A Year to Review

As I prepare to spend the next year writing a book and pursuing a career as a freelancer and advocate in the oncology space, I have been reviewing the multitude of resources collected in my cancer travels over the last nine-plus years. I am inspired to share the knowledge I have gained through my work, but also to re-visit it with the additional perspective I have developed since first being diagnosed with advanced cancer. 

Some resources I'll mention in the coming months you will have heard me touch on before, some might be familiar only to those who follow Save Your Skin Foundation (where I wrote about them but didn't share on my personal blog), and others will be completely new to all of us. I will be expanding on my experiences with these items, and in some cases, I expect my extended thoughts on the topic will reveal some new context. 

January is as great a time as any to kick off a new plan - I'll start with a plug for those who enjoy setting new years resolutions. An easy one for the year is to perform a monthly skin self-exam to stay on top of any changing skin spots, moles, or conditions. Our skin is our body's largest organ, and we need to check it to protect it. Set a reminder in your calendar, google, or Alexa, and/or align your skin check with the full moon every month - easy peasy!  (Just saying... if I hadn't neglected my weird mole all those years ago, I wouldn't now be sitting here talking about metastatic cancer.)

Click here to learn how to do a skin check

Also in January, it is Children Impacted by a Parent’s Cancer Month (CIBAPC), in the United States.

I have set a plan for my blogging to align with a calendar of cancer awareness days for 2024. As you know, through my work I have inadvertently become an "unofficial expert" on melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, as well as ocular (or uveal) melanoma. Also having had a simultaneous diagnosis of thyroid cancer, and becoming extensively familiar with the treatments for all of these, as well as related conditions and topics such as lymphedema, gene testing, and treatment side effects, I will share news and insights on each of the ones I feel equipped to speak about.

You may have already noticed I added an image with a link in my blog sidebar to the right showing the I Had Cancer calendar for 2024. This calendar is the most comprehensive of its kind, that I've seen. I Had Cancer is an online patient support community I have been a part of for many years, wrote a blog for them once upon a time too. I'm inspired to share their excellent resources and to be able to do so on a wider array of cancer indications and related topics. 

My journey with melanoma skin cancer has many similarities to that of folks with other cancers, so I will speak to that throughout the year. 

Also, I realize that you know people other than myself who have cancer - it isn't all about me.... so you may find some interesting information and additional cancer resources such as awareness months/days and ribbon colours, and support resources for a wider community.

This calendar is free to download so if you'd like a copy you can click here to get it. I'll keep it in the sidebar this year and refer to it in upcoming posts, but also please feel free to get it and share with your family and friends. 

Why do I feel cancer or health-related awareness activities are important? For the same reason I still write about my journey almost ten years after it began: to be part of a community of support. When I was first diagnosed, I felt very isolated, filled with fear, and like no one understood what I was going through. When I started to research melanoma and found people who had survived it, I felt hopeful. They helped me, and now I can help others.

Everyone everywhere who is diagnosed with any life-changing disease or condition goes through a unique and often terrible range of emotions as they learn about their condition, their "new normal" - or wonder if there will ever be anything "normal" again. Cancer, diabetes, MS, heart disease, lung disease, Crohn's, lupus, hepatitis - too many to list. We all have something. And, pack animals that we are, we often find comfort in engaging with others who are in the same community. It is part of coping, learning, sharing, and giving back.  

Another great resource for patients and caregivers includes the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Guidelines on melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and many other indications, as well as supportive topics such as immunotherapy or treatment side effects, mental wellness, and survivorship.

I wish I had had NCCN® guides for melanoma and thyroid cancers back in 2014-2015, though these have been newly developed in recent years. Through my work at SYSF I got to research and endorse many of these guides, and provide patient quotes from our community, and somehow my little face is even on the cover of the 2021 melanoma guide. That is how much I love these guides and recommend them to patients and caregivers. 

(Clicking this image will take you to the most current 

Melanoma Patient Guide from NCCN, updated in 2023)

Though these guidelines are developed with best practices in use in the United States, the resources do apply to patients and clinicians in Canada (where treatment options and access apply), as I have personally confirmed with members of the SYSF Medical Advisory Board. Canadian doctors do refer to the NCCN® clinical guidelines, and they do support the distribution of NCCN® patient guidelines to Canadian patients.

Plus - the other day when I was researching NCCN® updates I found they have published a new guide on thyroid cancer in late 2022! This is exciting, as I have never really understood the details of my thyroid cancer diagnosis. I knew I had papillary thyroid cancer, and that they were happy the tumour wasn't melanoma, so I had a complete thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine treatment. That's kind of it. Until now - I just finished reading this and I'm clearer now on more of my details. Check it out: Thyroid Cancer

Also please feel free to see other NCCN® guides related to this community, including the Survivorship books, which contain quotes from yours truly: 

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Melanoma

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Squamous Cell Skin Cancer

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Basal Cell Skin Cancer

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Immunotherapy Side Effects series:  

Immunotherapy Side Effects: CAR T-Cell Therapy and Immunotherapy Side Effects: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Survivorship Care for Healthy Living and Survivorship Care for Cancer-Related Late and Long-Term Effects 

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Distress During Cancer Care

NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer

The Patient books are easy to read, well-illustrated, and are all available for free to view and print at NCCN.org/patients or via the NCCN® Patient Guides for Cancer App: Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines® App – Available for iPhone/iPad and Android Smartphone/Tablet.  Keep an eye out for new guides all the time, they are ever-expanding. 

So there, that is my plan for the year - laid out in January - how organized! I'm also set for a couple of my own appointments in the coming months, including my annual CT scan in March. I'm also happy to be co-supporting, with a lovely group of inspired volunteers, an accredited 'Lymphedema Education Day' to take place later this year for Physicians and allied health care professionals in the Northern Health region. Stay tuned!