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So How’s Your Eating? A long overdue cancer follow up!
I know that I’ve been quiet for a while about my cancer journey, so I thought maybe it was time for a follow up. The logical place for me to begin is with the question that people ask me every day, “How is your eating going?” There are a lot of moving parts to that question, but I’ll try to answer and cover what I can without going too far into TMI territory. Here’s a little backstory for those who have connected with me more recently. Two years ago, I had a large portion of my tongue removed due to cancer. I couldn’t speak for about six months or so…
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How Poker Chips Saved My Sanity
A few years ago, I realized that I was outnumbered by children in my house. I know that is a logical conclusion when you have three kids and two parents, but the reality can sometimes catch you off guard. When the kids graduated out of toddlerville, I needed to come up with a way to manage and handle all of the expectations, chores and rewards in our house. I tried chore charts, stickers, and posters. I attempted morning motivational meetings where we set up the expectations for the day. I wrote out a daily schedule of events. I set up consequences and rules. None of it stuck. But then came poker…
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Facebook Isn’t My Friend
So I’m starting off this article with a bit of a warning. This is my blog and these are my thoughts. You don’t have to agree and it is not my assumption that if you disagree you hate me or you want me to die. Sounds like a really dire warning doesn’t it? But these days, it is, sadly, far more relevant than outlandish. A few years ago, I was a writer. Only a writer. Not a social media guru or marketing pro. Just made a living writing stories for the masses. At the time, I was working on a radio drama and some members of the cast (all of whom…
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What American Sniper Taught Me About My Marriage
I’ve been a military spouse for 18 years. My husband has technically been out of the military for about two years, but I’ll explain my reasoning for using present tense in a bit. With all of those years of experience, I am able to say that I know a little about being a military spouse. I’m not saying that facetiously either. I am well aware that my experience as a spouse is not the same as many other spouses and that the world of military spouses is far larger than just my bubble of knowledge. I know just enough to understand that I have a deep respect for every military…
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So what’s next?
That’s the question I keep hearing these days. I finished radiation and chemo in early September and let me tell you, they took it out of me. I felt miserable. Honestly, it wasn’t the chemo that was so bad for me. It was the radiation. (Every doctor kept blaming the other thing – that was somewhat funny.) I ended up in the hospital over Labor Day weekend because of the side effects of radiation. I couldn’t quit vomiting. I hurt. I coudn’t breathe well. I was miserable. My time in the hospital was a definite mix of good and bad. I won’t go over the bad any further than to…
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I’m Home…So What Now?
I had hoped to blog before now but I have not had the time or energy that I would have liked. I am at home but I still have a Tracheotomy and a feeding tube so I’m on a rigorous medicine and feeding schedule that leaves me short times to sleep and rest. My rebuilt tongue is still too swollen to allow me to eat or breathe without these implements right now. (And yes – I pulled out the fuzzy kitty pics again!) Doctors have said my recovery is way ahead of schedule. Two weeks out from surgery I was home. Most patients are still hospitalized. I need those encouragements…
