“Trick or CANCER”

Here is how my Halloween is going- My husband scored tickets to the World Series last night and took our 7 year old son. The kid fell asleep in the 2nd then puked in the 3rd and they were on the train back home by the 4th. This child has been so jazzed for the…

Sisters Don’t Shake Hands, Sisters Gotta Hug!

Unless you are under the age of 5, it’s probably been a while since your sibling gave you a bath. This is my moment to announce to the world that my sister has bathed me twice in the last 48 hours. In pretty much any circumstance other than the one we are in, I would…

Tinkerboobs’ Big Day

Once upon a time there was a hairless woman who needed to have the sandpaper-like tents removed from her body, along with a port device in her arm. We shall call her Tinkerboobs.  Tink showed up at the hospital early in the morning and started getting prepped for surgery. She met her nurses Carly and…

Grandma Carol

You know the saying ‘bad things happen in 3s?’ Well I am here to tell you that that theory is a bunch of phooey. Here are the major bad things that have happened to my family so far in 2016: My mother-in-law died after a heroic, long battle with ovarian cancer Her husband, my stepfather-in-law,…

Your Friendly Local Cancerlebrity

A funny thing has started to happen. About once or twice a week, I will get recognized while I am out and about. Now let me clarify, I am just your average minivan driving, yoga pant wearing suburban mom, but since I have plastered my face on an overwhelmingly candid blog, people have started to…

Fall From Grace (Wait For It…) 

Last night my husband and I attended a black tie Gala for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. We were there as guests of my husband’s place of business so we didn’t have any personal ties other than the fact that I went to the symphony with my grandparents as a child and have very fond memories…

Aesthetics and Athletics

For those of you who haven’t read every word of every blog I’ve written, allow me to tell you that the t-shirt I am wearing in the above photo is a professional photo of my God-given breasts. I had t-shirts made of my breasts for all of my family to wear to my mastectomy cause…

Bond From Beyond

I have been thinking about writing this story for a long time, but haven’t had the wherewithal to go ahead and put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, whatever, you know what I mean. So here goes… I have very little cancer in my family compared to so many stories I hear about lineages…

Rebound

Slowly but surely, progress is being made. I still have bad days where I have physical limitations such as exhaustion, headaches, hot flashes and lack of sleep. I am still bald as a bat (are bats really bald?), and dripping fluid from my eyes and nose (cute!), and I’m either still swollen or chubby (let’s…

Stud to Spud

Less than 6 months ago I was in, what I would consider for myself, fantastic shape. I was muscular, toned and svelte. I worked hard for it, but honestly, not that hard. I did either bikram yoga, running or boxing 6 days a week. It took dedication, but it wasn’t hard. In fact, exercising was often…

Lymphedon’t

I had my long awaited appointment with the lymph specialist doctor this week.  Shocker alert! I have been officially diagnosed with mild lymphedema. The great (read: horrendous) news is that this is a life-long condition. I will be worried about my arm swelling for the REST OF MY LIFE. Thank you breast cancer. You are the…