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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…
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BIRADS – what the hell is that?
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Overwhelmed by this looming cancer cloud I logged in to mychart to look at the radiologist’s notes from the mammogram and ultrasound the day before. “BIRADS Score – 4C – suspicious abnormality – very suspicious for malignancy – biopsy should be considered.” What the hell is a BIRADS score? What…
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The Radiologist’s Room
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The day I have my mammogram, Tarik and I are packing the moving truck. We’ve been planning a move to the West Coast for some time and my finding this lump is exceptionally bad timing – as if there’s ever a good time. I’ve never had a mammogram before, but…