I had a couple weeks off for a winter break. During this time, I finally had time to catch up on reading. Part of this reading included the Forbes article Sex Toys Sales Are Buzzing with Social Distancing from COVID-19 Coronavirus.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Health and Wellness
Lunch with Lindsay: Election Month
Election 2020 feels like ages ago. Why am I posting this video only now?
Well, 2020.
Continue readingSecurity
I am examining what I depend on for security, and I encourage all of you to do the same. Neither you nor I may be an insurrectionist or domestic terrorist, but we all depend on something or someone for security.
The Trump supporters I know depend on him for security because he advances their capital gain. Who or what do you depend on for gain of any type in your life?
Is it your partners, parents, guardians, siblings, relatives, friends, bosses, jobs, investments, properties, or other people and assets?
Continue readingProving Your Pain
Today I called an airline for a refund on a flight I had scheduled prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was quite an ordeal.
In November 2019, I bought tickets to travel to Austin, TX, in May 2020. I had no clue that I would be diagnosed with breast cancer weeks later, how expensive cancer be as I worked to improve and maintain my quality of life, how challenging it would be to interact with medical providers and loved ones, how much pressure it is to take care of others even when I needed care, how the COVID-19 pandemic would intersect with my cancer and fertility treatment, how emotional freezing my eggs would be, and how George Floyd’s murder would place the United States’ racism under a magnifying glass in ways that reminded me of the ways others and myself have experienced racism in this country.
Continue readingThin Blue Line Flag
Have you slept well? Last night, I was writing a letter to a journalist at a local newspaper. It is The Patriot Ledger. The following is this newspaper’s post on Facebook:
If you want to learn more about the “thin blue line flag,” here is an article on it from NPR and another one from Boston.com.
This flag made it to fire trucks in my city.
As a woman of color and a cancer patient and survivor—during the COVID-19 pandemic—and during an era of reckoning with racism—I have to pick and choose how I will invest my energy.
Continue readingRacism Is a Public Health Crisis
Almost two and a half months ago, this article on racism being a public health crisis was published on Boston.com. The journalist Dialynn Dwyer quoted leading experts and hospitals such as the Dean of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the President of Massachusetts Medical Society, Boston Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Continue readingThe Patient and Family Advisory Council
This summer, I had an appointment at my hospital. I had a negative interaction with a medical provider. It was not the worst in the world; it was not the best either. Initially, I decided not to share my feedback with the hospital, but I later opted to call and share my experience with its staff. My intention was to take a developmental approach to the situation. As the environment of this country has evolved in the past couple months, I felt responsible for doing what I can to make it better. The following is a statement I wrote as part of my application for the hospital’s advisory council for patients and families.
Continue readingOn an Island
If I were to describe my life now, I would say I’m on an island. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have to be cautious when I wander in public. I look outside of my windows, and I see people walking on the streets and riding in cars. On any given day, people are using different levels of caution with masks, social distancing, exercising, shopping, and hanging out at the beach.
Continue readingLunch with Lindsay: Health and the Workforce, Race in New England, and Pandemic Vacations
Yesterday I caught you up to speed with my life in Lunch with Lindsay: Schools During a Pandemic and Allyship During a Movement. Today I am continuing to discuss what else has been on my mind so I am sharing with you my most recent video above on health in the workforce, race in New England, and vacations in the pandemic.
Continue readingWhat You Can Learn from Cancer Survivors
Six days ago, I went on a long walk to the beach and green space in my community. Consistently, I was frustrated by the people not wearing a mask or social distancing when they came near me. I vented my frustrations in an online group for breast cancer survivors and wrote this:
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