I’m heading to Columbus today for another fill. Once a week, I drive to the big city to visit Nurse Holly (or Nurse Susan, who is also awesome) for a quick little saline injection.
They are continuing to fill up the expander pouch under the chest muscle of my missing breast, and it’s working! There is a small mound growing, and ... Read More
I’m cancer-free! The medical oncologist suggested I take an anti-estrogen pill, called Tamoxifen, for the next ten years just to make sure no nasty cells get a foot-hold, but it appears that I will not need chemo. It is truly the best case scenario!
Because of my age, Saul and I have decided to get a second opinion with the hope ... Read More
Today’s a big day in the Phillips’ household. It’s the first day of school! Ben won’t start full-day kindergarten until next Tuesday, but this year all three of my kids are in elementary school!
It’s also my anniversary! It’s Saul’s anniversary, too. Happy 15th, Sweetie!
And it’s P-Day. Today is the day we get the final pathology report which will ... Read More
The air conditioning malfunctioned while we were on vacation. We had a repairman out to fix it yesterday, so the kids can resume sleeping in their upstairs bedrooms. Ben and Charlie (5 & 9) will be sharing a room again for a while since all of the carpeting in Ben’s room needs to be replaced due to water damage.
When I ... Read More
We are home from vacation, and now that the laundry is done, I need a vacation. It’s easier to forget about things like breast cancer when you’re thinking about things like the number of fish in the ocean.
Myrtle Beach is a chaotic tourist trap– and I loved it. It’s the perfect place for a girl who’s trying to forget ... Read More
Remember that surgery I narrowly escaped earlier this week? Yeah, well, it caught me. The doctor reluctantly agreed not to do surgery on Tuesday, but by Thursday it was evident that my wound was going in the wrong direction.
I sheepishly texted several very attractive pictures of blood and puss and general yuckiness to my doctor’s cellphone. Unfortunately, I sent the ... Read More
It turns out the lip gloss and sparkly earrings worked! The doctor totally forgot about the surgery!
Okay, he didn’t forget… but he agreed with my assessment that my body was doing a fine job of healing on its own and perhaps we could give it just a little more time to finish the job.
I was sent home with strict orders ... Read More
I took a real live shower today for the first time in 2.5 weeks, but I’ll tell you what, it felt like it had been 2.5 years. Ahhhh… clean. Fresh! Wonderful!
I was terrified to let the water hit my wounds, but it didn’t hurt a bit. The only shocking part was looking down and realizing the glue the surgeons ... 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
Saul and I are at THE JAMES. Don’t you just love that huge, imposing name? THE JAMES. It’s a cancer center in Columbus and based on the people around here who know about THE JAMES, this clinic has a lot of experience dealing with cancer.
I made the receptionist cry. She had the most beautiful smile and radiant spirit. So I ... Read More
