Tag Archives: england
7 August 2009: awaiting my own tragedy
Day after biopsy–sitting bandaged in the backyard. An excruciating experience all around–less from the pain of the surgery than the hospital inefficiency, in a corner alone for hours afterward, told I’d see the surgeon–that I must see the surgeon–before leaving. “Before … Continue reading
Filed under treatment journal
23 May 2009: horrible alien logic
St. Ives: Virginia Woolf’s lighthouse from the living room window. Too beautiful to be England, I thought. How could anyone fail to find peace & happiness when perched so extraordinarily in this perpetual novel-setting? I’ve been beset with gifts, kitsch: a … Continue reading
Filed under treatment journal
Jade Goody & the mythology of redemption: the spectre of cancer in the media
Jade Goody–the Big Brother reality television “star”-cum-cancer martyr–died the day before I started my own chemotherapy. I remember standing on the platform at the Royal Oak train station, waiting to go to the hospital for my first chemo treatment, looking … Continue reading
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Goodbye, Brittania.
Thanks for all the free health care and the Shakespeare. I leave behind one of my breasts, a biohazard box of post-chemo needles, and the greatest man I know. (I know we’ve had our differences, it’s not exactly been all Shelley-and-Keats with us but you’ve … Continue reading
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the prime minister’s human shield of cancer patients
Every so often Gordon Brown sticks his head out of his hole with a promise between his teeth like a peanut. “On cancer, Mr Brown said that the waiting time for women for the results of cervical screening tests would be cut … Continue reading
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they sent me out into the wide world
I don’t know, I felt like I should say something. It’s my intention to maintain a steady presence in the BRCA/breast cancer ‘blogosphere’ (that absurd term) in pursuing this project, but things are/will a bit sporadic due to an impending major emotional … Continue reading
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‘cancer cases found after errors’
Ohforfuckssake. Just when you’ve managed to profess a tiny bit of faith in the medical profession, something like this hits the fan. I had this recurrent fantasy throughout my treatment that the same would happen, but in reverse. For awhile I even convinced myself … Continue reading
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I survived the NHS
I think I need to get this printed on a T-shirt and wear it around Western Pennsylvania. One of the things I am most dreading about my imminent return to the US is having to face the omnipresent Republican propaganda which, … Continue reading
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