Blogging About Cancer

Fuggedabout about Kubler-Ross's levels of grief. Nowadays, if you get cancer (or someone you love does), there are the 7 Cancer Levels of Internet:

1) You google like crazy all the terms you hear the doctors say, in an effort to know what's going on. Of course, the main thing you're searching for is what you have, and whether you'll survive it.

2) Because of all that googling, along with the medical sites, you land on some blogs of folks/parents dealing with cancer and read them furiously, going backwards to see how it was diagnosed and fast forwarding to see if the person is still alive.

3) You get on discussion lists with other people who have the kind of cancer you have.

4) If you're a parent, you start a "caringbridge" site or one like it, so that rather than answer the phone all day, you can post the patient's updates there.

5) You start your own personal blog.

6) You begin checking the blogs of a handful of other cancer patients/parents daily. As they do well, you rejoice. When they have a downturn, it is devastating to you.

7) You write about the fact that you read these blogs in your blog.

And here I am.

I just read on another site that May 17 is "Livestrong" day, and part of it involves a request for people to blog about cancer topics most important to them on that day.

For many of us 'doing the battle' right now, every day is Live Strong day. But I like the idea of lots of people picking that day to post about how cancer has affected them. Everyone has a story -- their own cancer scare, a favorite aunt, the neighbor down the street.

Or a really cute baby.