I’m not here to convert you. You don’t have to believe in God or Jesus or the Spaghetti Monster or anything. I just want to relate to you an important message I was given when I needed it. I am Catholic, though I’m more cafeteria Catholic than anything. I’m happy in my faith, and I’m… Continue reading Holiday Related Motivational Speech about Parenting (you’ve been warned, I get mushy)
I’ve never been a fan of scary movies. I don’t know why, I just don’t do them. Don’t get me wrong, a good book series about zombies or the apocalypse or ghost hauntings, and I’m there with my kindle, a 32 oz of cold coffee, and a growl at the husband for interrupting my book… Continue reading Life After Childhood Cancer
Today is the 8th Remission Anniversary for Sophie defeating Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis, a rare form of cancer. Eight years ago today, we were told that Sophie’s cancer was gone. Eight years ago today, we had hope that Sophie would grow up ,she’d grow old, she’d have a wedding and a job and children and a… Continue reading Eight years and It Doesn’t End
It looks like the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, may be repealed soon. And I wanted to point something out to everyone that already has health insurance through a reliable source, and thus are not likely to be immediately effected by the repeal. I’m not going to talk to you about preexisting conditions, though… Continue reading The ACA and Children with Cancer
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
3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. I have Sophie tucked into her booster seat behind me. Butterfly pillow between her head and her brother’s car seat as she leans into it. Sugar-skull covered fluffy blanket over her. She’s still in her Lego movie pajamas and falls right back to sleep once I get the truck moving. I… Continue reading Feeling Squishy
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
Herding Chaos 