ConnectAble Therapies

12/12/2024

It's that time again, when dark humour can be the sole thread to coping. ❤️💚🤍🎄

(TW: Cancer side-effects + my singing)

Just for laughs, I rewrote this Christmas carol to include the numbers of all my cancer appointments, scans & tests. I hope you laugh as much as I did making...

17/11/2024

23/10/2024

I'm in a non-consensual 24/7 dom/sub relationship with life's trivialities.

How do I live while dying?
How long do I have left to live?
When will the treatments stop working?
Do I live like I only have a few months left to live?
Do I live like I have a few years left?

Gotta go to the doctor to get some scripts
Should I be cautious with spending my life savings?
What is the meaning of my life?
How can I fulfil and exist in that meaning?

How can I 'live well' for my remaining days feeling like this
And What does that even mean?
I need toilet paper
S**t, I forgot to exercise and the sun's gone down...
I can't go for a walk, I might get assaulted

Pills, take the pills, drink the powders, time for the pills.
How can I get through each day on these treatments
When everything is so much work?
Time for treatment again

Continue to swallow the thing that makes me feel so awful
Yet is keeping me alive
Do I want to be 'alive', when this is 'living'?
I need to renew my Flybuys card

When do I choose quality of life, over quantity?
Go to the appointment, get to the other appointment
Did you go to the appointment?
Time for treatment

Did you take your pills?

Don't forget to use the creams
Swallow, insert, mix, lather, did you take your pills?
How can I enjoy the joys of life
When my treatments cause joylessness?

Make every moment count
You don't know how long you have left
Every moment is effort
Is this all in my head?
Don't gaslight yourself

I need more self-compassion
I need to pay my water-bill
People want to see me
People want to hear from me

I'm too unwell to work
I need to pay rent
Is this all in my head?
Do I need to be cautious with my savings?

Do the thing
Go to the thing
Be at the thing
It's why I'm here

What is the meaning of life?
I need to get petrol
Another month has gone
Did I make it count?

Should I keep organising my funeral?
What gives me purpose
Why am I here?
Gotta get to that appointment

Did I take my pills?

Don't forget to rest
No one knows how long I have left
Car rego is due
How should I live like I have 2 months or two years left?

How do I live while dying?

Repeat.

© Tess Deveze 2024
insta-

10/10/2024

Important announcement for survivors and fighters also living in Melbourne!!
I've been working with a research team on a project to open a s*xuality clinic at the Peter Mac hospital (where I also get treatment).
We're at the stage where a workshop will be run to learn from patients to set it up as best we can. We want to do this right, and that means talking with each other, and sharing with each other.
If you're Melbourne based, please take a look at this post from Peter Mac.
We need more hospitals to address this, and as Peter Mac is globally renowned, maybe other hospitals will lead by example. Any help is appreciated (you get $150 reimbursement and lunch).
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I'm also copying and pasting a few links to articles/info etc if you're interested.
Expression of interest form link: https://redcap.link/rpbbuhnf
Peter Mac News article: https://www.petermac.org/.../s*x-and-cancer-unlocking-the...
Peter Mac Facebook post link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/UXK6SdZadYtBmEbw/

A Peter Mac research team is embarking on a new study to uncover the often unspoken challenges with s*x and intimacy faced by patients following cancer treatment.

“Addressing s*xuality concerns is a vital part of holistic cancer care and we want patients to feel empowered to discuss these issues without shame or embarrassment,” lead researcher A\Prof Safeera Hussainy says.

“We don’t want people suffering in silence – we want to be having more conversations about s*xuality and getting our patients the help they need.”

The research team is running a three-hour workshop at Peter Mac Melbourne - accepting applications from today - to help them better understand the patient experience so they can develop a new s*xuality service at Peter Mac.

Click the link to find out more and to register: https://www.petermac.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/details/s*x-and-cancer-unlocking-the-challenges-faced-by-patients

10/10/2024

Important announcement for survivors and fighters also living in Melbourne!!
I've been working with a research team on a project to open a s*xuality clinic at the Peter Mac hospital (where I also get treatment).
We're at the stage where a workshop will be run to learn from patients to set it up as best we can. We want to do this right, and that means talking with each other, and sharing with each other.

If you're Melbourne based, please take a look at this post from Peter Mac.
We need more hospitals to address this, and as Peter Mac is globally renowned, maybe other hospitals will lead by example. Any help is appreciated (you get $150 reimbursement and lunch).

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I'm also copying and pasting a few links to articles/info etc if you're interested.
Expression of interest form link: https://redcap.link/rpbbuhnf
Peter Mac News article: https://www.petermac.org/.../s*x-and-cancer-unlocking-the...
Peter Mac Facebook post link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/UXK6SdZadYtBmEbw/

A Peter Mac research team is embarking on a new study to uncover the often unspoken challenges with s*x and intimacy faced by patients following cancer treatment.

“Addressing s*xuality concerns is a vital part of holistic cancer care and we want patients to feel empowered to discuss these issues without shame or embarrassment,” lead researcher A\Prof Safeera Hussainy says.

“We don’t want people suffering in silence – we want to be having more conversations about s*xuality and getting our patients the help they need.”

The research team is running a three-hour workshop at Peter Mac Melbourne - accepting applications from today - to help them better understand the patient experience so they can develop a new s*xuality service at Peter Mac.

Click the link to find out more and to register: https://www.petermac.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/details/s*x-and-cancer-unlocking-the-challenges-faced-by-patients

07/10/2024

When you realise someone you admire, also admires you …
🥹🥹🥹🥹

*xuality

02/10/2024

There's a LOT of different types of l***s, and each of them have pro's and con's on when is best to use them (and for what)

💛🧡❤️💜

If s*x is toast, l**e is the spread.The info: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HX5DTDT Excerpt from full interview here: 🌹 h ttps://youtu.be/Xc76m_RNrn0CancerUn...

30/09/2024

A clinical trick I used to manage my fatigue during my treatments (which gave me a little more energy for the fun stuff 😉)

🩵💙💜

The info: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HX5DTDT Excerpt from full interview here: 🌹 h ttps://youtu.be/Xc76m_RNrn0CancerUniversity in USA interviewing s*x and...

26/09/2024

Happy (very) belated Cl****is day! 🎁
Without realising yesterday was international cl****is day, this photo was taken of me, playing with my two cl****ises! (I have a few in my car, and a few in my home!

One is pre-engorgement, the other, engorged and GLOWS IN THE DARK!!! So incredible for educational purposes, but also, they’re super fun to play with! (inyourendo!) 😏

I love them, thank you so much for these. I love the inclusion of the structures before engorgement, such an important part of our process!!!

What’s the plural of cl****is…. clitori? cl****ises? clitorati? 😅🧡💜💙

***a *xuality

24/09/2024

Losing a pleasure area on our body happens more often than you think. Surgery, radiotherapy, brain injury, medications, and more.
Thanks to the wonders of our brain (I love neuroscience!) we can create new ones, and circumstances depending, RECOVER sensation.
❤️💛🩵

The info: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HX5DTDT Excerpt from full interview here: 🌹 h ttps://youtu.be/Xc76m_RNrn0CancerUniversity in USA interviewing s*x and...

23/09/2024

Changes in body image isn't recognised often as a serious side-effect that deserves attention, but is the most concerning as stated by 250 cancer survivors I surveyed.

How we see ourselves, impacts how we relate with the people around us, and interact with the world around us.
Changes in health, surgeries, side-effects, it can lower our self esteem, change our body image. Affect our mental health.
💜💙🩵💚

The info: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HX5DTDT Excerpt from full interview here: 🌹 h ttps://youtu.be/Xc76m_RNrn0CancerUniversity in USA interviewing s*x and...