Denise DeSio's Blog, page 2

Update

I know I’ve been remiss but sometimes a girl has to retreat into a solitary hole and lick her wounds. No, not literally; actually I have this machine to do that for me now. What I’ve really been doing is locking myself in my office playing Angry Birds. Now that I’ve completed all levels and the footless, wingless birds have infiltrated my dreams, I am crawling out of my hole and attempting re-entry.

The answer to some of your questions: 1.) No, I haven’t yet started chemo. I was supposed to st...

48fourteen Scavenger Hunt

Time out from my breast cancer saga to bring you something fun and potentially interesting – the 48fourteen Scavenger Hunt! You will collect clues and have a chance to win books by one or more of the authors published by 48fourteen, the people who published my book, Rose’s Will.



It’s my pleasure to host R.L. King, author of Dead Heart. I haven’t yet read his novel but the title and tagline certainly look intriguing – not that I’d give my beating heart away for any reason. But hey! Doesn’t mean...

A Potbellied Bald Man

It’s official. I met the Oncologist yesterday morning and was told that my greatest chance of survival comes with chemotherapy AND possibly radiation.

Again, like the decision whether to have reconstruction, getting treatment would be my choice, since theoretically, the surgery was successful and I should now be cancer free.But apparently, they’ve established that I had intelligent cancer cells (any surprise there?) that figured out how to travel. In the event that there areresidualmicroscopic...

Happy New Year!

It’s New Year’s Eve, 13 days after my mastectomy, and I’m facing a new year that begins with chemotherapy. I probably don’t have to tell you that my desire to celebrate 2013 rates right up there with doing this to my chin.

Because I consider myself a rational soul, I’m going to honor that crappy attitude, acknowledge it’s validity, and try my best to re-frame it before I become consumed with negativity. So, I prepare myself by doing a complete head dump and spend 2 hours mindlessly surfing the...

Good News and Bad News

I lived through the surgery. That was the good news. The bad news is that the cancer spread to the nodes. The doctor took out 15 of them. It’s starting to look like chemo is in my future. Too tired to write more now.

Trust

My mastectomy is scheduled for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., about 34 hours from now at the Greenbaum Surgery Center. I have a little more than a day to walk around in the body that betrayed me. And yet, for my own sanity I need to place my trust in it – trust that it will be strong enough to survive the surgery, trust that my decisions and the decisions that will be made for me are in my best interest, trust that my courage won’t fail me.

I am oddly at peace with my decision not to reconstruct. My p...

Under Construction

Forgive the repetitive use of the breast graphic but stay with me for a moment while I draw your attention to the fact that when your doctor tells you have breast cancer and need a double mastectomy, and in the next breath, he says you need to think about breast reconstruction DURING the cancer removing surgery, the first thing you might think about (after you come to terms with the fact that your mortality is in jeopardy) is the opportunity to build your breasts the way you want them. For m...

Breast Cancer Awareness

There’s nothing like actually getting breast cancer to make one fully “aware” of it – but I don’t recommend that route. Trust me on this. Become “aware” NOW.

On Halloween, mygynecologistdid a breast exam on me and found a lump – another lump, one of many lumps found over the years which always turned out to be nothing after going for the mammograms and ultrasounds. I wasn’t concerned.

But when I went for the tests this time, the radiologist spent a long time reading my results and when he final...

I’m Back…sort of.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to my blog. I want to say that I’ve been too busy, that lots of other things took precedence, that I’ve had personal issues, health issues, relationship issues, etc. But the fact is that I allowed all of these things to excuse me from my commitment to keeping this blog. That’s the way it is for a lot of us. We make other choices to avoid doing what we’d rather be doing. Why?

When I stopped to think about it, I realized what a negative head space I’ve bee...

The Versatile Blogger Award – Thanks

Thanks to Read 2 Review for nominating me for this award. According to the rules, I must now tell you 7 things about myself:

1. My eBook, Rose’s Will, published by 48fourteen in 2011, will be released in print by August of 2012. Can’t wait to hold it in my hand.

2. We’re moving in a few weeks, and I’m about to face the reality of living without all the possessions I’ve already packed.

3. Rose’s Will has been chosen as a semi-finalist in Literary Fiction by 2012 Kindle Book Reviews. Finalists wil...