October and the color pink have been symbolic of breast cancer for many years. It is a color both embraced for its meaning and at the same time despised by what many consider over use and misuse. I understand since I have survived breast cancer twice myself. This year brings me to a personal point of reflection on the pink of October and breast cancer. It has been one of the most rigorous months I’ve experienced in quite some time; mixed with emotions of gratitude, anticipation, new friendships, farewells, sadness, and letting go.
The Shared Decision Making Panel at #PSTM18
It began with one of the proudest moments of my professional career as I sat on a panel with my breast reconstruction surgeon, Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo, a dear friend and patient advocate colleague, Kirstin Litz, and a new friend Dr. Hani Sbitany speaking about the importance of shared decision making in breast reconstruction. The panel took place at Plastic Surgery the Meeting (PSTM18) in Chicago on October 1. The effort Dr. C put forth to focus our message honoring the patient voice in collaboration with the plastic surgery community was phenomenal. I feel strongly about this being a springboard to continue this conversation in our respective communities now and in the future.
New Opportunities for Patient Advocacy
The day following the panel I boarded a plane to meet my husband in Seattle, a feeling of anticipation. We met to spend an intense week house hunting. Moving back to a city where our children and grandchildren live and seeing them helped us through the strenuous week of searching for a home, signing documents, making challenging decisions, while both of us continued to work in-between all of this. I am very excited to be in a city holding great possibilities to continue my advocacy outreach to the breast cancer community with the amazing health care facilities and research including Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, and University of Washington Medicine, to name a few.
Breast Cancer Patients Who Are #JourneyStrong
I’m never far away thanks to social media from the #JourneyStrong Facebook group I set up and so admire. New membership requests continue daily. There are always questions, concerns, celebrations, and planning with this vibrant group of women, men, and physicians interested in the breast reconstruction process. There are many survivors in this group. With breast cancer there is often difficult news and sadness. We have friends in our #JourneyStrong community who are now embracing a color beyond pink. They are now claiming the colors of metastatic breast cancer. It’s difficult to witness their struggles on Facebook but they shore us up with their grit and determination to stay the course and live life to its fullest, fighting the disease again and now for life.
October and Breast Reconstruction Awareness
The plastic surgeons I met in Chicago at PSTM18 are reaching out to their local communities this October with breast reconstruction awareness day events and education. I spoke to many of them in Chicago about the challenges they face dealing with breast cancer patients. The choice they made to work with breast cancer patients in their daily careers is not always an easy one. There are emotions, families, surgery, recovery, and follow up treatment to deal with. They do so with humility and honor, otherwise why would they have chosen this career?
October has stretched beyond the pink of breast cancer for me personally as I watch my own Dad slip away from another type of cancer. My family knows we are blessed to share his love for 88 years, but his time with us is short now and very fragile. Luckily, my two sisters are geographically close to my Dad unlike me and have been by his side supporting my Mom day and night. Two visits home this year to help out were simply not enough but it is the reality of living away from my parents.
Breast Cancer Awareness Should be Year Round
I have two fundraisers for DiepCFoundation scheduled before we pack up at the end of the month to return to our new home in the Pacific Northwest. This year, with all the personal changes and upheaval in our lives, I have not spent the time I normally do raising awareness in my community about the two topics I am passionate about, breast reconstruction education and shared decision making in breast reconstruction. I passed up some invitations and events this month but when it’s all said and done, the message October and pink represent don’t happen one time each year in October. I am thankful l I can advocate year-round, no matter the month or the color.
I am writing this on the plane in between flights enjoying one of the few moments I have time to sit and blog this month with everything going on. I envision myself in our new home, new surroundings, with family near by and I am grateful. Pink is a color. October is a month. What I know most about the resilient women and men I meet in the breast cancer community is, their hands are there, reaching out to each other, no matter what month or what color is represented.