Checking in after 2 years since I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer to share that recovery from the trauma of a diagnosis is possible. In the last episode I talked about inner strength that I use in managing my mindset as a survivor. The outlook of knowing I will be ok and controlling the things I am allowed to control does not restrict me from looking back at my recovery. This podcast is about sharing my story and advocating. The milestones of recovery from what makes up a diagnosis are...
Aug 08, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 58
The title says it all in this episode. It is really necessary to navigate my mindset on a regularl basis. Most days are busy with what needs to be done in the now or present (work, exercise, the daily tasks that fill our time). There is still always an opportunity for doubt or fear or loss of hope to creep into the forefront of my thoughts. I share what is helpful to stay on the positive track in this episode. I also talk about my awareness of what is not helpful and how I steer clear of the unh...
Jul 22, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 57
There are new realizations all the time in this breast cancer life experience. I recently realized I need to preserve the veins in my arm not affected by breast cancer surgery. I have been mindful about not getting any injections, blood draws or bug bites on my left arm since I had my mastectomy and sentinel lymph node dissection 2 years ago. Recently I realized that preserving the veins in my right arm is something to be mindful about. I have had a few blood draws over the past year. These are ...
Jul 11, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 56
It has been 2 years since my mastectomy and immediate reconstruction with an implant. I am about to go to my annual plastic surgery follow up appointment right after recording this episode. I always say that the plastic surgeon put me back together after the breast surgeon took me apart to remove the cancer (and the left breast in my case). So you will hear me say that the plastic surgery appointment is easy compared to the medical oncology or breast surgery follow up appointments. The plastic s...
Jul 04, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Two things happened on the day I am recording this episode that make me think about how my life is different because of breast cancer. I was doing so well not thinking about breast cancer today that I forgot to implement the usual precautions for avoiding any bug bites on my left arm. I was bitten by an ant on my left hand at the end of my walk today. Tiny ants biting seems like no big deal, but the general strategy for lymphedema prevention is to avoid impairing the integrity of the skin on the...
Jun 20, 2025•18 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Once I got my diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma, I was immensely scared of dying. I was shocked and sad about the diagnosis. I was sure I needed a double mastectomy, because I never wanted to get diagnosed with another breast cancer. My doctors did not recommend a double mastectomy. I only had the left mastectomy. I started tamoxifen a few weeks after surgery. Now, two years since the diagnosis, I am confident that I will not be diagnosed with a cancer in my remaining (right) breast. There ...
May 09, 2025•14 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Because of breast cancer, fear of cancer recurrence is a permanent part of my life. I continue taking tamoxifen to reduce my risk of the cancer coming back. In this episode I share my thoughts on the good quality of life I have while taking tamoxifen. I value my strong body and theimited side-effects I have now. I also value a life with the lowest possible risk of breast cancer recurrence. I look forward to discussing what it might mean to switch to an aromatase inhibitor, in terms of further lo...
Apr 25, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Preparing for breast cancer surgery was all-consuming once I found out I had an invasive ductal carcinoma in my left breast. I never stopped to think about what might be part of recovery from the nipple-sparing and skin-sparing mastectomy until I was in the recovery room. Then I learned the skin on my left breast was potentially going to be at risk for impaired healing or tissue death. My plastic surgeon had a solution for mitigating this at-risk situation. In this episode, I am sharing how I sp...
Apr 11, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 51
I had a choice in terms of what would be the best option to remove the invasive ductal carcinoma that I had just learned was in my left breast. I had recently had a biopsy in a different part of my left breast. Given that there were 2 places that had the potential or were actually problematic, I opted for a mastectomy. I thought that if there were 2 problem areas, there were likely to be more problem areas in that breast. I did not want to take any chances on having more cancer. I also wanted to...
Apr 04, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 50
In 2023, when I had my cancer surgery, there was a non-cancerous spot on the right that was recommended for a biopsy. At the time, I did not ask any questions about why take out =NORMAL! breast tissue? Hindsight is 2020. On screening MRIs for the right breast in 2024, the same “non-mass enhancement” that was seen in 2023 (before any breast surgery) keeps showing up in the imaging report. The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatmen...
Mar 21, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 49
My swimming workout is my ultimate treat each week. I consider it a great escape because it takes me to an alternate place. In the water, my body is horizontal. I glide through the water and work all the muscles in my body, from head to toe. I am on a different plane and weightless in the water. This roughly 45 minute experience restores my mental and physical energy. It helps me to feel better in my skin. When I finish, I take a long (and usually warm) shower. I head right home to finish drying...
Feb 16, 2025•17 min•Season 1Ep. 48
I am at a point now where I have follow-up breast imaging. I suspect everything will be normal. I considered rescheduling the upcoming appointments related to my breast cancer until after the holiday season. A few common thoughts that I bring up in this episode: Survivorship can be difficult, even when things are going well Everything has the potential to be something in the body after a history of breast cancer Testing (a breast MRI) in December has the potential to distract me from what is mos...
Dec 21, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 47
In this episode, I talk about being compelled to take on projects that are important to me. This includes a lot of “putting life in order” tasks that seem to be priorities for me now. The year of 2023 was consumed by my health care experience that was centered on the breast cancer screening, diagnosis, recovery and the start of survivorship. Finally, after a year of learning to live as a survivor, I am feeling that I have space in my life to take on extra projects like creating photo albums to t...
Nov 08, 2024•10 min•Season 1Ep. 46
I have talked often about living in the grey zone of survivorship. I know I am not alone in saying that this stage of breast cancer life is harder than the beginning when I was having additional testing and preparing for surgery. I had never discussed what it means to be a survivor with anyone when I was first diagnosed. No one sat down and talked about survivorship with me in the beginning, either. The focus was on getting all the information to formulate a treatment plan. Then it hit me like a...
Oct 18, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 45
I recently met someone who said that they learned about my podcast from my LinkedIn profile. We were meeting regarding our work. She shared that she also had a recent diagnosis of breast cancer - at the same time that I did. She was new to survivorship just like me. It has been just over a year since the heaviness of survivorship really hit me. It forced me to leave my job because I happened to be working specifically with breast cancer clinical trials. I had to get outside of my head and find a...
Oct 11, 2024•15 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Life has evolved since last year, when I was in my breast cancer screening and diagnosis journey. Not long after I recovered from the mastectomy and reconstruction, I learned how hard it is to be a breast cancer survivor. The psychological aspects of being a survivor, particularly the fear of cancer recurrence, prevailed after the incisions healed. To get a sense of control over survivorship, I realized I had to prioritize sleep, exercise, and nutrition to care for myself. Survivorship takes mor...
Oct 04, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 43
In this episode, I share 2 of the thoughts that have recently come up in my life as a breast cancer survivor. There are currently not any healthcare appointments or other reminders of my cancer experience going on. So that is a nice break from times when there were several necessary things I had to do because of my breast cancer history. At this point in my survivorship, new thoughts have come to mind. These are generally positive thoughts and are helping me to normalize this whole experience. l...
Sep 08, 2024•15 min•Season 1Ep. 42
There are many facets to what makes us who we are in our own world. To fit in all that is necessary to live our life as we hope to, it takes work. I share strategies that have guided me in fitting everything together, and I hope they inspire and support you on your own path. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnos...
Aug 23, 2024•14 min•Season 1Ep. 41
It has happened a lot: I come up with what I call surviving and thriving phrases. The phrases (perhaps vignette is a more beautiful word to use) have helped me to organize a lot of what has consumed so much of who I am and how I live my life since the screening and diagnosis began and now as a survivor. In this episode, I share more of these phrases. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who kn...
Aug 12, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 40
It has happened a lot: I come up with what I call surviving and thriving phrases, that characterize my breast cancer experience. Since the screening and diagnosis journey began, these phrases have helped me to organize a lot of what has consumed so much of who I am and how I live my life. In this episode, I start to share these phrases that describe breast cancer life. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, an...
Aug 02, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 39
The core principles of my self-care are adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition. I have a new job and am back to work after some time off. As I adjust to a new schedule of going to work, I am in transition with all aspects of what is really important to me in my efforts to control what I can in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. In this episode, I provide an update on a different week of trying to fit in self-care essentials. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer exp...
Jul 26, 2024•9 min•Season 1Ep. 38
After breast cancer, everything is something even if it is really nothing. Routine breast cancer screening continues for me because I have one remaining breast (the other side is an implant). I talk in this episode about when an MRI report raises the alarm bells. Then there is the additional monitoring because of possible gynecologic side effects from tamoxifen that landed a second (planned) healthcare appointment on my calendar for the week. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cance...
Jul 19, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 37
The core principles of my self-care are adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition. I have a new job and am back to work after some time off. As I adjust to a new schedule of going to work, I am in transition with all aspects of what is really important to me in my efforts to control what I can in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. This episode focuses on my realization that I am not getting enough sleep.I talk about figuring out how to get enough sleep when my body is waking up at 4am ...
Jul 15, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 36
In this episode, I share what I learned about my implant at the 12-month follow-up appointments with the breast surgeon and the plastic surgeon. Despite high satisfaction with the outcome of my 1 surgery, I was not without questions about how the reconstructed breast looks and how the incision healed. In my follow-up appointments, I heard from the doctors some information that would have been helpful to have before surgery or earlier in the recovery. Tune in for the details and see if you can id...
Jul 05, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 35
I was working up to this anniversary in a lot of ways. Largely, it was a major accomplishment (and healing) to get to the point of one year post diagnosis and surgery. When I was almost there, I felt so good and so recovered. I have shared in recent episodes: One Year of Breast Cancer Survivorship: Facing Fears and Reaching Recovery When the actual date arrived this year, I looked at my watch at about 8:20pm and realized “it’s June 14th and at this moment a year ago, I was in the recovery room”....
Jun 27, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Tamoxifen side-effects are often described by health care providers in broad terms. Natalie shares specific side-effects from taking Tamoxifen in this episode. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is...
Jun 14, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Recovery is possible after a breast cancer diagnosis! As I celebrate my first year of survivorship, I reflect on the biggest fear factors I had to overcome. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is li...
Jun 07, 2024•14 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Natalie shares her experience at a special weekend event dedicated to teaching breast cancer survivors the sport of rowing. The learn-to-row weekend was hosted by We Can Row DC . Despite the heat and the threat of storms, the serenity on the water allowed no space for the unhelpful thoughts that can come up after a breast cancer diagnosis. Search for a cancer survivor rowing program - Survivor Rowing Network Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the ...
May 31, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 31
This episode was recorded when recovery from breast cancer surgery was still the primary focus in my life. Post-op life was a little less hectic at this point in time. There certainly seemed to be fewer health care appointments than right after surgery or in the month right before surgery. Despite fewer appointments, life was anything but routine, because recovery from breast cancer surgery is not a routine thing. Listen as I describe the switch back to real clothes (and sleeker bras) and my eff...
May 24, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Natalie shares her reflection on what it was like one year ago, when she received the biopsy results confirming breast cancer. Listen to her story of what it felt like at that moment, filled with fear and unknowns, to now. Natalie shares where she is now, moving forward as a survivor. Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast canc...
May 17, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 29
