Stage. Grade. Markers. Genes. Generous. Ample. Fatty. Aggressive. Angry. Options. Chemo. Radiation. Support. Drains. Sentinel. Walk. Risks. Metastatic. Spread. Sugar. Caffeine. Stretch. Nodes. Survival. Pink. Pink. Pink. Pink. Pink.
The volume of information in my brain is exhausting me. I heard from my oncologist on Wednesday that my breast cancer is not "sleepy" as we had hoped. After a basic screening mammogram three weeks ago detected two abnormalities, I had a second mammogram, then a sonogram, two biopsies, another mammogram, confirmation of Stage I cancer, an MRI, another sonogram, another biopsy, and then an official diagnosis:
I have a 2.5 cm invasive ductal carcinoma labeled Stage II with an "aggressiveness" rating of Grade 3. These cells are growing RAPIDLY at a rate of 98% within a given time frame. Cells have left the milk duct in which they started growing out of control, and I now have some lymph nodes that look suspicious. Lymph nodes carry cells to other parts of the body, so there is a pretty good chance this cancer has gone hunting elsewhere.
The pathology report on my lesion indicates that it does not have estrogen or progesterone receptors, but it does have the HER2 receptor, a protein that likes to eat and feed the cell so that it can grow. So here's the plan:
I will have a lumpectomy within the next couple of weeks. The surgeon will take the cancer and a suspicious lesion above it and then do a test to see if my sentinel lymph nodes have the cancer. If they do, all the lymph nodes under my left arm will be removed. Chemotherapy will start in January, followed by radiation in the spring.
There is also a spot on my liver, and I'll have a PET scan to look at that next week.
I have a toddler to raise and two businesses to run, but I DO NOT HAVE LESSON PLANS TO DO, A SUBSTITUTE TO FIND, OR THE ANGST OF DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO GO TO SCHOOL ON A ROUGH DAY. I am so very, very thankful that I work from home now.
Close friends who follow my blog, if you ask how you can help, I'm giving you a task. I will need support, and I'm going to be proactive about setting up a schedule so that my family is not exhausted. I'm asking for two-hour chunks of time, meals, shopping, cleaning, and babysitting. Once the surgery date is set, I'll need bits of help from a lot of friends and family so that my husband and parents are not worn down.
I'm not a simpering victim who will curl up and die. I am His beloved, and I am surrounded by family and friends who will let me get away with only brief pity parties. I welcome any and all love an encouragement. Bring it on.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
Ten Minutes a Day
My best, most cogent ideas come to me in the shower. This morning, between my husband asking me if I had seen his toothbrush and my toddler pushing aside the curtain to ask, "Baff too?," I had one of those clear thoughts.
How is it possible to work from home amidst all the distractions when there is often no large chunk of time to get any writing done? I'm in one of those seasons, a period of constant motion created by a small child and two small businesses. If I cannot work in large sections of time, I must make the small chunks count by focusing on selling what I have rather than creating more.
So, here is a list of ideas for writers who have to work in ten-minute windows of time. Today's list is for my teacher-author friends at TeachersPayTeachers.com.
Ten-Minute Tasks
1. Sketch an outline for a new product.
2. Create a document for all the html coded products you like to cross-link in product descriptions.
3. Freshen up a product description. Begin with a clever line and be sure to incorporate key words a potential buyer might use in a search. A list of key words can be found in the Seller's Handbook and on several forum posts.
4. Skim a section of the Seller's Handbook that you have not read in a while. You'll find a link to the PDF in the bottom left hand corner of your dashboard.
5. Drop in a hyperlink to a product within another product's description. How do you do that? You need to add code before the URL, between the URL and text, and after the text.
Here's an example. Pay attention to the red characters.
</a><a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/AP-English-Language-BIG-CHUNK-BUNDLE-1138336">AP English Language BIG CHUNK BUNDLE</a>
6. Hop on Pinterest and pin one of your products and five non-product ideas. Who am I kidding? No one gets on Pinterest for just ten minutes.
7. Watch one of Charity Preston's videos on social marketing.
8. Proofread a product.
9. Tag Common Core standards for one product.
10. Study the store of a successful seller who creates a similar line of products. For example, if you primarily create high school social studies units, look for other social studies sellers in the Top 100.
11. Go through the descriptions for five products and make some important wording bold. How do you do that? Add <strong> before the text and <strong/> after.
12. On the Credits page at the end of a product, add a link to the store of every clip artist whose work you used in that product.
13. Drop in copyright information and a link to your store at the bottom of every page of a product.
14. Use several ten-minute chunks to update a cover page with larger letters, more color, higher quality clip art, and your store name.
15. Set up a tabbed binder for product ideas.
16. Add to your marketing knowledge. I have realized recently that I really know nothing about marketing, so I created a Pinterest board for it. Come on by and read, read, read.
17. If you're creating products in Word, spend a few minutes watching a tutorial on PowerPoint, and then STOP USING WORD. I mean it. Stop it right now. Your sanity is at stake.
18. Pay it forward by offering advice or feedback on the forum, pinning for a seller whose work you've purchased, or emailing a friend about TpT.
19. Write a post on your business Facebook page
20. Feel under the seats of your car for loose change. Put it in a bucket marked VEGAS 2015. Complete this task every day! Try the lounge couch cushions, junk drawer, laundry baskets, and gym bag. Secondary teachers, start a cursing jar in your classroom. If a student uses profanity, he or she drops a quarter in. A couple of months of that, and you have your plane ticket.
Here's the take away: You don't have to spend eight hours a day building your store. Small investments of time add up!
How is it possible to work from home amidst all the distractions when there is often no large chunk of time to get any writing done? I'm in one of those seasons, a period of constant motion created by a small child and two small businesses. If I cannot work in large sections of time, I must make the small chunks count by focusing on selling what I have rather than creating more.
So, here is a list of ideas for writers who have to work in ten-minute windows of time. Today's list is for my teacher-author friends at TeachersPayTeachers.com.
Ten-Minute Tasks
1. Sketch an outline for a new product.
2. Create a document for all the html coded products you like to cross-link in product descriptions.
3. Freshen up a product description. Begin with a clever line and be sure to incorporate key words a potential buyer might use in a search. A list of key words can be found in the Seller's Handbook and on several forum posts.
4. Skim a section of the Seller's Handbook that you have not read in a while. You'll find a link to the PDF in the bottom left hand corner of your dashboard.
5. Drop in a hyperlink to a product within another product's description. How do you do that? You need to add code before the URL, between the URL and text, and after the text.
Here's an example. Pay attention to the red characters.
</a><a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/AP-English-Language-BIG-CHUNK-BUNDLE-1138336">AP English Language BIG CHUNK BUNDLE</a>
6. Hop on Pinterest and pin one of your products and five non-product ideas. Who am I kidding? No one gets on Pinterest for just ten minutes.
7. Watch one of Charity Preston's videos on social marketing.
8. Proofread a product.
9. Tag Common Core standards for one product.
10. Study the store of a successful seller who creates a similar line of products. For example, if you primarily create high school social studies units, look for other social studies sellers in the Top 100.
11. Go through the descriptions for five products and make some important wording bold. How do you do that? Add <strong> before the text and <strong/> after.
12. On the Credits page at the end of a product, add a link to the store of every clip artist whose work you used in that product.
13. Drop in copyright information and a link to your store at the bottom of every page of a product.
14. Use several ten-minute chunks to update a cover page with larger letters, more color, higher quality clip art, and your store name.
15. Set up a tabbed binder for product ideas.
16. Add to your marketing knowledge. I have realized recently that I really know nothing about marketing, so I created a Pinterest board for it. Come on by and read, read, read.
17. If you're creating products in Word, spend a few minutes watching a tutorial on PowerPoint, and then STOP USING WORD. I mean it. Stop it right now. Your sanity is at stake.
18. Pay it forward by offering advice or feedback on the forum, pinning for a seller whose work you've purchased, or emailing a friend about TpT.
19. Write a post on your business Facebook page
20. Feel under the seats of your car for loose change. Put it in a bucket marked VEGAS 2015. Complete this task every day! Try the lounge couch cushions, junk drawer, laundry baskets, and gym bag. Secondary teachers, start a cursing jar in your classroom. If a student uses profanity, he or she drops a quarter in. A couple of months of that, and you have your plane ticket.
Here's the take away: You don't have to spend eight hours a day building your store. Small investments of time add up!
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