The 1st entry

I believe that our past experiences are a big part of shaping who we will become. While the past doesn't define us, it certainly plays a role in who we are today. I have been through quite a bit in the last couple of years, and while I've documented it through journal I never really posted it to blog. I had requests for a blog in 2009, but I didn't end up getting around to posting one. So I'm posting the entries now, even if it is a little late. I feel like I have changed a lot over the last couple of years, and a big part of that change has come from my experience with cancer.

 I was diagnosed with cancer in October of 2009. Some of you were with me every step of the way, some of you found out through the grapevine and some of you are just finding out the details for the first time by reading these entries. I'm probably going to post each entry separately and not all at once. I'll get the first couple of pages up tonight. Here's the first entry:

September 25, 2009: Last night I stayed up all night wanting to scream out in pain. I could not wait for the clock to show that it was 8 am so that I could call a dental office for help. I went through the phone book and called every dentist, but apparently most offices are closed on Fridays. I finally found a dental office that was open and convinced them to make time to see me this morning. The dentist took an x-ray and examined my mouth. My molar, the one that was causing all of my pain, was hyper-erupting out of the gums and the gums were extremely irritated. The dentist said that the only way to ease the pain was to pull the molar out. I agreed to let her do this. She pulled the molar and found some strange tissue attached to one of its roots. She told me she had never seen anything quite like that and she wanted to get the opinion of the oral surgeon. I was hoping to be able to make it to classes today; however, the extraction of the molar left me in pain and also ended up resulting in some stitches. I left the office and I’m now working on homework at home.

The dentist called me this afternoon to let me know that she wanted to send the tissue to be examined at a hospital, and that she’d call me with the results. I’m so relieved that the pain has been relieved and I feel like I can actually eat food!