Bezzy BC

You want to protect your family, but you can’t control their DNA (or yours). Discussing your cancer experience requires you to handle their feelings—and yours—with care through honesty, boundaries, and a certain level of openness. It’s cliché but true: You wouldn’t wish breast cancer on your worst enemy, let alone family. But the cruel irony is that your family members have a higher risk of developing the disease. It may leave you riddled with guilt—as if you “gave” this risk and fear to them.

Three days after my first chemotherapy infusion, I settled into a cozy spot on the sofa and logged into my email. At the time, I worked as an editor at a furniture trade magazine, and a big chunk of my job entailed editing stories for publication—checking for correct grammar and spelling, reworking paragraphs to improve story flow, and tightening sentences to create more concise, engaging content for our readers.

I had an early medical menopause at 42. Now, at 54, my friends are are going through menopause, and I’ve found myself feeling strangely frustrated, unheard, and unseen. I was 53 when the group chat suddenly became a menopause meme festival: hot flashes, brain fog, weight gain, mood swings, sleeplessness, forgetfulness, inexplicable anger at everyone, and libido changes.

When I was prescribed tamoxifen to help lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence, I didn’t realize one of the side effects could be liver damage. A few days after having an abdominal MRI as part of my pancreatic screening protocol, I received the kind of call from my gastroenterologist’s office that no cancer survivor wants to get after a scan. “We found some abnormalities on your liver,” the nurse said as she explained my results.

Whether you find support from someone close to you or feel less alone because a celebrity shared their story, inspiring people are everywhere. Inspiration can come from a friend, a family member, an acquaintance, or even someone you’ve never met. And you may be inspiring the very people whom you admire without realizing it. We asked the Bezzy BC community, “Do you have a breast cancer hero or someone you admire who has walked the BC path?

A genetic test from the year you were diagnosed should not necessarily be viewed as the final word. The science continues to change with new breakthroughs in research and testing. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, I was 42 years old. As part of my treatment planning, I was referred for genetic counseling. We went over my family history, and as far as I knew, there was no breast cancer in my family. I had genetic testing to determine whether there was a known genetic link to my cancer.

Even without a home gym, you can still do at-home exercise with a few small tweaks to your space. Depending on the time of year, the weather outside isn’t always conducive to exercise. In Phoenix, where I live, working out in the summer heat is a mistake you make once… and then never again. Meanwhile, not everyone has a gym membership. So when you’d like to get active, where does that leave you?

It is not easy to manage a chronic illness, and it’s even more difficult if you have depression or other conditions. One of the first articles I wrote for Bezzy COPD explained situational depression. It was a subject important to me because I was in therapy for situational depression. I also noticed many people in the forums talking about how sad they get and how often they just don’t want to leave the house.

Like many people with chronic illnesses, I don’t do too well in the heat. And let’s just say, this summer’s been rough. A couple of years ago, I moved to London, England. You might think of it as a gray and drizzly country, but it’s been anything but. In the last couple of months, we’ve had multiple record-breaking heatwaves. And that’s without air conditioning. (Yeah, it turns out these Victorian-era houses were built to keep heat in, not out!).

Pilates is having a moment. You don’t have to be a contortionist to begin a practice. These wall Pilates moves can be tweaked to fit your life and mobility. Fitness trends come and go, but Pilates is back en vogue. Of course, the best exercise is one you can do. If you have a chronic condition like diabetes, you may constantly hear about the benefits of moving, such as lower blood sugar.