The Wedding

On June 17th, my son, Nicholas married Samantha, the love of his life.  It was a beautiful, simple ceremony in Las Vegas with two dozen family and friends in attendance.  The day started with my siblings and I taking our mother to breakfast and then out to teach her...

Radiation Side Effects Part II

During radiation, my biggest concern was whether or not my skin would be healed before I attended my son’s wedding.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  I had what I have heard called a “wet reaction.”  The skin on my chest and under my armpit...

How to Kill a Watermelon

As I left radiation on my last day, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Just inside the door was a large stand of ripe watermelons. Hmmm, I think. Wouldn’t that be fun to blow up? So I grab one (and two more just for the fun of it) and put...

Radiation Fatigue

Prior to starting radiation, I heard a lot about the fatigue you get towards the end of treatment.  That confused me.  I understand why you can get fatigued with chemo therapy.  After all, they are putting lots of toxins in you that can lower your blood counts.  But...

The Way People Treat You

One of my observations has been about the way people treat you when you have cancer. It fascinates me that I feel the same, but people treat me differently. In the early stages, people would hug me like I was fragile or like my chest must hurt. I would tell them to...

First Haircut

That single hair on the top of my head was getting in my way and threatening to obscure my view.    Seriously, it was growing straight up and had no supporting cast to distract from it.  I looked through Shawns product line and found some smoothing paste, but how do...