On The Road Again

This weekend I am on the road again. It is a real road trip. I drove with a friend (well she drove all so far) about 840 miles to the middle of Indiana from Massachusetts. We spent a night at my brother's and two nights in a hotel and then we will go back to my brother's and home. A road trip without the Thelma and Louise business.

Why am I on a road trip like this when I am among the least health people in the country? Because:

1. I wanted to
2. Its a great change to do something completely different
3. I am meeting some people I have known online since 2007 but have never met in person. 

Reason number 3 is the most important to me. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I went online for support and to find out information about my latest health debacle. I met all these wonderful women who were also coping with their own breast cancer demons. They were amazingly helpful and supportive and got me through some tough times.

But I never met them in person and now here I am. I will get to meet some of the people who were very important to me and understood what I was going through like no one else could. 

Changing Your Wardrobe For An Ailment

I couldn't sleep last night (again - thanks to back pain) and started wondering why women with breast cancer instantly start wearing pink and accessorizing with all things pink upon their diagnosis? Why do they feel the need to do this? I just don't understand. I admit when I was diagnosed with breast cancer I did go out and purchase one pink breast cancer t-shirt which I wore to chemo once and then donated it. I was also given breast cancer t-shirts by family and friends after they participated in an Avon walk. I never wore them either.

What if your ailment didn't have a 'pretty colored' ribbon, would start wearing that color? If you were diagnosed with narcolepsy, for example, would you start wearing black and accessorize with black ribbons? Or if you had ADHD would you wear orange and orange ribbons? Probably not.

With my medical history I should then wear purple (thyroid cancer and fibromyalgia), blue and purple (rheumatoid arthritis), light blue (lymphedema), and pink (breast cancer). I am probably forgetting something but that's enough of a rainbow for now. (See the whole list here.)

Pink has always been one of my favorite colors. I have always worn a lot of pink clothes. But now I actually stay away from pink as I don't want to be identified as a breast cancer person by the clothes I wear. So in some ways I am changing my wardrobe away from pink in a cringing way.

Call it backlash.

That Breast Cancer Bond Thingy

While I was at the gym yesterday, I was on the bike getting my cardio in when I two women who I know started talking next to me. Then one of them came over to said hi. I knew she had a lot of cardiac issues last spring and I asked her how she was doing. She said she is better now but still had some soreness on the side of her rib cage. That didn't seem like a cardio issue so I asked her what it was.

She had a mastectomy because she had her third occurrence of breast cancer. Twice on the left and this third time on the right. And all three were different cancers. I thought wow three different breast cancers and now two separate mastectomies. And over twenty years.

Of course we became instant pals because I told her about my breast cancer history. That breast cancer bond showed up.

I still find it funny when that breast cancer bond shows up. I have no other ailment that inspires such close bonds. ACL injuries? Nope. Fibromyalgia? Nope. Thyroid cancer? Nope. Rheumatoid arthritis? Nope. Breast cancer? Yep! Big time.

I think its a spin-off of all the unity behind pinkification. You get breast cancer and someone wants to stick a pink ribbon on you so you can become best pals.

Awesome Breast Cancer Blogs

I found the list of Healthline's best breast cancer blogs for 2016. I'm not on it (but I'm not perfect so I didn't expect to be). But the list is full of other women's breast cancer blogs that are current. If you have breast cancer, I strongly suggest you read follow these blogs. At least some of them.

My current favorites are on the list. You need to go read the list to find your favorites.