Last Friday I received a email from Writer’s Digest informing me that an essay I submitted in their annual writing competition had placed. Not like first place or anything, but 60th in the memoir category. Now I know 60th doesn’t sound like much but last year there were 14,000 entrants so placing at all is […]
Like I said, we’ve got no time for cancer. Everything went well yesterday. The ultrasound showed no changes to his kidney or liver. Sigh of relief for that. We are almost six months out from the end of treatment, if you can believe it. One quarter of the way there. There — that magic date […]
https://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.png00krissygallagherhttps://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.pngkrissygallagher2010-10-08 14:11:392023-05-14 15:45:10Chugging Along
Another month has gone by and tomorrow Austin has yet another ultrasound. He’ll get to go to school in the morning and then we’ll head straight down for labs and tests to check on the liver and, of course, our organ of choice — the kidney. I’m assuming things will be fine but I have […]
This past Tuesday, I had another opportunity, like last year, to speak to a class of first-year med students at Case. It was part of their weekly “touchy-feely” seminar, the class that reminds them why they chose to become doctors in the first place. The biggest message (I hope) I sent was that patients are whole people. […]
https://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.png00krissygallagherhttps://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.pngkrissygallagher2010-10-02 20:58:232023-05-14 15:45:35Getting It Right
Austin’s To Do list from yesterday: Join cousin’s soccer team, follow cousin around field in the opposite direction of ball for entire game … Check. Make pirate hats with my pals at my birthday party … Check. Enjoy pirate ship cake (and give kudos to Mommy for not letting anything fall apart before I got to […]
https://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.png00krissygallagherhttps://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.pngkrissygallagher2010-09-27 16:07:102023-05-14 15:46:02All In A Day’s Work
Today was spent in full celebration mode as Austin has made it yet another year and is now a big strong four-year old. I parent-helped at school this morning, armed with pirate cookies. Then we had a picnic in our backyard and went for a run before picking Braedan up from his after-school tennis class. […]
https://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.png00krissygallagherhttps://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.pngkrissygallagher2010-09-21 17:40:252023-05-14 15:46:31And Many More
Braedan handled Austin’s first bout with cancer beautifully. He made it through the entire thing unscathed, as if it was just another thing you deal with when you have a little brother. He was remarkably happy, well-adjusted and trusting. The second time? Not so much. I’ve been hesitant to write about this because I felt […]
We are indeed home. There were no additional delays yesterday, despite a worrisome IV line that required some tiresome arm positioning, but the transfusion was finished by ten past one. I woke up my sleeping boy, who roused himself long enough to scream bloody murder in my arms as said IV was finally removed, spurting […]
https://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.png00krissygallagherhttps://krissydietrichgallagher.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Krissy-Gallagher-1.pngkrissygallagher2010-08-25 22:22:122023-05-14 15:47:33In the Swing
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Now that the hand has (mostly) healed and the kidney is (mostly) bouncing back, we’ve allowed ourselves to fully embrace our normal lives. We’ve allowed ourselves to believe that we lead normal lives. But we don’t. When Austin had all his scans two weeks ago, his hemoglobin was […]
Pediatric Surgery, known to we hospital insiders as “Peed Surge,” a place I’ve visited far too many times over the past three years … is somehow where we ended up yesterday. No, there is not another freak accident to report, just a freaky sort of day, where everything seemed upside down and backwards and I […]
That Crazy License Plate
Last Friday I received a email from Writer’s Digest informing me that an essay I submitted in their annual writing competition had placed. Not like first place or anything, but 60th in the memoir category. Now I know 60th doesn’t sound like much but last year there were 14,000 entrants so placing at all is […]
Chugging Along
Like I said, we’ve got no time for cancer. Everything went well yesterday. The ultrasound showed no changes to his kidney or liver. Sigh of relief for that. We are almost six months out from the end of treatment, if you can believe it. One quarter of the way there. There — that magic date […]
Full Calendar
Another month has gone by and tomorrow Austin has yet another ultrasound. He’ll get to go to school in the morning and then we’ll head straight down for labs and tests to check on the liver and, of course, our organ of choice — the kidney. I’m assuming things will be fine but I have […]
Getting It Right
This past Tuesday, I had another opportunity, like last year, to speak to a class of first-year med students at Case. It was part of their weekly “touchy-feely” seminar, the class that reminds them why they chose to become doctors in the first place. The biggest message (I hope) I sent was that patients are whole people. […]
All In A Day’s Work
Austin’s To Do list from yesterday: Join cousin’s soccer team, follow cousin around field in the opposite direction of ball for entire game … Check. Make pirate hats with my pals at my birthday party … Check. Enjoy pirate ship cake (and give kudos to Mommy for not letting anything fall apart before I got to […]
And Many More
Today was spent in full celebration mode as Austin has made it yet another year and is now a big strong four-year old. I parent-helped at school this morning, armed with pirate cookies. Then we had a picnic in our backyard and went for a run before picking Braedan up from his after-school tennis class. […]
Taking Turns
Braedan handled Austin’s first bout with cancer beautifully. He made it through the entire thing unscathed, as if it was just another thing you deal with when you have a little brother. He was remarkably happy, well-adjusted and trusting. The second time? Not so much. I’ve been hesitant to write about this because I felt […]
In the Swing
We are indeed home. There were no additional delays yesterday, despite a worrisome IV line that required some tiresome arm positioning, but the transfusion was finished by ten past one. I woke up my sleeping boy, who roused himself long enough to scream bloody murder in my arms as said IV was finally removed, spurting […]
Interruption
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Now that the hand has (mostly) healed and the kidney is (mostly) bouncing back, we’ve allowed ourselves to fully embrace our normal lives. We’ve allowed ourselves to believe that we lead normal lives. But we don’t. When Austin had all his scans two weeks ago, his hemoglobin was […]
“You’re Where?!”
Pediatric Surgery, known to we hospital insiders as “Peed Surge,” a place I’ve visited far too many times over the past three years … is somehow where we ended up yesterday. No, there is not another freak accident to report, just a freaky sort of day, where everything seemed upside down and backwards and I […]