Free Floating Anxiety Ramona has not come home. She’s two hours late. I fight panic. She’s been in a car accident. She was car jacked. She’s been kidnapped. She’s at the hospital and can’t call me because she’s in a coma and the ER people have no way to contact me. When she was a [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ovarian cancer’
Free Floating Anxiety
Posted in Free Floating Anxiety, tagged cancer and humor, chemo, gay relationships, ovarian cancer on September 3, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Beyond Basic
Posted in Beyond Basic, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, gay relationships, ovarian cancer on August 15, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Beyond Basic When we bought our oversized, many pillowed couch – the couch I now spend my recovery days on – the furniture saleswoman described it as “aubergine,” a fancy name for eggplant and an even fancier name for purple. A visitor has yet to enter our home and comment, “What a lovely aubergine couch [...]
New Clinical Diagnosis
Posted in New Clinical Diagnosis, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, hair loss, ovarian cancer on July 23, 2010 | 3 Comments »
A New Clinical Diagnosis There really are no hairs on my head. Every hour the bathroom mirror confirms this. My scalp is shiny smooth. Vanity brutally surrendered. When I graduated from college, a fellow student gave me a new hairdryer. “You must have worn the other one out by now.” My hair obsession was a [...]
Preparation
Posted in Preparation, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, chemo, hair loss, ovarian cancer on July 5, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Preparation Wigs are a nonstarter. Acute surgical menopause hit almost the moment my ovaries departed and the thought of a wig on my scalp, perspiration from a raging hot flash pooling underneath, turns my insides queasy while my fingernails reach up to scratch phantom itches. It’s been six days since the first chemo treatment and [...]
Inside Job
Posted in Inside Job, tagged burst abdominal incision, cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, hysterectomy, ovarian cancer on June 16, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Inside Job Ten days after the surgery, six days after returning home from the hospital, and one day after the zipper of staples spanning my abdomen from the pelvis to above and around the belly button is removed, the incision bursts open. Rolling off my bed, one hand protecting my tender, zipper-free abdomen, I notice [...]
Abby
Posted in Abby, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, domestic partnership, gay relationships, ovarian cancer on May 17, 2010 | 8 Comments »
Abby Ramona arrives in my hospital room just as Dad is leaving. She gives him a kiss. He says, “Goodbye Hon” to me and is gone. She brings me a large, iced mocha with whipped cream. Now that the surgery is over, I can resume my caffeine intake and I choose to do so in [...]
Morning Shift
Posted in Morning Shift, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, divorce, family estrangement, ovarian cancer, sympathy on May 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Morning Shift When I wake up the morning after surgery, I see Dad, settled and dozing in the armchair next to my head. His tanned bald head is tilted forward, chin meeting chest. I understand two things without asking. One, that he and Mom, as if they were still married and not in the [...]
Another Flower Delivery
Posted in Another Flower Delivery, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, chemo, denial, ovarian cancer, sympathy on April 23, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Another Flower Delivery Flashes of yellow and orange bob above the window sill moments before the knock on the kitchen door. ”Come in!” I yell from my horizontal post-surgery station on the couch. This delivery woman has been here before and she brings this latest flower arrangement right into the living room. She pauses at the [...]
Pee in a Cup
Posted in Pee in a Cup, tagged cancer and comedy, cancer and humor, hysterectomy, ovarian cancer, pregnancy test on April 12, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Pee in a Cup When we are called in to prep for the surgery, I am almost relieved. Finally we will get to the reason I am here. In the curtained prep area, I get naked into a backless blue hospital gown and sit on the creaky rolling medical bed, the bed that will deliver [...]
First Bra
Posted in First Bra, tagged cancer and humor, chemo, gender identity, menopause, ovarian cancer, steroids side effects on March 31, 2010 | 3 Comments »
First Bra The decision to get a bra was cinched on Friday night when Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, the hosts of TLC’s What Not To Wear, my favorite television fashion make-over show, told me that “lifting the girls” with the correct size bra will hide (or at least minimize) the tummy bulge. Most weeks, [...]
