Cancer Semantics
Cancer. Chemo. Cancer Free. Metastasize. NED. NBD. Blah. Blah. Blah. If cancer has reminded me of one thing, it is to not get lost in the labels of life. We as a society get so caught up in labeling: fat, thin, pretty, rich, cancer, cancer free. How about we just live our lives? I spent this […]
Finding Our Way Home
Yesterday I woke up feeling achy, nauseous and plain old sick. At first, I chalked it up to the extra glass of wine last night while enjoying a quiet movie with Jordan, but as the day wore on I knew wine was not the culprit. It was way worse than a wine headache. I couldn’t […]
Embracing Labels and Going GOLD
September 1. The day everyone puts gold ribbons on their Facebook profiles. The day you see everyone share pictures of children suffering from childhood cancer. It is a month of awareness. A month where you see a picture, your heart hurts for that child and his or her parents, but you never dream it could […]
An Angel Named Rose
Angels are all around us. They walk on Earth beside us and flutter over us as we go through life. Thousands of you have sent your angels to be with my Marjorie during these last few months. Little did I know that Marjorie gained the most amazing angel in June, just days after her second […]
Foreboding Joy
Let me set the scene: I currently live somewhere between gratitude and sheer anxiety and terror. My to-do list is light years long and it is completely trumped by my fear over what may or may not happen to my children. I mean, can you blame me? Within a year, my daughter has spent more […]
Tears of Strength, Cries of Bravery
‘My daughter has cancer’ is a sentence I will never get used to saying outline, nor do I want to. Today, I had to tell that to a stranger in the grocery store when she asked about Marjorie’s PICC line. “My daughter has cancer.” Her simple question was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to […]
Compassionate Pizza
I hate the saying: “There’s always someone who has it worse.” It completely minimizes the feelings we have inside about our current situation, no matter how ‘bad’ or ‘not so bad’ it may be. Minimization kept me from seeking treatment for years and it kept me from owning the severity of my eating disorder. “I’m not that […]
Cancer: Month One
One month. On this very day one month ago, our lives changed forever. The doctor said the word no parent ever wants to hear. Cancer. It has been a month of terror, love, heartache and gratitude. It’s hard to believe it has only been a month. My tired body and mind would disagree. It feels like we […]
Finding Light in the Dark
I splashed cold water on my face and buried my face in the hospital grade paper towel. I hesitated to remove the stiff towel. Maybe if I wait long enough this nightmare will be over. None of this will have happened. I will remove the paper towel and look up to see my bathroom and […]