Category: Be Brave

I’ve been praying for years that God will help me develop more patience. Can I just say, be careful what you wish for? It has occurred to me that God is developing my muscle of patience by actually forcing me to flex that particular muscle. He apparently wants me to be an active participant in my growth, although I’ve told ... Read More

I’ve heard that one of the side-effects of chemotherapy is a fogginess of thought called, “Chemo Brain” and that one of the major side effects of radiation is extreme fatigue.

I’m not going through chemo or radiation right now, so can someone please tell me why I’m experiencing the side effects?

Just the other day, a girlfriend asked me a simple question: ... Read More

I am going to need an intervention people. My motivation to take care of myself is dwindling. I still shower and get dressed before 2 in the afternoon, but I’m quickly developing a whole host of other bad habits.

For example, BD (before diagnosis), I was at the gym at 9am every day like clockwork. It could be the laziness of ... Read More

So this struck me as pretty funny: Saul and I were talking last night and I mentioned this blog. I started to explain something I’d written when he got this sheepish-yet-defiant look on his face.

“What?” I said.

“Yeah, I’ve been reading them.” He kind of mumbled.

Now this is funny, because for the past 4 years, the only way I could get ... Read More

“It’s only breast cancer.” That’s what I wrote in a text message to a girlfriend. I wasn’t trying to be flippant or funny. It’s true. When I start to feel sorry for myself, I remind myself, “It’s only breast cancer.”

My kids are happy, my husband is healthy (and we love each other which is a total bonus), I get to ... Read More

Jordan and I are on our way home from our girls’ trip to Chicago. Literally, we are on the plane in the air. I’m probably breaking some rules here, but the flight attendants are awfully friendly to me. They must know I have breast cancer.

Chicago was a blast! We met my friend, Andrea, and her daughter, Peyton, and absolutely crushed ... Read More

Saul and I met with the plastic surgeon at THE JAMES today. Let me tell you, as professional as that male doctor was, it was still incredibly uncomfortable to be sitting in a room with my husband while another man took very precise measurements of my breasts. Saul and I couldn’t look each other in the eyes because we knew ... Read More

We meet with the plastic surgeon tomorrow. I’ve decided to go ahead with the single mastectomy instead of the lumpectomy. Doing the lumpectomy would have meant radiation, and if the surgeon couldn’t get enough clear tissue around the tumors, she would have had to go back at a later date and do the mastectomy anyway. If I want to gamble, ... Read More

It came out in the paper yesterday. It wasn’t really a shock, since I’m the one who wrote it. I thought I had better use my weekly column to tell people about the cancer diagnosis before they heard it somewhere else. It’s been a year since we moved away, but I still have so many friends in Fargo and I ... Read More

I went a little off the rails last night. I started reading the enormous binder of information given to me at THE JAMES, and for the first time, I was forced to think about exactly what it means to have a breast removed. I saw pictures, I learned about the recovery time involved, I learned that no matter how ... Read More