Countdown!  It’s official! I have a surgery date to evict Babs on February 28. It will be a 1-2 night hospital stay and a several week recovery. I don’t know all the details but I have a date. A goal. The surgeon was very cautious about not having used my anus in a long time.…

When Jude was a toddler, he would do certain things, that as a mom, I felt were just “off”. One of these examples was when we were at my parents with the extended family. Jude’s cousins, ages ranging from 7-years-older than him to his own age, were playing together. Jude, however, was by himself, sitting…

I had my enema test Thursday to check for any leaks in my new piping. Great news, no leaks! But then all day I was occasionally discharging the contrast they so lovingly shoved up my booty-hole to check said piping. And to top it off, I woke up on Friday morning at 4.17am to go…

I think winter gets a bad rap. Yes, it is cold and gray and dark by 5.30pm and more gray and really, really cold at times. Ok, maybe the bad rap is legitimate. But maybe winter is misunderstood. I love the snow. Growing up, school snow days were very rare. But when they happened, it was…

When we went to visit our cousins in Upstate New York, we would sometimes stay at a place called Camp Pinnacle. No, this was not a super fun camp we got to attend as kids. Camp Pinnacle had to be the cheapest hotel in Upstate New York. Maybe because it wasn’t a hotel but a…

I have had Barbara the butthole for well over a month now. I have already had my first check of the reconnection done during surgery. Shockingly, my surgeon was very available for a scope under anesthesia on Christmas Eve. And so far, so good. What has not been good has been figuring out my ileostomy…

One of my favorite holiday movies is “Christmas Vacation.” So many good one- liners. The scene with Russ helping his Dad, Clark, put up the outdoor lights is eerily familiar. I am not sure if I volunteered or was volun-told to help Dad put up the outdoor lights but I did. (I do not remember…

I’ve had several people ask me why I stopped contributing to the blog. They say Liz isn’t taking this journey on her own. That some people NEED to hear about how it affects the family. To be honest, I’ve started about 20 blog posts over the past several months and I haven’t been able to…

I can count on two fingers the amount of birthday parties I had as a kid. One when I was 7 and one when I was 12 (also because we were moving that year so it was two-fold as a going away party.) But we did not celebrate much. Valentine’s Day did not procure us…

My Dad would take my two older sisters and me to Saunoris nursery on Harlem Avenue to find a Christmas tree. We would bundle up and head out in our conversion van. The trees would be leaning against a post, angled to keep the trees mostly upright. Layers and layers of trees. My Dad would…