A Broken Arm Update, A Lie, and a Friend with Cancer

"They cut me open and took a piece of my bone," mom said. She had just come home from having her bone density test. A giant bandage covered her upper arm. "I was awake when they cut right into me."

For years after that trauma, I was horrified to get my bone density tested. The slow healing of my broken humerus has forced me though.

"Can you put me out for this procedure?" I certainly didn't want to see myself cut into like my mom was. Well... all I saw was the bandage.

The doctor chuckled. "It's just a painless x-ray that can see right through your bones."

My face went warm. Mom lied about another event in her life. This would make for a great blog. Mom barely told the truth about anything.

Anyway...

I survived my bone density test. It happened yesterday. I should know something more by Thursday.

Onward...

I'm posting a link to GoFundMe for a writer friend of mine. Several weeks before I broke my arm, Beth was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had surgery. Thereafter, the doctor announced she was free of this hideous disease.

Now 8 months later, cancer cells have returned. The doctor advised radiation. She's retired and has to pinch every penny to survive.


Please click here to make a donation and read her story.

Hope everyone is well.

Hugs and chocolate!
Shelly

Slow Going

I was hoping to have Killer Stilettos perfected and published by December 2013. But last year as a lot of you know, I had my challenges. 

January 2013 began with the knowledge that my husband needed surgery. And by February we learned he had cancer and had to go through chemo which lasted until around June. 

Two weeks hadn't gone by and daughter number 4's drug problem had resurfaced. By August, DCF got involved, and my grand-baby was living with us again, and I filed for custody. It all got messy. Two separate divisions of DCF didn't agree on the outcome of my grand-baby, and before I could even get a court date, the grand-baby went back. Funny, I finally got a court date around December 17th.

But to date, baby is good. The daughter is following through with her outpatient rehab.

But then 2 weeks before Christmas, hubby's doctor found polyps in his voice box and mine found a lump in my neck. Hubby had surgery and a shot of chemo in his larynx a week before Christmas. I had an ultrasound of the thyroid.

Come to find out, my lump was neither a node, a goiter, or cancer. Thank God! The exam found a very swollen lymph node. So the  doctor concluded a flare up of my chronic Epstein Barr. She even found more swollen lymph nodes throughout my body to conclude what she thought. So now I battle the fatigue that comes with that.

Not to mention, my poor 93 year old grandmother has had a bad fall, a bleeding ulcer, her MerSa came back, went through seven blood transfusions, and survived 2 heart attacks before Christmas.

And through all of these life events, I've managed to keep my Salon job, publish 2 short stories, draft  3 other novels, and rewrite Killer Stilettos 32 times--this is the next book in the Lila's Journey Series.

Yup. You did in fact read 32 times. But I also loose my focus when life throws constant curve balls at me. Because sometimes one has to stop what they're doing to deal with stuff.

But soon and very soon, I shall have it perfected.

So before I go, I'm sharing a favorite line from Killer Stilettos. It's a Gram line. When I was reading through it last night, it made me chuckle. It's so her to say:

“I’m not God. I’m just a ghost trying to help her granddaughter.” She spread her arms out wide, palms up.

Do you have to stop writing for weeks sometimes when life throws a doozy at you?

Hope your Monday is a great one. I'm a The Salon on my iPhone. It's quiet for now.

Hugs and chocolate, 

Shelly

UPDATE: Why Can’t This Be Easy

Thought I’d give an update status on what’s going on with Secondhand Shoes. The ebook formatter is having a bit of struggle. The Chinese have taken over my WIP again in some places. So the formatter is doing his best to battle out the foreigners.

The format for the paperback…well, I thought this past Sunday it would be finished. I went to download it to Create Space and it came back with problems. One, the margins were a little off, and two, Create Space’s system didn’t recognize the em-dashes in my document. Oy vey!

Also, I’m going to move my blog break up for this blog starting now. My daughter and Glowstick need me again.

The picture above was taken back in May/June of this year when my grandson came to live with me while my daughter battled her drug addiction. He’s since returned to my daughter. But now we have a new problem. A cancer scare! I keep telling myself she’s too young but she hasn’t taken care of herself either. Her doctor seems to believe that it is more than likely the C-word. Her pap came back abnormal. According to her doctor, her cervix doesn’t look any better. And her STD screening came back clean. So on November 15th she’s been scheduled for a biopsy. I’ll know more by the end of November. So Glowstick will be back and forth to her to me for now. She also has some other things going on in her life. Thankfully, its not drugs this time.

As for current WIPs, Combat Boots-Lila’s next battle in life- is still an ongoing project filling up a poster board. Dear Mommy has now been entitled White Trash and Pill Heads. I changed the title because while my critters liked the MC’s voice-a baby- it didn’t work for them. But I have to say it didn’t work for me either when I sat down and read it straight through.

In conclusion to this post, I’m hoping to be back to normal after the first of the year. I will also do my best to keep all my followers updated, even if its sporadic over the next couple of months.

Happy Holidays to all!

Hugs and chocolate,

Shelly