Bits 'n Bobs

First: An apology for the little hiatus. I have been suffering the adverse effects of having low hemoglobin. In other words, I didn't have enough iron in my blood. In other other words, I'm anemic. As a result, I've been fatigued, exhausted, dragging around barely functioning. Mostly I've been sleeping, like 16 or more hours a day. I'd think of things to write about here, but just not have the energy to get out my laptop and type it out. Extreme fatigue = no posts. I need to start writing ahead to prevent this problem in the future. And that leads me into....

Second: NaNoWriMo is fast approaching. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to try to write a novel (first draft) start to finish all during the month of November. For more information about NaNoWriMo itself, go to nanowrimo.org
Some of you may know that I've had an epic historical fantasy novel kicking around inside my head for the better part of 12 years now. I hope to one day actually write that beast, but 2015 is not the year for that. Rather, in the spirit of NaNoWriMo I am going to attempt to write and post a blog entry every day during the month of November, all 30 days. This will give me the opportunity to start writing about subjects (other than cancer) that are important to me. If you have a question you'd like me to answer or a subject you'd like to see me write about, please post it in the comments!

Third: Additional things people have said to me or about cancer that I find completely annoying and I would like it very much if people would stop.

• "You're going to be such an amazing nurse now." "This is going to make you a better nurse." And other variations on this theme.

Sadly, this one I hear more from other nurses than  from the general population. I get what they are trying to say (that I'll have a unique perspective from having been a patient, never mind the fact that this isn't my first rodeo: in my 38 years I've racked up 11 surgical procedures, I have plenty of experience being a patient, I really don't need more), but the way it is stated implies that I wasn't a good nurse before. I know that to not be true. Connecting with patients (and their families) is actually one of my strong suits. That element of caring can't be taught, but it's extremely important as it improves patient outcomes and patient compliance. It also simply makes things easier on you and the patient if you get along well. I get that the nurses are also trying to take a senseless situation and give it some meaning. Maybe some people find that comforting. I don't. I just think it's a silly thing to do. As I've said before, there is no greater meaning or purpose in me getting cancer. It's simply a nasty thing that some people get, just like with any other disease. There is no lesson to be learned, no information to be gleaned, it just is.

• "My mom died of cancer. With her lifestyle it wasn't a surprise at all." 
• "If your faith was stronger you'd never have gotten cancer/your cancer would be cured already."
• "If you'd just done X, Y, Z, you wouldn't have caught cancer." 

Yes, there are certain lifestyle and dietary choices that can increase or decrease your chances of getting certain cancers. That doesn't make the cancer the fault of the patient. This is especially true of women's gynecological cancers. Even with regular care via an OBGYN, few sexual partners, monogamous relationships, and no history of sexually transmitted infections, I developed ovarian cancer. There's nothing I could have done to prevent it and nothing I could do to cause a cure to spontaneously happen. Faith and prayer can help you get through the dark days of your cancer treatment, but to make the above statement to someone is beyond cruel. If you say that to someone, you are a bad, bad person. Oh, in case it isn't blatantly obvious, you can't "catch" cancer. It's not a virus or a bacteria spread from person to person.

• Coughing, continuously within a five food radius of me, without covering your mouth. And, especially, doing so when you know my white blood cell count is critically low.

I don't care if it's "just allergies," cover your damn mouth, you're spraying germs everywhere!


Fourth. I don't actually have a fourth. I just can't figure out a good outro for this entry. So I guess thi