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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Introducing Sparkles and Spitballs

Well, here it is.  So many people have told me that I need to be writing about my experiences, I finally decided to dip my toes in the water.  I know it doesn't look like much yet, but as I learn more about how to configure things, I will get it looking more like me.

For those of you joining my from Caring Bridge, I will continue to post there as well.  I figure Caring Bridge will be where I let you know the news of the day, if there is any.  This site is more for me,  sort of a cathartic journal, allowing me to really get at what it is like to have oral cancer, tongue cancer specifically, and be a mom and a wife, and try to continue living my life with some semblance of normalcy.  I predict that this will be pretty no-holds barred, so if you are squeamish or get offended easily, this might not be the blog for you.  I intend for this to be a truly honest account of my life right now...and it is can be pretty intense and offensive.  Just keeping it real!

So why the name Sparkles and Spitballs?  Sparkles was the easy part.  Anyone who knows me knows my love for all things glittery and shiny.  When I was first diagnosed, I asked people to send prayers, love, and sparkles.  Spitballs came later.  Since my surgery, I have been almost a continuous drool factory.  Pretty!  In the hospital they used the word "secretions" but that doesn't sound much like a kindergarten teacher, does it?  My life since the surgery has been all about these secretions...too much, not enough, too thin, too thick.  Honestly, I have had more conversations about saliva in the last eleven weeks than I think I have had in all my 42 years put together.  So, spitballs it is!

Sparkles and Spitballs has another meaning to me as well.  Recovery from this surgery has been quite challenging.  I have begun to think of my days in term of good or bad, or in this case, Sparkles or Spitballs!  The goal is to have more sparkle days than spitball days and thankfully, the tide is beginning to turn.  Many people talk about blessings and challenges...this is just my version.

As I was thinking about starting this blog, I realized that the name has a more far reaching meaning as well.  Eventually, when my whole existence is no longer focused on the foe that is this cancer, I hope that this blog will serve as a record of all the happenings here in Lipson Land.  So, keeping that in mind, I am thinking that Sparkles represents that sparkly, shiny, glittery girl of ours, while Spitballs represents our two amazingly different, yet equally rough and tumble, boys.

So that's it....the first blog post.  Soon I will sit down and tell the whole story of my life, or at least my life since cancer became a part of it.

Love to you all,
Gayle

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Watching your struggle with this loathsome disease has been devastating to all of us who love but your strength and resilience shines through every day.

Anonymous said...

Nice intro!

Tech tip: Not sure if you meant this to be anonymous (what with the preface of 'intense and offensive' you mentioned), but you did include your first and last name in the post, so it may be picked up by search engines if your students/parents decide to google you.