LC, casilly, vogel, Linda: C4YW

Mike and I attended a conference this past weekend in Orlando, FL. It was C4YW (Conference for Young Women) sponsored by Young Survival Coalition and Living Beyond Breast Cancer.

Over 700 women joined the conference, representing nearly every state and 10 different countries. I attended the same conference in 2006 in Denver -- only 400 women were there. Incredible how much it has grown in those years (makes me wonder if it is growing due to better advertising... or due to the number of young women diagnosed with breast cancer??)

As the conference approached, I became a bit nervous about attending. I knew that so much of the event was a "celebration of survivorship" and dealing with "the fear of recurrence"... "fertility after breast cancer".. "finding your new normal"... topics that really don't resonate for me... in fact, these are topics that cut like a knife, an ugly reminder of the realities of advanced breast cancer vs early stage breast cancer. I dreaded having to wear "the orange lei".

Well, I didn't have to wear orange (they changed the color codes and it's purple now!) and there were separate breakout sessions tailored to the "mets girls". This made it easy for us to find one another and we were like our own little sorority, slightly related to all the other women, but so much more aware of the ugliest side of the beast we call breast cancer.

We flew down to Orlando on Wednesday, first class (the tickets for 1st class were cheaper than those for coach!) I have never flown first class before... needless to say, it was a bit of a let-down! It was nice to board first and to have snacks served to us, but for a 1.5 hour flight, it wasn't really worth the hype.

Aunt Joan, Hugh and Mary Beth (Mike's family) picked us up from the airport and we met up with Uncle Bud to have a lovely dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (a very cool soup/salad bar place... Nancy, you would have loved it!) While all too short, we had a lovely visit with the Krater's.

Thursday, we headed out early to spend the day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. We had a beautiful day for it and we enjoyed the park very much. The new Harry Potter ride was worth the 1 hour wait and the "Express Pass" purchase (extra fee to skip the line) was worth every penny! We rode nearly every ride (even the kiddie rides), including Dr Doom Fearfall (never thought I would ride that! I felt like one of the girls on "the bachelor" trying to overcome my fears and "take a risk"!), The Hulk Coaster (3x!) and pretty much every other ride that was open! Afterwards, we had dinner at Bob Marley's along CityWalk and then headed back to the hotel. A quick dip in the hotel's hot tub (much needed after the tiring day at Universal) and I was ready to crash by 8:30pm.

The conference ran Friday - Sunday. While some of the sessions were better than others, overall it was worth the trip. I wish I had the time and energy to help them run that conference... there were so many things that could have been done better... but then again, I have pretty high standards! We met some really wonderful women, a few supportive men and we learned a few things while we were at it. The sessions included:

Living with Mets: Understanding Trauma and Managing Your Stress Responses (Rating: D-)
Care for the Caregiver: Metastatic Breast Cancer (Mike)
Metastatic Breast Cancer: Treatment Update (Linda, Rating: A)
Care for the Caregiver: Men Only (Mike)
End-of-Life Issues: Creating a Legacy in Letters (Linda, Rating: B+)
Healthy Living: Food and Fitness (Mike)
Healthy Living: Food and Fitness (Linda, Rating B)
Plenary Session 1: Medical Update (Mike & Linda, Rating A)
Plenary Session 2: Self Image (Mike & Linda, Rating B)
Plenary Session 3: Nurturing the Spirit (Mike & Linda, Rating A)

The sessions are supposed to be up on C4YW -- if you are interested, you can listen to the pod cast (there were also many other breakout sessions). I was really glad that Mike came along with me. It made me feel really supported and it gave him a chance to learn a little bit more and connect with a few others in similar situations. While they had a few "care for the caregiver" sessions, it became obvious that there really isn't much available out there for "men who love women with breast cancer"... and I suspect they could benefit from some way of connecting... even if it is just to sit next to each other and drink a beer (men don't always like to talk about their feelings, but it has got to be nice to know that there is someone else out there who knows what it is like to have a wife dealing with this).