I was asked to give the survivor speech for the Tacoma/Seattle Undy tomorrow.  Here's what I plan to say.

Some kids are afraid of the dark. Me? I was afraid of cancer. My dad was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer when I was three. And again when I was 6. I never met my grandma. Colon cancer claimed her life more than a decade before I was even born. In my mind, it wasn't a question of if I would get cancer, it was when.

My dad died when I was…

My colitis is flaring badly and now I need to move up my surgery to remove my rectum.  I had my colon removed and an ileostomy in Nov of last year, but they left in my rectum because the surgeon was really hopeful that I would be a good candidate for a take-down.  I am not.  There is NO way I could hold onto anything as liquidy as my output.  I've known I needed an ostomy since long before I found out about the cancer.  I know I will be happier without the rectum-- I wish they had taken it…

I finally got around to starting a blog about my cancer journey.  It'll be equal parts of my own story mixed with information about colon cancer and lynch syndrome.  I think it's really important because there are just no personal stories out there about people dealing with lynch-- I know because I LOOKED!  And most of you know that when I look, I look hard-- lots of in-depth research.

Anyway, check it out: …

So, it turns out that I had no infection-- they took blood cultures from three different spots (port and both arms), urine, throat, and X-rays and NOTHING.  My fever was probably caused by a minor virus, but my blood levels all look good so they're not too worried about it.

The WEIRD thing is that my blood showed that I was having a severe allergic reaction.  The doctor is pretty sure that all of my cold-like symptoms are because of that.  And the best guess is the cat allergy…

Warning-- this is a very sweet treat.  The cake isn't super sweet, but all the toppings are!  Start with a small piece.  Good way to feel better on a bad day!

Cake:

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup chocolate syrup

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

4 TBSP cocoa powder

1 cup mashed banana (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup milk (or rice/soy milk)

1…