Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Benefits of Another Day

Three years ago this week my college roommate passed away. She died of recurrent breast cancer after an 18-month struggle fraught with chemotherapy, radiation, clinical trails and finally palliative care. I find my self questioning if she had survived, would new treatments be available to sustain her life?

Through A Woman’s Journey I have learned about new drugs and experimental approaches to treatment. I don’t know if additional time would have reaped any benefit, but wish that others live long enough to benefit from new developments.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Lillie Shockney, survivor, administrative director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Breast Center and a national spokesperson will speak at A Woman’s Journey in Baltimore on November 20, 2010, in Palm Beach on January 20, 2011, and Naples on January 21. For those of us who have had an abnormal mammogram or felt a breast lump, Lillie will offer a road map telling women how to proceed when they fear a diagnosis of breast cancer.

You can bet that Lillie will be enlightening and somehow will find a way to interject humor into her otherwise serious remarks.

I hope you will be able to attend the conference (www.hopkinsmeidcine.org/awomansjourney) and hear this extraordinary speaker.

Leslie

Thursday, May 6, 2010

More Than a Bouquet of Flowers

When it comes to celebrating Mother’s Day, our family –like many— has a long standing tradition. Annually we venture to Maryland's wholesale fish market to purchase lobster. Preparing for a lobster feast can take hours. Besides setting the table, it can take an hour to bring the water and sea weed to a full boil. Then there is the cooking. After steaming the lobster my husband cleans out the lobster and cracks the shell to make it easier to eat. Sometimes we wonder if all the work is worth it.

But, I have concluded that Mother’s Day is less about what we eat and more about gathering together. It’s about bringing together the mothers, daughters, sisters and friends and taking the time to celebrate being together.

I hope you have the opportunity to share the day with those you care about.

Happy Mother’s Day

Leslie