Gratitude
I am grateful that this month marks my ten years in remission from the melanoma cancer.
I am thankful for my family and friends for their support and care that strengthened me and carried me through the most difficult time.
Tag Archives: Melanoma
Smorgasbord Special Feature – Understanding: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events- Contributors – Lucy V. Hay, Miriam Hurdle, Phil Houston
Sally Cronin shared three of the nineteen contributing authors of this anthology. Take a peek at these authors’ life experiences.
Over the last two weeks I have been featuring the contributors to this anthology of true and significant events. Writers share intimate and life changing events in their lives with courage and honesty whilst inspiring others.
Compiled by author Stevie Turner – the proceeds from this anthology will be going to Cancer Research and it is a very worthy cause.
Here is the link to the previous post where you can also find the link to the first posts in the series:Contributors Part Three
About the anthology
The following authors and bloggers answered questions posed by Stevie Turner regarding significant life experiences they had undergone. These events include sexual abuse, a near death experience, alcoholism, being diagnosed with cancer, depression, losing weight, getting married, being a mother to many children, being the daughter of a narcissistic mother, and many more!
All proceeds will be donated to Cancer Research:
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UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events – Part 3
UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events – compiled by Stevie Turner
It is my privilege to take part in this anthology with other 19 authors writing on difficult experiences in our life.
An excerpt of my contribution
Miriam Hurdle – Stage IV Melanoma – Q&A: 11 to 15
Read more
UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events – Part 2
UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events – compiled by Stevie Turner
It is my privilege to take part in this anthology with other 19 authors writing on difficult experiences in our life.
Blurb:
The following authors and bloggers kindly answered questions posed by Stevie Turner regarding significant life experiences they had undergone. These events include sexual abuse, a near death experience, alcoholism, being diagnosed with cancer, depression, losing weight, getting married, being a mother to many children, being the daughter of a narcissistic mother, and many more! Read more
UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events – Part 1
UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events – compiled by Stevie Turner
It is my privilege to take part in this anthology with other 19 authors writing on difficult experiences in our life.
Blurb:
The following authors and bloggers kindly answered questions posed by Stevie Turner regarding significant life experiences they had undergone. These events include sexual abuse, a near death experience, alcoholism, being diagnosed with cancer, depression, losing weight, getting married, being a mother to many children, being the daughter of a narcissistic mother, and many more!
All proceeds will go to Cancer Research.
Thanks to:
Alienora Browning
Sally Cronin
Dorinda Duclos
Scarlett Flame
Bernard Foong
Darlene Foster
Janet Gogerty
Debbie Harris
Lucy V. Hay
Miriam Hurdle
Phil Huston
Pamela Jessen
Joe
D.G Kaye
Lynda McKinney Lambert
Jaye Marie
Clive Pilcher
Abbie Johnson Taylor
Beem Weeks
An excerpt of my contribution
Miriam Hurdle – Stage IV Melanoma – Q&A: 1 to 5
- How did you find out your cancer?
During my annual physical checkup in the summer of 2008, my family doctor said the fibroid in my uterus grew three inches from 1986 to 2007 but grew four additional inches within the previous year. He referred me to the gynecologist. The gynecologist Dr. G confirmed the news and recommended a hysterectomy. He performed the hysterectomy on July 31, 2008. At 10:00 p.m. on August 1, Dr. G came to my hospital room to inform me I had melanoma cancer in the uterus and invaded the female organ.
- What stage was it in the first discovery?
Dr. G said melanoma is an aggressive cancer but mine was stage I or stage II which meant cancer had not spread to the lymph nodes.
- What was your initial reaction?
I was thankful the pathology detected the cancer at an early stage and had the hysterectomy done timely. Dr. G ordered tests and referred me to Dr. P, an oncologist. I was not scared or alarmed.
- Did you research on melanoma cancer? What did you find out?
I found out that melanoma is an aggressive type of cancer that usually shows up as a pigmented growth on the skin. However, less common types may be found in any organ or part of the body with melanin-containing cells (melanocytes). Melanocytes are cells in the body that make melanin, the substance that gives skin pigment or color. They are in many places throughout the body, including lymph nodes, bone, lung, liver, spleen, kidneys, eye, and brain, not just the skin. Considerable numbers of melanocytes are in the digestive and urogenital tracts and mucous glands. The non-skin melanomas also are called noncutaneous melanomas which are aggressive, metastatic and difficult to treat. Non-skin melanomas are not known to be caused by sun damage, exposure to ultraviolet rays, family history or moles.
- What kind of treatment did the doctor recommend?
When I met with the Dr. P, he said he had not dealt with melanoma and referred me to the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center for surgery. I trusted the doctors would take care of the cancer.
To be continued……
~
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April 5 Flash Fiction Challenge – Don’t Blame the Sun
April 5, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a silly sun story. Up north, “sun silly” is the energetic and playful response to returning sunlight. It could also be an April Fool’s jest, a silly story, or a reaction to spring fever. Be silly and write playfully! Go where the prompt leads.
Don’t Blame the Sun
“It’s the sun’s fault when people get melanoma, the visible kind, Erica.”
“Why do people choose to sunbathe long hours just to get tan? Don’t they know that they ask for cancer?”
“Are you saying people don’t get skin cancer if the sun hides behind the clouds?”
“I didn’t say that, Joyce. The ray is powerful that it penetrates through thick clouds.”
“I get it. You’re saying the sun is at fault to impose cancer on people even when the clouds try to protect them, right?”
Hey, look, don’t blame me, just wear suntan lotion wherever you are, okay!
~
Charli Mills, Carrot Ranch: April 5 Flash Fiction – Don’t Blame the Sun
New Normal
This is a reblog of the post I did a year ago. I updated the first line of the post.
This month marks the 8th anniversary of Remission from my cancer!!
What was my normal schedule and activities all my life until 2008?
Getting up before 6:00 a.m.
Rushing to get on the road to go to work
Multitasking on the job and loving it
Keeping up with cooking dinner and other chores
Keeping up with all the family and social activities
Traveling one to three trips a year
What happened from summer 2008 to summer 2009?
Melanoma Cancer
Six months of chemotherapy
Four surgeries
Five weeks of radiation
What is my new normal?
Thank God for retirement, or else I would not be able to do the following:
Deal with the side effect of chemotherapy – lymphedema on the legs
Unable to fall asleep until the numbness and tingling of my legs subside
Time to get up would have to depend on the time I fall asleep the night before
Running errands is as big a job as climbing mountains
Making two to three stops are manageable, the fourth one has to wait for another day
Elevating my legs and resting is a daily route, whereas years ago I considered it as wasting time
Exercise is a necessity, not a luxury
Priority is the key to manage my schedule
Something for my spiritual, physical, mental life, and make time to be a blessing to others
No promise is made to do everything and I don’t feel guilty if I can’t do it
God bless my being, even when I can’t measure up with my doing!
~
