Blogging and it’s importance to the before, after and my future
I looked at my before and after photo from January of 2008 when I was in the depth of chemo for my Ovarian Cancer and I was horrified at the pictures, I was sure it wasn’t me, how could I look that scary and sick and at the time and not realize what condition I was in?
None of my family or friends let on as to how they must have felt when they looked at my face and into my eyes, instead their behavior indicated I was doing well and I would be just fine. Thus, when you view these photos would you agree they had to believe otherwise, as I was diagnosed Ovarian Cancer stage 3b and I know what I’d be thinking if I was looking at someone who looked like me above (I better spend as much time with her as I can because she looks pretty sick to me).
Therefore another reason for blogging, I had the opportunity to share my life with you and tell my story as it unfolded, it became part of my healing process giving me hope that you my blogging friends and readers would pray for me think of me and send well wishes which you did. Thus, you can imply or believe computers, websites, blogs and social media are a passing phase, although already time has proved it’s not so and the ability to self start with a blog as they become more user friendly, will continue to gain more popularity and followers along with the average person being able to put themselves on line, opening up the avenue for them to blog their hearts away and us to learn and support you.
And this morning when I woke up and felt grateful for still being alive, and how wonderful it feels to share that with you, I once again wanted to say thank you to the world of blogging and may more of us be able to share of lives, past, present and future and I hope you enjoy my photos which scared the hell out of me.
I’m new to your Blog, so I haven’t been following your story, but I just want to say that in both pics you are a stunning woman! Yes, you looked sick and tired in the before pic, but you are a strong woman to be able to post the after pic. Bless you
You look beautiful! Knowing you beat cancer is such an inspiration and a comfort to many women who are going through their own cancer treatments!
Wow – what an amazing story you have to share. Just discovered your blog – can’t wait to read more!
First, thanks for visiting my blog and the comment…I love new friends!
Second…I’m staying to read more of your story. You look gorgeous in the before and after, although I can see more happiness in the after! I’ll visit again soon!
Okay now I have an observation. The only difference I see is in your eyes. The before picture indicates that you are very tired. Your smile shows you have the determination to live and lead a good life.
You have accomplished a lot in your life. I hope you continue to do it. You are beautiful in both pictures.
In all honesty, I would not say the person THEN looked bad. But I would guess person NOW was a relative. I allowed a photo after 16 weeks and 2 surgies for my ovarian cancer and when I saw it, UGH! I barely recognized me, and I FELT pretty good. But pale as death and too too thin, sunken eyes—just looked horrible, but everyone said how great I looked and I BELIEVED (having always wanted to fit into slim jeans) until that photo came back. I felt embarrassed and ashamed of my appearance. Of course now, cancer free, all of life looks wonderful. But surgeries, chemo, all that fun stuff really DRAINS a body. I looked worse than you with less drugs but too many surgeries. Glad you look fabulous!!
I’m so glad you stopped by my blog to visit. How wonderful that you have beat your cancer. You are an inspiration. Hope you are having a great day.♥
I became a regular here a few months ago, so I didn’t know all of this. I think that you look pretty good and pretty strong in your “sick” photo. You have so much to share, I’m so glad you pulled through.
Hi Dorothy! Nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by …
I think your “eyes” look sick (in your first pic), they look resigned. I don’t think you look as sick as you think you do, you look beautiful, your eyes just have a haunted look (ALL my kids get ’sick eyes’ too) But keep up the good fight!
I’ll stop by and send you some *loves* and “We’re all praying”’s now and then for you, would be happy too!
Joe
Your story is truly amazing! You are a strong woman and I am glad that you shared what you went through on your blog.
This really is an encouraging and inspirational story. You look beautiful in both photos!
You are ABSOLUTELY amazing. Just WOW.
My dear beautiful friend, I am speechless by your courage and insight. This post moved me to tears. I don’t think without seeing the photos or being there with you through this ANYONE could possibly imagine what you went through…unless they too had been through it.
What a brave series of photos. Yes, you do look ill, AND YET, oddly the first thing I saw in the top photo was massive amounts of determination, courage and grit. Yours is NOT a weak life force. Even then it was robust in some way that I cannot put my finger on. If I’d been forced to bet on whether you would make it or not, I would have bet on you not only making it but going on to thrive. AND I would have done so without flinching. You have a deep powerful wellspring of courage.
I am so so proud of you. I also enjoyed your two previous post; they made me chuckle and tear up. but then you always do that. Came here to comment, but my site was hacked and spent the entire week sorting it out.
You are one heck of an inspiration for me and so many other people.
Much love,
Robin
You know, I can see how sick you looked in that photo, but put yourself in the other position. You love that person, and nothing but the love matters.
When I have a family member or a dear friend who is extremely ill, they still look beautiful to me. When I think back to the final few weeks of my husband’s life, I knew he looked different, but he still was handsome to me. But when I look at the pictures of him during that time, I’m always stunned because I see now what I didn’t then, how his appearance had changed. I believe those who love you see the REAL YOU, the person inside. They see the beautiful you, regardless. It has nothing to do with not being honest; they were honest from their hearts.
That is such a lovely sentiment…what a testament to the beauty of friendship!
Thanks you for stopping by my hip weddings blog. Since I am new here, I am not familiar with your story, but in my book anyone who fights cancer is one tough cookie – I have watched many in my family do this. The blogging world is full of wonderful people…I would have never expected this when I began blogging a few months ago. You are gorgeous!
Holly
Thanks for stopping by my blog! You look beautiful in all the photos. Hopefully this weekend I can get caught up on your journey!! I can’t even imagine how hard it has been!!
Don’t worry grams. You look beautiful in every way even sans the hair.Your strength and humor is like a bright light that shines through all of us who find life not an easy journey. You are my inspiration and may your days be filled with love and laughter always.
You still kept your beautiful complexion, but most of all you fighting spirit. Stay strong and healthy, the world needs people like you.
What an inspiring post. I hope many cancer patients will be cheered and comforted by your example and I agree your beauty – like all true beauty – shines through from inside. Onward and upward.
I just love the honesty I find here at your place in cyberspace. You are truly an inspiration.
It is such a lesson in bravery Dorothy–your journey. I know when you look at these pictures you see everything you felt at the time. We see a beautiful brave woman confronting the truth of her situation at the time. BRAVO to you, my dear. And that third photo shows the glorious and glowing person that you are, inside and out.
Blogging has been a great gift for so many people—me, included. It is an amazing phenomenom, this act of blogging, and the people one meets along with the great support one gets from everyone.
Hi! This insidious disease is one we’d all hate to see our loved ones go through or anyone else for that matter. To look so GOOD as you do now, no one would have imagined you had suffered so much. Thank you for sharing this one – Take care – Peter
What a wonderful and very personal story to share with us. You hit so many points, especially on blogging and the why people do it.
Cancer is such a frightening diagnosis and cannot imagine the images that must run inside your mind at the moment those words were uttered.
Unfortunately for cancer, it picked on the wrong woman. If it was one of the catalysts that started you on your blogging journey, then it affected you and us in the positive.
I do know this, when a person is confronted with their own mortality, that is the exact minute in that person’s life when they start to really live and understand what a blessing each hour that is given to us. Not to sit back and whine, but to make the best of each passing minute we are given.
I believe you look AWESOME and never saw any grammy I knew look as hot! By the way, don’t know about anyone else, but thought you looked great sans hair. You even had a bigger smile
Everyone, I can’t express in words what your comments have meant to me then and now… I couldn’t remember being this sick, as I looked at the many photos I found myself saying thank God for how much we forget and thank you for being there, as from my heart to yours remember you were and are part of my healing within my life, and I hope I’m able to share with everyone my inner thoughts as to how much I feel blogging is good for many of us and as it becomes (more user friendly) more writers will emerge and be able to share their stories which will make us laugh, or make us cry, all of it being a good thing for our souls..
Blessings and well wishes to all my friends.
Dorothy from grammology
Your the best……………
You are an amazing person with an amazing story. I cherish getting to know you more through your blog.
You look beautiful.
Wow, I had no idea. I guess I should have read back in your blog a lot more. I’m glad to see that this was something that helped and supported you. It’s wonderful to share your experiences and let us in on your life. Life is short… thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for sharing your life with us! I’m glad to have you as one of my blogging friends.
Any avenue that allows people to express themselves can only be positive and here for the long term.
So BLOG ON!!
Hi Dorothy. Positive thinking and having loving and supporting friends and families helped is so important when fighting a deadly disease. I am so happy for you that you overcame this obstacle your life. My manager’s daughter was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor in early 2000. Every doctor she saw said she only had one year to live. She beat the odds and survived! Her mom only asked that we kept her daughter in our prayers in which we did. She is cancer free today and is doing wonderfully well. I wish great health, happiness, and all the best moving forward.
IIIb in Figo. You were lucky.
I have come back to this post after passing it by the other day. You are so strong and brave and beautiful. My Sil is undergoing chemo for breast cancer and she is also strong, brave and beautiful. It seems the ones with the cancer are lending more to those of us on the sidelines. We want to help you and you, instead, are helping us. The big “C” is the most hateful word on our planet today. God Bless you and keep you sharing your inspirational story.
I just have a single line – it’s good to see someone beat cancer, we have to beat that monster often. Good bless you.
I only have one thing to say…
“Gramma.. You are Great.”
Dorothy,
Hair, no hair… it all works!
You look great. While I can understand it might feel odd now to look back at pictures from that time period, you really look pretty darn good in that “after chemo” picture.
As I just alluded to in my reply to your blog comment on my post about “endometriosis advocacy & the media”, ovarian cancer and endo are sometimes misdiagnosed for one another in patients… in part due to physicians who do not follow established protocols for properly diagnosing patients.
I am very happy that you made it through this challenging time and are thriving now.
While my doctors discovered (quite accidentally and during an unrelated surgery) that I had cancer in 1996, I was very fortunate that it was about as “easy to treat” as cancer gets. I never had to do chemo. I was very fortunate. Had I not been having the surgery I was when I was, who knows how long it would have been before my tumor would have been detected?
I’m glad you are able to look back on the dark days you went through and that you are feeling much better now.
Jeanne
I’m happy that you’re on this side of things and are here to talk about it. Seriously.
Funny how the eyes truly are the doorway to ones soul.
Dorothy…the first photo…I see a scared, confused and almost hopeless mind peaking through a dark tunnel.
In the second photo…I see hope, survival, and a renewed sense of what is important in life and it most certainly is not today’s hair-do!
In the third… I see empowerment, life, happiness, and the need to reach out and get on with it
Kudos to you my friend….may your health stay with you~
~D~
What a tough time you went through. I can’t imagine! But you look AMAZING.
By the way: Sick of the snow yet? lol
You did look terribly sick, and you came through!! That is such a gift for you, but for those of us who like to read your blog entries too! You have real reason to celebrate.
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I’m new here. I love your “today” shot. The ‘during chemo’ pic reminds me of a friend of ours who was in the hospital for acute leukemia. My husband went to visit her (in another state) and she later told me that she didn’t know just how bad she really did look until he walked in the room. He, who always thought he had a “poker face”, was devastated by her appearance, and couldn’t hide it. But no matter what, that you (and she) were alive is the important thing.
What an amazing women you are! I am so glad I have discovered your blog. I am so sorry you had to fight cancer, but am happy you are doing well. You may remember me, (Lisa Sorvelli) I knew your son Daniel. I read your blog post from 10/08 and it moved me to tears. Now having children of my own I just can’t imagine having to go through what you have gone through in your life. I am so happy I knew Daniel he was such a special part of my life. I think of him often, and will never forget him. Be well!!
ps I love Lady Gaga!!
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