October

Autumnal collage by Del age 52 and one quarter

As well as it being the season of mists and mellow do-dahs (in the northern hemisphere anyway), October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I know that lots of people, including me, find the pink, sparkly, tu-tu clad, cutesy wutesy woo-ness of some of the coverage/merchandise pretty hard to take.  While it pains me to link to the Daily Telegraph, Judith Potts, wrote an excellent short article there summing up why so many, especially those like me with secondary (or metastatic) breast cancer  loathe the cheery pastel-coloured, rose-spectacled tone of it all.  You can read the article here.

While I'm in misog-mode, six depressing words: The National Insistute for Clinical Excellence, or NICE to give it its completely inappropriate acronym.  NICE, among, other things determines which drugs/treatments are recommended for use by the National Health Service.  It has recently rejected two secondary breast cancer treatments.  If you are a British citizen or resident please consider signing this petition and passing it on to friends and family.

On a happier note, Breast Cancer Care have released an excellent film on body image and breast cancer, which can be viewed by clicking here.  One of the participants, Ismena, has Secondary Breast Cancer.  She writes for The Independent and also has a brilliant blog, A Bit of a Boob, which is listed under 'Seconday Breast Cancer Blogs' on the right of this page.  By the way, I've updated the blog list but I'm always looking for new blogs on this topic so if you know of any which I haven't listed do please let me know.

Other good news is that the Cancer Drug Fund is being extended until 2016.  This fund allows many patients in England access to drugs they wouldn't otherwise be prescribed.

I realise this has been a bit of a downbeat post, but sometimes cancer is just one big borefest.  However, please don't desert me.  I'm pathetic enough to leap up and punch the air when my 'number of times blog viewed' counter goes up and I have been known to start a one-woman Mexican wave if someone from a distant country clicks on my blog.  If you promise to come back again I'll tell you all about the other-half's gardening mojo and his adventure with a hot air balloon.  What?  Stop yawning.  Come back!