The Rural Womyn Zone is an on-line community of rural women started in 1995. I have participated in the community behind the scenes at the Rural Womyn Zone from the beginning. We are primarily a group of feminist activists who are involved in community organizing and a wide variety of programs that address issues and needs in rural places in the U.S.
In 2007, after I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I talked to the group about some of my experiences, especially as it relates to living in a rural area and having to travel for medical care. I was asked by my online group of friends and by a friend at a local nonprofit organization if I would be willing to share my experience online so it could be a resource for other rural women.
At the time I didn’t know, and while I was going through surgery and treatment, I wasn’t ready to share what was happening in my life. I did keep a journal about part of that time, with the idea that it would give me a place to begin if I developed a blog some time in the future.
About eleven months after my diagnosis, I went back to the journal and picked out some of the entires to share here, and then began to add to it.
What I didn’t write about then and haven’t written about yet is the overwhelming anxiety and stress following the initial diagnosis, and the pressure to learn all I could about breast cancer in the shortest period of time in order to make a decision about surgery and treatment. And I haven’t shared my most personal feelings or details about the surgery.
The journal begins after treatment with some of the entries I made when I went to the Life Beyond Cancer Retreat at Miraval in December 2007, about six weeks after I finished radiation therapy. After that, I tried to write about some of the information and resources that I discovered that were helpful to me.
Lately I’ve begun to add comments about daily life, because there is “life after cancer,” which includes advocacy for cancer survivors, lifestyle changes, and a developing retrospective view about what I went through that I wasn’t able to talk about at the time.
My disclaimer.
I want to emphasize that in this journal I am not making any recommendations or giving advice. We are all different. Not all breast cancer is alike. Not all treatment is the same for everyone. Our ways of making decisions about treatment and learning to live beyond cancer are unique to each one of us.