I had a scary experience this week. I went to my Oncology appointment on Monday, and mentioned a lump I found under my armpit while trying to stretch my scar tissue.  For four days, I’d been checking it, telling my anxiety that it is more likely to be nothing than something; I refused to let my anxiety rule my thoughts.  My left armpit is where the three...

I drive from my house to the hospital, making allowances for traffic on the highway, construction traffic, university traffic, and hospital construction traffic.  I park in the parking garage, and take two different elevators, one up, walk three hallways over, then a different one down.  I arrive in the Radiology suite, and I swipe my ID bar code under the scanner...

I’ve slept in my own bed for five nights now.  Staying in my childhood home was a necessary respite.  Greta is not one of those children who sits quietly on your knee and coos.  She climbs and burrows and pounds and pummels — all with love.  I tried to teach her “gentle”, which resulted in modified slaps to my shoulder.  Who am I to squelch...

I was diagnosed six months ago today.  It is both a blink and an eternity. I’m still in the cancer journey.  As expected, the journey did not end with my surgery: there is still much to do.  Receiving my NED (no evidence of disease) is awesome.  All of the treatment I am undergoing currently aims to maintain that status, well, forever. I have eight...

Surgery. Well, it was two weeks ago.  I haven’t really blogged much about it.  The highlights are pretty much that Dr. Awesome aced her job and cut all of the cancer that was left after chemo. So now, I am NED and cancer-free! Everything else kind of pales in comparison, so it seems insignificant to blather about pain, side effects, drains, body image, and...

For anyone who might be interested, an article about me appeared in Monday’s Cincinnati Enquirer; it is also online here. Happy reading!