Eight years ago today, Sophie started chemotherapy. Eight years ago today, I was terrified, watching as Dan held her in her long cherry covered jumper in the waiting room of the hospital while we waited to be taken to pre-op before the surgery to put her port in. By 2pm that day, they had completed… Continue reading Rejoice in Your Holidays
You just read that title and thought “I know my kid is mortal. I’ve faced this.” And I would agree with you before my daughter was diagnosed with cancer. But I didn’t realize what my child’s mortality really was until it slapped me in the face. I knew, when I got pregnant, that I had… Continue reading The Moment You Face Your Child’s Mortality
We had an “incident” at our daughter’s after school a couple of weeks ago. Three boys surrounded her while she was coloring with chalk on the ground, circled her while saying “we’re circling you, you can’t get up, neener neener neener” (kids really are idiots… seriously… wtf?). Her response was to throw a piece of… Continue reading Hard Decisions and Trying to Emulate Normalcy
Today is Mother’s Day. I would like to wish ALL The moms out there a wonderful HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! Being a mom is not easy and seems to only get harder as time goes on, so keep up the good fight. I just wanted to remind everyone of a group of moms you might not… Continue reading Happy *Warrior* Mother’s Day
In my last blog I said I didn’t want to be negative. I didn’t want to make a list of things NOT to say to the parents of chronically ill children. And I still don’t. But someone said something to me that has brought this one thing forward. One thing that should NEVER be said… Continue reading Do Not Dictate How I’m Supposed to Feel
Since my daughter was diagnosed with liver failure and then cancer, I have heard it all. I can give you a long list of things not to say to a parent with a sick or chronically ill child, but that would be exhausting and wouldn’t nearly cover it all. These lists are all over the… Continue reading Five Things the Parents of a Child with a Chronic Illness NEED TO HEAR
When you have a child with a chronic illness, you have to go through the steps of grief emotionally to handle the disease. But once you go through those and get through the initial emergency period, you can get complacent during long stretches of generally good health where the “chronic” doesn’t rear its ugly head. … Continue reading The Steps of Grief with Each Doctor Visit
