A Cancer Education

         When you enter the world of cancer you learn new vocabulary.  you learn words that end in      "-ine," like cisplatine and visplastin. You learn the difference between immunotherapy and chemotherapy.  You learn about radiation treatments and the difference between an MRI and a CAT scan and a PET scan.  You have nurses dress in hazmat gear to measure your urine. You learn about what your insurance plan will cover and what it will not.  AND what it will not are the extras.


Most of all, you learn that cancer does not care what time of year it is. Cancer does not care it is Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Cancer does not care it is your birthday or your child's birthday. Cancer does not care if you are pregnant.

Melanoma hit me full force in November of 2010. I am NED stage IV. Cancer did not care it was Christmas time, because by Christmas of 2010 I was legitimately dying of cancer. I had a doctor tell me to go home, there was nothing he could do, I had another say he'd try to save my life.

Cancer doesn't care about anything other than surviving and thriving in your body. Melanoma is often called the black beast because of its color after being removed. This beast is resistant to many treatments and the treatment I went through was NO GUARANTEE, yet I am HERE!
As I approach my cancerveyrsary I think of those who fight on through the holidays.  i think of the oncology wards of children and adults receiving cancer. I think of the infusion centers here people are hooked up to poison, hoping it will kill the  cancer. I pray for you all and paint my angels for you.