Friday, March 13, 2026. Four years ago, I was standing at the beginning of my cancer experience, terrified it would destroy my life. I did everything I could to prevent that from happening. I believed my task was to survive…

2:00 PM. Thursday, October 23, 2025. Sparkle Madsen crossed peacefully over the Rainbow Bridge held in the loving arms of Miah and me, surrounded by her brother Magic and sister Glimmer. She was 14 years and 8 months old.

A…

Sunday, June 16, 2024. My first tower fell thirty years ago, in a parking lot, by a river, in a rural Wisconsin town. I was sixteen years old.

I grew up as the youngest of two, in a family that…

Wednesday, April 10, 2024. The most successful dog trainers focus on rewarding good behavior and ignoring or correcting bad behavior. The dog learns they get treats and praise when they do this one thing, and they get nothing if they…

Tuesday, October 3, 2023. My thoughts hurt me, literally. When I experience my worst migraines, any mundane thought causes a knifelike, slicing, stabbing sensation in my head. It makes me wince. It makes me cry. It makes me crawl on…

Wednesday, August 2, 2023. A threat, real or perceived, is an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action to one's physical or emotional well-being. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer 17 months ago, I experienced a…

Wednesday, April 12, 2023. I was going to title this blog post, "Smack!" and write about hitting walls of creativity crushing blocks over the past few months. But I was unable to get it together due to the brain fogginess…

Tuesday, January 31, 2023. It has taken me six months to feel well enough to write this post. And even now, I don't know if my thoughts will translate coherently. At the beginning of September 2022, things got dark. Black…

Sunday, July 17, 2022. In the months that followed my surgery, I became depressed. I didn’t fall into the depths of despair or anything too substantial, but my weeks were hard. They still are hard. I intended to go back…

Thursday, April 21, 2022. Another New Test Results email arrived. I knew it was the surgical pathology results, but I refused to look at them. I was too afraid. I wanted Surgical-Oncologist-Doctor L to call and discuss them with me…

Monday, April 18, 2022. I started with Johnny Was. I first discovered this luxury brand of clothing and accessories during a work trip to Atlanta, GA in January 2019. The boho-chic fashion line is known for their signature scarves and…

Friday, April 15, 2022. I woke up early to post the website and social media updates for my 4th single release, Romeo / Knight of Cups. I had written and prepared the content before my surgery so all I…

4:00 AM. Wednesday, April 13, 2022. The pain in my head was waffling between 7 and 9 on my pain scale. It topped the charts as one of the worst migraines I’d ever experienced. I was in complete agony. 

6:00…

Saturday, April 2, 2022. I needed to know what I was going to look like after surgery. I wanted a blueprint of my body - flat-chested - so I wasn’t shocked after surgery. My plan was to minimize any potential…

Thursday, March 31, 2022. It had been one week. One week since deciding on my surgery. One week of strange, nightmarish dreams, revolving around hacked body parts, botched medical procedures, and medication failures. A cloud of dread loomed over me…

Monday, March 21, 2022. Sparkle’s limp had returned on her right front leg. She hobbled down the back porch steps to go potty. Miah’s mental capacity for another health problem – human or dog – was dangerously close to igniting…

Monday, March 7, 2022. The dizziness was far worse today than yesterday. I felt like I was walking crooked. I tried to sit upright and work from my home office, but the room kept tilting sideways. Miah looked into my…

2:00 PM. Monday, February 28, 2022. Miah and I sat in front of my laptop, waiting for Financial-Advisor C to start the conference call. A few seconds past the hour, she promptly started the meeting. I fumbled with my video…

Tuesday, February 15, 2022. I checked my email. Resilient-Researcher-Rochester J had sent a response, copying me and Peaceful-Comforting-Scientist A. I immediately sent a private email to Peaceful-Comforting-Scientist A, asking for her phone number. An hour later, she wrote back with…

Wednesday, February 9, 2022. For the next two weeks, my days were filled with a flurry of activities – attending appointments, connecting with friends, and beginning to figure stuff out. Due to the large amount of content, I decided to…