I have been mulling over several things that I would like to blog about this week, and I may very well get to them in the next few days. But if you haven't heard this morning's interview on National Public Radio with Madhulika Sikka about her new book, A Breast Cancer Alphabet, please listen. I'm not 100% on the same page as she is about her experiences with breast cancer, but that is part of the point: There are particular expectations and dominant discourses about how people deal with disease, and my guess is that very few people are 100% on the same page as anyone else about breast cancer. However, listening to the story made me nod in agreement, laugh, and cry. I'd encourage you to lend this story a few minutes of your day.
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/25/280242097/a-is-for-anxiety-g-is-for-guilt-the-abcs-of-breast-cancer
And if you're interested in reading further about the topic of illness narratives, here's another link for you: http://baybreastcare.co.za/you-wish-you-had-breast-cancer/. Writer Sally Davies has been studying the topic of illness narratives--both those that are constructed and ascribed to cancer patients and those with other medical ailments, and those that are re-written and re-framed by patients. (She also discusses my blog in her post.) There is a lot of food for thought here, but for me it hits home the power and agency of taking at least a bit of control of my own story--of my own way of dealing with breast cancer. I have so much more to say about all of this, but these two links will have to suffice for now.
The first slap
This photo was taken the day after I was diagnosed, and it is my first bitch slap at cancer. I'm the one with the icepack symbolically placed on my boob. My teammates changed our team's uniform to pink at the last minute, and I came off the soccer field that night with one goal and a whole lot of love. Several of these women are my close friends, but they are all warriors, and they all helped me set the tone for this fight.
I read both. Davies' is a great eye opener about "illness narrative" (maybe particularly interesting to me because of my linguistics and writing background and also because both my parents went through cancer treatments and there was so much that was never said, maybe because there was no good way of talking about it). Sikka's is a good example of what you said about each person's experience and approach to dealing with cancer being different (I clearly saw that with my mom and dad). Bottom line, of course, that it's not what anyone would ever wish for and it's absolute hell! Thank you for writing and for the links! Cathrine
ReplyDeleteLara, Thanks for your kind words about my book. We are in agreement I think that everyone's experience is their own. I do wish you well in your recovery. Best, Madhulika
ReplyDeleteThank you, Madhulika! I recently finished your book, and it was fabulous!
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