About Cindy Greb and the Breast Blog

Thank you for your interest in breasts!  LOL

Seriously, this blog was begun for a serious reason.   When I first discovered I had “suspicious abnormalities” on both mammograms and ultrasounds, I only told a few close friends.  I found I needed time alone to process my fears and feelings.  Eventually I realized that 1) it helped me to write about all that I was experiencing, and 2) that I knew there were huge numbers of women in the world who were also being told they had “concerning” mammograms.  I decided it could be helpful for others to know there is someone else out there who has gone through the same thing.  I decided that perhaps this was one thing I shouldn’t keep bottled up inside.  (After all, cancer is hidden inside the body and we would prefer that it be out, out, OUT!!!)  I decided I could share some of the things I was learning – about medical procedures, about the medical system, about risk factors, about treatment options, about all the crazy mixed up emotions, about support, about spiritual reflection, about getting clear and finding balance, etc.

My name is Cindy Greb.  I am someone who loves being a woman.  I am a spiritually inclined, blessed and grateful woman who loves nature, people, and this beautiful Earth we live on.

I grew up in rural/suburban Pennsylvania, an hour’s drive from Philadelphia, but in the last fifteen years, I’ve lived in the Bay area of California, the Santa Fe area of New Mexico, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Colorado, the Mt. Shasta area of northern California, and briefly in beautiful Montana.

I love to teach, speak, write, draw, paint, and take photos.  I adore animals, and I love singing, dancing, and ecstatic spiritual gatherings.  I have been a massage therapist, a hospice chaplain and bereavement counselor, a petsitter, and a writer (Grief and Grace: Stories at the Intersection of Life and Death.)  I’ve traveled back and forth and all around the country many times. I’ve had wonderful heart-opening trips to Nicaragua, England and Wales, Hawaii, Alaska, and Brazil. It’s a beautiful world.

The older I get, the more I am learning how important it is to be my authentic self.  This self would love to share with you about both the trauma and the gifts in receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer.  Undoubtedly, you’ve experienced fear, confusion, doubt, and a plethora of rollercoastering emotions. I talk about that. I also talk about what I learned, the experiences I had, the research I did, etc. I talk about both bad and good doctors and how to find the right ones; about how when you’re deciding on a course of treatment it is so important to do the research but then go with the gut; about what the doctors tell you and what they neglect to tell you; about what it’s really like to get a stereotactic biopsy or a lumpectomy; about what the recovery is really like; about what the risk factors are and how I wish I’d known; and about what foods and supplements can really support our body in its healing journey.

Cancer is something that can send us on such an existential quest.  Why did I get it? Will I die? What can I learn from it? What I finally learned (spoiler alert!) was that it was really important that I stop doing whatever did not bring me joy, and that I start living the life I really wanted to live! It’s pretty amazing how when we figure that out, oftentimes that’s when our body and spirit begin to heal.

There is so much to learn! I’m hoping that by reading about someone who’s been there, the journey will be just a little easier.

I wish you well. May you be blessed!