After the initial shock of Rita’s cancer diagnosis, several meetings with doctors and specialists were scheduled. A treatment regimen is recommended, followed, and monitored closely. It includes surgeries, chemo, and radiation sessions, but not without difficulties. Rita loses her hair and wears a wig. She is not comfortable and hates the thought of wearing it. ...

Cancer: The word means nothing to most people. But to the people who have it, or those close to them, the word means everything.

footprints march the sand as you did though the memory now fades as the ocean tide washes them away and when the sun settles for the night to come i watch the infinite stars circle eternity around my head i remember you traced them with a finger interconnecting constellations and regaling me with stories of ...

October 10, 2015 Sunday mornings in October meant getting up early to work at the Hilti Ballfields. Dad served as the head groundskeeper there, making sure that the fields were in order for the little league games. He hired my siblings and I to walk the fields an hour before dawn to pick up the ...

It’s easy for someone to forget that I’m not okay. I am good at putting on the ‘okay’ face and pretending that my heart isn’t still horribly mangled from losing my dad. It isn’t something I bring up meeting new people because I don’t want to be the “sad kid.” When someone makes an insensitive ...

I love astrology almost as much as I love the paranormal … almost. What is fascinating about astrology is the fact, there is so much more to you than your sun sign. A sun sign is the day you were born and where it fits within the 30-day cycle of that sign. Using myself as ...

I know that being a doctor cannot be easy. Almost every day, you make choices that will have a lasting impact on the lives of patients and their families. When operating, their lives are in your hands. One mistake can end a life as quickly as the answer can save one. I respect what you ...

In Honor of Chuck Ballard 1972-2016 April 6, 2016. Saint Francis Hospital. Day 3: My daddy’s fight against colorectal cancer came to an end that night, in a white hospital room surrounded by the people who loved him most. We’d known that it was coming for three days and we still weren’t ready. I’d been sitting beside his ...