Never knew I wanted to be a breast cancer survivor

I have finally taken the leap and published my breast cancer memoir: Never knew I wanted to be a breast cancer survivor.

This memoir began as a Autoethnographic PhD study. I analyzed the first year of blog posts written on BC Becky, my breast cancer blog. My analysis involved constructing themes. The themes helped me choose which of the blog posts made their way into the book. Over the next several blog posts, I’m going to share the results of my analysis. For starters, the themes I identified are:

• Developing coping mechanisms
• Navigating the healthcare system
• Learning about the disease
• Understanding side effects
• Advocating
• Exploring body image
• Making decisions
• Negotiating identity

I came to the conclusion that these themes aligned with patient health literacies that I developed throughout my treatment experience.

If you are reading the book, can you see these themes? Do you see any other themes in the book?