NotesFromtheVoices

When your grandmother and mother along with several aunts have died of cancer, it can make a person paranoid. For the most part, I keep the anxiety under wraps. But an mammogram earlier this month, shredded my nerves. My mind went very worst case scenario. My biggest fear was not being able to see JJ grow up. Let’s start with I am okay. Apparently, I have quite a few cysts in my left breast. Harmless cysts that don’t look harmless on a mammogram. For an hour and half Tuesday, I was on pins and needles. I stole a glance at the monitor during the mammogram and about had a heart attack. An ultrasound confirmed they were cysts (Nine of them to be exact). I was so happy that I celebrated with a cherry slushie. This incident hammered home the importance of yearly mammograms and physicals. I have to admit that I slacked off in 2011. The last few weeks have been stressful. But I didn't take to the bed or bury myself in orange soda. I took each issue step by step. After having a tough s...

Wednesday was a very interesting day for me. It was suppose to be a simple in and out day. My goal was to come in and proof pages and then go home to bed because I felt like (and still do) crap. My coworker R, who is the crime reporter, had to accompany his pregnant wife to several doctors' appointments. The hierarchy of the newspaper is simple. If I, the education reporter, gets sick or is on vacation, my stuff is rescheduled for another time. But when you are crime reporter, your stuff gets reassigned. I became a crime reporter for the day. The one day I needed to take it easy. I didn't and couldn't. It started with a bank robbery after deadline. D and I raced to the scene in separate cars with cameras. I ended up following deputies with the dog. It was a combination of trying to get the photo, the  adrenaline   and the fever that made me realize something. The deputies and the dog are in the woods looking for someone who robbed a bank at gunpoint. I am standing in ...

For my birthday, I did something different. I was anti-social. I took a day off from work, slept late and did what I wanted to do. It was a great day to turn 39.  I ate what I wanted (my special chicken and rice), wore what I wanted (my favorite plaid shirt), went to my favorite place (the library) and watched movies (Fast Five. A birthday isn’t a birthday with a little Vin Diesel.).  It was a great day along with tons of chocolate and orange soda. On Saturday, it was much of the same along spending some time at D’s lake house. It was beautiful and quiet. It was weird at first because I am used to sound of traffic and thumping music. It has been nice. I should have followed the rainbow. And to cap off my birthday time, I saw a rainbow on Monday and actually had the camera with me. So today at this moment in time, I am happy to be me. At least until, the quarter town hall meeting at noon. DAILY DOSE 1. I won a tin of chocolate cookies and radio l...

A photo of me that I like! It shows me doing what I do best. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I probably know this month better than anyone. My mother's side of the family has a history of breast and other cancers. I have to admit I have not been as proactive as I should in getting physicals and mammograms. But I promised my mother I would do my best to get mammograms and stuff. Last Saturday, the hospital offered a free breast exam clinic along with mammogram. I figured I could go for free while getting paid as a reporter. Mammograms are not comfortable. They are a little painful and I don't like showing the girls to a stranger. But I did it and went on to cover a festival, where I had the best hotdog and fries ever and a deep fried oreo. Today, I got a call from the clinic. Apparently, there were some issues with the mammogram. So I  must return next week for an ultrasound. They wanted to do it on  Friday but it is my birthday. And if there is bad news to ...