Since I failed reconsidered and revised my goal to post daily this month, I was challenged to figure out how to name this post. It didn't seem right to call it "Day 12" or "Day 13" in sequence after "Day 11," which posted May 12 (because I missed May 1). And it was too odd to… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 19
Brain Tumor Awareness Month. Day X.
Yesterday, I was so busy enjoying Mothers Day, I forgot to write a daily post, which ruined my perfect record so far this month. Now I don't know what to call this day, so I've dubbed it "Day X." The truth is, I didn't enjoy all of Mother's Day. I enjoyed when my son… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month. Day X.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 11.
Another vocabulary word from the day my son was diagnosed with a brain tumor: Hydrocephalus. Water on the brain. I had heard of it before that October morning in the radiology lab. I had the notion that babies were sometimes born with hydrocephalus, and it caused their heads to swell, since the plates of the… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 11.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 10.
Pylocytic astrocytoma was one of the words I introduced in my Day 8 post. It’s the type of brain tumor my son has—benign and slow-growing. An MRI revealed it when Matt was 11. The doctors didn’t know how long it lay hidden in his brain; it could have been there since birth. I often wonder… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 10.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 9.
I was so engrossed in revising a draft of my memoir manuscript, I forgot to write an entry earlier today. So here are some random excerpts from my manuscript, and your opportunity to give me feedback. "I wonder who I would be, had my child been perfect like I expected." (This is currently the opening… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 9.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 8.
It’s amazing, when you get a diagnosis for which you were unprepared, how quickly your lexicon expands. Pilocytic astrocytoma and hydrocephalus and third ventriculotomy were three of the mouthfuls added to our vocabulary when our son Matt was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In the following years, neuropsychological testing and 504 Plan and TBI joined… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 8.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 7.
I’ve been finalizing a draft of my memoir manuscript—version eleventy-nine thousand or so—and I needed to clarify some dates and facts. So, this morning, I dragged down a blue-lidded bin from the attic. I wanted Matt’s report cards and school work from third grade, when he was eight. That was the year his behavior and… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 7.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 6.
Years ago, when I first started writing my memoir, I had a working title I thought was so clever, it would become a best seller on the title’s merits alone. The title was based on the idea that there were no good guys or bad guys in the story of my son Matt’s rumble with… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 6.
When grey matter is the color of your parachute.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 5. You know that book for job hunters, What Color is Your Parachute? It’s a classic, by Richard N. Bolles. Award winning. In print since 1970. Ten million copies sold in 28 countries. Translated into 20 languages. Blah, blah. I read it way back, after college. Really it was more… Continue reading When grey matter is the color of your parachute.
Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 4.
I can’t say my son had a brain tumor. To be accurate, I say he has a brain tumor. Twenty years ago, when Matt was 11, an MRI revealed the growth, clinging to his brainstem, located so deeply within convoluted folds of grey matter, it is inoperable. He’s had it for twenty L-O-N-G years. He’ll have… Continue reading Brain Tumor Awareness Month, Day 4.
