Weekly Round-Up: The Gratitude Edition

 

Time for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts 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. Don’t forget if you have written a post which you would like readers to see, just leave a comment below. 

Thanksgiving is such a lovely holiday – I wish we could celebrate it here in Ireland – but I always celebrate it with you in spirit, as does Tric this week.

I loved reading about Nancy’s Thanksgiving traditions – I wanted to climb right through my laptop screen to taste her Turkey and trimmings!

With all her grief and loss, Beth Gainer writes that she struggles to come up with things  to be grateful for this Thanksgiving,  but then creates a list of ten wonderful things that make her thankful

Karin shares some wonderful thoughts on the healing power of gratitude.

Heartfelt words of gratitude from Terri for her medical team and from Susan Rosen for her friends’ support.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is fast approaching. Helen has some practical tips on how to get organised for the season, and Caroline shares some super advice on what to say to someone who offers you unsolicited and ill-informed cancer advice at your next family gathering.

A sublime reflection from Elizabeth this week, on love, life, death, and the legacy we leave behind.

While Ann Marie shares what she wishes her husband to know about her cancer, Mary shares her gratitude to her husband for all the support he has shown her.

Catherine is recovering from her mother’s recent death and dealing with the grief associated with it.  My own Mum is very much on my mind today on the anniversary of her death, and Grace‘s on her Mom’s birthday.  I am holding on tightly to Stephanie‘s words as she writes of the loss of her own mother:

The line between joy and suffering is truly so thin, and we can’t quite know one without the other.  When we give ourselves permission to feel both, they can find a way to flow with more ease in and out of our lives.

Nic reminds us that when it comes to making decisions about our cancer treatment, we need to be one in the charge.

Katie writes about the terrible fatigue which accompanies cancer and her frustration and sadness at the loss of her old self, and her resolve to live in the moments.

Allie posts a photo diary of her hair loss and regrowth through chemotherapy “in the hope that it would help others who have either just been diagnosed, are soon to start chemotherapy, are currently having treatment or those whose hair is starting to grow back.”

Both Susan Rahn and Rachael Bland have been dealing with scanxiety.

We’re so lucky in this community to have access to both Dr Deanna Attai and Dr Elaine Schattner who go behind the medical news headlines for us and offer us practical and evidence-based advice. While the former writes this week about the link between alcohol and cancer, the latter writes about Nerlynx, a new breast cancer drug, with the potential to over-treat women with small, HER2+ breast tumor.  Also this week, Becky takes a deep dive for us into the latest research on recurrence and hormone therapy.

Liza shares a collection of tweets from the recent Partners in Progress: Cancer Patient Advocates and FDA Public Workshop.

Sue has been writing this week about stepping outside societal pressure to be “good” and giving us permission to be difficult when it comes to standing up for ourselves and our families.

If you’re  looking for book recommendations to read over the holidays, Sarah has you covered.

Barb writes about the sense of urgency to get things done while she still can.

I don’t even know where to begin with how angry I am about Jo’s latest post on how she has been treated by so-called charities. But I am grateful to her for writing this and for standing up for the UNPAID (!) tireless work she does and that so many of you do to make life better for other patients.  On somewhat similar themes, read Rebecca’s latest post on her frustration at being unheard and ignored in her advocacy efforts and Connie‘s on the thoughtless, insensitive things people say which can make us feel unseen.

Reading Jo’s post made me think of what Beth Caldwell would have said – she would have had plenty of choice words! As Katherine writes “she would likely have agreed with Mark Twain that under certain circumstances profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer…if I were her, I would have listed that in my LinkedIn profile: Fluent in swearing.”

Beth is still very much on the minds of so many of us, along with Scorchy, Catherine, Karen, and all those we have lost recently. Jen writes of Beth in words that will find resonance with many of us:

I know I’m not the only one who feels this way about Beth. She was a friend to so many of us, and a fierce advocate who led by example. She was whip-smart, even when she thought she was at her worst. And as I advocate in the years to come, I will always ask: would this have helped Beth?

Until next week,

Yours with much love,

Marie xxx