hi! i'm McCall!

I'm a proud and imperfect mom of two tiny humans and founder of Southern Smash. I smash scales for a living and help others smash the mental health stigma by sharing my eating disorder story. I believe resiliency is cultivated through the practice of gratitude and that there is always light, even in the darkest of times.

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The House Don’t Fall When My Bones are Good

The Weight of Recovery

Finding Strength in My One Boob Reflection

Red, Hot and ANGRY Boob

Doing the Hard Things: My Prophylactic Double Mastectomy

mccalldempsey

Anxiety is a real bitch sometimes.🥴 An anxious

Anxiety is a real bitch sometimes.🥴 An anxious fear rolled over me at 11pm last night and lingered all day. It started with the usual fear something is wrong with the kids (nothing is wrong) and then the real fear...what if the infection is still here? What if I end up back in the hospital? What if? What if? There is nothing that indicates the infection is worse. All signs are pointing to the midline coming out this week. But anxiety doesn’t like when you hit it with actual facts. Anxiety loves to run around in our mind keeping us awake with pulsing fear. Not much to do other than take my meds (both physical and mental!), go to my doctor’s appointment, acknowledge anxiety and work to stay in my logical/wise mind. Yes, I see you anxiety. And you are big, but we shall keep doing the hard things. And pray to alllll the midline gods this gets pulled tomorrow! 💗💗💗 #infectiongoaway #prayersup #anxietyloves #prophylacticdoublemastectomy #infection #serratia #midline #goaway #anxietylife #hardthings #jacksonville #florida

“Your daughter has cancer.” Four little words

“Your daughter has cancer.” Four little words forever changed our family, creating a permanent line in our story: before cancer and after. Hard to believe it has been six years since our Miraculous Marjorie was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma 4S. The worst day of our lives, turned into a journey filled with people who carried us when we were too weak to stand. From our doctors and nurses @wolfsonchildren to countless prayer Warriors across the globe, we were constantly surrounded with hope and love. Today you would never know our spunky, sassy and always dancing 6- year old fought for her life not once but twice in her first year of life. We remain forever grateful for our answered prayers. God has big things in store for our Miraculous Marjorie and we can’t wait for her to keep on twirling through life. 💗💗🎗🎗

Find yourself a sister (from another mister) like

Find yourself a sister (from another mister) like @meredith_burns 💗 The minute I admitted to the hospital last week, Mere booked a ticket to be by my side. My usual ride or die nurse Annie was flooded in Baton Rouge and had just returned home from her previous post. Meredith never left my side in the hospital except at night to help with the Dempsey Zoo bedtime. She snuggled in my hospital bed, held space for me to be sad and angry and made me laugh so hard I thought I popped a stitch. Love you Mere. Thanks will never be enough and I know you’d do it all again. And I’m pretty sure Elsa misses you most 💗💗💗

✌️ out! Busted out of the hospital with two bo

✌️ out! Busted out of the hospital with two boobs ➡️ lots of battle wounds and a hell of a lot of gratitude. Big thanks to @baptisthealthjx for their amazing care and of course to the extraordinary Dr DeFazio for saving my boob...again. Thanks to my sister from another mister @meredith_burns for being the best nurse and to @jordandempseygolf and my in laws for keeping the ship moving while momma was out. Lastly, thanks to you all for the prayers, messages and love. You’ve carried me through and will continue to as I march down the path of recovery. We’ve still got some time before I’m completely out of the woods. But I’m taking today as a win and tucking into (a non hospital) bed with a happy heart. Like @glennondoyle says we can do hard things y’all! I just hope I’m done for a little bit. I’ve got all the surgical bras a girl could ever need. ✅🥴💗 #wecandohardthings #prophylacticdoublemastectomy #infection #chek2 #genetictesting #geneticmutation #serratia #hardthings #justbreathe #hospital #baptisthospital #jacksonville #florida

No fake thumbs up here...surgery 7️⃣ was SUCCE

No fake thumbs up here...surgery 7️⃣ was SUCCESS! I’m back to two boobs 💗💗 Hard things ✅✅✅ Before surgery, we got the news my white blood cell count had returned to normal and also saw my skin was no longer red. All things were looking good. Dr Defazio said the skin had already lost elasticity and we probably would not have made it to Monday so praise up! It worked today. Thank you a million times over for all the prayers. I felt covered today and so loved. Special thanks to Dr Defazio for his insane dedication and compassion and to all the nurses at @baptisthealthjx - as always y’all are angels on earth and held my hand through all the ups and downs. Keep the prayers coming as I head home tomorrow and continue IV meds. We need serratia to stay the eff away. This momma is beyond ready to close this chapter and dive into what is next. Thank you all again. My cup completely runneth over. 💗💗

Yesterday they had to remove Rightie. Here I am w

Yesterday they had to remove Rightie. Here I am with one boob. Again. Doing the f*^king hard things. Again. Today the results show the same infection has returned....Serratia. Part of me feels relief knowing I didn’t grow something new. The treatment worked last time so that’s what we’re going to do again. Tomorrow at 2:30pm I will have surgery 7️⃣. Dr. DeFazio will clean the breast pocket and *if* it looks pristine, he will place the implant. If not he will close me up and we will try again Monday after I’ve had a few more days of targeted antibiotics via my new PICC line. We are on a time crunch because of skin elasticity. Tomorrow or Monday is our only shot. I would really prefer it to be tomorrow and cap out 2021’s surgery count at 7️⃣. I’m thankful I caught this infection and it did not get as horrific as last time. But my mental state has taken a beating. I’ve screamed and cried into a lot of pillows. And had my amazing sister from another mister @meredith_burns take care of me and make me laugh until it hurts. I might not be so lucky when it comes to infections, but I’m so damn blessed with an army of prayer Warriors and friends. Thank you for all the love. Prayers up for Rightie tomorrow! We can do hard things. Again. And hopefully that’s it for a while. 💗 #wecandohardthings #again #andagain #kindoftired #prophylacticdoublemastectomy #chek2 #genetictesting #infection #serratia #definitelymetourdeductible #surgeryseven #seventhtimeisthecharm

Two words: mother effer. So tired of doing the h

Two words: mother effer. So tired of doing the hard things. After feeling bad Sunday night, I woke up with a red right breast and started running fever. Dr. Defazio saw me right away and admitted me to the hospital yesterday afternoon. So if you’re keeping track: leftie had the infection in January and I guess rightie didn’t want to be left out 🙄 I have cellulitis with two abscesses. I have completely stumped the doctors. Possibly having surgery this afternoon to drain abscesses and if necessary remove implant 😭 I can’t lie, I’m devastated. How can this be happening again? Im tired of doing the hard things. I feel like I’ve used my prayer quota, but if you have am extra minute say a prayer for Rightie. Send good vibes and happy infection-free thoughts. It will be devastating to lose this implant. Just ready to move on from the journey. For now, I’m taking this one minute at a time. 💗💗💗

Nothing says date night like big earrings and a su

Nothing says date night like big earrings and a surgical bra 💗💗 Almost 20 years together and tonight I learned my husband has only ridden a horse once. 🐎 Also, my in laws have our kids at a bar. This is date night 2021. Never stop dating and marry someone who never fails to make you laugh until it hurts. 🥂 Love you @jordandempseygolf 💗💗💗 Earrings by @shoprpsdesigns Surgical bra: @hanes

How to trust your body? You can’t. JK. You can

How to trust your body? You can’t. JK. You can, but damn it. It is HARD. I battled my body throughout my 15-year eating disorder struggle, never trusting it and constantly trying to change it. I didn’t trust myself or my body to survive my intense feelings and anxiety. I felt like a foreigner in my own skin. My recovery helped me find balance with my body. There are days of trust AND still days of betrayal. But when I think about it, the only steadfast relationship I’ve had in my life is with my body. No matter how many times my eating disorder abused and tore it apart, my body continued to get back up. When Marjorie danced her way into this world three months early, I blamed my body. I thought it had failed me. And during that time of distrust I looked at Marjorie’s small, but mighty body growing little by little. Our bodies are MIGHTY all on their own. Tomorrow marks one week since my fifth surgery. And I feel, dare I say it...great. But that body trust is hard. I keep waiting for the infection to return. I hold my breath *knowing* something is going to go south. As if I know something my body does not already know. A few days ago, I looked in the mirror for the first time after surgery...and smiled. There is still nothing pretty about my body. It’s ravaged with drain holes, scars and covered in bruises. But damn look at it! My body is STRONG. My body has been through hell and back and is still CARRYING ON. I’m upright, walking and even dancing. My body is bad ass. And so is yours. Our bodies don’t betray us. We betray them and they still show up for us. We are fed messages that we have to control our bodies because they cannot be trusted. But they can. It doesn’t mean we have to love and trust our bodies every day, but maybe...just maybe we can appreciate them. Maybe we can tell our bodies, “Thank you.” And in that thank you we nourish them, rest them and move them. I say all this fully acknowledging I stand with immense privilege by existing in a body accepted by society. Let us all commit to thanking our bodies AND fighting fat phobia and supporting health at every size. ALL bodies are good bodies. 💗💗💗

Mom and I snapped this selfie on January 14, the t

Mom and I snapped this selfie on January 14, the three year anniversary of our matriarch’s passing and one day before an infection would ravage my body and catapult me into the hospital for multiple surgeries. Annie has been my ride or die since Day One and this past year has been no exception. From waiting for hours in surgical waiting rooms to administering my PICC line meds daily, Annie has earned herself mom of the century. I fully acknowledge how damn blessed I am to have a momma who is not only a constant in my life, but my children’s lives and drops everything (literally everything) when I need her most - often loading up and driving ten hours east. Happy Mother’s Day to the woman, the myth, the legend...our Annie. You make me a better mom, friend and human. Cheers to spending today out of hospitals and clinking glasses in the sunshine ☀️💕 #mothersday #thegoatofmoms #rideordie #bestmom #betterfriend #nursemom #blessed #grateful #momlife #motherhood

Hard Things Number 629 ✅ Surgery Number 5️⃣

Hard Things Number 629 ✅ Surgery Number 5️⃣ was a SUCCESS! It took longer than expected because there was quite a bit to repair after the expanders were removed, but overall it went well. I am home recovering and hiding from tiny humans in our guest bedroom. Feeling tired and overwhelmed with emotion that I’ve finally crossed the finish line. Massive thank you to my momma - my nurse and surgical ride or die. And to @jordandempseygolf for keeping me laughing throughout it all. Thank you to the incredible Dr DeFazio and everyone at @baptisthealthjx. And massive gratitude to @glennondoyle for the mantras that kept me going and the God winks when I needed it most. And most of all thank YOU! The love, messages and prayers have lifted my weary spirit. I love you all. My cup truly runneth over. Keep the positive love and prayers coming that the infection does not return and healing continues in the right direction! 💗💗💗 #wecandohardthings #didthehardthings #againandagain #prophylacticdoublemastectomy #exchangesurgery #mdanderson #baptisthealth #genetictesting #chek2

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