Sunday, March 9, 2008
Disney & Hannah Montana
I am SO miffed at Disney Studios and the Hannah Montana franchise. WAY back in November, 2007 they made tickets available to an EXCLUSIVE, ONE WEEK ONLY presentation of the Hannah Montana 3-D movie "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour 3D". Being the WONDERFUL mom that I am (LOL) I immediately bought four tickets (at $15 per ticket) to this once in a lifetime event. The show was premiering the first week of February. My daughter, MacKenzie, and our friends Rhianna and Michelle were at the opening day showing. Great movie, kids had a great time ... were thrilled to see this movie that was only going to show for just one week and then be gone. Well, surprise, surprise ... Disney Studios decided to extend the movie! For a few days, you ask? NoooOooOooo! For maybe one week??? NOOOOOOOOooooOOOOOOOooOOOOOO! It's now March 9th and the movie is STILL showing! Now I understand that greed is very prevalent in our society but c'mon guys ... Disney is still supposed to stand for something, right? And that "something" shouldn't be greed and lies, ya know? ::sigh:: I've no clue why this bugs me so much ... maybe I just don't like being misled? And I KNOW I don't like anyone lying to my daughter. Disney Studios and the Hannah Montana franchise did both. :(
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Zackary and Korrine
If you've wandered over to my blog, you've obviously got some time on your hands. :) I'd love if you used some of that time to visit two blogs that are of great personal interest to me. The first one belongs to my friend Zackary. He's 5 years old, cute as a button and smart as a whip. He's currently fighting a disease called Juvenile Dermatomyositis. It's a really big word and an even bigger disease. One too big for little Zackary to be struggling against. He's got an awesome mom, Michelle, who will move heaven and earth to make sure Zack wins this fight. To paraphrase Ali, "I pity the fool who crosses Michelle". :) My other log I'd love for you to look at belongs to my cousin (on my husband Kyle's side) Korrine. She's 13, she's absolutely beautiful, a great water polo player and student ... and battling stage IV ovarian cancer. Her blog is awesome and shows how powerful this whole internet world is ... it's able to connect hundreds, maybe thousands, of people together who can unite together as one in thinking good thoughts for Korrine. I know there are thousands of kids struggling with illness everyday, and my heart goes out to each and everyone of them. But these two really touch my heart. No one deserves to be sick, but when it comes to kids, they REALLY don't deserve this. It's supposed to be a time of fun, laughter, learning and loving. Not doctors, and needles and medicines and fear. Please keep both Korrine and Zack in your prayers.
zackarysoares.blogspot.com and korrinecroghan.blogspot.com
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Debra
zackarysoares.blogspot.com and korrinecroghan.blogspot.com
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Debra
Breast Cancer and Baldness
I have a rant. I ALWAYS have a rant. I can rant about ANYTHING. My life, my friend's life, my husband, my daughter, the stranger on the corner, the dog food ... ANYTHING. But, there is one thing I have ranted on alot and it's one of the few important, logical rants I have. :)
I'm a breast cancer survivor / warrior / patient ... choose whichever descriptor you want. Bottom line, I had breast cancer. I had two cancers, one stage II and one stage III, both in my left breast. I was diagnosed in December of 2003. My daughter was almost 5 at the time, so I chose to battle this disease most aggressively. I opted for a bilateral (meaning both sides or in REALLY easy terms, BOTH BOOBS) mastectomy. I figured if you're gonna get cancer in one breast, you're probably a good candidate to get it in the other breast eventually. So, after a wonderful "bye bye betties" party, I had my surgery. The next part of my aggressiveness was opting for Chemotherapy and to follow up with Tamoxifen. Now, I'll be really honest with you, before I start the REAL rant here. Breast cancer ... for me ... wasn't so bad. I've had hangovers and colds that were worse. The diagnosis is sucky, but you move forward. The surgery was SO freakin' easy ... lopping of boobs really isn't as difficult as one would think. :) Chemo does, however, kind of suck. GREAT strides have taken place over the last few years and nausea and vomiting ... the two icky side effects ... are really kept to a minimum with the introduction of new meds. Granted, there were a few days after each round of chemo where I did wish a large brick building would fall on me, crushing me to death instantly. (I'm a little bit of an attention whore, so the idea of death by large brick building sounded like it would attract alot of notice). But, by far the worst part of chemo ... and here is where my official rant starts ... is the hair loss. WAIT WAIT WAIT ... before you misunderstand, let me clarify something. It's not the loss of the hair per se ... actually, that was a bonus for me. After years of over processing, bad haircuts, bad highlighting, it was actually kind of cool to think I'd have all new, fresh hair. :) The bad part of the hair loss is the way people react to a woman with a bald head. I'd either get the very sad, slow shake of the head from people as they passed by ("oh, poor dear. she's got the cancer") or ... and this was kind of a personal favorite ... I'd get the annoyed, older woman head shake and eye roll ... translated it means "damn lesbian, grow some hair". LOL I SO wanted a shirt that said "Cancer or Lesbo? YOU decide" but I felt that might be a little too militant for some folks. Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, I digress. What annoys me so much about chemo hair loss is the obligation women feel to cover their bald head when in public. We'll go bald in our homes and with close friends, but put us outside amongst strangers and we feel the need to cover our heads. I'm not sure if it's a sense of shame ... for what, I've no clue ... that makes us cover up. Or, is it simply trying to make everyone else feel comfortable with your disease. Women, we don't need to make other people feel comfortable with our cancer!!! I think a bald woman walking down the street who has lost her hair due to chemo should be applauded ... much like you'll see on the news when returning vets are walking thru the airport. These women are truly warriors ... and our bald heads are our battle scars. There should be no shame, there should be no hiding. Every woman I've seen who is bald is truly beautiful to me. So, if you see a woman who's not covering her baldness, embrace her with a smile, with a warm look or even tell her she's beautiful. Don't ever make a woman feel ashamed of herself for being bald. I'm reminded so often of the time Melissa Etheridge made her first public appearance at a concert after she finished chemo and people had the nerve to comment on how appalled and taken aback they were by her bald head. That she should have worn a hat or a wig. WHY??? To make THEM comfortable with her cancer? I don't think so. Aaarrrggghhhhh ... my rant is going on longer than I wanted. :)
So, bottom line -- if you're battling cancer and your chemo will cause hair loss, embrace it. Look at it as a rebirth, a new beginning ... a fresh start. Wear your baldness proudly. Look people in the eye and let them know you ARE a survivor, you ARE a warrior ... you are strong. I am a survivor. I am a warrior. I am strong.
XOXOXOXOXO
Debra
I'm a breast cancer survivor / warrior / patient ... choose whichever descriptor you want. Bottom line, I had breast cancer. I had two cancers, one stage II and one stage III, both in my left breast. I was diagnosed in December of 2003. My daughter was almost 5 at the time, so I chose to battle this disease most aggressively. I opted for a bilateral (meaning both sides or in REALLY easy terms, BOTH BOOBS) mastectomy. I figured if you're gonna get cancer in one breast, you're probably a good candidate to get it in the other breast eventually. So, after a wonderful "bye bye betties" party, I had my surgery. The next part of my aggressiveness was opting for Chemotherapy and to follow up with Tamoxifen. Now, I'll be really honest with you, before I start the REAL rant here. Breast cancer ... for me ... wasn't so bad. I've had hangovers and colds that were worse. The diagnosis is sucky, but you move forward. The surgery was SO freakin' easy ... lopping of boobs really isn't as difficult as one would think. :) Chemo does, however, kind of suck. GREAT strides have taken place over the last few years and nausea and vomiting ... the two icky side effects ... are really kept to a minimum with the introduction of new meds. Granted, there were a few days after each round of chemo where I did wish a large brick building would fall on me, crushing me to death instantly. (I'm a little bit of an attention whore, so the idea of death by large brick building sounded like it would attract alot of notice). But, by far the worst part of chemo ... and here is where my official rant starts ... is the hair loss. WAIT WAIT WAIT ... before you misunderstand, let me clarify something. It's not the loss of the hair per se ... actually, that was a bonus for me. After years of over processing, bad haircuts, bad highlighting, it was actually kind of cool to think I'd have all new, fresh hair. :) The bad part of the hair loss is the way people react to a woman with a bald head. I'd either get the very sad, slow shake of the head from people as they passed by ("oh, poor dear. she's got the cancer") or ... and this was kind of a personal favorite ... I'd get the annoyed, older woman head shake and eye roll ... translated it means "damn lesbian, grow some hair". LOL I SO wanted a shirt that said "Cancer or Lesbo? YOU decide" but I felt that might be a little too militant for some folks. Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, I digress. What annoys me so much about chemo hair loss is the obligation women feel to cover their bald head when in public. We'll go bald in our homes and with close friends, but put us outside amongst strangers and we feel the need to cover our heads. I'm not sure if it's a sense of shame ... for what, I've no clue ... that makes us cover up. Or, is it simply trying to make everyone else feel comfortable with your disease. Women, we don't need to make other people feel comfortable with our cancer!!! I think a bald woman walking down the street who has lost her hair due to chemo should be applauded ... much like you'll see on the news when returning vets are walking thru the airport. These women are truly warriors ... and our bald heads are our battle scars. There should be no shame, there should be no hiding. Every woman I've seen who is bald is truly beautiful to me. So, if you see a woman who's not covering her baldness, embrace her with a smile, with a warm look or even tell her she's beautiful. Don't ever make a woman feel ashamed of herself for being bald. I'm reminded so often of the time Melissa Etheridge made her first public appearance at a concert after she finished chemo and people had the nerve to comment on how appalled and taken aback they were by her bald head. That she should have worn a hat or a wig. WHY??? To make THEM comfortable with her cancer? I don't think so. Aaarrrggghhhhh ... my rant is going on longer than I wanted. :)
So, bottom line -- if you're battling cancer and your chemo will cause hair loss, embrace it. Look at it as a rebirth, a new beginning ... a fresh start. Wear your baldness proudly. Look people in the eye and let them know you ARE a survivor, you ARE a warrior ... you are strong. I am a survivor. I am a warrior. I am strong.
XOXOXOXOXO
Debra
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