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The Diagnosis
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There are moments in life when everything you thought you knew about yourself shatters with a single sentence. For me, that sentence came in the form of a phone call: “The biopsy confirmed what we suspected. You have cancer.” This blog is my space to share an unfolding story, one…
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The Silver Lining of (the City of) Hope
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Moving across the country is stressful under the best of circumstances. Doing it in the midst of a cancer diagnosis and a life-changing genetic discovery? Overwhelming doesn’t even begin to cover it. When my family relocated from North Carolina to San Diego, I had no idea just how much this…
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Medical Specialist Speed Dating
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Being diagnosed with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome means re-entering the dating world – sort of. My medical tour around San Diego has evolved from a search for an oncology team to specialist speed dating, where finding the one(s) is less about romance and more about survival. It’s a whirlwind of rapid-fire Q&A,…
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Li-Fraumeni Syndrome & Me
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When I found out I had a TP53 mutation, I had no idea what it meant. TP53? Never heard of it. Li-Fraumeni Syndrome? Li – what? I didn’t know what it was, but the words ‘high cancer risk’ hit me like a slap. It felt like the floor had been…
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Detour to (another) Diagnosis: Finding Out I Have a TP53 Mutation
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When you’re juggling flights, medical appointments and the realization that your body has some seriously unique coding errors, life gets…complicated. Case in point: my whirlwind trip from Orlando to Raleigh, squeezed in between the girls’ week at SeaWorld camp, for my next scheduled breast MRI. I found a last-minute flight,…
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Suitcases & Scans: Navigating Cancer Between Flight Plans & Treatment Plans
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When I flew back to North Carolina, my plan was to stay for two more weeks, then head to Orlando for the girls to attend Seaworld camp for two weeks, and finally land back on the west coast full time in early August. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Trying…
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The Biopsy
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After spending a week in San Diego getting everything moved into our new place – and making an unexpected detour to the ER because Tarik decided to take a little jaunt around the U-Haul on Dakota’s broken scooter and instead broke his arm – I flew back to North Carolina…
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Good Morning & Good Night, San Diego
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The drive from El Paso to San Diego is exactly what you’d expect – long, punishing, and relentlessly hot. Even at 9pm, the temperature stubbornly clings to triple digits. Somewhere along this infernal stretch of highway I hear a sound that only be described as someone dragging an oversized piece…
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Detours, Disasters, & Desert Kindness
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As distracted as I was, I have to say that the drive from Texas to California delivered much more than the monotony of the previous 18 hours. The landscape shifted dramatically, as if the travel itself was trying to pull me out of my own mind. Fields gave way to…
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Cross Country Move
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Driving West 2,533 miles. 37 hours. 4 days. This is how far and for how long my mind was allowed to wander. I gave myself this time. If driving across the United States does one thing, its remind you of how vast the world is – and how small your…
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Healing in Humor
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The moving truck is packed from floor to ceiling and front to back, leaving only enough space for my thoughts to weave in and out as I grapple with the uncertainty of this decision. The looming potential diagnosis suddenly at the precipice of every thought, ready to take hold of…