Excerpt from “Talking to My Tatas: All You Need to Know from a Breast Cancer Researcher And Survivor”

March 8, 2022 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

The book has been out for about 3 weeks and I’ve been thrilled/nervous/pee-my-pants-excited to see my Amazon ranking as well as checking for ratings and reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other retail sites like Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Google Books, and Rowman & Littlefield!

For a brief, beautiful, shining moment, it was the #1 New Release in Breast Cancer and Oncology on Amazon, and I have the screenshots to commemorate it!

Want a sneak peek? Of course you do! Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 16 that deals with an exciting new development in cancer research and treatment – harnessing the patient’s own immune system to seek out and destroy cancer cells through immune checkpoint inhibitors.

EXCERPT

I’ll also take comfort in the fact that we’re getting new weapons in the arsenal for fighting breast cancer. Antitumor immunity is the hottest thing to hit the field of cancer research since the 2001 approval of Gleevec (a game-changer drug used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia that targets the oncoprotein product of the Philadelphia chromosome that drives the disease) and the 2006 approval of Gardasil (first vaccine targeting the human papilloma virus strains that cause most cervical cancers). Recently Frontiers in Immunology published the history of antitumor immunity efforts leading to the development of immune-checkpoint inhibitors available in the clinic today, the use of engineered T-cells taken from patients and altered to fight their cancer, and oncolytic viruses.² I’ll go over the basics, including how antitumor immunity works and the challenges we still face in getting tumors to respond.

Before we get into how antitumor immunity works, we need to understand how the immune system works to fight infection. It’s a complex beast, but here are some basics. Your immune system functions to mount a rapid and robust defense when your body encounters a pathogen (e.g., a virus or bacteria that causes disease) in your daily life. The arm of the immune system that does this is called the adaptive immune system (figure 16.1). The other arm is the innate immune system, which includes natural barriers like skin, the tiny hairs and mucous in your nose, and stomach acid. The adaptive immune system is what antitumor immunity treatments harness. It is also altered by tumors to suppress tumor immune responses and exploited to work for the tumor. (More on that in a bit.)

The adaptive immune system works like this: Specialized cells identify a potential threat (e.g., an infection), and they carry information about that threat in the form of bits of protein called antigens to other immune cells. If the threat is credible, those immune cells get activated and fight the threat. First the specialized cells that identify a potential threat patrol your body, looking for something suspicious. Cells like macrophages and dendritic cells, which roam around various organs and tissues, find pathogens (a bacteria, virus, or other microbe that causes disease) or unhealthy cells infected by pathogens, and eat them (the fancy term is phagocytosis). Infected or damaged cells send out protein signals called cytokines as a distress call to attract these patrolling macrophages and dendritic cells. While “digesting” the bacteria or infected cell, macrophages and dendritic cells salvage proteins or pieces of proteins—antigens—that identify the bacteria or virus as “other,” and they present these to immune cells, usually in lymph nodes, which in turn mount an immune response. Macrophages and dendritic cells are known as professional antigen presenting cells (APCs).

When activated by APCs, immune cells called B-cells produce antibodies against the antigen, which can do a lot of things to fight an infection. Some antibodies neutralize the pathogen by binding it and stopping it from entering a cell. Other antibodies tag infected cells as a signal for other immune cells to come and kill them. Others coat pathogens or infected cells in a process called opsonization (meaning “the process of making tasty”), which signals other cells like macrophages to come and eat the coated pathogens or cells. Specialized B-cells called memory B-cells store the information about the antigen so your immune system can recognize the pathogen when it hits you again and mount a faster immune response.

Other immune cells called T-cells, which are particularly relevant to antitumor immunity, become activated by APCs and mount a different kind of immune response. Cytotoxic T-cells seek out and kill infected or damaged cells, and helper T-cells help activate B-cells so they make antibodies, activate cytotoxic T-cells, and activate macrophages to go eat nasty invaders and infected cells. Memory T-cells also store information about past infections to mount a rapid, strong response the next time your body sees it.

That’s a simplified but hopefully digestible explanation of immunity and the major players (there are other immune cells, but APCs, B-cells, and T-cells are the biggies).

Memory is key to protection, and memory is built by exposure to pathogens.

Put a pin in that concept for when we get to anticancer vaccines, and also remember what T-cells do for when we get to engineered CAR T-cells and oncolytic viruses.

Working out how to harness your body’s own immune system to fight cancer isn’t a new idea. It’s been under investigation since the nineteenth century. In fact, in chapter 5 we covered the way trastuzumab (trade name Herceptin), a humanized anti-HER2 antibody, targets HER2-expressing breast cancer cells for death. Herceptin and other monoclonal antibodies mimic the natural activity of antibody- producing B-cells to deliver therapies and tag cancer antigen–expressing cells for immune-mediated destruction. But it was the discovery of checkpoint inhibitors—proteins that put T-cells in a state of exhaustion and inactivity in pathways that are exploited by many cancers— that led to the first molecularly targeted therapies designed to boost antitumor immunity. Doctors James Allison and Tasuku Honjo pioneered this Nobel Prize–winning work.³

What are immune-checkpoint inhibitors, and how do they work? T- cells, particularly cytotoxic T-cells that actively kill their targets, bind to antigens on tumor cells through their T-cell receptors. But tumor cells, being the adaptable beasts that they are, can produce proteins like PD-L1 (programmed death ligand 1), which bind to PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1), proteins on T-cells. This interaction tells the T- cell to stand down by tricking it into thinking that the tumor cell is “self” and should be protected. Signaling networks like this normally promote self-tolerance so that your immune system doesn’t attack your own healthy cells (figure 16.2). In tumors, it works by telling tumor- infiltrating T-cells, if present, to go into a state of inactivity. Drugs that target PD-L1—like atezolizumab (trade name Tecentriq), durvalumab (trade name Imfinzi), and avelumab (trade name Bavencio)—and drugs that target PD-1—like nivolumab (trade name Opdivo) and pembrozolimuab (trade name Keytruda)—are FDA-approved mono- clonal-antibody therapies that block interactions between PD-1/PD-L1 to unleash an antitumor immune response.⁴

Other immune-checkpoint molecules exploited by cancers include cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), the target of the first FDA-approved immune-checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy). Approved in 2011 for advanced melanoma, this drug had remarkable results. In fact, over 20 percent of the patients enrolled in the initial ipilimumab clinical trials (before the 2011 approval) are still alive and show no evidence of disease (NED).

There’s some incredible potential in targeting checkpoint inhibitors.

CTLA-4 is part of a cellular-signaling pathway that normally fine- tunes immune responses. CTLA-4 and a similar receptor, CD28, are expressed on two different T-cell types: (1) CD4+ helper T-cells, which help activate other immune cells to mediate adaptive immune responses, and (2) CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells, those cells that kill infected cells, damaged cells, and, if properly activated, tumor cells. Antigen- presenting cells make a protein called B7, which can bind to either CD28 or CTLA-4 on T-cells, and the effects on T-cell function are very different depending on what B7 binds. If it binds to CD28, B7 activates T-cell responses as a part of a complex of proteins that includes the T-cell receptor. Binding of B7 to CTLA-4 shuts down T- cell functions. CTLA-4 probably serves as protection from self-antigen recognition by inducing immune suppression, since laboratory mouse models engineered to not express CTLA-4 die from autoimmunity. This is the aspect of CTLA-4 function that gets highjacked by tumor cells. Drugs like ipilimumab block the suppressive activity of CTLA-4, which can allow T-cells to attack tumor cells.⁵

Here’s the kicker: The tumor actually has to have infiltrating T-cells for this to work, and not all tumors do. Tumors with T-cells that can be activated to fight the tumor are called “hot,” whereas tumors without T-cells are “cold.” One of the most aggressively researched topics in tumor immunology right now is how to make a cold tumor hot and thus responsive to antitumor immune therapies.

This is especially important for breast cancer, since most subtypes produce cold tumors. Right now, immune-checkpoint therapies are only approved for advanced triple-negative breast cancers that make the PD-L1 protein. Not all triple-negative breast cancers make PD-L1. Ongoing research is looking to expand the use of immune therapy in inflammatory breast cancer and the HER2+ subtype.⁶ Hopefully, with more research, we’ll figure out how to make more tumors responsive to immune therapy by making them hot (full of T-cells) and by discover- ing other immune checkpoints that can be targeted.

Relevant References:

2. Paula Dobosz and Tomasz Dzieciątkowski, “The Intriguing History of Cancer Immunotherapy,” Frontiers in Immunology 10 (December 17, 2019): 2965, https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.02965, https://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31921205, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fimmu.2019.02965/full.

3. Heidi Ledford, Holly Else, and Matthew Warren, “Cancer Immunologists Scoop Medicine Nobel Prize,” Nature, October 1, 2018, https://www.nature. com/articles/d41586-018-06751-0.

4. See American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team, “Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer,” Treating Breast Cancer, American Cancer Society, Cancer.org, last revised December 3, 2020, https://www.cancer.org/ cancer/breast-cancer/treatment/immunotherapy.html.

5. Behzad Rowshanravan, Neil Halliday, and David M. Sansom, “CTLA- 4: A Moving Target in Immunotherapy,” Blood 131, no. 1 (January 4, 2018): 58–67, https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2017-06-741033, https://www.ncbi.nlm .nih.gov/pubmed/29118008.

6. Devon Carter, “Does Immunotherapy Treat Breast Cancer?” MD Anderson Center (website), University of Texas, March 26, 2021, https://www .mdanderson.org/cancerwise/does-immunotherapy-treat-breast-cancer.h00 -159385101.html.

END EXCERPT

Want more? Grab your copy of Talking to My Tatas from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Google Books, and Rowman & Littlefield!

Cancer and Career: Stigma, Discrimination, and Other Challenges for Patients and Survivors

July 31, 2021 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

A cancer diagnosis affects all aspects of a person’s life, and that includes employment. Coupled with the astronomical cost of cancer healthcare, especially for the un- and underinsured, the short and long term impact of cancer on financial stability and employment can be disastrous. If you are female, a person of color, disabled, and/or LGBTQIA+, these negative impacts are very often compounded by sexism, racism, ableism, and homophobia.

The stigma is real*.

Sexism, racism, discrimination, and other biases make working, maintaining productivity, and feeling valued for your work much more challenging in the face of cancer. I’ll cover some of those challenges in this post, as well as protections in place within the United States to alleviate them (with the caveat that we need more), and additional policies and protections that we could implement to protect and support cancer patients and survivors in the workplace. I’ll focus on breast cancer, but many of these challenges and solutions apply to people diagnosed with other types of cancer.

What are some of the challenges cancer patients and survivors face when it comes to work and careers? According to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology challenges like job loss, decreased earnings, and increased spending (the last two described as “financial toxicity”) are some of the greatest. It seems like a no-brainer: if you lose your job or part of your income plus healthcare coverage while the medical bills for treatments pile up, you’re not really surviving all that well financially, let alone thriving. But we like and trust peer-reviewed data here, so let’s look at data.

The Problems

Financial distress caused by job loss/lost wages not only makes you feel worse, it has also been linked to “increased symptom burden and emotional distress and to decreased quality of life and treatment adherence.” In other words, if you’re strapped for cash or you’re suffering from the mental health effects of a cancer diagnosis without resources, you’re not as likely to be treatment or medication compliant. That leads to poor outcomes. Worse, cancer patients are more than twice as likely to file for bankruptcy after diagnosis, and bankruptcy is associated with almost double the risk of death among survivors.

That’s the biggie, and adds insult to injury. You have to pay for your treatments in order to live, but you may have to go bankrupt to do it, which increases your risk of DYING!

2. The scope is significant. Around 45% of people diagnosed with cancer in the United States are working age (20-64). This affects a LOT of people, y’all!

3. Many, if not most, people diagnosed with cancer do not have the means, privilege, or opportunity to take leave, paid or unpaid, for treatments, even under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In fact, only 21% of low wage workers have access to paid sick leave. And for many workers who do, there aren’t protections in place to make certain they can return to their jobs following treatment. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides protections for cancer patients against workplace discrimination and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to allow cancer patients to continue to work, but it only applies to employers who have 15 or more workers. And a significant percentage of low wage workers are employed by small businesses that are exempt from FMLA and ADA requirements.

These are the same essential workers we’ve failed as a nation to support during the global pandemic.

4. Aside from concrete challenges, the mental and emotional health costs of a cancer diagnosis can reduce social engagement and a patient’s sense of self worth. I work as a cancer researcher and a cancer center, have a TON of privilege, and even I’m not immune to these challenges*. If I’m not, imagine how awful it is for patients and survivors with fewer resources and protections.

5. I cover disparities related to cancer care, outcomes, and financial toxicity in my book, but suffice to say, if you are female, not white, not able bodied, and not straight, you are likely to disproportionately experience all of these challenges on a much more significant level thanks to racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism.

Existing and Future Solutions

In addition to FMLA and ADA protections (for those who qualify), many non-profit organizations offer financial assistance to cancer patients. Funds are available from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the American Cancer Society, Young Survival Coalition, and other organizations, many of which I cover in my book, that can be used to cover the costs of treatments, bill pay, home health care and childcare, and a variety of other expenses.

But to truly and comprehensively tackle this issue, we need systemic changes. Some of the more so-called “progressive” solutions, like universal healthcare coverage, tend to be met with skepticism or outright hostility from free-market (*cough, cough – rich, white conservatives – cough, cough*) advocates who complain about lack of “personal responsibility,” think the current system works just fine, and/or think vouchers for purchase of private insurance and other non-government solutions work better (even though universal healthcare works very well in most other industrialized nations).

Aside from universal healthcare, there are other initiatives that have worked in other nations that might appeal to conservatives while making a significant impact on job retention and financial stability for cancer patients and survivors. For example, as noted in the J ournal of Clinical Oncology Society study cited above, “A 2012 systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of government policies in place from 1990 to 2008 in Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to change employer behavior with regard to return to work. The most successful policies included financial incentives for employers to hire people with disabilities; flexibility and adaptations in the work environment, particularly with flexible schedules and giving employees more control over work demands; and programs that involved employers in return-to-work planning.” These incentives benefit everyone, including employers, patients/survivors, and society as a whole.

Patient-oriented interventions that tackle physical, psycho-educational, and/or vocational portions of cancer patients’ employment retention were associated with higher return-to-work rates compared to patients who received standard care. And patients who received this type of multidisciplinary intervention “experienced a significant increase in perceived importance of work, work ability, and self-efficacy with regard to returning to work, and return to work was 59%, 86%, and 83% at 6, 12, and 18 months, respectively.”

It’s going to take a lot of work in the form of political will, advocacy, legislation, and incentives to solve this problem. What can you do to help? Contact your elected officials and voice your support for programs that support cancer patient financial stability and access to reliable and affordable healthcare, job retention, and return to work with appropriate accommodations. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s good for the economy, society, and humanity.

If you’ve experienced workplace discrimination based on your status as a cancer patient/survivor, click here for information about your rights and what you can do to protect them.

*Story Time

You’d think being a cancer researcher who works at an academic institution dedicated to cancer care, research, and saving and improving the lives of those diagnosed with cancer, I’d be immune to the bullshit discussed above.

In many ways, I am. Thanks to a supportive Department Chair and Division Chief (both female), I was granted an extension on my tenure clock, additional discretionary funds, and professional/personal support from my (largely female) colleagues. To these individuals, I see you. I appreciate you. I love you.

Then there are the (largely male) colleagues who have made my experience working while undergoing cancer treatment and returning to work after the Covid-19 shutdown and a (very short) medical leave a lot shittier. My passion for breast cancer researcher didn’t diminish when I was diagnosed. I became MORE passionate! I worked through radiation treatments, horrible systemic therapies while trying to find one I could live with for 10 years, and after surgeries when I remained swollen, sore, fatigued, and mentally struggling with all of the emotional fallout associated with cancer.

And yet…a peer reviewer for a grant I submitted felt the need to make the following comment in his (I’m 99.999999% certain it’s a dude) review summary: “Dr. Brantley-Sieders is an Assistant Professor of Medicine…who completed her Postdoctoral fellowship in 2003. A concern is her lack of productivity, with only a single first or last author publication since 2017, and only 4 in total since 2012. That said, as noted in her letter of support by [DEPARTMENT CHAIR], she is a breast cancer survivor and there may be circumstances that underlie her less than optimal extent of productivity.”

First of all, it’s not true. I had and have more first/senior author publications since 2017 and 2012. In fact, I have published over 55 papers in high tier journals, which demonstrates my highly collaborative approach to science. Secondly, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??? This reviewer thought it was okay to weaponize my own breast cancer diagnosis on a grant I submitted to a BREAST CANCER RESEARCH ORGANIZATION in the presence of other BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS serving as consumer reviewers. But, since my application wasn’t de-identified, and with my hyphenated last name (for which I’ve received inappropriate feedback about), this reviewer felt entitled to pose this outrageous and untrue criticism on an application by a female scientist.

Rather than hiding in a corner to lick my wounds, I reported this to the organization starting with leadership. Was it a risk? Of course! Backlash and retaliation are always a risk, especially for women who dare to speak out. But, if I stayed silent, I would have become part of the problem. I refuse to do that. I’ll be part of the solution.

I’m in the middle of another situation with a colleague I once trusted (my mistake) that centers around perceived shortcomings related to how I am balancing my work and ongoing treatments. What started as a communication issue is rapidly escalating into something more serious. At best, it’s a problematic situation. At worst, it may represent a serious violation of policy. I hope to resolve it in a way that is fair and satisfactory to both parties, but the damage is done in terms of trust and my perceived value to the project. Again, I could just sit quietly and accept it, but I’m not going to be part of the problem. I’m a fighter. I’m a damned good researcher who has made and will continue to make valuable contributions to science, and I’m worth it.

Screw The Woo Woo – Spell Casters!

March 27, 2021January 17, 2022 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

Facebook is a great place to meet some weird-ass motherfuckers. We all know that. But I’m still surprised and more than a little dismayed by the scammers. I normally just report ads that include woo woo, sometimes leaving a snarky comment, or just hide or block scammers. It’s rare that they actively seek me out, but it does happen.

Check this out! In response to my post on a blog post about legitimate, peer-reviewed science and breast cancer, Mr. Ansari was compelled by the power of the spell caster, “Dr” Akhigbe, to testify about the amazing things the spell caster can do.

It’s an impressive list worthy of the most outrageous scammy chiropractor. He apparently has the cure for herpes (HSV – I assume the genital variety), HIV, gonorrhea, low sperm count, menopause disease (it’s not a disease, even if it feels like it sometimes; he’s big on STDs and fertility), epilepsy, asepsis (I think he means sepsis – “asepsis” refers to aseptic techniques that minimize risks of bacterial, fungal or viral contamination during surgery and medical procedures), and cancer (which kind, dude?).

Where has this paragon of the medical community been all my life? Why haven’t we heard of him?

I have a few theories, but I decided to go down the rabbit hole and read more about the good “doc” and his miraculous healing abilities. First off, he has at least three profiles. Sketchy. The spell caster profile is apparently now dedicated to marriage, fertility, and “total freedom and happiness.” Hmm, I wonder how much that costs?

The posts are a feast of stock photos with tons of woo, attractive people who seem to be happy, and hashtags a plenty (candlemagic #magicspells #candlespells #astrology #occult #spellcandles #witchyvibes #bruja #pagan #witches #astrologer #psychicreading #witchcraftspells #spellcraft #conjurer #metaphysical #lovespecialist #spellcasters #brujasofinstagram #spiritualoils #spellworker #moneyspells #spiritualawakening #healing #lovespellsmaster #follow #spellcandlesofinstagram #spiritual #altarsofinstagram).

I’d take medical advice from **Nandor the Relentless** over the “Spell Caster” any day!

Yup. He’s a busy, busy man. There’s a lot going on there…

I kind of hope there’s a mockumentary based on this dude. Not that it would be as good as What We Do In The Shadows, but I’d LOVE Colin Robinson to explain the history of herbal medicine to The Spell Caster until he’s utterly drained.

I’ll focus on the other profile, which deals with herbal remedies for “great diseases,” because “it’s a gift from God.”

Here’s one of his posts related to cancer:

I’ve already covered turmeric, antioxidants (this includes the berry thing), and I’m covering mushrooms in my book, so let’s dig into what garlic and ginger can do for you (and more importantly, cannot do for you) as a cancer patient.

Note: My medical oncologist is a fan of veggies as well as legitimate research on diet and breast cancer molecular signaling/drug responses. Check out his blog for legit information and some great recipes!

Garlic. It makes food delicious, your breath stinky, and wards off vampires, but what can it do for cancer? When I searched the web, the first promising result I found was from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Reputable enough for me! When I clicked, a big fat pop up window with a disclaimer and a “Continue” button I had to click to proceed tried to jump out of the screen:

“This Web site — Information About Herbs, Botanicals and Other Products — is for general health information only. This Web site is not to be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any health condition or problem. Users of this Web site should not rely on information provided on this Web site for their own health problems. Any questions regarding your own health should be addressed to your own physician or other healthcare provider.”

They have a whole disclaimer to protect them from yahoos looking for woo woo!

What did it have to say about garlic? In terms of cancer, here’s the 411:

https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/garlic

Getting into the nuts and bolts, the clinical summary (with references) states:

1. Possible correlation with garlic supplement and gastric (stomach) cancer mortality (death) but not incidence (getting cancer), but other studies found no evidence of either. Remember, correlation does NOT equal causality.

2. Mixed results on garlic and colorectal cancer, with some observation of reduced number and size of adenomas (precancerous lesions) in patients with a history of adenomas.

3. Mixed or unclear results on risk of other cancers, but possible association with reduced risk of blood cancer. Remember, correlation does NOT equal causality.

Bottom line: garlic makes food tasty! Enjoy it in your favorite recipes, but don’t rely on it to keep you safe from cancer or to treat your cancer.

As far as ginger, I found a great article that already covers it:

“Walk Gingerly Before Declaring Ginger a Cancer Cure
It is not at all unusual to find plant extracts that will kill cancer cells in vitro. There are hundreds of phytochemicals that will do this. Neither is it unusual to find an effect in mice that have implanted tumours. But this is a long way away from demonstrating a viable cancer treatment in humans.”

Bottom line: this pretty much sums up the majority of studies on plant extracts and cancer. Enjoy ginger for the flavor, but don’t count on it to cure your cancer.

AND DON’T TRUST INTERNET “SPELL CASTERS!”

Book Draft is DONE!!!!

March 18, 2021 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

Wow, I haven’t posted since January??!! Shame on me! But I’ve been busy writing, and I now have a completed draft of Talking to My Tatas: A Breast Cancer Researcher’s Adventure With The Disease and What You Can Learn From It.

It feels pretty freakin’ AWESOME! I learned so much through the research, especially about the clinical aspects and how my own experience fits with breast cancer care in the United States. I also learned more about emerging therapies, disparities, and mental health related to breast cancer.

When I started this process, I had been writing fiction for about 10 years and understood more or less how to construct a story in my genre, how to query agents and small presses, how to self-publish when a particular book or story doesn’t fit with traditional publishing, and how to write blurbs (it’s HARD), synopses (it’s TORTURE), and other things that go along with the fiction universe.

When it came to nonfiction, aside from my scientific manuscripts, I had no clue where or how to start. Fortunately, I had the amazing Alice Sullivan in my corner to coach me through the process. A long time ago in a pre-COVID galaxy far, far away, I became friends with Alice, and she sent me a guide to writing nonfiction proposals. That proved to be one of the BEST tools I had in hand when I started the process for Talking Tatas.

Unlike fiction, which requires a full, complete, polished manuscript (for the most part) prior to querying agents/publishers, nonfiction requires a proposal rather than a completed manuscript. Memoirs are sometimes the exception. What is a proposal? It’s basically a plan for your nonfiction project. It includes a working blurb, detailed outline of each chapter, what makes your book stand out from other comparable titles in the market, unique selling points, a marketing plan, your credentials (or reasons for writing the book, like personal experience), and sample chapters.

A tight, well-written, carefully crafted proposal is the key to getting an agent and a publisher if you’re going the traditional publishing route. Even if you’re not, it’s a great way to map out and organize your thoughts and to be thinking about defining your target market and how you’ll reach readers in that market. If you’re planning a nonfiction project, check out these sites for proposal essentials/how to, templates, and examples of successful proposals: Nonfiction Authors Association, Reedsy Blog, Scribe Media.

Once you write the proposal and craft a killer query letter, you start the long and arduous task of sending these items to literary agents (whom you’ve selected based on research and matching interests) and hope to get some interest. It’s not speed dating, but you’re definitely looking for a connection. Be prepared for LOTS of rejections with the understanding that it’s not personal. I repeat. IT’S NOT PERSONAL. If you take rejections personally, you’re going to have a tough time in the publishing biz. That being said, if you’re lucky enough to get feedback with a rejection, put it to good use by revising your proposal. For example, I received a lot of rejections based on the fact that my proposal was cross-genre (story of my writing life/same issue with my fiction). In Tatas, I’m blending elements of memoir with the personal story and prescriptive, which is the informational component.

Ultimately, I restructured my proposal to focus more on prescriptive and less on memoir (about 80/20), and that worked!

Once you get an agent, you’ll most likely tweak your proposal again for submission to editors, perhaps having a few drafts tailored for different editors. The submission process can also be a long, arduous process, and remember, rejections are NOT PERSONAL.

Trust me – you want an agent and editor who are super enthusiastic about your work. Someone who’s lukewarm won’t be as likely to champion you, and in this very competitive business, you need champions.

While you’re querying/submitting, you should be working to build or expand your platform. This blog is part of my platform. It gives readers information to supplement what I include in the book, to showcase my style and strengths, and to hopefully connect with readers who are likely to be interested in my book. It’s also great to network with other folks who have platforms with interests that match yours. I LOVE The Bloggess and have been lucky enough to connect with her by advertising on her blog and cultivating a relationship based on fangirling and promoting her stuff. It wasn’t so much strategic as it was OMG-I-LOVE-HER-AND-EVERYONE-NEEDS-TO-KNOW-ABOUT-HER! I also adore SciBabe, A Science Enthusiast, and Sana Goldberg, so I’ve been connecting with them.

Thanks to my day job, I’ve cultivated relationships with a lot of influential people and organizations in the cancer research field and I’m forging relationships in the patient/survivor advocacy community – of which I am now a part. All of this will help me spread the word about my book, get endorsements, and hopefully make the book a success.

It’s been one hell of an adventure! Stay tuned for more. In the meantime, I’m working on a new Screw the Woo Woo post on a “spell caster” who was recommended to me on Facebook. That one’s going to be wacky and fun. Mwahahahahahaha!

Getting to Know the Covid-19 Vaccines!

January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

With the recent emergency use approval of two independent vaccines for SARS2-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the horror that is Covid-19, many folks have questions: What the heck are these vaccines? Are they safe and effective? Should I get one?

Note: I’m not going to dignify any wild conspiracy theories about vaccines and microchips. Bill Gates doesn’t care about you or me or anyone else he doesn’t know and he has better things to do that track you with a microchip in a vaccine. Seriously. People believe some weird shit… If anyone wanted to track you, they’d do it digitally by your freakin’ cell phone.

Also, vaccines don’t cause autism. Period. They. Fucking. Don’t.

That being said, the first three questions are completely legit. My goal in this post is to break down the science behind the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, what we know so far about their safety and effectiveness, and dispel some common misconceptions about them.

First, here’s a crash course on how your immune system fights infections. This is important, since vaccines harness the power of your immune system to mount a rapid and robust defense if and when you encounter the actual pathogen (i.e. virus or bacteria that cause disease) in your daily life. The arm of the immune system that does this is called the adaptive immune system. The other arm is the innate immune system and includes natural barriers like skin, the tiny hairs and mucous in your nose, and stomach acid.

How does the adaptive immune system work? First, it involves cells that roam around your body looking for something suspicious. Cells like macrophages and dendritic cells, which patrol various organs and tissues, find pathogens like bacteria or unhealthy cells infected by viruses like SARS-CoV-2, and eat them (fancy word is phagocytosis). Infected or damaged cells send out protein signals called cytokines as a distress call to attract macrophages and dendritic cells. While “digesting” the bacteria/infected cell, they salvage proteins or pieces of proteins—antigens—that identify the bacteria or virus as “other,” and they present these to immune cells, usually in lymph nodes, that mount an immune response. Macrophages and dendritic cells are known as professional antigen presenting cells (APCs)

From Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation LSU.

When activated by APCs, immune cells called B-cells produce antibodies against the antigen, which can do a lot of things to fight an infection. Some antibodies neutralize the pathogen by binding it and stopping it from entering a cell. Other tag infected cells for other immune cells to come and kill them. Others coat pathogens or infected cells in a process called opsonization (meaning to “make tasty”), which signals other cells like macrophages to come and eat the coated pathogens/cells. Specialized B-cells called memory B-cells archive the information about the antigen so your immune system can recognize the pathogen when it hits you again and mount a faster immune response.

Other immune cells called T-cells become activated by APCs and mount a different kind of immune response. Cytotoxic T-cells seek out and kill infected or damaged cells, and helper T-cells help activate B-cells so they make antibodies, activate cytotoxic T-cells, and activate macrophages to go eat nasty invaders and infected cells. Memory T-cells also archive information about past infections to mount a rapid, strong response the next time your body sees it.

That’s a simplified by hopefully digestible explanation of immunity and the major players (there are other immune cells, but APCs, B-cells, and T-cells are the biggies). Memory is key to protection, and memory is built by exposure to pathogens.

But what if there was a way to expose your body to pathogens without making you sick? That’s where vaccines come in!

The way vaccines work is to tap into this process and activate the adaptive immune response using an artificial antigen supplied by the vaccine, getting your immune response geared up and, importantly, building those archival memory B- and T-cells that will recognize the real infection when your body encounters it so it can rapidly fight it. Types of vaccines include: Live-attenuated vaccines; Inactivated vaccines; Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines; Toxoid vaccines.

Live-attenuated means using a weakened form of the virus to initiate an immune response—examples include measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and chickenpox vaccines. Inactivated means using a dead version of the virus that cannot infect cells but contains antigens that can be used to activate adaptive immunity—examples include flu, hepatitis A, and rabies vaccines. Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines use pieces of the virus that act as antigens, like proteins and sugars—examples include HPV, hepatitis B, and shingles vaccines. Toxoid vaccines use toxins produced by the pathogen to mount an immune response against the toxic protein—examples include tetanus and diphtheria vaccines.

What the heck are these (Covid-19) vaccines?

The current FDA approved (for emergency use) Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna belong to a newer class called mRNA vaccines. See my previous post on DNA to mRNA to protein (Central Dogma of Molecular Biology) for a refresher on mRNA. This is really just a modification of the subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide conjugate vaccine approach in that it delivers messenger RNA coding for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which the virus uses to enter a cell, instead of delivering the spike protein itself. See my previous post on SARS-CoV-2 for information about the spike protein. The cells in your body that take up the mRNA make spike proteins themselves, which in turn activates your immune system and provides protection.

Are they safe and effective?

Since these are new vaccines approved for emergency use, and since due to the accelerated nature of their development and approval, some people are understandably wary of their safety and ability to protect against Covid.

While they may be new, a lot of the groundwork for these vaccines started in in 2002 with the emergence of the first SARS virus (SARS-CoV) and continued with study of the related MERS-CoV virus. SARS-CoV uses the same spike protein to enter target cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Scientists learned a great deal about coronaviruses by studying SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, including how to develop vaccines.

Let’s look at safety first. Clinical trials involving tens of thousands of healthy volunteers have been performed. Safety concerns include allergic reactions to the vaccine or components of the vaccine. Providers who deliver the vaccine are equipped to deal with anaphylaxis on site, which is why you’ll be asked to hang around for 15 minutes after your shot just in case. You might feel feverish, fatigued, and generally yucky the day after one or both shots (the first activates the immune system and the second gives it a signal boost), which is NOT a sign that you have Covid. It actually means your immune system is working, building memory and its arsenal of weapons to fight Covid if you encounter the real virus.

The FDA is continuing to monitor those who received the vaccines in clinical trials, as well as those who received the vaccines after emergency approval. So far, they appear to be safe.

As far as effectiveness, data from trials looking at the number of Covid-19 cases in trial participants relative to the total number of participants revealed that the Pfizer vaccine is 52% effective after the first shot (39 cases of covid-19 in the vaccine group and 82 cases in the placebo group) and 95% effective after the second shot (8 covid-19 cases in the vaccine group and 162 cases in the placebo group; 43,448 trial participants) – New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Similar efficacy was reported for the Moderna Vaccine in NEJM.

There’s still a lot we don’t know – most importantly, we don’t know how long immunity produced by these vaccines will last. Some experts hypothesize they might provide a year or two of immunity, after which you’ll need more shots, but we won’t know until we see in real time as we track vaccinated people.

Should you get the vaccine?

Me getting my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine!

The more people who are vaccinated against this virus, the better. Vaccines will slow the spread of the virus by preventing infections in vaccinated people. Along with mask wearing and social distancing, the vaccines are a vital tool in stopping this pandemic. As a cancer survivor, I’m in a high risk category, meaning Covid-19 could kill or debilitate me. The same is true for people with diabetes and other underlying medical conditions.

That’s why I got my vaccine! Had the second shot a few days ago, which gives me peace of mind as I prepare to return to work after reconstruction surgery. I’m with Dr. Fauci on this one, and I encourage everyone to talk to their healthcare providers about getting vaccinated.

Fundraising for Tanisha

November 24, 2020January 23, 2021 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

Tanisha Jones MBC & Renal Failure Fund

I’ve met and admired many survivor sisters over the years. After my diagnosis, they held me in their arms and lifted me up so I didn’t have to face breast cancer alone. Before I was diagnosed, I got to know a really cool woman named Tanisha Jones. We were represented by the same literary agency at the time, writing romance and urban fantasy* and trying to break into the fiction publishing world in a big way.

*Side note: If you’re a fan of Anne Rice and J.R. Ward, TREAT YOURSELF to Tanisha’s The Fallen Series. This exciting series is full of vampires, Fae, Weres, demons, and other supernatural beings hiding in plain sight in New Orleans. Throw in a hot homicide detective with some supernatural abilities of his own and you’ve got one helluva story!

Like me, Tanisha works in academics (one of her many jobs). She also has a daughter, just a little bit older than mine. She has hopes, dreams, highs, lows, a wicked sense of humor and a drive and work ethic to rival any I’ve seen in my almost 48 years on the planet.

Like me, she has breast cancer. Unlike me, she’s living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). While there is no cure, she hasn’t allowed MBC to define her life or steal her dreams. She’s still writing – she published Unbound, Book 3 in The Fallen series, this month. She’s still raising her daughter. Due to health issues related to MBC, she isn’t working at the moment but she’s worked since her diagnosis in 2016.

Because America is still balking at the idea that healthcare is a human right rather than a privilege reserved only for the white and wealthy (and healthy), like many Americans, Tanisha is struggling financially due to the cost of her cancer care. I could write an entire rage post on the topics of American healthcare’s failures that include the real possibility of financial ruin, disparities in access and care, and the lack of healthcare equality and equity that is still VERY much a problem in 2020 in this country, and I will.

But right now, what matters is helping my friend who’s struggling with breast cancer.

Tanisha’s family also has a GoFundMe initiative (you know, the largest healthcare “plan” in the United States) to help her. Click here to donate what you can. It helps. It matters.

I have taken the extra book royalties I earned in November plus a small windfall that came to me at just the right time to support Tanisha. I can think of no better person in whom to invest.

$hit You Shouldn’t Say To Cancer Patients Or Survivors: Part 1

November 21, 2020 / D.B. Sieders / 7 Comments

(Filched from my personal FaceBook Page. It’s not plagiarism if it’s mine)

Some thoughts on people who think my cancer wasn’t “that bad,” was “baby cancer,” and wasn’t such a “big deal.”

Yes, people have said that to me.

People have also asked me why I think I got cancer. I could go into a lengthy discussion of the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology, random mutations and failed/imperfect DNA repair, etc., or I can just get pissed off because I KNOW they’re asking if I got breast cancer because I’m fat and every now and then I like a nice juicy steak or cheeseburger. From now on, I think I’m going to just use this as a reply:

Photo credit somewhere on FaceBook – TinEye results were vague and I have NO idea who came up with the text. But it’s pretty fucking awesome! If it’s yours, tell me so I can give you credit.

I had breast cancer. I didn’t have to have chemo. I’m lucky and benefited from decades of biomedical research that made OncoType DX testing possible (I WILL get around to blogging about this test eventually, I swear), and I happened to have a low score.

I still had cancer. I’ve had three surgeries (and I’m not done), radiation, and I’ve got a ten year sentence with estrogen blockers and medically induced menopause. I’m still lucky. I know and understand that. Very well.

Photo credit Snarky Cancer – Seriously, check out their site and their merch. I’m going to order about 5 totally snarkalicious T-shirts!

I still had cancer. When someone in or out of the survivor club (it’s always worse when it’s another survivor) tells me I had “baby cancer” or “good cancer,” I get a special kind of homicidal that will probably get me locked up someday when I finally lose my .

Never, ever, EVVVVVVVVVER say that to someone who has had cancer. It’s not a contest. It’s a suck fest and no one, not even fellow survivors, should not presume to understand the level of suffering endured by cancer patients and survivors.

Don’t be a dick.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Reconstruction Surgery and Resilience

November 4, 2020 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

With so much uncertainty in the world, it’s nice to be fairly certain about one thing: tomorrow, I will get a new left breast. It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me, but the strongest are relief and hope.

When I wake up tomorrow afternoon from anesthesia, Covid will still be ravaging the planet. We may or may not know who will be the next president of the United States. I have no idea whether or not my latest research grant will be funded, nor do I know what will happen to my quest for tenure in 2021. But, if all goes well, cancer’s reshaping of my body will end.

A wise friend once told me that the only certainty in life is uncertainty. I’ve found that to be true in my almost forty eight years of living. For someone who suffers from anxiety, it is a difficult truth to face. I’m the type of person who thrives on stability, on knowing what to expect, and on consistency. There has been precious little of those comforts for me since April 19, 2018, and especially since February 2020. Discovering that I still had residual disease in the form of a 6 mm tumor remaining in my left breast pulled the rug out from under me and stole my illusion of safety.

That’s one lesson I learned from cancer—there is no such thing as safety or certainty.

So how do I cope? How can we as survivors cope? Building Resilience.

For me, one strategy has been to let go of the illusion of control. Or, to really refine the concept, I’ve been working hard to catalog the things I can control, like staying as healthy as possible with diet, exercise, regular health screenings, medication, and yoga/meditation. These measures may or may not prevent a recurrence, but they will help me live a better, healthier life. There’s no downside.

Other things I can control include the effort I put into taking care of my family. I can love them, feed them, create special moments and memories that nothing can take away, not even cancer. I can take pleasure in the small, daily moments that I used to take for granted. For example, I spent about thirty minutes this morning watching birds at my feeders. We have so many birds, from tit mice (snort) to a red-bellied woodpeckers, and chickadees to sparrows! I’ve always found solace in nature. Other small moments like a cup of tea enjoyed sitting on my deck with a chill in the air and the sun caressing my face bring me joy. I’ve had the BEST time cooking with my kids. Potstickers with my daughter and meat and rice bowls with my son have sustained us physically and emotionally. Again, there’s no downside to savoring the small moments of joy in everyday life.

I cannot control whether funding agencies select my research grants for support, but I can control the quality and integrity of my research. Funding is even more uncertain today than when I entered the field, but it is still an exciting and hopeful time to be a scientist! There are many exciting avenues of breast cancer research open for me to pursue, and if I have to leave the field (or, more likely, switch from tenure track to research track) in a few years, I’ll leave behind a body of work that I can take pride in, and I can and will continue to work in other avenues, like education and outreach. I can control how I adapt to career challenges.

The best I or any of us can do is to live every single day to the fullest. We can choose kindness, positivity, and follow our paths to making the world a better place, starting with ourselves and our community. Every day is a gift, and tomorrow’s gifts are yet unknown but so inviting. I look forward to being physically whole. I look forward to getting back to regularly scheduled life with a newly restored body, building strength and resilience.

I look forward to hope, which is something I can rely on.

Breast Cancer From Bench to My Own Bedside

October 9, 2020 / D.B. Sieders / 2 Comments

Tables Turned

From the Laboratory Bench to My Own Bedside

Originally Published in VICC Momentum September 23, 2020 | Dana Brantley-Sieders, PhD

Note: This is an essay I wrote last summer. Though my journey continues thanks to residual disease and a mastectomy after I submitted the essay, the spirit and information in the essay hold true. I have hope. And I’m still working hard to fight cancer inside the laboratory and out in the wider world.

I had been studying breast cancer for more than 20 years when I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. My professional life was filled with hours of watching tumor cells grow and spread on plastic dishes, marveling as they branched and blebbed in three-dimensional matrices, monitoring the size of lumps from spontaneous or transplanted breast tumor tissue in experimental mouse models, and if I was lucky, watching their growth slow or even seeing them shrink when a new experimental therapeutic worked in pre-clinical testing.

Over the years, family and friends had come to me for information, reassurance and comfort in the face of their diagnoses. I’d lost a close cousin to the ravages of aggressive breast cancer. She was only 37 years old.

When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I emptied her surgical drains after her double mastectomy, caring for her with a toddler clinging to my leg and a baby balanced on my hip. I brought meals to a close friend who was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, visiting with her as she endured chemotherapy, surgery, reconstruction, and finding her new normal while our pre-teen daughters hovered in the background, their infectious laughter a balm to the devastation wrought by the big “C.”

After all of this, I thought I knew breast cancer. Then it kicked me in my left breast and flung me, bleeding, on the curb of uncertainty. Turns out, I had a lot to learn.

When Brent Rexer, MD, my medical oncologist, walked in to my first appointment at the Vanderbilt Breast Center, he greeted me with kindness and a wry smile. “It’s good to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances.” I’d known Brent for years. He and his wife were classmates of mine in graduate school, and we’d crossed paths at research seminars in the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. I’d crossed paths with many of the clinicians and providers who would become a part of my care team. I was lucky. I knew I was in great hands.

When I got cancer, I came home.

What did I learn from the laboratory bench to my own bedside? For starters, I learned that nothing, not even a career spent tackling this disease, can prepare you for your own diagnosis. I was as shocked, devastated, and numb as any woman who hears those three terrible words — you have cancer.

I learned that radiologists save lives. The radiologist who spotted the suspicious spot on a routine mammogram and later during an ultrasound examination has over 30 years of experience in the field. Because I’m a geek, I always ask to see what’s going on in any exam. I’m “that patient,” the one who’ll ask if I can look at the computer screen after a boob squeeze, à la mammography, and in the middle of having the goo-covered wand gliding over my exposed boob during an ultrasound. When I had the chance to look at my tumor and a previously detected benign lesion side by side, I realized that this radiologist’s years of training and sharp eyes (that could tell the difference between two grainy spots on an ultrasound that looked the same to me) caught one tumor before it could become immediately life threatening. We later learned that I had two tumors of the same subtype in the same breast, which is pretty rare. But we would not have caught the smaller one, which was actually growing faster, had my radiologist not spotted the larger mass.

I learned that I had the option of saving most of my breast tissue. Thanks to years of study following outcomes of patients who chose lumpectomy and those who chose mastectomy as surgical options, we know that choosing breast conserving surgery does not increase a woman’s risk for distant recurrence. There is an increased risk for local recurrence, but that can be mitigated with radiation therapy. I was fortunate enough to be a good candidate for partial mastectomy followed by oncoplastic reconstruction, which is essentially a breast reduction and lift. I’m not going to lie – it’s like being 18 again. I’m perky! Better still, it preserved sensation in my breast skin and nipples, and the recovery time was much shorter than with a mastectomy. Note: there are no wrong choices, only informed choices. The decision to keep or remove one or both breasts after a cancer diagnosis is a deeply personal one. Each individual patient must consider the options, the benefits and risks, and decide what is right for her. This was the best decision for me, and I’m glad I was a good candidate for this surgical option.

I learned that surgeons are brilliant, and by working together, they can give you back much of what you lost. My surgical team, including Ingrid Mezoely, MD, and Galen Perdikis, MD, worked together on a plan that allowed Dr. Mezoely to remove my tumors and Dr. Perdikis to perform oncoplastic reconstruction just after. A year and a half later, I am pleased with the result, like the way I look and feel, and while I’ll never be the same as B.C. (before cancer), my new normal is better than I ever imagined.

I learned that radiation therapists are some of the nicest, funniest people on the planet. My go-to coping mechanism is humor. When I came in for a dry run prior to my first radiation therapy, the technician placed several markers on my left breast in order to properly align the beam for more precise targeting of the area where the tumors were removed while minimizing potential damage to my heart and lungs. The shiny markers formed a cute little circular pattern, so I joked that we could make it into a pastie. All I need would be some glitter and a tassel. We both cracked up, and I was able to relax, hold my breath for the designated time, and get prepared for my treatment course. During those visits, I talked with the therapists and Bapsi Chakravarthy, MD, about topics big and small — kids, work, life, research, politics, favorite books and television shows, and all manner of topics that made the discomfort during the last weeks of treatment much more bearable.

I learned the depths of compassion and generosity of my colleagues, both in the laboratory setting and in the clinic. Disclosing a cancer diagnosis to your employer and co-workers can be frightening. Will you be at risk for losing your job (a reality for too many Americans)? Will your colleagues see you and treat you differently? Will moving forward be awkward, with colleagues feeling uncomfortable and at a loss for words? I was lucky and found support and comfort, with offers to help keep the research in my laboratory going while I was out on medical leave, with encouragement, and with the honor of serving as a reminder of what all of us in cancer research work for — helping patients diagnosed with cancer survive and thrive.

I learned that, having been on both the research side and patient side of the breast cancer experience, I have a unique perspective and the opportunity to help people outside of the laboratory. Scientists are very good at communicating with one another within the research community, but I believe we need to expand our efforts to communicate with the public. After all, most of us are funded by the National Institutes of Health, which is in turn supported by tax dollars. I feel an obligation to be able to explain my work and why it’s important to anyone who asks, be it my 11-year-old son or a person sitting next to me at the airport. I have a new mission: to be an advocate for science and bring science to the public, particularly when it comes to breast cancer. Sadly, we live in an age of fake news and pseudoscience, made worse by the pervasive anti-intellectual and anti-science political culture gripping the United States and much of the world. The internet and social media are plagued by scammers selling “alternative medicine” and woo woo “cures” for cancer. Knowledge is power, and lack thereof can be deadly. I can lend my voice to fighting myths and scams for the public good through speaking, blogging and writing.

I learned that there will be good days and bad days, and that it’s OK to seek help. My prognosis is great, but my type of breast cancer can recur years or decades after surgery and treatments are complete. That thought often keeps me up and night and serves as a source of worry. Shortly after my diagnosis, I worked to the point of exhaustion in the lab, at home, and on my side gig, staying up late in the name of productivity and maximizing creativity, but I wasn’t fooling anyone. I was terrified. After a year and a half of ups and downs, I acknowledged that I was not fine, and that I needed help in the form of therapy. I’m glad I did. Tackling my fears and anxieties head on has helped me be my best self, accept my new normal as a cancer survivor and focus on living the life I have with joy and purpose. And when I go back into the well of despair, as many survivors do, I now have the tools to climb back out and get back on track, which is very empowering.

Finally, I learned that I’m still learning. I have the best job as a researcher in that I get to be a lifelong learner. So many strides have been made since I entered the field, when Herceptin was first developed for HER2-positive breast cancer. Now, we have so many new tools in diagnostics and prognostics (3D mammography and OncoType DX testing), treatments (aromatase inhibitors, CDK inhibitors, and immune therapy), and amazing new treatments on the horizon. We still have so much work to do, but we are making a difference, and I am privileged to be a part of that process.

I don’t feel pretty, and that’s okay

October 6, 2020 / D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

Ugly witch – disguise – I kinda want one for Halloween!

So I’m 5 months out from my mastectomy, waiting for reconstruction of my left breast, and I feel fugly. Not just ugly, but the kind of grotesque that can only come from looking in the mirror and STILL being shocked to see one nipple hanging significantly higher than the other. When I’m clothed it’s slightly better. I can shove my fake boob into my bra and sort of look balanced.

I say “sort of” because the damned insert moves around and is slightly bigger than my intact right boob, so I have to stuff the other freakin’ side with inserts from sports bras, which also move around, and I swear I can tell that I’m lopsided when I look at recent photos.

My family assures me that no one else notices, and maybe they’re right, but I notice, and it makes me self-conscious. It sucks. I also feel old. I’m coming up on my 48th birthday, which technically means I’m still middle-aged. But between the breast cancer diagnosis three years ago, two surgeries, radiation, and three years in medically-induced menopause plus estrogen suppression, I swear I’ve aged ten years.

Am I grateful to be alive? You bet! Do I feel lucky that my prognosis is great? Of course! Is every day a gift? Abso-fucking-lutely! But there are days when cancer and all that comes with it crashes down on me and I get sad, tired, and pissed off about what the big C has done to me.

I’m not alone. If you’re out there feeling the same way, you aren’t alone. We are strong. We are survivors. But we are also human and we will have bad days. And that’s okay. We can’t avoid them, and we have to endure them, but we don’t have to get sucked into the pit of despair. Here are some coping strategies I’ve found helpful. Maybe they’ll help you.

Put on some cute clothes

Happy plus size women shopping – I grabbed this one from Deposit Photos for the description alone!

Fall is here, and that means it’s time to pull out those fuzzy sweaters, leggings, boots, and cute scarves. I’m self conscious about my neck and my cleavage, so scarves have REALLY helped. I’m not going out as much thanks to Covid, but I’ve made it a point, at least once a week, to put on real clothes (instead of the athleisure wear I’ve been rocking since work-from-home became a thing). I choose colors that make me feel bright and shiny, and select from outfits that I’ve been complimented on before. It helps! Those are the days when I can focus more on what I like about my body and face rather than what I don’t like. Have fun, wear what makes YOU feel beautiful, and don’t worry about the folks who say women of a certain age/weight/body type shouldn’t wear certain clothing. The only thing a woman should NEVER wear is the weight of other people’s expectations.

Have Fun with Makeup

I’ve always been pretty basic when it comes to makeup. Foundation, blush, concealer on the blemishes, and boom – done! Fortunately, I have a teen who is super creative, into cosplay, and LOVES makeup. Thanks to her, I’ve upped my makeup game and it has helped me feel pretty. A lovely sales associate at Sephora taught me how to contour, another fantastic salesperson at Ulta recommended primer and an eyeshadow pallet that I LOVE – dramatic eyes really work in the era of masks – and my teen routinely helps me out with the eye makeup game. The old barn does look better with some fresh paint!

Simple Self Care

Anything from drugstore face masks to bathbombs to nice-smelling lotion can be cheap ways to pamper yourself when you’re feeling like a wart on the ass end of a troll. Have a soak, wash your hair (especially if it’s been daaaaaaaaays), brush your teeth, put on some perfume, and treat yourself like the absolute fucking QUEEN you are. You are worth it.

Take a Freakin’ Selfie and Send it To Your Friends

I stole this one from “Everything is Awful and I’m Not Okay,” which I totally recommend you print out and post to your bedroom door. Take a selfie, send it to your friends and/or put it on social media – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, hell, make a TikTok video. Speaking of TikTok, get on there and find yourself some support from Your Fairy Godmother @starr_mcqeen_, Your Non Binary Uncle @thaddeusshafer, and the aggressively supportive @angryreactions. They don’t think you are pretty, precious, loved, and worthy, and awesome, they KNOW it and they’ll tell you. Your friends and social contacts will tell you you’re pretty, and you’ll believe them and feel better.

Send ME a selfie and I’ll tell you how pretty you are!

Got any other tips? Let me know. I can use all the help I can get, and I’ll share the love!