I wrote in a journal during this time and did initial sketches about my diagnoses.   I don’t have the sketches now, but I will post them at a later time with a future post on current processing.  One other way was my arts & crafts, and my online psych classes toward my undergraduate art studio degree.

I started and finished knitting/crocheting a blanket from my mom’s yarn stash during treatment (and will post a picture later).  Doing my crafting, (yarn, embroidery, etc.)  helped keep my hands nimble in between the cramping.

My painting at that time was mainly for finishing me incompletes at school, but it ended up turning really personal and helpful.  I have a series of 3 paintings that I will post that started as a class project about a metaphor and turned into a story of my cancer.

At that time though I wasn’t talking about my feelings about my experience and the painting while powerful to me, escaped others’ perceptions. (I had submitted it into my senior art show as a school assignment, not a personal project as my professor had encouraged me to do) it was not accepted into the show, but surprisingly a past sculpture based on anger and stress release was accepted instead.

I realize now how important it is to process something as extreme as having cancer, and how many ways the experience has affected who I am and who I’m working toward being.

Shortly after diagnoses I found a book series- Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr, it helped me, and my parents deal with the situation.  The author has a rare incurable cancer and uses humor.  Other books in the series include Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor, Diet and Kitchen. She also had a DVD biography shown on lifetime and an eBook on smoothies.   Www.crazysexycancer.com

I was also introduced to Imerman angels, a free cancer support group that helps connect patient survivors and caregivers who have similar experiences, so they know they aren’t alone.