{"id":45551,"date":"2020-10-25T22:40:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T02:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=45551"},"modified":"2020-10-25T23:19:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T03:19:27","slug":"rip-chiara-dagostino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/rip-chiara-dagostino\/","title":{"rendered":"RIP, Chiara D’Agostino"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year ago today, I brought a cake to the hospital so my friend Chiara D’Agostino<\/a> could celebrate her 48th birthday during her chemo appointment. Chiara died<\/a> this August 4 of a complication of stage 4 triple negative metastatic breast cancer — leptomeningeal disease, in which the cancer invades the fluid around the brain and spinal cord. I wasn’t ready to write a tribute to her immediately after her death, but today is perfect, because we used to laugh over the fact that I had no excuse for forgetting her birthday was Oct. 25, 1971.<\/p>\n

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Oct. 25, 2019. Click for original post.<\/p><\/div><\/center><\/p>\n

As anyone who has spent a lot of time in hospitals knows, staffers are constantly requesting that patients confirm their names and birthdate. If 10 nurses\/residents\/doctors happen to encounter you during, say, an eight-hour emergency-room visit, you’ll be asked for your identifying information at least 10 times. Yes, you’re wearing an ID wristband, but the conversation is still mandatory. This probably sounds like it shouldn’t be a big deal, but introducing yourself multiple times to strangers you never see again — so they don’t make a mistake and get sued by your next of kin — becomes annoying when you’re at the hospital exhausted, vomiting, attached to an IV, and surrounded by beeping monitors. Also, this is the third hospital visit in a week and your pain is so bad that even methadone only eases it a little. See how much you like repeating basic facts about yourself then! But the worst interaction was always when some poor surgical nurse from outside Chiara’s regular team — charged with trying to get a summary of Chiara’s vast medical history prior to a procedure — would ask, “So which side is the breast cancer on?” We’d scream, “IT’S EVERYWHERE!” I mean, that’s literally the definition of stage 4 metastatic cancer.<\/p>\n

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Leaving #pinktober like…. . . . \ud83d\udcf8 by @mrk_san_francisco #fuckcancer #tired #fighter #boxing #boxinggloves #bilateralmastectomy #breastcancerawareness #doublemastectomy #breastcancer #metastaticbreastcancer #stage4cancer #mbc #bcsm #tnbc #triplenegativebreastcancer #freethenipple #sanfrancisco #chemotherapy #baldgirl #silverqueen #flatandstillfabulous #beauty #bodyacceptance #bodyconfience #skin #photography #bodypositive #lovetheskinyourein #beautythroughthebeast<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by BeautyThroughTheBeast\u2122\ufe0f<\/a> (@beautythroughthebeast) on