Some Girls Prefer Carnations: Cancer can suck it or bite me or whatever

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Cancer can suck it or bite me or whatever

It's that time of year when Federal employees are evaluated for their performance. A performance year runs from October 1 through the following September 30. Last week I assembled all of my accomplishments and attempted accomplishments into one 3-page bullet-ed list. At the risk of being egotistical, I am going to share a portion of this list with you.

I spent a lot of time debating whether or not to write this post. You see, I want to share my excitement over what I was able to accomplish this year IN SPITE OF cancer. I want to write this post and tell cancer to shove it. I want to show the world that I am still a productive human being even though I went through this brain-killing experience. I want to inspire future patients. However, I don't want to be too prideful. I want to stay on the good side of the line between self-confidence and egotism.

But at the end of the day, I'm pretty dang pleased with myself, so let's just give me this one post to gloat a little bit, please? Thus far in 2011, my collaborators and I have 5 publications that are either published (1), accepted (2), or submitted (2). I just submitted one of the papers today. Wow did that feel good.

This is more than I've ever had in a single year, and it happens to be the year of the cancer. I get all misty-eyed just thinking about the dichotomy between the above list and what I've been through.

Huzzah and boo-ya and virtual high-fives to everyone! YES you may buy me a drink.

Cancer can suck it.

10 comments:

MarthaSeptember 27, 2011 at 11:39 PM
That rocks. I mean Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!

Our lab has been discussing scientific research showing that on average girls are socialized to show less pride than their male counterparts. However my dissertation (thank you very much) is showing that taking the time to savor and share about one's accomplishments is a protective against depression.

So that is to say in my almost professional opinion bragging is excellent. So good for you! And also thank you for giving me the opportunity to do some bragging in my comment as well :)
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DarciSeptember 27, 2011 at 11:59 PM
I love this so much. I can't wait for our discussion about all the interesting things you have discovered.
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LoriSeptember 28, 2011 at 12:39 AM
What a fitting Rosh Hashanah post - I got a card from a friend today - but I bet it was meant for you - L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year). Way to go H.K.Allen.
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AnonymousSeptember 28, 2011 at 9:58 AM
Uh huh!
I never adequately celebrate pubs. and i don't know why. they are such a huge accomplishment. every last one of them. and in your last year's case....every last FIVE of them. AMAZING!
consider drink bought and cheers made:)
maggie
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JessicaSeptember 28, 2011 at 11:16 AM
Holy freaking cow. Biggest high five ever. Women in bizzness need to celebrate how much booty they kick in the workplace - and you, my dear, are truly leading the pack! And you are my knitting/crochet idol...which just makes you all the more awesome.
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BeckySeptember 28, 2011 at 11:34 AM
SO, SO, SOOOOOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!

Cancer can TOTALLY suck it. You go girl!

xo B.
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FrankSeptember 28, 2011 at 5:50 PM
Suggested theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Hy7uAb_eU
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HeatherSeptember 29, 2011 at 9:16 PM
Thanks everyone, especially Martha for the justification. And Brass in Pocket is the PERFECT theme song!!!!
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RachelSeptember 29, 2011 at 9:47 PM
Seriously rocking, Heather! That first author one on food additive AB effects on swine fecal microbiome sounds extra-neat.
Good to see you the other day! Sorry if I was awkward, the ongoing saga of the missing reagents did not end well.
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mapmanOctober 14, 2011 at 7:31 PM
You failed to list "super-human" under labels...
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Books I've read recently

TRUTH AND BEAUTY by Ann Patchett "'Grief isn't something to "be gotten through." It has no life of its own like that, it's just plain and simply there.'" and "History is strangely incomprehensible when you're standing in the middle of it."
THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS by Ann Patchett "I wanted to be able to stop hoping that she would turn into something else."
MY OWN COUNTRY by Abraham Verghese "I remember the acts of human kindness that illumine our world."
IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES: No. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY NOVEL #6 by Alexander McCall Smith
CEREMONY by Leslie Marmon Silko
THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery "There's so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature..."
A WALK IN THE WOODS by Bill Bryson
THE LACUNA by Barbara Kingsolver "'Soli, let me tell you. The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.'"
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FACE by Lucy Grealy "Sooner or later we all have to learn the words with which to name our own private losses..." and "Part of the job of being human is to consistently underestimate our effect on other people..." and "Sometimes the briefest moments capture us, force us to take them in, and demand that we live the rest of our lives in reference to them."
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sarah Gruen "Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently spreads cancer throughout your spouse."
THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett "'I have decided not to die.'" and "Oh, I just break down then. It's like two years a doing and trying and hoping all come out at once."
THE TENNIS PARTNER by Abraham Verghese "Would that I had the chance in my sons' lifetime and my own to one day explain to them all the forces that moved me."
THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison "And then the tears rushed down his cheeks, to make a bouquet under his chin."
REMARKABLE CREATURES by Tracy Chevalier "My life led up to that moment, then led away again, like the tide making its highest mark on the beach and then retreating."
RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8 by Beverly Cleary "Mrs. Quimby smiled and said, 'I can tell you're beginning to get well when you act like a wounded tiger.'"
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway "You see, Mr. Barnes, it is because I have lived so very much that now I can enjoy everything so well."
THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton "The happiest folk are those that are busy, for their minds are starved of time to seek out woe." And, speaking of hospitals: "An irony that a place relying so heavily on routine should operate so resolutely outside time's usual rhythms."
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins "Of course, the odds have not been very dependable of late."
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot "That cancer was a terrible thing."
THE THIEF OF ALWAYS by Clive Barker "Was there some way...to take back the stolen years, and live them here, with the people who loved him, and whom he loved dearly in return?"
CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese "The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not." Best book I've read in a year

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Cancer can suck it or bite me or whatever

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