I was diagnosed mid September 2016 with metastatic breast cancer to the liver (and spine). Statistically the usual life expectancy for metastases (mets) to the liver is 6mths-3yrs, the former being extensive/innumerable tumors to liver, the later, a few. I have extensive/innumerable tumors to liver. We’re doing a great job shrinking them, but this will only last around 10 months when this drug is known to stop working because the cancer cells become resistant to it. Read the rest of this entry »

A little 101 on metastatic breast cancer… Read the rest of this entry »

At age 13 I had an NDE, a Near Death Experience. I was a suicidal 13 year old, I ‘died’ alone in my attic room from alcohol poisoning inhaling metholated spirits because I was too terrified to sleep in there, because my soul was weary, because I felt there was no hope and didn’t have any reason to live… and as I felt pulled heavily into the mattress my spirit lifted out of my body into a warmth of pure light as all I was dispersed onto that light… so had this same experience, but my body called me back… it wasn’t my time. I never feared death since. Read the rest of this entry »

Less than a month ago I learned by breast cancer returned, that my liver had innumerable tumors and one in my spine. Most people imagine bucket lists, but I did a spring clean, celebrated the little things & ordered online what I needed for my new lifestyle of weekly chemo for the rest of my life (chemo for secondary breast cancer is to extend months, hopefully a year or even sometimes years). I focused on laughing, living, loving and normalising this new direction for me, my husband, our cats, our friends. Read the rest of this entry »

If you think FASD is not relevant to ‘good mothers‘ of children with autism, take this in:

• It has been found that no level of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.  Up to 50% of women are drinking alcohol in the first weeks before they realise they are pregnant and commonly many doctors are still suggesting they can drink up to a glass of wine a day.

• Binge drinking impact on father’s sperm has also been implicated in FASD.

• 80% of those with FASD will ultimately be diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

• If the mother has no public record of her drinking, most pediatricians will never suspect and the child themselves will almost never know they have FASD.

  Read the rest of this entry »

  NARCOLEPSY

Speak not of the luxury of choice
of the choice to indulge
to decide, to rest, to sleep

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My father died from bowel cancer in his late 50s. I survived breast cancer in my late 40s and of course this means I’m a reasonable candidate sooner or later for possible bowel cancer to give me a run for my money. As such I had to have a colonoscopy every year to ensure I kept this bogie man away. Read the rest of this entry »

I was diagnosed with Autism in 1965 (aged 2). I grew up with autonomic issues, none of them formally diagnosed until they were pushed over the line following two general anaesthetics and chemo in 2011-2012. Read the rest of this entry »

Chronic fight flight over taxes the immune system…. one struggles to regulate immune function…. viruses walk in…. Read the rest of this entry »

When I think about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) I tend to think about adults who survived severe abuse at the hands of severely mentally ill carers as this is the most usual (but not the only) cause of severe early trauma. I don’t think about whether someone with undiagnosed DID may have had children and if they did, what would it be like for their children. I don’t think about that because I’m among the 70% of people who grew up abused who did not repeat that abuse on their children – but I also didn’t have children. Read the rest of this entry »