The Occasional Hot Flash

I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 55. I had just entered menopause. In that year, I aged 20 years. On a superficial level, I went from looking 10 years younger than I was to looking 10 years older. The hair that grew back after chemo was sparse and stayed that way. My skin became parched. And the padding in my joints felt as if it had deflated, letting bone grate on bone. I lost two molars. My arches fell. My seasonal runny nose became year-round. My memory, always apt to flicker, became more prone to brownouts. 
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There was a time when women with breast cancer were in the closet. They had a double burden: the disease and the imperative of keeping it a secret. There were no support groups, no survivor walks—and definitely no televised announcements.
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My name is Megan and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to the Health section of the New York Times. Like any junkie, I anticipate my fix with eagerness and anxiety. I'm eager for good news about the cancer treatment I endured and fearful it has been invalidated. 
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Once upon a time, work was something I did for the money. My real life—kids, friends, books, yoga—took place off the job. I treasured my free time after work and on vacation. So six years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer and was given the option of paid sick leave, I grabbed it, right?
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Many women go for handsome men with good hair who look nice without their shirts — like George Clooney in ER or Patrick Dempsey in Grey's Anatomy.
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As National Breast Cancer Awareness Month gets under way with renewed vigor — "celebrating 25 years of awareness" — I'm struck by a certain irony. Awareness of your risk may be desirable before you're diagnosed, but after you've been diagnosed, awareness kind of sucks.
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About the only good thing breast cancer has given me is the friendship of a few good women. But what breast cancer gives, it also takes away. Not everyone survives.
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Lately I've been thinking: If I had it to do over again, would I choose a holistic path over conventional medical treatment?
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When I told my 24-year-old son I had cancer, he said, "I know just how you feel. I've imagined getting it for years."
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Like every other woman who's been diagnosed with breast cancer, I've tried to figure out why I got it.
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Some of the worst moments of my cancer experience have taken place in the elevator at work. I've been...
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You know about the two-week rule, right? No? Then I'm going to tell you about something that has spared me hours of stress.
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It's widely held that a dire diagnosis galvanizes you to re-examine your life, prioritize your goals—and accomplish them.
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My favorite chemo nurse, Pat, told me a story about running into a former cancer patient at the grocery store years after he'd finished his treatment. Delighted to see him, she approached him to say hello. He took one look at her. . .
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If you were to ask me my religion, my answer would be yoga. That's how deep my faith...
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The scariest movie I've ever seen is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Ordinary, unsuspecting people go to sleep, and while they're unconscious, their bodies are taken...
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Diamonds are a girl's best friend, according to the old song. But in times of crisis, I'll take words over jewels.
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It's the holiday season in New York. And I'm enjoying it in all its pleasures and imperfections. Five years ago, that was not the case.
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What do you think about the controversy over the new enhanced security measures?
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Far be it from me to judge another woman on how she reacts to the news that she has cancer. But here are some things I did NOT do when I was diagnosed with breast cancer: 
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After much trial and error, I've found that what works best for me is...
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Dissatisfied with conventional breast forms, I'm making my own.
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Sometimes when I see pink it makes me see red. And in the midst of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I've been seeing a lot of red, er, pink.
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We survivors can be a prickly bunch. Many things people have told me -- with all good intentions -- have set my teeth on edge. . . .
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Five years after I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I still suffer side effects.
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People say the darnedest things when you're diagnosed with cancer. I know -- I've uttered some doozies myself. But sometimes someone says something genuinely helpful.
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I recently went to the annual conference of the American Association for Cancer Research and learned about a way that each one of us can actually help find a cure for breast cancer.
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When you're diagnosed with breast cancer, many experts suggest you get a second opinion.
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After two mastectomies, chemo and radiation, Bonnie Pike was beginning to feel she was out of the woods. Then things closed in again.
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In 2006, after a second diagnosis of breast cancer in three years, Barbara Kriss chose to have a bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction.
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When I was being treated for cancer, I was humiliated by my chemo-baldness. My bare, pink scalp looked obscene, even when covered by a scarf.
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I made promises and broke them. I arranged to meet friends and failed to show up. People confided in me, and I lost the gist of what they were saying.
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When you're diagnosed with breast cancer, life doesn't stop and wait for you to get better. It keeps putting challenges in your path. During the time that I was undergoing treatment, my mother had a stroke; I had to empty and sell her apartment; my sister-in-law —who lived four hours away—was diagnosed with head-and-neck cancer and needed my husband and me to help with caregiving; and layoffs at work imposed what amounted to a work speedup for those of us who held onto our jobs.
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The anxiety set off by a diagnosis of breast cancer can be overwhelming. I have found ways to reduce it, and some of them may work for you.
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If you're like me when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, you may panic and feel as if you need a medical degree to decipher information and make treatment decisions. I pass on to you the advice I found most helpful back then.
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This NY Times article on what people say when you have cancer and how we think about it ourselves, I found interesting.  I left it thinking about what words, other than survivor, we could use to describe ourselves.  I didn't get anywhere really. So let me know if you come up with something good. Leave comments here.
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Every woman who answers the Hotline at SHARE was once on the other end of the line. Each of us once heard the words "You have cancer."
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There are power and authority issues here. What do you think?
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In yesterday's New York Times, Gina Kolata tells us that the American Cancer society is re-thinking its message on the importance of screening mammograms in saving lives.

 
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