Weekly Round-Up
Welcome back dear readers to this week’s blog round-up.
February 4 was World Cancer Day, a reminder that cancer is far more than a medical diagnosis—it’s a deeply personal journey. As I wrote in my latest Substack post, “behind every diagnosis lies a unique human story filled with grief, pain, healing, resilience, love, and hope. Yet, too often, our healthcare system focuses solely on the disease rather than the individual whose life it so profoundly affects.”
For more World Cancer Day posts, see Shine Cancer Support‘s blog.
Barbara argues against giving unsolicited advice to breast cancer survivors. It can undermine their autonomy, dismiss their experience, trigger emotions, and be medically inappropriate. She stresses empathetic support and empowering survivors to make their own choices, amplifying their strength, not dictating their path.
Juliavoices frustration with the lack of support for cancer survivors with late treatment effects. She questions why help is so limited, citing potential factors like lack of knowledge and underfunding. She describes the difficulty of explaining her issues to multiple doctors and the assumption that survival equals wellness. Though feeling better later, she stresses documenting these struggles while experiencing them.
Abigail is also giving voice to a frustrating experience navigating healthcare system changes to get a prescription for cancer treatment side effects. She faced roadblocks with a nurse, scheduling, and a dismissive pharmacist.
A post on the Surviving Breast Cancer blog highlights the importance of understanding the differences between invasive and non invasive breast cancer as each has unique characteristics that affect treatment and recovery.
Which common medicine won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records? Carolyn has the answer for us.
Connie‘s writing this week is just lovely. She finds hope in the small things, like the bluebirds outside her window, and connects it to that beautiful Dickinson poem about hope.
Nancy shared a very personal reflection on aging, exploring the complex feelings around growing older, especially after cancer. It’s something many of us grapple with, and her honesty is so refreshing.
Finally this week, Beth explores conflicting advice on painting technique and reflects there’s no single “right” way to create art, prioritizing emotional impact over strict adherence to rules which sounds a lot like good advice for living life.
That’s it for this week’s round-up. I encourage you to visit the individual blogs linked above to read the full posts and connect with these incredible writers.
Until next week,
Much love
Marie xxx
