Booby and the Beast

Does this thing still work? Do people still read blogs?  God knows people are still being diagnosed with cancer.  I know it has been a minute. There was (is) a pandemic. We had a toddler, n...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2021/08/a-decade.html

This post was written in partnership with AstraZeneca. All opinions are my own. 2020 might be a mess of a year, but it is showing us some important truths about our world. I have talked a time...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2020/12/a-beacon-of-hope-on-navajo-nation.html

Last week, Theresa's Research and the Mayo Clinic held their sixth annual Metastatic Breast Cancer Conference. It was here in Scottsdale, so I lined up childcare for two days (though I keep wish...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/09/when-checking-in-is-no-longer-option.html

Sometimes the world feels upside down. It can be scary, but a friend once told me scary isn't always bad. There is fear in letting go, in going beyond the edge of what our minds tell us is safe, ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/08/the-upside-of-down.html

Last week, Noelle and I toured a preschool. Now that Quinn's started school again, she's ready to follow. I should clarify: I know this preschool well. Quinn went there three days a week fo...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/08/take-that-win.html

The other night, Quinn came home from a monthly dinner with his preschool friends and their families, visibly upset, tears pooling in his enormous blue eyes. I pulled him in for a hug and asked ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/08/anxious-as-mother.html

June is Men’s Health Month, and this week marks Men’s Health Week , the purpose of which “is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and trea...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/06/on-mens-health-for-fathers-day.html

They say you become a cancer survivor from the moment you are diagnosed, for as long as you are alive. If that's the case, later this summer will mark 8 years since I became a breast cancer survi...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/06/what-makes-cancer-survivor-anyway.html

Quinn and I spend half an hour or so most nights reading side-by-side in his bed before I tuck him in. He recently suggested I start reading some of his books, and then he'll read them when I'm d...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/05/put-your-own-oxygen-mask-on-first.html

Driving Quinn to school yesterday, we were listening to The Absolutely Mindy Show on Kids' Place Live . She told a story about an eagle in Kodiak, Alaska, that got ahold of a piece of halibut som...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/05/construction-can-take-eons.html

What a warm welcome back to this space! Thank you guys for being here while I dust things off and clear out the cobwebs and find my voice again. Why did I go silent for so long? Didn't the metast...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/04/im-just-here-for-endorsements.html

Ahem. This blog, as my friend Amelia says, has been in hibernation, and it feels strange and raw to type here again, like the first squeaks that come out of your mouth when you haven't spoken ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2019/04/out-of-hibernation.html

Almost ten years ago, Chris and I celebrated our honeymoon on Maui. We coordinated the trip to align with a dear friend's wedding -- the same friend who suggested I start this blog, actually. (Hi...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/07/to-dogs-who-run-in-rough-waters.html

I'm not sure which one of you did it, but whoever nominated me for not one but two WEGO Health Awards (Best in Show: Blog and Patient Leader Hero) -- THANK YOU! Some beautiful soul named Rhonda...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/07/wego-health-awards.html

What a week. I had my six-month follow up scan on Monday, which always brings an onslaught of new pains and unwelcome sensations in my chest. A strange pull here, a shortness of breath there, a t...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/06/a-nightmare.html

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Chicago to get some sleep in a hotel without middle-of-the-night baby feedings attend a conference supporting online health advocates. HealtheVoices is in its ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/05/reflecting-on-healthevoices18.html

I'm writing now from a hotel room (a luxurious, thirtieth-floor hotel room, complete with a bathtub not sprinkled with plastic bath toys) in Chicago, where I landed early yesterday afternoon for ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/04/resilient-and-vulnerable-and-true-i-hope.html

Noelle turned five months old yesterday. Quinn asked if we could celebrate with a party, but I can see right through that ploy for cake. So I said we'd do one next month, perhaps with Funfetti ca...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/04/go-home-anxiety-youre-drunk.html

This post is sponsored by Celgene Corporation to review and share information about a new app to help children understand their mother’s breast cancer diagnosis called The Magic Tree . All opi...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/03/rules-for-talking-to-kids-about-cancer.html

Dear Quinn-Love, Earlier this month, you turned seven, and somehow for the first time, it wasn't bittersweet for me to see another milestone pass. When you woke up and gleefully announced, "I'm...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/03/seven.html

Last weekend marked six years since my bilateral mastectomy. I still remember waking up from surgery feeling like I'd done a thousand push-ups, like an elephant was sitting on my chest, like a ho...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2018/01/abundance.html

I haven't talked to many kids about death. But kids, I find, are generally equal parts curious and blunt. My six-year-old, Quinn, casually asked me last weekend: "What if my baby sister stays in ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2017/11/on-death-healing-little-bit-of-football.html

As October winds down and we prepare for Halloween celebrations tonight, I thought I'd share some final thoughts on the month. And on breasts in particular. *** The librarian at Quinn's schoo...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2017/10/what-are-breasts-for.html

In case you missed it, October is right around the corner is here. (One of these days, I may sit down and write a whole post at once, but that day is not today.) It's even feeling like fall (i.e...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2017/10/reclaiming-october.html

Just when I think I've sorted through all of my emotions about my cancer experience, a song comes on Pandora and I ugly cry in front of my six-year-old. And it's a song from Twilight, no less: ...

http://www.boobyandthebeast.com/2017/08/the-darkness-is-only-ever-temporary.html