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Monday, November 09, 2009

What brought about the Cheeky Librarian blog?

I gave a bit of the reason on why the Cheeky Librarian blog came to be when I spoke at the Creighton University event. I first started writing emails to my friends to keep them up with the adventures that culminated in my diagnosis of ACC. Then, since I had already been a librarian blogger (http://libeducation.blogspot.com), I figured this medium might be the answer I was looking for in spreading the word. My posts began with my radiation treatment, since I figured telling my experiences might offer someone else a bit of information if they were on a similar path. (Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma is so rare, telling more information about my diagnosis wouldn't offer much to anyone else unless they were my true friend or a voyeur, and my true friends already knew most of the story, so I haven't written much here.) My mom generally said in the best mom-like way that one's issues do not impact the universe, which I take to mean that just because I am going through this stuff, I should not expect others to be as wrapped up in it as I felt some days. So having the blog gave me a venue to record the events in a non-intrusive way.
A funny thing happened while writing the posts, though - I think I read them more than anyone else. My writing became my own cheer leading, showing me that I had already endured a lot, and I could endure more as the radiation treatments zapped their way from parotid to skull base every business day for 6 weeks. Even in the darkest days, I saw humor from earlier ones, and could then find the humor in current situations. On days when I feared going out in public because of the way I looked, I saw photos of myself and figured I could bear the stares again. I was reminded of the kindnesses of my family and my friends, and felt buoyed up all over again, as if they had just done the kindnesses.
Now that I am healed up (from both the initial treatments, and the skull surgery that followed in 2007), I keep adding to the blog in order to raise awareness of others facing ACC (check out the ACC in the news posts as well as the blogs on the right side of this blog), sources of good information, and general life-stuff. I still read this thing, and need to see that life does go on, scan-dances and all.

3 comments:

Jeanne said...

Teri--great post!

I think we all find that our blogs have become so much more than we ever imagined. Mine certainly keeps me sane ... or so I like to think ...

Hugs, Jeanne

Debbie said...

I am thankful for your blog and have been reading since diagnoised with oral cancer myself in January of this year. Your blog has helped me on my own journey to know some of what to expect. I am now post surgeries, chemo and radiation (I finished treatments about five weeks ago). I am still experiencing side effects and just got over a major infection of my paritoid gland. The fatique is the hardest thing for me now. I keep wondering how long before I have some energy? Thanks for all the info you have provided here.

Anonymous said...

Teri, as you know, my family's main malady is chronic heart disease. I have yet to seek a blog on that issue, but when and if I need to, I hope there's a blogger like you for me and my loved ones to find to enlighten us, ground us in science, and offer comfort and companionship.

Your Atlanta friend

 
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