I Haven't Been Blogging

I haven't been blogging recently and I haven't figured out why. Well I do have some thoughts on the subject.

Originally I started this blog as a way of communicating my medical disasters, especially with breast cancer. That is what I told everyone. It was also my way of venting. Sort of journaling. It was very helpful to me in both ways.

Over the years (9.5 to be exact) the topics have added and changed, as my health has continued to decline. My blog has been so helpful to me.

But I have hit a major wall, writer's block so to speak, in recent months. Its not like I haven't had medical issues to deal with. I just haven't been very good at writing about everything.

I did have some major distractions because I did some travelling. But I haven't been able to write. I also have had some fun and its getting to be craft show season for me.

I think I just need a break for a bit and will be blogging again.... So my blog may be intermittent for a bit but I'll be here and blogging regularly again.

On Not Blogging About Breast Cancer

So yes my blog is called Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog but I haven't been writing about breast cancer as much. Why? Because of several reasons:

• My health is not focused on breast cancer
• I try not to live in the 'all cancer all the time channel'

Honestly, my health sucks but its not all about cancer. I have plenty of other chronic ailments to cope with. And I also try not to focus on my health all the time. I have other things going in my life - weaving, knitting, travel, gardening, reading.... I can't remember anything else. Oh, cooking. I like to cook.

I wish I could cut all the focus in my life off my health. There was a time in my life when I just had one little niggling constant glimmer in my mind of thyroid cancer and nothing else. Those were the days.

Downside of Cancer Blogging

In the cancer world, particularly the cancer blogging world, you get to know a lot of really sick people. The problem is that every so often cancer takes one of the people you know.

Over the years, I have 'met' lots of people and gotten to know them fairly well. One of them I have admired since I first met her, Jill of Dancing with Cancer, Living with Mets. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 when she was in her late 30s. It then returned and metastasized. She blogged about her treatment and her travels and other adventures regularly. While she dealt with all kinds of medical problems related to her cancer, she didn't let it stop her.

Unfortunately yesterday cancer took her away from us. She didn't lose her battle. She didn't fight until the end. She lived her life as she wanted. I was such a fan of her. Go read her blog and learn about her.

Social Media Helps Breast Cancer Patients

Here's a surprise for us! Social media helps breast cancer patients.... And it took a research study to tell them that. How many of us went online for support after breast cancer to the online groups at Komen, Breastcancer.org, or many other sites in the last decade? I know I did. I also started blogging and looking for offline support services.

We've know about this for a while now. But it took a bunch of scientists a while to figure this out.

"Women who communicated online the most felt the most positive about their choices about treatment. They also said their decisions were more deliberate, and they were more satisfied with them, according to the study."

And can I add the decisions we made by asking our peers who had been through the same thing were a lot more educated than those of us who went along with what our doctors told us to do because we could hear it from our peers.

"But the findings don't prove that using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter will benefit all breast cancer patients, and the researchers expressed a note of caution."

However the scientists still have doubts because they need more research. Me, I can tell you that I was happy when I learned to ask questions of my peers. 

""For some women, social media may be a helpful resource. But there are still questions to answer before we can rely on it as a routine part of patient care,...""

Okay the internet has changed many things including the practice of medicine and the behavior of patients. Why should this be a surprise? We go online to post pictures of our cats and to ask questions about the decisions facing us as part of our cancer treatments.