The Details

I know that every time this happens, there are a zillion questions running through everyone’s minds that send you all scrambling through the blog archives and even to other online sources. “But wait, what about that time three years ago when…?” I noticed on my Stats page yesterday that someone was directed to my blog […]

Patchwork

You know how this goes. First I’m in disbelief, then I’m angry and sad and scared, then I grasp at something to hope for. Then there comes (or not) a reluctant acceptance of the ugly truth, followed by that well of strength that has been tapped too many times. Back and forth, up and down, […]

Something

I’m a cocky mother fucker. With my champagne chilled and ready to uncork. With my celebratory blogpost, not typed yet, but certainly drafted in my head. With every second of my month tied up with things completely unrelated to cancer. A cocky mother fucker. Let me start by saying that ultrasound imaging sucks. It’s simply […]

A Magic Pebble

Two years ago, on May 3, 2010, Austin and I had an unexpected overnight at the hospital due to high blood pressure, described here in a post aptly titled The wrong side of the window. We were stuck in that god-awful limbo between choosing to remove his kidney and continue with chemo or venturing blindly […]

The Alternative

We definitely played hooky. I let the kids sleep in and even gave in to their request for homemade waffles (not a normal weekday occurrence). We opted out of the zoo since it was a record 92 degrees (and, if you’ve ever been to the Cleveland Zoo, you know it feels about ten degrees hotter […]

Tomorrow … or Not

What’s that they say about the best laid plans? I sure wish they wouldn’t say it. As you astute readers may have already guessed, I learned this morning that tomorrow’s long-awaited scans need to be rescheduled. And I’m not using that word “long-awaited’ lightly. We’ve been waiting for these since July 30, 2007. The radiologist […]

May Madness

And so it begins. Tomorrow is the Kick Off for the Young Authors Conference at Fairfax. I have an author coming in from Columbus who will do three repeat assemblies in the morning, one for kindergarten and 1st graders, one for 2nd and 3rd, and another for 4th and 5th. This will include her interactive […]

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

In the madness that is springtime (more on that later), I missed two significant anniversaries last week. One was Tuesday, the official date to mark two-years-since-the-end-of-treatment. As you may (or may not) remember, we didn’t know that that day was Austin’s last chemo. We simply finished our three-day hospital stay and went on home, thinking […]

Bubbles

I certainly did not mean to insinuate that my child is not being exposed to literature in his current schooling. He absolutely is, and to a lot of it. His teacher has read them fabulous books, many of long-standing renown. She often (and wisely) reads the first in a series, without continuing on, which piques […]

High Stakes

Students across Ohio are taking their OAAs today. The Ohio Achievement Assessments. You know, the ones that “matter.” My boys are still too young for these tests but one year from now, Braedan will be subjected to a special kind of pressure and strain the likes of which he’s never experienced. Not that he will […]