Archive for August 2015

Cancer never sleeps

Cancer never sleeps
The Lizak family has faced cancer in its midst since the 1970s when John Lizak was diagnosed with cancer. He volunteered for an experimental cancer study that “helped doctors understand how to use proton beam and radiation therapy,” says his granddaughter Jennifer. He lived for 10 years after the treatment. After Jennifer’s grandmother died suddenly... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 27, 2015 at 9:21 am • 

Sleep is a critical part of survivorship

Sleep is a critical part of survivorship
Bladder cancer is not just a condition of the bladder. It is a condition of the spirit. It has ripped away my confidence in the reliability of the universe. It has created a sense of vigilance and a sense of vulnerability that, frankly, have undermined the quality of my life. Like many people with cancer,... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 26, 2015 at 10:00 pm • 

Cancerversary: things you never unsee, words you never unhear

Cancerversary: things you never unsee, words you never unhear
My cancerversary marks the date I was diagnosed with cancer and is not, as I sometimes feel pressured to feel, a celebration of being cancer free. It’s possible I was cancer free after the tumor was removed, or maybe not until treatment was finished, or maybe not even now. All I know is that I’m... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 25, 2015 at 9:01 am • 
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Keep posting those baby pictures on Facebook, because life goes on and life comes back

Sometimes sadness overwhelms me. I’m hardwired to hear and see the sadness in the world, and I don’t think that’s always a bad thing. I can hear, really listen, to sadness. I can sit next to it and let it be. I don’t always do that, of course. Sometimes I turn away or push it... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 15, 2015 at 9:57 pm • 

Resolution Chronicles: celebrating small things

My daughter started her senior year in high school today. She has really never liked school, so the beginning of the end is bittersweet. She’s been celebrating with the mantra, “This is the last time….” Summer vacation is over and the grind is beginning again. She can hardly wait to be finished with high school... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 12, 2015 at 2:25 pm • 

In search of the silver lining: learning to be resilient (Part 2)

In search of the silver lining: learning to be resilient (Part 2)
This past Saturday, my husband and I went down to the basement to do some cleaning out in preparation for major work on our sewer. After we’d worked for an hour or so I glanced over at the sink. It’s an old one, from the 1940s maybe, complete with a washboard in one tub and... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 5, 2015 at 1:49 pm • 
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In pursuit of the silver lining: the resilient ones (Part 1)

In pursuit of the silver lining: the resilient ones (Part 1)
Maybe everyone who has been diagnosed with cancer has to go in search of a silver lining, but I suspect that only a subset of us undergoes any active searching. I’m both staggered and humbled by many of the people I have met with cancer over the past three years, who are seemingly hardwired with... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 3, 2015 at 8:53 am • 

Aging's steep learning curve and being "all in"

Aging's steep learning curve and being "all in"
We need to do better work in this culture on aging. We put so much emphasis on the developmental years, baby to teenager. There are entire books written on periods of less than 12 months. Which, of course, makes sense. A baby learns more in the first three months of life than most adults learn... Read more »
By Kerri K. Morris,
August 1, 2015 at 11:38 am •