All Aboard the Struggle Bus

I'm nearly six weeks into my fourth line of treatment - weekly infusions of Taxol, an IV chemo. My hair is long gone, and with it, my energy, and my ability to do almost anything most days other than sit on the couch and re-watch Queer Eye. (I'm not a TV person, at all, so …

Family Medical Bingo (Alternate Title: My Hysterectomy Was Not the Big Medical Event of the Week)

Well, I'm glad that this week is over. I'm about 48 hours post-op from my hysterectomy, and all things considered, I'm doing well. However, our family had quite the eventful week, medically speaking, so let's back up a bit, shall we? On Monday evening, I noticed that Felix had a rather large, angry-looking bug bite …

Grief for What Never Will Be

A couple of weeks ago, my son Felix decided that he was no longer going to sleep in his crib. From an early age, his personality has been one of intense finality: he decides he will do something, and it is as good as done. In this instance, he decided that he would be sleeping …

Metastatic Motherhood

The biggest paradox I have found, as a woman living with metastatic breast cancer who is also the mother of a toddler, is how incredibly normal life continues to be. Much of the time, this is reassuring. My son, now two and a half, is funny, articulate, clever, creative, insightful, and daring. He challenges me …