Author: burkak1971
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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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Talking Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD) Massage Therapy with Julie Ackerman of Flow Therapies
Thanks for tuning in overexpressed_blog readers. I am thrilled to post my conversation with Flow Therapies’ Julie Ackerman, LMT, CLT. We spoke on November 19, 2021. At Flow Therapies, Julie Ackerman offers people a rare combination of massage services, including advanced massage techniques, oncology massage, as well as manual lymph drainage massage. Throughout our conversation, […]
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Living the Dance
“Let me love you while the moon is still out. Something in you lit up the heaven in me. The feeling won’t let me sleep. Cause I’m lost in the way you move. The way you feel.” “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa “Jen, you gotta let go of your inner Michael Jackson. […]
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New Year’s Eve 2019
At 9:59 am on 12/31/2019, my oncologist, whom I have known for the last seven years, acknowledges the observations on my CT chest scan with an attending radiologist. I imagine the phone conversation between these two people is full of silences as they both gaze at my interior landscape. Soon after this conversation, my oncologist […]
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