Weekly Round-Up

Time for this week’s round-up of the best of the blogs which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I’ve wanted to share with you. Remember, if you have written or read a post recently which you would like me to share with readers, then please leave a comment below.

Before I delve into what’s been happening in the blogosphere this past week, I want to draw your attention to a pertinent discussion on the topic of whether patient engagement is being truly embraced by healthcare organizations or whether it’s mere tokenism. You can catch up with the debate here and I encourage you if you haven’t already done so to add your voice to the discussion.

Even though we are on different parts of the cancer journey (I can’t believe it’s over seven years since I finished my treatment!) we can still all identify with the stages others are on and share advice and reassurance. I am reminded of this as I share Diane’s blog on her new salt and pepper hair (yep, I remember that look well!) Also check out Laura’s hair regrowth over on the big scary c word.

One of the more frustrating and lingering side effects of cancer treatment can be insomnia and Candida has some research on the topic on her excellent blog.

A thoughtful discussion at The Sarcastic Boob on the nature of advice online – it’s not always helpful – and the support we should be able to rely on. This also touches on how dismissive some professionals and family and friends can be – and this is a topic taken up also by Nancy on her blog.

Thankfully the support we find online can also be healing and empowering – the topic of Searching For EMWA – the newest blog I want to introduce to the weekly round-up.

A growing form of online support is the tweet chat and one of the most popular is the weekly #BCSM twitter chat. Jackie has written a helpful guide for tweetchat newbies on her blog.

And speaking of new blogs, do check out Pasha Hogan on the brevity of balance. Pasha is a compassionate and wise writer and I look forward to sharing more of her writings here with you.

I always get a kick when the bloggesses take their blog on the road – Catherine is visiting Hungary and Terri is in India with her #DelhiDozen.

AnneMarie is sharing some much welcome good news about her Mom’s health.

Susan  and Katherine both share  why they find the actress, Valerie Harper, who recently revealed she has metastatic cancer such an inspiration.

I am still enjoying Elaine’s haikus on My Unexpected Adventure.

Yvonne has been musing on the nature of being Irish following the St Patrick’s Day celebrations of last week.

Nicole and Victoria are writing on their feelings about their bodies post cancer treatment.

The Pink Underbelly shares a beautiful memory of her beloved mamma on her wedding day and mourns her loss on her mother’s wedding anniversary.

Audrey is writing on how we care for a ageing society with compassionate and heartfullness.

Eileen continues with part two of her excellent musings on why we get cancer and this week tackles some common myths and clichés.

Many of us wonder if stress can cause cancer (there is no conclusive evidence that it does) so it is worth while checking in with our stress levels and working on lowering those levels if we find them elevated. Check out HeartSisters to learn more.

One of the ways in which many cope with cancer is through humour (quite often black humour) and this is the topic under review at Chris’s Cancer Community.

Another way in which many cope with cancer is through writing about it and I have commented before on how I enjoy seeing how your blogging changes and grows as you progress along the journey. So I really enjoyed reading a post on this by Andrew of My Lymphoma Journey published on the Kevin M.D. blog.

Finally, you know how I like to leave you with a quote to reflect on each week? Well this week Katie shared the most exquisitely moving poem by David Whyte on her blog. I will leave you with these few lines:

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out
someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life.
You are not leaving
you are arriving.

Until next week.

Yours with love

Marie xxx