Cancer
I wanted to write a page about breast cancer because I never in a million lifetimes thought it would happen to me.
And then, it did.
And then, it did.
I was 31 when I was
diagnosed, young and healthy. I'd just picnicked away my first real-mother Mother's Day with Robbie and Nelle, who was 8 months old and cheek-pinchingly delicious. One doctor had already told me not to worry too much about the lump in my breast. I was
breastfeeding, after all. I used to run marathons.
The closing of some doors and opening of others.
Ha. Maybe you think I'm joking, but breast cancer has opened doors, and defined
me, in unexpected ways. I'm not going to say that it was the
greatest thing ever to happen to me {because it wasn't - it was shit}, or that it was
worth it for all I learned {because I was blissfully happy being immortal}. But I have
learned from cancer, I have gained from it.
I see now that savings is for people who don't know their own mortality.
So if you've wondered how I can afford to travel like I do? Well, now you know.
Five-point-five years out, I still think about cancer in some form or another every day. I think about dying; I drink a glass of wine and then feel guilty about it; a glance at my daughter makes me teary; I scan medical research for treatments or prognoses or ideas and email my oncologist.
I'm like that. It's my
Sometimes, these days, I get meditative ... and mortality seems more natural, more ok. It happens to all of us - we become particles of the world around us again, and that's pretty f**king cool. I'm just not ready to go through cancer again - my daughter's only just starting school, I'm only just starting my post-doc | real-job | freelance writing life.
So to quench my doubts, I have another prophylactic - a workout, a cup of green tea, a tamoxifen, a cuddle, an oophorectomy - and give recurrence the virtual finger.
I guess what I really want to say is that it's important to get your own Self checked out, when you feel like something | anything might be wrong. Close your eyes and listen. Cancer in younger women is often overlooked, mis-diagnosed; and tends to be faster-growing and more aggressive, so it's even more important to detect it early. And though us girls are collectively busy - trying to start careers and have babies and suffer through dates and god-knows-what-we're-up-to - we have to get ourselves checked out.
Pinky promise you will.
Anyway, don't be sad, or scared. I'm not. Everything's going to be ok, I know that. I'll spread my little dandelion seeds into the world and then move on, just like we all do. I'm just going to hang around here till I'm old and gray and getting told off by my grandchildren for doing too much.
Till then, as far as I'm concerned, cancer can f**k off.
Amanda xx
PS. If you'd like to check out the photoessay my talented friend Juanita created {including these and more photos}, or some of the other articles about cancer in young women, I've created a page here.
Pinky promise you will.
Anyway, don't be sad, or scared. I'm not. Everything's going to be ok, I know that. I'll spread my little dandelion seeds into the world and then move on, just like we all do. I'm just going to hang around here till I'm old and gray and getting told off by my grandchildren for doing too much.
Till then, as far as I'm concerned, cancer can f**k off.
Amanda xx
PS. If you'd like to check out the photoessay my talented friend Juanita created {including these and more photos}, or some of the other articles about cancer in young women, I've created a page here.