Amy’s survived her surgery much to her charming anesthesiologist’s surprise. Stef’s onto a new treatment regimen, and so far it’s NOT a tough pill to swallow. In letters we’ve hit the gold mine…( or maybe we just mined it?): when a listener is feeling cornered by the calendar, we’re once again asking, where is the comfort in NEAD? In RATS we ponder if it’s nature, nurture or maybe a sweet synthetic compound? Could cancer actually be cured and we’re just the last to know? (Spoiler: Even the Lyme experts say that’s not true.)

Dr Andrea Love’s Immunologic newsletter: https://news.immunologic.org/p/no-one-is-hiding-cures-for-cancer

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New Year, new health insurance? Amy’s finally getting that free boob job people are always talking about, but does she even want it? And hey—you know what else has no co-pay? Your letters! We want to hear about your insurance woes. In hair news, Stef’s contemplating wigs while Amy’s reunited with her long lost barber. An e-mail tease named Chad offers up his list of ways to support folks with MBC, and after losing a friend to ALS, Stef gently reminds us that support for anyone with a life-limiting illness isn’t a one-and-done. Let’s talk about medical aid in dying as a human right. The Christmas RAT’s last gasp is that benzo deep dive we promised listener Gabrielle. Happy Holidays, ya filthy animals!

•Here are all the links about benzos and cancer:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5731963/

https://www.psychiatrist.com/jcp/association-benzodiazepine-increased-cancer-risk-is/

https://www.aacr.org/patients-caregivers/progress-against-cancer/medication-used-in-cancer-care-may-be-linked-to-worse-outcomes/

•Here is Al & Hannah’s documentary: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GESVph-1RYY

•And here is the Death With Dignity website for those in the USA: https://deathwithdignity.org

•Here is information on MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) in Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-services-benefits/medical-assistance-dying.html

•Here is Chelsey Gomez (AKA ohyouresotough) on NPR: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/18/nx-s1-5179011/cancer-ghosting-survivorship-young-survivors

•And here’s where you can listen to her pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tough-friends-collective/id1764862769

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Did you catch the NPR article about us? Cancer people, that is. Or…one cancer person, whose life was—get this—changed by cancer. Amy’s also noticing that the Health section of the newspaper is…well, extremely healthy. Those of us with uninspirational stories would like some media representation, if you don’t mind! A listener—ahem, our new best friend—says it’s hard to mask as a muggle when all you can think about is the big C. And when anxiety gets the best of you, will the benzos betray you with heightened recurrence risk? What a rip. We dip a toe into the convo and promise to come back with more. Then, Beata-fying a scientist is exactly our jam. RATS herald the unlikely hero who cooked up her own treatment in a virology lab. The votive candles are already in production.

NPR’s article: https://www.npr.org/2024/11/11/nx-s1-5172234/cancer-survivorship-young-patient-profile

Makers Making Change: https://www.makersmakingchange.com

RATS: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03647-0

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