Thanksgiving. Looking back, I don’t have many specific memories from this holiday. We did not have immediate family who would come over. We sometimes would have people over from church but I don’t recall that happening frequently or consistently over the years. I remember watching the Macy’s Day Parade while my Mom made a lattice…

My favorite Halloween costume was my younger sister’s when she was about 2. She wore white tights and a white hoodie. Then, my mom safety-pinned various colored balloons to her and viola, she was a jar of jelly beans. Not sure how my mom thought of it but even as a kid, I thought it…

At the risk of sounding like a bimbo, I am terrible with directions. Right after college, I got a part-time job driving cars. I would bring customers a rental car and pick up their car to bring to the dealership for service. Not hard. Except if (and when) I got lost. I was still learning…

Good news and bad news today. Good news is that Liz had her Enoscopy this morning and the tumor has shrunken significantly. The bad news is that it’s not completely gone – there are still active cancer cells in her body. This makes the “observation” (non-surgical) treatment option no longer viable. We have a follow…

Waiting. We are still waiting for what’s next. I did have a follow-up with my oncologist but the MRI was “indeterminate” so we really need the scope and biopsy to know what will be next. In the meantime, it has been hard to quiet my anxiety of the unknown. If there is surgery, the ostomy…

As a kid, our lawn was amazing. It was a velvety green. We had a big back yard that hosted countless of kids and kid activities. We had a square trampoline that would garner most of the neighborhood. I remember my oldest sister’s friends hitting the ground at the bottom of the trampoline or flying…

Yesterday, I was in Costco when I got a call from a Community network number. I answered. It was the surgeon’s office calling to schedule my under anesthesia scope and the follow-up appointment with my surgeon. Wait, what. I knew my surgeon needed to be involved, I guess I thought the CT scan and the…

You guys, we did it! Last round of chemo! And it came with a pleasant surprise. Because my neuropathy is so bad, I got to skip my chemo drip all together this last round. I still had my take-home chemo but less is good! Ha, silver linings! So next steps: I have a CT scan…

In my dad’s church, the adults had small groups called koinonia group. You know, good ‘ole Christian fellowship. As a kid, I hated these groups. Koinonia group at our house meant cleaning till the cows came home and I wanted no part in that. Nobody is going to judge how clean our baseboards were or…

I was driving home from my port disconnect on Saturday and was thinking of what to write. I thought about being funny and writing about what not to say to a cancer patient. (You know, sharing a story of a person who died from cancer, not the most helpful right now or how brave I…