Information and opinions on Breast Cancer from Mary Blocksma at MyBreastCancerNetwork.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44 http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44 http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9283/100th-blog Mon, 07 May 2007 12:21:01 -0400 Mary Blocksma Thirty years ago, I watched the six-part PBS series, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, and was profoundly changed. Appointing my intuitive heart as chairwoman of my internal “board,” I moved my rational head to director of support. I become a test case for bliss.At first bliss was elusive. As many of us do at least once in our lives, I’d tried so hard for so long to be what others wanted me to be, that I no longer knew what I loved.... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9283/100th-blog http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9196/libido-cancer Fri, 04 May 2007 11:35:00 -0400 Mary Blocksma The flight of libido after breast cancer treatment may not be a subject everyone is comfortable talking about, but my personal survey of survivors—six friends plus me—ends up with about half of us losing libido after breast cancer and half of us not. About half of us had chemo and half of us just radiation, but that didn’t seem to affect whose sexual appetite and/or pleasure was reduced and whose wasn’t. Clearly this was... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9196/libido-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9129/survivor-twin Wed, 02 May 2007 16:48:00 -0400 Mary Blocksma Not long ago, I was working on a watercolor in a public place when a woman stopped by to make conversation. I thought nothing of it. She wasn’t the first—people seem to enjoy watching an artist work—and like most of the others who’d come by, she was older. But it wasn’t my painting that caught her eye. It was my digital camera. “I got a digital camera for Christmas,” she told me. “I’ve never been able to figure out how to work... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9129/survivor-twin http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9011/change-doctors Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:25:01 -0400 Mary Blocksma Yesterday I risked trying a new “family” doctor. I’ve wanted to change doctors, but until yesterday, I stuck out a relationship that was becoming more than uncomfortable. It began seven years ago when I moved here and started seeing a specialist for a persistently painful problem  (I don’t want to be too specific here). He fixed me right up, and also offered to also act as my internist because I had no insurance and couldn’t get... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/9011/change-doctors http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8775/find-group Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:59:01 -0400 Mary Blocksma It’s no wonder I’ve never heard of a breast cancer support group in my town: Apparently, there isn’t one, at least not one I can find after two days of on-line research and local phoning. “It’s hard to get the word out,” was the phrase I heard from everyone who actually knew of one, and those people were not easy to find. 1) I started online, searching Google and several breast cancer for “breast cancer support groups”, but I... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8775/find-group http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8680/ill-group Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:57:00 -0400 Mary Blocksma Thanks, PJ! You nailed it for me in your current post, “Breast Cancer Support Group? Not for me!” I confess that I have never seriously attempted to find a breast cancer support group. Like you, I have friends who are breast cancer survivors, but being over sixty, I don’t feel too special: Lots of us are dealing with a life-threatening illness, from hepatitis C to cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. We don't talk about it... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8680/ill-group http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8560/risk-story Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:17:01 -0400 Mary Blocksma When I found out that Elizabeth Edwards had not gone for routine mammograms and her tumor size was 9 centimeters, my first thought was, Hey, haven’t I already observed that self-sacrifice usually backfires? (A PJ Hamel post expands this thought wisely.) My next thought was, Yikes! We've been dealing with this story for almost three years! How much more don’t I know? Am I spinning the news for drama? Am I becoming one of those people who... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8560/risk-story http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8402/mandarin-breast Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:28:00 -0400 Mary Blocksma Last Sunday, a calligraphy student gracefully brushed my name—Mary—in Mandarin on red paper, during a festival put on by our area’s Chinese community. When I looked at the characters, I almost jumped out of my skin. I mean, look at it!  Doesn’t my name in Mandarin make me look, well, endowed?  And isn’t it odd that just last week I received a gift celebrating the artistic opposite—a sculpted woman without breasts?I’m... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8402/mandarin-breast http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8282/sculptured Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:16:01 -0400 Mary Blocksma Remember the “Ancient Breast Exam”, a photo my friend Marie took of a sculpture in Stresa, Italy, that I included in a December SharePost? Well, Marie’s been upstaged. Last night, during a gallery walk with a group of Bay City artists, musicians and writers, my friend Carol, just back from Nicaragua, presented me with the above sculpture.“It’s from San Juan de Limay, a remote village in the mountains of Nicaragua,” she told us... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8282/sculptured http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8198/doc-dont-call Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:16:01 -0400 Mary Blocksma I’ve had it with endearments from medical personnel. I plan (if I get up enough chutzpah) to have the following form (filled out, of course) attached to all my medical charts. Many hospitals already routinely do something similar to this, but I've not yet seen it in most of my medical facilities.  I welcome your suggestions: ------------------------------------------------------------------------Patient’s Special Notice to the... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/44/8198/doc-dont-call