July 1 2019

By: Jackie Hook
Monday, July 1, 2019

Our theme this month is “Life Goes On, How Do You?” Although it wasn’t the loss of a loved one, I experienced a loss six years ago that brought me face to face with the question, Life goes on, how do you? Almost two decades ago while living elsewhere, I asked my primary care physician about an irritated area on my nose. He told me it was an infection and he gave me some antibiotic cream. This irritation came and went for several years and when we moved to State College, I eventually went to a dermatologist for skin cancer screening. The dermatologist scheduled me for a biopsy and we learned it was basal cell carcinoma. I was then scheduled to have MOHS surgery to remove the cancerous cells, one small piece at a time until they were certain they got it all. Three times the surgeon dug tissue from my nose and checked it under the microscope before she was certain I was in the clear. Because of the shape of my nose and the lack of extra tissue to stretch, I now needed reconstructive surgeries. That same day, the surgeon took a piece of cartilage from my ear and grafted it to my nose to begin the process. Our daughter’s high school graduation was in a few days, so the surgeon kindly bandaged me in a way that my profile from the right side looked normal – allowing for graduation pictures. I’ll continue this story next week.   

Leave a comment
Name*:
Email:
Comment*:

Comments

Please wait

Previous Posts

March 27 2023

To close this month’s theme of “Grief is Loss in Pieces,” I’ll share these words by author Nick Cave: I have learned that things get better, in time. I know that fundamentally.... I also know th...

March 20 2023

Another way to interpret our theme, “Grief is Loss in Pieces,” is to think of how grief can break us into many pieces. Our work in grief is putting those pieces back together. There is a wonderful ...

March 13 2023

As I continue to think about our theme of “Grief is Loss in Pieces,” I’m reminded of the many stories people have shared with me about their grief journeys. Some talk about how at first they were n...

March 6 2023

This month our theme is “Grief is Loss in Pieces.” Many of you have heard of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These “stages” were neve...

February 27 2023

I close this month’s discussion of “Ask Your Heart/Quiet Your Thoughts” with this quote by teacher and author Spring Washam:  Listen to your heart and trust the direction you are being pulled...

February 20 2023

In order to ask your hearts and quiet your thoughts, here are a few more things you can do: Talk about your grief to make more space in your head. Journal and move your thoughts from the inside...

February 13 2023

As we continue with our theme of “Ask Your Heart/Quiet Your Thoughts,” I want to talk about ways to quiet your thoughts so you can ask your heart. The first way that comes to mind is to breathe. Br...

February 6 2023

This month our theme is “Ask Your Heart/Quiet Your Thoughts.” We live in a culture that seems to value the head over the heart. As I’ve written before, I appreciate the Native American Medicine Whe...

January 30 2023

As we close this month’s theme of “Timeless Healing,” I leave you with a quote by Etty Hillesum. I think this quote speaks to the healing that takes place inside of ourselves outside of time and ti...

January 23 2023

This month’s theme of “Timeless Healing” can be thought of in two ways. The one we’ve already discussed is that there is no prescribed timeline. Another is that healing can feel without time. In mo...