Dear Friends, I’m alive!! I apologize for the months-long interval between posts. What can I say, life happened and on the bright side, I had less medical news to report! Not that there’s a dearth by any means, particularly compared to most other people. I’ll just run through a few highlights and then get to… Continue reading Quarter in Review

Dear Friends, Before you ask, I was putting something on the top shelf in my closet. Or attempting to, anyway. I’ve always said I’m a terrible judge of size, distance, weight, etc. The bin turned out to be about an inch too tall to fit on the shelf. Or maybe two inches. Like I said,… Continue reading Contusion Confusion (Collusion?)

Dear Friends, Remember when we all first realized Alicia Silverstone was the girl in Aerosmith’s Cryin’ music video in the early 1990s? Good times.. excellent song. Especially at about the 3:30 mark, when Stephen does classic Stephen. I didn’t know how much I wanted – needed, to be honest! – this microprocessor knee until I… Continue reading If I were the Crying out of Happiness Type…

Dear Friends, Someone accused me of being “normal” yesterday. Can you believe that? Ugh! Some people… here’s how I conveyed that to Mom and Dad. Dad (by phone): Stand by one, let me get your mother. Mer: I need you both on the phone. Mom: Hello? Mer: Hi! Are you sitting down? I have news.… Continue reading Normalization

Dear Friends, Peaches & Herb brings us today’s theme song. Sing along with me now… Reunited and it feels so good… I’ve always prided myself on keeping in touch with people and remaining close despite physical distances. Recently I’ve managed to catch up with some loved ones in person, as well as to reconnect with… Continue reading Why Do I Live Here??

Dear Friends, INXS brings us this week’s theme song: Never Tear Us Apart. For as long as I can remember, I’ve thrown various groups of friends together on the belief that you’re all awesome, and awesome together with awesome equals awesomeinfinity. When Walter and I were together, that included my medical team, who knew many… Continue reading Worlds Colliding

Dear Friends, Forgive me if I’ve been forgetful in our interactions in recent months. It’s a growing problem and one that concerns me greatly. I used to remember things in excruciating detail… that was both good and bad. Good for school and storytelling purposes… bad in that it sometimes made it harder to separate emotions… Continue reading Remind Me…

Dear Friends, With gleeful enjoyment at how perfectly this worked out (pun intended!), I offer you Physical by Ms. Olivia Newton-John as today’s theme song. This morning I had my “annual” physical (for the first time in… 20 years?). It just hasn’t seemed necessary in the past, I’ve seen so many other doctors… one could argue that… Continue reading Let’s Get (a) Physical… Physical

Dear Friends, As you know, public speaking is more terrifying than cancer. As you also know, I am a glutton for punishment. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for why I pitched a story and subsequently told it on Story District‘s 2nd Tuesday stage. The theme this month was “Saving Face: Stories about the… Continue reading Scarier than Cancer

Dear Friends, The Black Keys provide the theme song for today’s post: Tighten Up. Apologies for another delayed update… alternate titles for today’s post include, “Bonus Liposuction” and “Suck It, Inner Thigh… Literally!” After the fire drill in the days prior, surgery went off quite well. So much so that my agency head came to… Continue reading Walk it off, Cupcake!