When I asked my oncologist how chemotherapy would impact my sex life, he blushed, looked at the floor, and said, “Oh, you won’t have energy for that.” Period. That was the conversation. What followed was years of navigating sudden menopause, lost libido, and feeling like a stranger in my own body. I had no idea that one unanswered question would eventually spark a calling. Today, I'm sharing how that experience is leading me into an exciting new chapter, and why we desperately need to talk about the parts of healing that too often go unspoken.
Author: Melissa Eppard
Let’s Talk about Consent: What does it look and feel like?
The conversation all parents or guardians need to be having with their children right now is about CONSENT. How do you practice these skills of saying "no", gaining consent, accepting a "no," and experiencing bodily autonomy?
Just Because I Can Doesn’t Mean I Should: How to Balance Commitments and Self-Care
Just because you CAN doesn't mean that you should. It is so easy to overcommit ourselves, especially when you are the schedule-master for your family. Notice how different it feels to choose from alignment rather than obligation. What is waiting for you when you find and declare your firm and courageous "No"?
How to Emotionally Prepare for Surgery
When surgery is looming, finding the people, practices, activities and rituals that speak to you, that give you grounding and meaning is the place to start. Here are some ways that I prepared emotionally for my surgery after a cancer diagnosis.
Steady as She Goes
How do you stay the course? How do you keep showing up and remaining steady in all the adulting required in your life when you feel the urge to retract? Here are some practices I lean on when I feel this way...
Pleasure as Self-Preservation
There are periods in life when survival mode quietly becomes our default setting. The mind begins moving from one problem to the next, constantly scanning for what needs attention or what could go wrong. The body becomes something we push forward through responsibilities, appointments, and obligations. Many people who have moved through illness, trauma, caregiving,… Continue reading Pleasure as Self-Preservation
The Trauma Hangover
When it All Comes Crashing Down Spoiler, I don’t have pancreatic cancer. Currently there is no looming new cancer diagnosis that I know of, but to commit that to words feels like spitting in the wind. I’m giving away the ending to spare my loved ones from the dramatic suspense, the hanging cliff that writers… Continue reading The Trauma Hangover
My Cancer Support Home
I know there are stages of grief, but there doesn't seem to be the luxury of time around the denial. After the shock of the news that my local oncology support program was closing, I landed largely on anger. How could this be happening if the Herbert H. and Sofia P. Reuner Cancer Support House was, as… Continue reading My Cancer Support Home
Pleasure IS Healing: Why Sexual pleasure matters
*In this piece I am writing to the cancer survivor, but insert whatever life change has interrupted your connection to your body and pleasure—menopause, depression, really anything. There will be some value for you here too. x In 2023 I helped host a retreat for breast cancer survivors who opted to go flat after mastectomy,… Continue reading Pleasure IS Healing: Why Sexual pleasure matters
They kept telling me to get a biopsy, but that was entirely wrong.
The mismanagement of crucial records and lack of conscientious administrative practices can cause unnecessary trauma for patients, or worse, result in mismanagement of care with deleterious results. I presented the front desk of my primary doctor’s office with my mother’s genetic results showing her recent RET+ Medullary Thyroid Cancer diagnosis on January 3, 2024, as… Continue reading They kept telling me to get a biopsy, but that was entirely wrong.