What To Do When You’re Blind in One Eye

Posted July 28th, 2010

I’ve had a lot of mishaps while riding my bike. I’ve… Fallen over, Been sworn at, Been cut off by cars, Been forced off the road by a car, Ridden into pot holes, Had spokes break, Been bitten by bugs, Had a truck tire blow out about 20 yards behind me, Gotten sun burn, Run […]

CancerLand Bookshelf: The Cancer Monologue Project

Posted July 26th, 2010

After my first cancer surgery, I woke up hungry. Ravenously hungry. Give-me-something-to-eat-now-or-else hungry. The way my stomach was growling, you would think that I had been fasting for weeks, and not just since midnight the night before being admitted to the hospital. But now it was after 5 pm, I was out of recovery and […]

The Cancer Kicker

Posted July 20th, 2010

Dylan Trakas had a long bike ride ahead of him. He was in Bellingham, Washington. The ride was going to end in Charlestown, South Carolina, 3997 (not 4000) miles away. College was over and he had no bills to pay. Dylan was looking for an adventure he could look back on in his future, more […]

CancerLand Bookshelf: My One-Night Stand with Cancer

Posted July 8th, 2010

The CancerLand journey is made up of moments.  Strange moments.  Defining moments. Once-in-a-lifetime types of encounters, often intensely traumatic experiences that mark and change you:  physically, emotionally, spiritually.  Forever it seems. Ask any cancer survivor.  Some will say it’s the moment of diagnosis – the day that a doctor says those life-changing words, I’m sorry, […]

Greetings from CancerLand: Donations Gratefully Accepted

Posted July 6th, 2010

Donations.  I’m a volunteer in charge of donations for a local office of a cancer organization. So for a few hours every week, I sort through bags stuffed full of donations.  Cancer-related types of donations to be exact: wigs, hats, scarves, bras and breast prostheses.  Special items that cancer survivors often need and don’t have […]

A Dietitian’s Strange Affair with Sugar

Posted June 28th, 2010

At least once a week, if not more, I find myself in the strange position of trying to convince someone to eat more sugar. It is not that I think that everyone should eat more sugar, it’s not that I think sugar is healthy, but the information regarding sugar and cancer gets so distorted by […]

CancerLand Bookshelf: Bald in the Land of Big Hair

Posted June 21st, 2010

It was the late, great Art Linkletter who coined the phrase, Kids Say the Darndest Things to describe the uncensored and often very funny comments that fly out of kids’ mouths. Well, I’d like to borrow those famous words and edit them ever so slightly to read, People Say the Darndest Things to Cancer Survivors. […]

Fatherless Day

Posted June 20th, 2010

Another Father’s Day has come and gone.  Another Hallmark holiday for the books.  As nice as it is to have a day to recognize Dads, we should also think about the Dads who are with us only in spirit. There must be millions of Americans without their fathers due to cancer.  My daughter was almost […]

Get Off Your Ass!

Posted June 14th, 2010

It may be the last thing on your mind when you’re going through treatment, or recovering from it. It’s exercise, and it may be the best self-help you can do. I’ve been out of shape all my life. I’ve always been over weight, to one degree or another. I never really participated in any kind […]

The CancerLand Bookshelf: Mom’s Marijuana

Posted May 20th, 2010

Sometimes the perfect book appears precisely at the moment when you need it the most. (I just love when that happens). Such was the case with Dan Shapiro’s amazing cancer memoir Mom’s Marijuana. I read the book while recuperating from reconstruction surgery that unfortunately stretched into an eight-day hospital stay due to post-operative complications. Unfortunate, […]