You know, I live a pretty great life.  I love it. Lately, though, I’ve been in the business of dreaming.  Not all of my dreams are about my kids and my husband… some dreams are… just mine.  It feels selfish and decadant to wish these dreams, but I know that my dreams are essential to preserving my Jen-ness.  And my kids and my husband are rather...

Since Greta turned about six months old, it has been necessary to sing to her so that she will hold still for diaper changes.  If there is no singing there is much flailing.  Flailing and poop is a bad combination, people.  Bad. Other parents seem to have children who lay quietly on their backs and coo softly and eat their vegetables and play independently and hold...

So many mornings this past year, I have woken up thinking, “Holy crap!  I have breast cancer!” or, later, “Holy cow!  Where are my boobs?  Oy, the cancer got ’em.” Having a Big Thing happen in your life is like that: it is, seemingly forever, surreal.  I still shake my head in disbelief that this is my life, that this has happened to...

My PET scan is today (Wednesday 1/23) at 1:30pm.  The PET scan will confirm for me that there is still No Evidence of Disease (NED), that there is no cancer in my body.  The PET was on the radar for February, but the scheduler put me in a slot 2 weeks early.  It was not bumped up because of any medical reason, but simply because it was convenient.  And I’m...

If I had to pick one unifying characteristic that would describe new patients in the Chemo Room, it would have to be the brave smile. There are other telltale signs: multiple family members present, deer-in-headlights glaze in their eyes, a full head of hair, and an aura of disbelief.  But it is the brave smile that the newbies all have in common.  The first session...

If you’ve ever been into a baseball game, I hope you know this feeling.  You know, the pounding in your chest when the our team’s bat hits the ball and it’s a high fly ball heading for the fence.  The entire stadium leaps to their feet with a collective gasp.  Men clench their fists, women clasp their heart, and the jaws of the children hang open....