Living

I have always been the "good" girl...always looking to do "the next right thing". Nursing was the most natural path for me to follow despite the fact that I had...

At some point, most of us will have lost one or both of our parents by the time we hit our own middle age. My father died a short time...

June is National Healthy Homes Month. This year’s theme, "Unlocking the Potential of America’s Children: Check Your Home – Protect Your Family," serves as a great reminder to test our...

SSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance and SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income.  Did you know there is a very distinct difference between the two? When my cancer was...

Dusty continues her interview with ASCO’s Patient Advocacy Director, Jeannine Salamone. Click here to read Part 1.Dusty:“You mentioned what organization they represent and if that organization is a 501(c)(3). How...

Cancer patients require a wide variety of options for their care, both curative and palliative. Sometimes that includes heavy-duty pain medications. There are times when those drugs fall under the...

Like with all of us, my cancer diagnosis threw a real wrench into my life. Suddenly, what was easy and taken-for-granted was no longer easy at all. For instance, working...

Read the beginning of Jeffrey's experience trying medical cannabis in Cannabis Cans, Can'ts, and Quandaries: Changing Perspectives. The gummy and mint products I procured had a combination of THC and...

I know, I know. It's a taboo subject these days. But, let's face it, faith plays a huge role in the way many patients and their loved ones deal with...

I live in California where cannabis is legal (at the State level) for both medicinal and recreational use. Before it was legal for recreational use, there was a medical dispensary...

During the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, I interviewed Jeannine Salamone, ASCO’s Director of Patient Advocacy (pictured below), about the organization’s advocacy programs. Below is...

Are you a never smoker or someone who quit 30 years ago? Do you realize you can still get lung cancer? All you need to get lung cancer is lungs. Period. A young...

Back in the day, when it was suspected that we had cancer, we were sent for a biopsy. The cells were studied to determine if we had cancer and what...

The initial procedure of my needle biopsy was quite simple. But there is a fairly common complication that I encountered shortly after the needle was removed. It is called a...

We got the dreaded and totally unexpected news that my 48-year-old dad had stage IV lung cancer after he underwent a routine physical exam. He'd been having some pain in...

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) has designated June as Cancer Immunotherapy Month. While the entire month is focused on bringing more awareness to the life-saving potential of immunotherapy, June 15 has...

I have never enjoyed fundraising. When I was in school, I was the kid who always refused to go door-to-door with various items that I was supposed to sell for...

Jennifer recalls and shares the events of her diagnosis in 2014 below.Feb 21, 2014. I don't even know what to say or where to begin so I will start from the...

I was asked recently about how my cancer diagnosis affected my relationships, from my immediate family to my friends to my work associates. It was an interesting question to ponder...

An academic survey study is being conducted to help researchers understand patient insights about cancer clinical studies. If you want to be a part of this study, check out the...