Episode 5 - A Day in the Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer Hello, hello! I’m Parker, and I am back to talk more about a day in the life with metastatic breast cancer. First, I’d like to note the passing this November of the remarkable, brave and funny Betty Rollin. Her book, First You Cry, published in 1976 was among the best of the first person cancer narratives. Her honesty, and humor helped so many women suffering from the early stages of this disease. She made it to 87 years young! Thanks for everything, Betty, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Unlike Ms. Rollin, my breast cancer has metastasized (spread beyond the breast), and so my journey is a bit different. There is no surgery for me to remove the tumor, or the breast, as it would do no good. So, as well as taking daily oral meds to help stem the further spread of lesions in my body, I must regularly undergo...
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A Day in the Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer Episode 4
A Day in the Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer Episode 4 Hello! I’m Parker, and I am back to talk a little bit more about side effects of the powerful meds prescribed to keep me alive. I’ll also talk about navigating a romantic life while on the precipice. I don’t want this to be a grim slog, you know! So, let me start and tell you about the serious stomach distress one can expect when taking Verzenio, and a few things I found that help ameliorate the general awful-ness. Dear GOD, I don’t want to talk about nausea, and diarrhea, but, as it affects me every single day, and is among the most common side effects, I feel I must. I have learned a lot since February 2021, when I began this wild ride, but in the beginning everything was terrifying, and bizarre, and out of control. Every day...
A Day in the Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer Episode 3 Hello, again. This episode was supposed to be more about drug side effects, but life has intruded, and taken me off topic, as it were. Today, I’m more interested in talking about how people respond, once they find out about what you’re going through. Often, what they say tells you more about them than about what is actually going on with you. This is useful! As Maya Angelou famously wrote, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” And move on from them, if you must. Here are some of the reactions I got from strangers, as well as those close to me in the early days with stage 4 breast cancer. Making those initial ...
A Day in the Life with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer Episode 2 - side effects no one tells you about! Hello again - Parker here - I’m back, as promised, with more of a day in the life with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Today, I’d like to talk about the more peculiar side effects from one of the meds I’m taking - the super serious drug prescribed to keep my terminal cancer from becoming terminal sooner, rather than later. In February of 2021, I began a daily regimen of Verzenio, a wildly powerful drug shown to (for a time) inhibit the further spread of cancerous lesions. And, because most breast cancers love estrogen, I was also prescribed an aromatase inhibitor. That one is to squelch every last bit of estrogen my already post menopausal body wants to produce. I’ll talk about that on...
A Day in the Life With Metastatic Breast Cancer
A Day in the Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer Good morning, I’m Parker, and like Camille, Violetta, or Mimi - those tragic literary ladies hacking their way through life and love - I am here to sing my song. And perhaps, to offer some found wisdom and advice from my travels. Travails? Potato, potahhto. February of 2021, I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Yeah. Scary stuff. But, as I am well past the panic and hysteria that are the early hallmarks of this condition, I find I am focusing on a strong sense of generativity- a need to provide what I hope will be useful information on a day in the life with terminal breast cancer. Initially, I’d thought to simply write a blog, but after discussion with a good friend with the same diagnosis, I decided to get past my vanity, show my face, and record my voice, as well. She was right - no part of our lives has been unaffected, a...