Category: Parenting

Active Shooter Drills

One of the silver linings of losing my career at 38 years young is that I have more time to volunteer and participate in my children's education -- certainly came in handy during the pandemic and we were doing some semblance of school from our homes. As my health has ebbed and flowed over the … Continue reading Active Shooter Drills →

Documenting Life: Photography and Metastatic Breast Cancer

Over the weekend, we had a photoshoot. It’s not an abnormal experience, in fact I’ve prioritized photoshoots with my family for Christmas and Mother’s Day every year since my de novo Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) in 2017. This past weekend was our annual Mother’s Day photoshoot and I can’t wait to see the … Continue reading Documenting Life: Photography and Metastatic Breast Cancer →

Family planning

There was a discussion recently in one of the online support groups where I spend lots of time these days about family planning after discovery of a germline mutation (a/k/a hereditary predisposition for cancer) that got me thinking. As many of you are aware, I discovered in 2017 that I carry the ATM germline/genetic mutation, … Continue reading Family planning →

A Moment of Tenderness …

This post comes from a pop up writing workshop with Wildfire, "the only magazine and writing community for the women "too young" for breast cancer." I've written before about how I've been honored to have some of my writing published in various issues of Wildfire over the years (and will again in the upcoming MBC … Continue reading A Moment of Tenderness … →

My Invisible Work …

This post comes from a pop up writing workshop with Wildfire, "the only magazine and writing community for the women "too young" for breast cancer." I've written before about how I've been honored to have some of my writing published in various issues of Wildfire over the years (and will again in the upcoming MBC … Continue reading My Invisible Work … →

Book Review: On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg

Recently, I read On Repentance and Repair; Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, and so many things that have been rattling around in my heart and mind have become more clear to me about these important topics. We all come from somewhere and my own experiences with the Christian interpretation of … Continue reading Book Review: On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg →

Parenting and MBC, Part II, a Guest Post

I asked my dear friend, Amanda Raffenaud, a mom also living with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer to help me with this series since she has older boys and her experience in parenting while dealing with a serious illness has been different from mine. On December 18, 2018, I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic … Continue reading Parenting and MBC, Part II, a Guest Post →

Parenting and MBC, Part I

When I was initially diagnosed in 2017 with Stage II breast cancer, my boys were one (1) and three (3).  We were tandem nursing and as each of my boys were born, my parenting revolved around my breasts.  Nursing was such a great way to resolve just about anything and I loved watching their bond … Continue reading Parenting and MBC, Part I →

Acceptable Risk

I've been thinking a lot about acceptable risk in the context of living with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) while immunocompromised and COVID and all of what we deal with on a daily basis in the world today. I was a little surprised at the variety of definitions out there, but I do like … Continue reading Acceptable Risk →