My Colon Cancer: semicolon, not full stop

Musings, narrative

Erbitux, the drug that broke me

November 7, 2020 — 7 Comments

Musings

Learning to Forgive (and love) My Body

April 20, 2020 — 6 Comments

Musings, narrative

Recurrence

July 13, 2019 — 14 Comments

Musings, narrative

Ness Gadol Haya Po (A great miracle happened here)

February 27, 2019 — 10 Comments

Musings

Life Without Gonads

August 31, 2018 — 6 Comments

Jenessa Schwartz, here. These are my thoughts about life after a cancer diagnosis. I may not be wise, but I find myself highly amusing.

Colon cancer is some serious shit (no pun intended). There are many resources out there, but I’d like to highlight two of them.

The first is COLONTOWN, an online village of support for colorectal peeps and their caregivers. COLONTOWN is beyond amazing, and I (along with many others) would be lost without it. This community is the largest web of support for a specific cancer in all the interwebs, but its size is not what makes it so special. The site is completely participant led, patient supporting patient, giving real advice, real comfort, real support. Please visit paltown.org to donate to the cause.

The Colon Cancer Alliance is another fantastic rganization. You can make a donation to CCA here, in honor of people like me, hoping for a cure.

I will be documenting my cancer journey here and on social media, partly because I’m a middle child and need the attention, but mostly because colon cancer deserves some air time. It is incredibly treatable when caught early, but devastating once metastasized. Screenings are not free unless you are over 50, and most people under that age have to beg their doctors for a colonoscopy. The symptoms are easily overlooked and ignored, so I will be shouting from the virtual rooftops, as loud as my hashtags allow: Learn the symptoms and don’t explain away pain! Talk to your doctor! Listen to your guts!