Author: burkak1971
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Why Cancer Patients Should Read … Romance by Jenna Shillinburg
I can hear some of the groans through the internet. Romance novels are so cliché you may be thinking to yourself. But the truth is, Romance novels have been given a bad reputation through decades of Fabio covers and cookie-cutter writing. The genre itself has changed and become much more diverse (especially after the RITAs […]
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An Open Letter to Herceptin
Dear Herceptin, A skilled infusion nurse straddles my blue puffy chair and counts, “Three. Two. One.” She punches the one-inch Power Loc Huber needle into my implanted port, located right above my left breast. Soon, my Herceptin—your name a beautiful mix of HER2, intercept, and inhibitor—soon, you will be flowing through my port, transported by […]
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Railroaded: Lessons from Terre Haute, Indiana
On a hot August morning, we sit in our Subaru at the intersection of US 150 and Railroad Avenue in Terre Haute, Indiana. Our kids blissfully sing Dua Lipa from the backseat as my husband and I, trying not to explode with frustration, scrutinize the seemingly endless stream of CSX train cars passing in front […]
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A Guide to Ending Reader’s Block with Jenna Shillingburg
Imagine you have time to spare and you pick up a book you’ve had your eye on for a while. You’ve prepared a happy place to start reading with a hot beverage and some sunlight and a comfy chair. You breathe in the joy of the relaxing experience and crack open the book … only […]
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MBC & NED with Karla Mans Giroux & Roxana Guerra Ponce
In Spring of 2021, I joined twenty-seven women from around the country to be trained as a Living Beyond Breast Cancer Hear My Voice Metastatic Breast Cancer Advocate. This advocacy training “provides the tools and training to help people living with metastatic breast cancer make a difference in their physical and digital communities.” Collectively, Hear […]
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Five Women Who Write About Grief, Loss, & Healing
At the end of 2019, I started Overexpressed.blog because I had the chance to write about what it means to live with HER2+ MBC. This blog space also allows me to share the story of others and to pay homage to women writers that I adore. I’ll admit, I am a total fangirl! Today’s post […]
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Deconstructing “Deconstructing the Right Breast”
As part of my healing process after my initial breast cancer diagnosis in 2012, I started writing poetry about my breast cancer journey. My poems, which later were collected in my chapbook Repaired, were as Joy Harjo describes “openings in darkness.” One of the ways I humanized my breast cancer journey was to incorporate the […]
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How Reading Cleared Up My Chemo Fog
Overexpressed is thrilled to introduce its first guest blogger JENNA SHILLINGBURG. A professional bookworm, Jenna writes about “all things bookish” and will be published here every first Friday of the month. Welcome, Jenna. A librarian, bibliophile, and Breast Cancer Lifer, JENNA SHILLINGBURG lives in central Pennsylvania with her husband and two cats. She was diagnosed […]
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Five Practices to Start Your Day in Dimly-Lit Silence Without your Phone
My alarm sounds at 5:25 am. It’s still dark when I open my eyes to look out the window. I take a deep breath in and say Thank You. I am alive to greet another morning. I creep downstairs and begin my morning ritual. I love the quiet darkness, and I am a creature of […]
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This Thing is Ugly
The Beginning: In February 2012, I had my first-ever mammogram. At the end, the mammographer hugged me. Not surprisingly, later that week, I was called back for a breast biopsy. During the procedure, the doctor chatted about her thyroid cancer and how women like us learn how to deal and move on. Inexpertly, she wrestled […]
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