The peach emoji

One of the first questions I get when I tell someone I have cancer is inevitably, “What kind of cancer?”

To be honest, I intentionally left out the specific type of cancer because I was a bit embarrassed and it was a moment of awkwardness when someone asked.

Just like you would never ask a woman how old she is or if she is pregnant, if someone doesn’t tell you what part of the body is affected by cancer … it might be best not to ask. It might be more than someone is ready to share or more than you want to hear.

I have a rare form of anal cancer … there I said it.

You see, we don’t talk openly about the cancers down there, you know, the ones below the belt.

Breast cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and liver cancer are all somehow easier to talk about and relate to than anal cancer, vaginal cancer, penile cancer, rectal cancer or prostate cancer.

Maybe it’s because we are little prudish.

Maybe it’s because we associate these body parts with sex … well, some of us … and others don’t even want to think about some of those body parts being used for sex.

Some people are more comfortable talking about those parts of the body than others. In my work I talk about sex and body parts (and all of their synonyms) a lot but when it came to talking abut my cancer I got a little shy and I’m not sure why.

We have to get over it.

We have to get comfortable with it.

We have to talk about it.

We have to do our self-examinations and speak with our doctors.

Not doing it is not an option.

Not doing it can kill you.

In iOS 10.2 Apple is redesigning the peach emoji so it looks less like a perfect cartoon bum and more like a perfect peach.

The Twitter-verse is worried about the future of sexting … I’m worried about how I can blog about 🍑 cancer while typing on my iPhone.