It’s time to tackle Richard Smith’s third request for information about living with advanced cancer: what’s maddening about it? Hmmm … where to start? There are so many maddening things […]
From the other side
Anna Donald starts unpacking
We moved. We are now living between piles of boxes and unpacked, random items: spoons; piles of sports socks; a wooden statue made from a tree in Oxford; the iron; […]
Anna Donald goes to Tasmania
Apparently, we are moving to our new apartment on Thursday. Only we haven’t completed the sale as planned, on Monday. This is our fault, sort of. The bank didn’t send […]
Anna Donald: Funerals and hairstyles
Oh dear. I’ve just been to another funeral. The third one this year. Death swirls its big mysterious cloaks around us (what colour? black? rainbow? purple?), sweeping change to all […]
Anna Donald prepares to move house
We have finally bought an apartment. A home in Sydney. We’ve been renting since October. Being in limbo on two fronts, health and home, was getting a bit much. So […]
Anna Donald: How to behave with chronic, serious disease?
Latest dilemma: how to behave with chronic, serious disease? I’m finding it difficult to know how to present myself. I don’t feel like an invalid, whatever that means these days. […]
Anna Donald: Why cancer is humbling
I’ve promised to explain why advanced cancer is humbling. There are many reasons. […]
Anna Donald: Science, a wonderful, slow tortoise
A few days ago, my scans came back. My liver looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. Blobs, blotches, lines everywhere. Three weeks ago, it had looked quite neat. No longer. […]
Anna Donald: Confessions of a chemo-veteran
I’ve spent the last week reading. I haven’t done much else, because my cough has reached the point where it’s slowing down my movements: constant coughing fits are tiring. On […]
Anna Donald: Mind and body
Thank you again to people sending such encouraging comments. I can’t tell you how uplifting it is to wake up to such lovely responses. A few people have asked me […]