Stories
The first time I swam again: scars, chlorine, and freedomThere are milestones in survivorship that arrive with a brass band, a certificate and possibly a very emotional social media post. Then there are the quiet…
Finding Connection After Breast CancerStarting a new relationship after breast cancer can bring an unexpected mix of excitement, caution and sheer tiredness. You may feel ready to flirt again while…
Why I Had to Step Back from Other Survivors' StoriesWhen I was first diagnosed, I became a sponge for anything written by women who had walked this path before me. I devoured blogs at 2 a.m., bookmarked…
Receiving Love One Casserole at a Time: Letting the Meal Train InWhen someone sets up a meal train in your honour, the gesture lands somewhere between heartwarming and humiliating. Friends pull together a roster. Someone…
My favourite post-mastectomy bras: honest reviews from a survivorTwo years out from my bilateral mastectomy, my underwear drawer tells a quieter story than my medical file does. Some mornings I still wince when I pull a…
The Body Part You Thought You Could Lose Without GrievingBreast cancer can make the body feel like a place under renovation, with surgeons, oncologists, radiographers and nurses all having a say in what stays, what…
Rebuilding a sense of self beyond the job titleA job title can look impressively solid on a résumé and feel strangely flimsy in real life. “Manager”, “nurse”, “teacher”, “consultant” or “operations lead”…
the words my onco-psychologist said that finally stuckI had been seeing my onco-psychologist for almost eight months before anything she said really landed. We'd meet in a small consulting room off the oncology…
The Day I Learned My Tumour Was ER-PositiveThe phone call came with a phrase I had heard before but never expected to apply to me: estrogen receptor-positive, or ER-positive. Until that moment, breast…
A Realistic Plan for Hosting a Dinner Party on EmptyMost dinner party guides assume you've got a full tank. They don't know about the bone-deep exhaustion after treatment, or the way fatigue creeps up while…