Hear the Bitch!

The audio book of Cancer Bitch just came out and Salon is very excited about it. Virtuosic, poignant.

No, not me

In answer to your question, I don't have mets. I was making the announcement (below) for a friend. Five years and 2 months after the end of chemo, I don't have a recurrence. Though my oncologist said that with my estrogen-positive tumors, seven years is a better benchmark. I also don't have cholera.

Got Mets?

For the uninitiated, mets refers to metastatic cancer. The existence of survivors with metastatic breast cancer is the unacknowledged shadow side of the reigning rah-rah-with-a-positive-attitude-and-a-lifetime-supply-of-pink-ribbons-I-beat-the-disease ethos. See how women with stage 4 feel shunted aside in the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc. [PINK BOOTS: GUARANTEED TO KEEP THE ANGEL OF DEATH AT BAY] On Oct. 13, Northwestern's Lurie Cancer Center in Chicago will hold a conference for people with metastatic breast cancer. It will feature expert oncologists from Northwestern as well as several other leading institutions.. [Please note there is a $35 registration fee to cover the cost of a Friday night reception and as well as meals and a Saturday reception.] 2012 MBCN Conference at a Glance Registration https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e61xsijna19bd1a5&oseq When Saturday October 13, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM EDT Where Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center 303 E. Superior Street Chicago, IL 60611 Contact Metastatic Breast Cancer Network 888-500-0370 (voice mail) mbcn@mbcn.org Agenda highlights include: Understanding MBC When to Use Standard Care vs. Clinical Trial Hormone Positive MBC (Dr. Ruta Rao) HER2 Positive MBC (Dr. Virginia Kaklamani) Triple Negative MBC (Dr. Funmi Olopade) Brain Metastasis (Dr. Lorenzo Munoz) Research on Treatments to Contain Metastatic Growth (Dr. Pat Steeg) Following and Treating Bone Mets (Dr.William Gradishar) Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology (Virginia Burns) Improving Daily Functioning (Dr. Gail Gamble) Living with MBC for those under age 40 (Roz Kleban) How Do I Find a Clinical Trial? (Elly Cohen) Targeted Treatment for Patients with Isolated, Distant Mets (Dr. Steven Chmura) Treating Pain and Neuropathy (Dr. Judy Paice) Role of the Caregiver (Dr. Sarah Rosenbloom) Living with MBC for those above age 40 (Roz Kleban) Emerging Research (Dr. Steven Rosen)