In which she learns that cancer is like an annoying friend she can't shake...

I saw my Oncologist a few weeks ago for my regular check-in/check-up. He said I'm doing well enough to come in every six months, instead of every three. It's a kind of graduation.

I talked to him about hot flashes caused by the Tamoxifen. I've been taking Tamoxifen for over two years. Amazing to think I've been having these hot attacks so long. He suggested I change to the post-menopausal hormone-blocking meds. I asked him about side effects, and he said "You're at higher risk for osteoporosis. Let's do a bone density scan."

The scan results show I have osteopenia, the red-headed stepchild of osteoporosis. 

Great.

At what point do symptoms stop being a result of cancer and treatment and start becoming a result of aging?

Cancer sucks

Yesterday I ran into a coworker who I haven't seen for a while. I had heard that her husband had cancer and was stopping treatment. He died a few weeks ago.

As I was talking with her, I thought "This is what a new widow looks like." She looked okay. She was struggling, but she looked okay. She said someone gave her a pin that says "Cancer Sucks", and that truer words were never spoken.

Four months ago a friend and former lover stopped treatment for cancer and died. I'm just now accepting that this larger than life person is gone.

Another coworker's cancer is back. Those of us at work who've been out with our cancer all know about her situation, and the effect of the cancer returning rippled through this small but tight-knit group.

A good and old friend who had cancer 22 years ago called a few days ago to tell me it's back, in her stomach and metastasized to her lungs and liver. She's in the midst of diagnosis and is in shock.

Cancer sucks.