Seven years ago life took an unexpected turn. Today I swam in the Indian Ocean. A winter swim to take a break from pandemic horrors & injustice to celebrate SEVEN years since a radical hysterectomy, SEVEN years since a borderline ovarian cancer diagnosis & SEVEN years of being disease free.

Five years ago, after a weekend camping with my family for my 35th birthday, my brother kindly pointed out that my night-time farting was out of control.  This is not something you can hide away from in a canvas-walled living arrangement.  This forced me to acknowledge that something I had been ignoring for a while really wasn't right.  For that, I'm forever grateful to my brother. And to the family camping tradition (it had to come in helpful at some point). 

It's been 4 years since my surgery; it's also been 4 years of endless love, support, and cheer from my own personal team of heroines and heroes!  You're all rock stars. Thank you especially for helping me through those days when I knew I Gotta Get Up but it didn't come easy. "I don't want to go... Continue Reading →

Today I'm tired. Today was another day of hospital gowns and machines; of wondering and worrying; of worrying I've not been worrying enough. Today I had a  mammogram and ultrasound; all is clear, the fibroadenomas in my breasts have almost disappeared, and I don't need to come back for another 2 years.  Seems my oestrogen... Continue Reading →

When we're thinking about how sickness interrupts, we're really thinking about how society responds to our illness, and how this - in turn - mediates how we do (not) talk about our illness experiences.

This.  For all the health practitioners out there, it's really ok to say I DON'T KNOW.  And for those that do, thank you.

This is a guest post from Lori Ann King, best-selling author of Come Back Strong, Balanced Wellness after Surgical Menopause. Lori shares her experiences of waking up in sudden surgical menopause.

Ongoing conversations with a brilliant woman who shares the struggles of continuous, scary, health concerns – and a passion for finding ways to creatively process, share, and reflect on these experiences as a form of #selfcare – constantly remind me of the difficulties inherent in actually practicing #selfcare. I believe in it, I advocate for it, but do I actually practice it?