anxiety of what’s next, but rather comfortable with the decisions I have made so far.
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