I guess I really have to admit that I’m not much of a blogger anymore.  I spend so much time sitting in front of a keyboard and screen at work, that the last place I want to be when I’m not working is, well, sitting in front of a keyboard and a screen.

Those of you who also “see” me on Facebook may ask, “if you don’t want to be in front of a ( Read more... )

I feel a bit guilty because I have not posted a recent update here. Honestly, things are just sort of monotonous right now and because I work on a computer all day, every day, five or more days a week, I have not felt like sitting down after work to compose a journal description of what has become my boring, daily routine. Weekends have been filled ( Read more... )

As promised, a little tale about neighborhood drama, as observed from behind the curtain of narcotic drugs.

But first, a little friendly advice…

If you find yourself preparing for breast and lymph surgery, buy yourself one or two (or three) nice, cotton, wire-free bras.  You will not be sorry.  When you have to wear a bra 24/7 for over two weeks, a ( Read more... )

Tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon it will be one week since my breast cancer surgery.

I thought about writing a pre-surgery post, but I opted for extra play time with Ruairi and some intense house cleaning (you know, the kind where you actually pull up all the blinds and wash the windowsills and then vacuum all the last hints of ash from the fireplace).  ( Read more... )

It will be one month tomorrow (Sunday, 1/22/12) since that first indication that I might have cancer.   It seems remarkable that it has only been a month.

I had the original, annual mammogram back at the beginning of December, 2011.  I had the follow-up mammogram and ultrasound on Thursday, 12/22.  I walked away from the imaging center that ( Read more... )

This is a pretty long update… so you may want to grab a cup of coffee, a soda, some popcorn, or a snack of your choice before you start.

Yesterday, I drove to Phoenix (OK… actually Gilbert) Arizona so that I could lay face down on a table with a needle in the vein on my left arm, be surrounded by a magnetic field, and have thousands of pictures ( Read more... )

So much support, so many folks sending well-wishes, tokens, gifts, and so on.  I am overwhelmed (in a good way).

So often in the last week or so, someone gives me some variation of the following praise:

“You are dealing with this so well, I don’t think I could be nearly so calm or positive.”  I have said my own version of the same on more than one ( Read more... )

Believe it or not, I thought quite a bit about whether or not it was appropriate to share (online) my cancer diagnosis and the journey it would initiate.  It did not take me long though to decide that there was no reason to keep this private, after all it is undeniably going to be a major focus of my life for some time and I am not one to keep such ( Read more... )

I haven't used this account in nearly four years... but as 2012 begins, I find myself at a junction in my life that brings me back to the need to do more than micro blog with FaceBook posts and occasional tweets.  I could write by hand in a private, old-school journal, but I think I would rather document the coming months and experiences here, ( Read more... )

India was frenetic and visceral and the best way I can describe my time there is to say that I had to completely open myself to the entire experience or risk retreating and missing all of it.

The smell is what I'll remember most vividly. A complex, layered, saturated blend of all things delicious and sickening, each element inseparable from the ( Read more... )