Jennifer Goodman Linn You Fearless

Monthly Archives: April 2011

04.30.2011 Posted 2:50 pm

A Letter to My Cancer

Dear tumorous cells that continue to make a comfortable home within my abdominal cavity:

We’ve known each other a long time now…It’s been almost 7 years since you first made yourself known during a game of tennis at our friend’s wedding in Scottsdale, Arizona.

You’ve been more or less a big part of my life since then. You might leave for a few months at a time but you always seem to return. I admit that I’m probably a pretty fun place to hang out…I have a great life, tons of friends, a great family, I laugh a lot and I feed you well.

Well, we’ve never had a hard-core negotiation and now’s the time. I’ve tried all kinds of different approaches with you. At first I was angry and tried to beat you out of me…not just medically with tons of toxic chemotherapy and invasive surgeries but with grueling workouts that I was hoping were too tough for you to handle. Recently I switched my approach. I’ve tried to partner …

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04.23.2011 Posted 4:06 pm

Aligning Towards a Plan

 
This past week had to be one of the longest of my life (and I assume Dave would agree).  Since I last wrote, we have spent about 90% of our waking hours meeting with, consulting or emailing with doctors and labs across the country (and world) to try to formulate a plan that we can be comfortable with.  There have been lots of hiccups and bumps along the way (like for the few hours we thought I had Hepatitis not realizing that when you test “positive” it just means you have had the vaccine before).  Good times!
As many of you know, not having a plan in place can be very stressful so although our plan is a bit “out of the box” because we’ve already tried so many of the more typical drugs, I was thrilled that we committed to it this past Thursday and started.
Partly because I am tired of talking about it and partly because I truly don’t understand all of the medical details, I will keep this …

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04.17.2011 Posted 1:20 pm

Preparing for the Storm Ahead

I’m not sure if I believe in God but I do believe that most things happen for a reason. For instance, I always think that it makes sense that I got really sick in the fall right after my family was able to enjoy a lovely week at our rented beach house in Long Beach Island.
It was as if some greater power wanted to give me that wonderful experience knowing that I would look back and cherish it often in the dark times ahead.
While I was in Arizona the last two weeks I couldn’t help but feel like that chain of events was about to happen again; that I was given this wonderful two weeks of R&R, healthy eating and exercise to prepare me for the tough battle ahead. I knew that I had my six-week CT scan the day I returned and I tried to convince myself that the bloated feeling in my belly and my slight potbelly was just because I was getting strong again and gaining …

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04.6.2011 Posted 8:37 pm

Arizon…aaaaaah!

As you all know, I am a real ocean girl. However, the one thing I love more than the ocean is the sun…and you can never have too much of it in the desert. I have always loved Arizona and view it as a place of real healing. The dry air always makes me feel so much better.

We had a Linn Family Bar Mitzvah to attend last week so Dave’s family rented a beautiful home in Scottsdale for the week. We had such a nice time together. We celebrated my 40th in style with a special spa day for the “girls” (my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law) and a very nice dinner. I also got to spend a special day with my friend Kristin at my favorite spa of all time…The Golden Door Spa at Boulders.

I have decided to stay another week to focus on “rehabbing”. I am spending a lot of time swimming, eating well and spa-ing. It has been truly delightful. A much needed time of reflection. I …

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