This past year was an incredibly challenging year for me, even though we got the best gift in the world with the birth of our sweet daughter Yael. I’ll start with my career. After facing burnout and the need for change, I worked toward becoming a personal trainer and thought that I had a solidContinue reading “2022: My New Years Reflection”
Category Archives: Breast Cancer
When breast cancer, mental health and breastfeeding collide
When I was making decisions about my breast cancer treatment, I was only 25 years old. I was not in a stage of my life where I was even remotely settled down, yet I was trying to make decisions that would affect me the rest of my life. It wasn’t easy. One of the biggestContinue reading “When breast cancer, mental health and breastfeeding collide”
The cliché is true: it gets better
I’ve written about some heavy feelings in previous posts and I wanted to follow up with how things are going now, in real-time, because we’re all caught up and my story doesn’t end there. I struggle with depression but talk therapy and medication have both helped tremendously. I’ve found that having an objective person toContinue reading “The cliché is true: it gets better”
How cancer made hair donation more meaningful
When I reached 5 years since my diagnosis, I knew I wanted to donate my hair again. I used to donate my hair prior to cancer because I like to donate anything I can, when I can, and it just made sense. It was something easy for me to do that I knew would haveContinue reading “How cancer made hair donation more meaningful”
I can’t believe it’s been 5 years!
July, 14, 2021. I’m not usually a big celebratory person but reaching 5 years since diagnosis really is a huge milestone! Triple-negative breast cancer grows and spreads faster, has limited treatment options and a worse prognosis than other types of breast cancer. Making it to the 5-year survival point is amazing and certainly wasn’t aContinue reading “I can’t believe it’s been 5 years!”
When you want a doctor’s opinion
One of the strangest things about being a cancer survivor is that I never know which doctor to see for what. If I have a new, strange symptom, do I go to my primary care physician, a specialist, or my oncologist to rule out a recurrence? Early on, I felt like since my treatment hadContinue reading “When you want a doctor’s opinion”
I tried to move on but a fear of recurrence lingered
Before treatment ended, I remember being so confident that my life was about to go back to normal and I wouldn’t be the type of person who worried about recurrence. Well, I quickly learned that neither of those things were true. There was no returning to my previous version of normal, just this ‘new normal’Continue reading “I tried to move on but a fear of recurrence lingered”
I never imagined I would have passive suicidal ideations
After a few months of talk therapy, I still struggled with crying, frustration, constantly feeling overwhelmed and a strong desire to control things around me. I knew what it was like for everything in my life to change in a heartbeat so that created a need for stability and control. I’m not saying it’s theContinue reading “I never imagined I would have passive suicidal ideations”
Depression after cancer was an unexpected struggle
I’m not quite sure where to start with this post but here we go! Prior to cancer, I never really struggled with my mental health. I was lucky. And quite frankly, naive. I definitely miss those days. My cancer diagnosis itself didn’t trigger any mental health issues. Surprisingly, I handled it quite well. I keptContinue reading “Depression after cancer was an unexpected struggle”
4 tips for a successful long-distance relationship
Ilan and I knew that we would likely have to be long-distance for a chunk of time after cancer treatment, because many jobs in the public health and international development fields are in places like DC, NYC and Boston. Cancer fast-tracked my carefree international lifestyle into a more stable and serious lifestyle. But when theContinue reading “4 tips for a successful long-distance relationship”
Still Rising 