u/Head_Reserve_7084

Hi, everyone 🎗

I found this article on Substack and thought it was a really interesting read — honestly, kind of captivating if you’re into the deeper biology behind hormone receptor–positive breast cancer.

It gets into gestagens, receptor conformation, and how hormone signaling may be more complicated than the simple framing we often hear. The article is easily readable, digestible, and the ideas are portable.

Definitely not medical advice — just sharing because I know some of us like to understand the molecular biology side of what we’re living through.

I’ve lurked here since my diagnosis about a year ago, and this community has helped me in ways I can’t fully put into words. I just didn’t have the courage to post until now. In a way, breast cancer has helped me find my courage.

Curious what others think if you read it.

Link: https://open.substack.com/pub/mariabergs/p/gestagens-receptor-conformation-and?r=1pwd9z&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

With love, always,

Chelsea

[CW: oncology, surgery] At some point this year, my medical admin became genuinely unmanageable. It's late May, and I'm already at $535k in billed claims.

Insurance appeals. Chest scan results. PET scan results. MRI results. Glaucomatous changes. MyChart drama; waiting on MyChart messages. Prior auth denials. A third surgery related to oncology. More hormone blockers. Fasting. Preparation. Paperwork. Anesthesia. Latent mitochondrial crashes. A gastroparesis flair.

So I made a picture of a purple cartoon bucket overflowing with all of it and labeled it the F*ck It Bucket.

Not because I'm giving up. Because I needed somewhere to put the things I couldn't deal with today, so I could deal with the one thing I could.

It sounds dumb, but it actually helped. The bucket holds the overflow. I hold myself. That's the whole system.

I've been writing about navigating life with a rare genetic condition — SGCE myoclonus-dystonia, carnitine deficiency, and mitochondrial disease — and all the chaos that came with a breast cancer diagnosis in March 2025. The humor, the science, the insurance hell, the occasional win. The tragedy. The triumph. The grief. The loss of function.

If that sounds like your life, too, I write a Substack about it. Link in my profile.

But also just: does anyone else have a F*ck It Bucket strategy? Because I cannot be the only one.

Thought-provoking read on gestagens and breast cancer biology

[CW: oncology, surgery] At some point this year, my medical admin became genuinely unmanageable. It's late May, and I'm already at $535k in billed claims.