tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84062406808442461002024-02-07T05:41:25.905-08:00L A D I E C T O M YBlathering On About Breast CancerC.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-59898262807903085812018-09-14T16:32:00.002-07:002019-01-20T18:04:20.090-08:00WelcomeIf you've just arrived and are curious, or starting your own cancer journey, I recommend starting with the first post in June of 2009 and scrolling upward from there. If you need someone to talk to about your diagnosis, please feel free to email me at: cmicheleharris(at)gmail(dot)com
Oprah's O Magazine picked up my hormone essay, which serves as a nice epilogue to this process. You canC.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-81153485334067926042013-05-22T06:03:00.002-07:002018-09-14T16:23:27.850-07:00The contents of my letter to my government officials Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, Keith Ellison as well as Myriad Genetics.
(This post has been updated to include Rep. Ellison's response.)
Hello Folks,
I am writing to you today as a breast cancer survivor who is fed up with being an insurance pariah.
Myriad Genetics owns the rights to the BRCA gene test and charges $4000 when it C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-29007657821612529012009-12-09T08:37:00.000-08:002009-12-09T09:05:08.901-08:00Plastics Make It PossibleNearly healed from surgery at long last. Days after I wrote my last post, I grew another infection. Fever, chills, rashes at my incision sites. We’re all walking bacteria farms, but I appear to be an entire continent. Out of the four surgeries I’ve had in my life, three earned me a painful infection. My doctor’s take? “Maybe you should be done having surgeries.” Sobering. That fat graft from my C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-87849603564930145562009-11-15T12:21:00.001-08:002009-11-15T13:10:39.103-08:00Laparoscopic Assisted Vaginal HysterectomyPrepare to click away dear reader if you don’t want to know the ins and outs. But before you go, first let me tell you this. The next time you are a patient, remember to take as much control of your care as possible. It doesn’t mean be difficult, but rather challenge your doctors, ask for the outcome you wish to see. More often than not, they like the break in monotony. I told my plastic surgeon C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-84511716400052662232009-11-09T19:29:00.000-08:002009-11-09T19:32:44.870-08:00Something Borrowed to Carry Me ThroughDon't know what's left to say about being deconstructed over the course of a year. So I'm posting work from my friend Mary Logue, mystery novelist and poet extraordinaire. She always sums it up neat and clean and beautiful at the same time. EXPOSEDWhen you reach the longest day,first day of summer and perfect,the air clear and dry,the wind making all the flowersnod at you again and again,when youC.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-80447349652705828232009-10-29T08:12:00.000-07:002009-10-29T08:39:24.841-07:00Ramble OnAlmost as soon as I spewed out that last post, my energy picked up and my outlook brightened. Perhaps I had turned a corner with my cold/flu thing, perhaps I experienced an out-gassing of hormones or perhaps the very act of writing was a sort of sloughing off the bad juju. Anyway, I feel good. But that post remains for anyone to see and assume I’m in tatters. I guess if I want to honestly C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-46479844736243519962009-10-27T10:12:00.000-07:002009-10-29T18:20:51.780-07:00Cloudy With A Chance Of ShoesLast week I was up in the middle of the night, tossing blankets, stripping off my shirt and distancing myself from the various heat sources in our bed, and I began to think how un-depressed I was, how the other shoe had not dropped. We were dealing with my medical issues, had absolutely no work, living in a house filled with dust and exhaust from basement construction, the weather had gone all C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-7482028892338701192009-10-10T08:15:00.000-07:002009-10-10T09:05:54.375-07:00Putting Out A Fire with Salt WaterBig Ass Needle and I had our second date on Thursday. We met in the “big comfy” chemo chair this time. There was a man in the adjoining room, receiving his chemo, watching a baseball game. I gazed out the window at the eclectically manicured Cancer Center gardens, imagining all those who had sat in this chair before and received something more toxic. It didn’t hurt as much this time, the nurse C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-27674422927971083882009-09-15T10:53:00.000-07:002009-09-15T12:09:27.722-07:00Thank You, May I Have AnotherToday I had an appointment with the OB who delivered our twins (as well as removed a humungo fibroid first so that Cheryl could carry those twins). His focus is generally fertility but we trust him and he’s a crack surgeon. He’s conducted over 600 procedures since our last visit.After much discussion and an in depth exam, we decided on a hysterectomy in November. The Zoladex may shrink the C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-32331184107245056162009-09-10T10:50:00.000-07:002009-09-10T10:55:38.931-07:00Estrogen! The MusicalSo, I’ve been on the Tamoxifen for a few weeks now and am starting to see the effects. Headaches aren’t that bad but I am a little weepy. It’s as if a yearning John Barry soundtrack is playing in the background. Anything will set me off. Oliver caught a cicada today and tortured it. Waaaaaa! Kids pick up that playdough, or I'll, I'll, waaaaa!Also, my fibroid is beginning to radiate a constant C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-25976859552460268952009-09-09T18:51:00.000-07:002009-09-09T18:53:28.148-07:00Shameless, Absolutely ShamelessC.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-24381647992611755132009-08-13T13:26:00.001-07:002009-08-13T13:34:22.089-07:00Breaking: Leo Keeps ManeOkay, bad news first. I got a friggin’ staph infection from my surgery. So my doc switched me to malaria grade antibiotics to kill that. Ick.But the good news is my Oncotype results show that #1: My cancer recurrence is slim. And #2: It probably would have been resistant to chemo anyway. So no chemotherapy! Who-hoo! I fell into a category below even the shaggy grey area and would have only gainedC.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-77910074095539270752009-08-12T09:24:00.000-07:002009-08-12T18:29:10.961-07:00No Better Time Than NowThere's no point in waiting until I'm cured to start banging the drum about cancer awareness, prevention and research funding. The American Cancer Society has all the details and it isn't always about forking over cash. Sometimes it's about volunteering. Which means a Web site or two in Carbon Creative's future.There's another cause bears mentioning and that's becoming a donor. At this point in C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-91815265311964837012009-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:002009-08-12T09:06:32.089-07:00Excellence in ParentingMadeline has been behaving oddly. It coincides with my illness and the start of kindergarten so we assume either one or both are the cause. About a month ago she began confessing all the possible things she'd done wrong. "Hun, I got paint on my pants." or "Hun, I dropped a booger on the floor."At first it was sweet. And we thanked her for telling us. Then it became a little wearisome. "Hon, I C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-14552504422387258602009-08-10T15:38:00.001-07:002009-08-10T16:08:25.111-07:00Dangerous CurvesBeen trying to live my life again, the way it used to be. Playing slowly-moving-target to the kids' waterballoons and scanning the art fair for free junk. On Thursday night, Cheryl and I hung out with the guys. On Saturday night, we hung out with the gals. Yesterday, I got to ride 26 glorious miles. 'Course, this illness thing keeps wanting to tussle. Over the past few days, a section of my scar C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-70154570160820009182009-08-05T07:05:00.000-07:002009-08-05T07:15:02.092-07:00And Now For Something Completely DifferentDISPATCHER: Metro 911, what's the address of the emergency?WOMAN: I'm locked in my car, my battery's shut down—DISPATCHER: You're locked in your car.WOMAN: Yes, I can't . . . my power's shut down on my car.DISPATCHER: Uh, huh.WOMAN: And I'm starting to hyperventilate. I'm starting to freak out!DISPATCHER: Now ma'am, you think your battery died?WOMAN: Yeahhhhh.DISPATCHER: So, okay, and you tried C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-19468820317034186452009-08-04T09:17:00.000-07:002009-08-05T07:19:44.307-07:00It's Not About The BikeRe-read the first part of Lance Armstrong’s memoir last night. I had picked it up a few years back when I was racing and hoped to somehow absorb his skills (negligible results, by the way). This time I was more interested in his battle with cancer, which involved an orchiectomy (testicle removal), brain surgery, high doses of chemo and another painful surgery to remove his chemo pump. That he wonC.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-49931215494040064732009-07-28T19:05:00.001-07:002009-07-29T13:15:40.396-07:00Stacked Crooked, But Now I'm On My WayIt’s clear now that I made the right decision to go with immediate reconstruction. (BTW, this WHOLE post will be about boobs, so look away if you hate boobs) I can still wear most of my shirts and see some shape and know that others see that too, even if my friends know how I got it. Is that the way it should be? Should we give so much importantce to breast size? Future generations will probably C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-5949547996053007742009-07-27T09:19:00.000-07:002009-07-27T09:32:13.969-07:00On Hormone TherapyAfter chemo, I will need to go on Tamoxifen for five years to shut down the baby maker. However, the drug brings its own set of side effects and risks that aren’t too swell. The most immediate being that Tamoxifen increases uterine lining, making the fibroid I have now grow another head or arms or possibly uterine cancer. So I might be looking at a hysterectomy somewhere after chemo and before C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-80475015266297495682009-07-23T11:28:00.001-07:002009-07-23T12:12:43.848-07:00Hurricane Downgraded to Category ISix months ago, if you had told me I had Stage I breast cancer there would have been a gnashing of teeth, a rending of garments. But today, when my oncologist confirmed my prognosis as a Stage I out of IV (4 means spread to other organs), I was actually pleased.Together with my oncologist, Cheryl and I visited adjuvantonline.com and entered my information. Tumor size, receptor types, age, health,C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-84620198370192607402009-07-22T13:19:00.000-07:002009-07-22T13:25:08.544-07:00On Your Left Vicodin withdrawal has left me itchy and restless. And actually that’s a good thing. I don’t need near as much sleep and I’m actually getting work done. I took off on my ’89 chrome Robinson BMX this afternoon and headed down the Greenway trail to see if my pecs could handle it. No problemo! Rode up this beautiful bridge.I had on an old, baggy T and, boy, was the wind through it sublime. Wept C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-83151033383589364992009-07-20T11:14:00.000-07:002009-07-20T11:27:09.005-07:00Blogging for DollarsYes, it's true. I have officially allowed ads on my blog. I'm not sure what the ethical ramifications are of exploiting ones breast cancer for profit. Guess we'll have to see what sorts of ads pop up. The proper thing would be to donate all funds to defeating cancer. But first I need to defeat my own and contribute to Carbon manor's coffers. Please commenters, let me know if the ads become C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-35191097958658918952009-07-16T13:51:00.001-07:002009-07-22T14:07:55.696-07:00Did I Give Myself Cancer?(Okay, I did say that I wasn’t going to post anything until next week. But I just drank a lot of coffee. So...)Just about every patient tortures themselves with the above question. It’s very silly on one level, as the deed (if there was one) is done. And too, because many cancers defy the “why” question. But the diagnosis does shock introspection into you like one of those freaky movie close-ups C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-58046257621419049152009-07-16T12:58:00.000-07:002009-07-16T17:53:33.681-07:00Defying Gravity (sans broomstick, black dress and green skin)Item #1: No vicodin today!Miraculously without a 12-step program. Yet.Item #2: Entire dentist office now alerted to my boob dramaI am shameless in my quest for attention. Admittedly, I needed that cleaning to have bacteria removed before chemo, but since they were asking …Item #3: Tri-cycle! Tri-cycle!Cher chaperoned me on a bike ride today on Rita’s three-wheeler recumbent. Smirks from other C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406240680844246100.post-46171272425467586922009-07-10T17:47:00.000-07:002009-07-10T17:49:59.516-07:00Blue Skies in the Eye of Hurricane ClaudiaThough my mind’s floating on pharmaceuticals and my chest is strung tighter than a Stradivarius, most of me is up and running just fine. Our homelife seems to have righted itself. Not too many chores piling up or calls from friends left unanswered. Cheryl’s stress is lessening a bit. The dogs scamper and play throughout the house and yard, then come to nest on my lap. Sometimes I sit on the C.M. Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205806426533761162noreply@blogger.com1