Tag Archives: career

Flayed Alive

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Scorchy

I used to love to enthrall my history students with tales of the Assyrians. They would flay their victims while they were alive and parade them in cages to the next village on their map of conquest in order to … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life | Tagged #bcsm, #lifers, advocacy, anger, Attitude, awareness, breast cancer, career, chronic disease, chronic pain, depression, disability, hydration, loss, malaise, roller coaster, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, vulnerability, vulnerable | 20 Comments

Past Tense

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Scorchy

The paperwork is in. Fifty pages compiled by four people and faxed to two insurance companies. Disability. I didn’t want to do it. Indeed, for two years I fought hard to crawl my way back to who I was. I can hardly … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, My Stage IV Life, Social Commentary, Stage IV Musings, Uncategorized | Tagged advocacy, breast cancer, Cancer Culture, career, Diagnosis, fear, friends, Information resources, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, vulnerability | 45 Comments

STFU

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Scorchy

So I’ve been attempting to write post after post after post, inevitably trashing them all. I tried one on depression, one on anxiety, one on pink. Whatever I tried it just never worked. And I have to say that through … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life, Social Commentary, Stage IV Musings | Tagged "cure rates", anxiety, Attitude, awareness, Beyond the Pink Moon, boredom, boring, breast, breast cancer, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cancer Culture, cancer loop, Cancertown, career, Diagnosis, Exemestane, Facebook, fear, friends, frustration, knitting, Komen, Lyrica, MBC, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, OxyContin, Philosophy, pink ribbon, Pinktober, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, STFU, stigma, strong, support, TODAY, Treatment, vulnerability, whiney | 61 Comments

Remission

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Scorchy

The Catch-22 of having metastatic breast cancer is this: when you’re caught in a period of crisis all you hope for is that your scans will improve, the pain will lessen or go away, your energy will return, and that … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life | Tagged Attitude, awareness, breast cancer, breasts, cancer cell, Cancer Culture, career, Catch-22, Diagnosis, Exemestane, exhaustion, friends, frustration, Humor, knitting, Lupron, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, PET/CT, Philosophy, remission, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, Tamoxifen, Treatment, vulnerability, Xgeva | 40 Comments

Released from Prison

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Scorchy

Where the hell have I been these past few months? Well, ever since my last episode with radiation of a painful bone tumor in my sacrum, I seem to have misplaced my voice. It could likely be lost among my yarn stash, but … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life | Tagged breast cancer, breasts, career, compartmentalization, denial, depression, friends, frustration, guilt, knitting, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain, pain management, pain. chronic pain, prison, scan, self-worth, social life, socialization, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, stigma, support, Treatment, vulnerability | 20 Comments

After the Crisis, Ambiguity

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Scorchy

Since August I have been struggling to write. Writer’s block would be the easy explanation. But as reality has it, there is so much more going on. For the first year of my diagnosis I scorched Earth with my posts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Career Conundrums, My Stage IV Life, Stage IV Musings | Tagged ambiguity, anger, breast, breast cancer, Cancer Culture, career, co-pays, denial, Diagnosis, finances, Letrozole, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, oncologist, optimism, pain management, pink ribbon, retirement, retirement savings, scan, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, Treatment, vulnerability, writer's block | 41 Comments

Kobayashi Maru

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Scorchy

My latest paincation was intense and it was made more so by the experience of radiation. Now, like most things in this disease I was fortunate: only five consecutive days and maybe twenty minutes of my time each day. But … Continue reading →

Posted in My Stage IV Life, Stage IV Musings | Tagged advice for patient, anxiety, breast cancer, breasts, cancer cell, career, Diagnosis, fear, friends, frustration, health, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain management, psychiatrist, Radiation, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, support, the machine, Treatment, Varian, vulnerability, Xanax | 42 Comments

Me and My Shadow

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Scorchy

I have to be honest: it’s been a conscious effort to think about cancer recently. Not that I’m complaining, who the heck wants to think about cancer all the time? Who knew it could be so easy? I love being … Continue reading →

Posted in Career Conundrums, My Stage IV Life, Physicians, Stage IV Musings | Tagged "Alright Tit", Attitude, bone metastasis, bone mets, breast cancer, captain picard meme, career, denial, Diagnosis, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, Tamoxifen, Treatment, vulnerability | 48 Comments

Two Weeks In

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Scorchy

“We’re ya been, Scorchy?” I saw that subject line in my Inbox and realized that I have not been writing. And there’s a reason: I’M WORKING AGAIN! I’M WORKING AGAIN! Ah, what a wonderful thing. This tumor flare/spondylosis crisis that … Continue reading →

Posted in Career Conundrums, My Stage IV Life | Tagged career, frustration, history, metastasis, metastatic breast cancer, pain, pain management, Stage IV, stage iv breast cancer, Tamoxifen, Tamoxifuck, TFK, Treatment, vulnerability | 20 Comments

Don’t Be Stupid

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Scorchy

I’ve been slowly pushing back into work and it’s been going well. Just as I get going it’s time to go home. I pushed it a bit one day and paid for it the next, but I’m getting there. Patience, … Continue reading →