I keep logging in here to write a new post and I lose steam rapidly every time. This blog used to feel like home to me, like a second skin. Sure, I didn’t let out every lurid detail, but it was my place.

Over the last year it has become less so for all sorts of reasons. Even with those reasons and the box it has put me in, I still am not ready to give it up. Although, clearly the honeymoon is over.

This weekend we celebrated Mike’s birthday. We grilled shrimp on cedar planks and steaks with big baked potatoes. He had a cheesecake with strawberries and received about 100 cedar planks as a “gift.”

Prior to Father’s Day my dad had been teasing us because Mike got some new spray bottles from Home Depot. My dad is always needing extra spray bottles… so on Father’s Day we bought him something like 20 spray bottles and throughout the day as people tripped into the house they gave him a spray bottle with curling ribbon around it from a box I had hidden in the living room.

For Mike’s birthday my dad returned the favor with dozens of cedar planks. It was really funny, even if Mike caught on pretty quickly.

Saturday didn’t go unnoticed in other respects. It was the first anniversary of Ethan’s cancer diagnosis. Although we have endured a few setbacks over the last year and certainly the emotional scars are very vivid and very present, all in all, we did take a moment to recognize that the worst was behind us. Bittersweet is an understatement.

Do me a favor and remind all the men (and BOYS!) in your life to please check their bits and pieces MONTHLY. Testicular cancer doesn’t care if you are 5, 12, 21, 35 or 45. It’s highly, highly curable and the ONLY reason people die from it is because they don’t get help quickly enough, they are embarrassed… there is no good excuse not to check yourself out and get to a doctor if you notice anything strange.

“Many men don’t realize the importance of doing a testicular self- exam each month. Just as women should be examining their breasts to look for possible signs of breast cancer, it’s important for men after they have reached puberty, to perform a testicular cancer self exam each month. Because testicular cancer has a very high cure rate and with a cure rate of almost 100% for the very early stages of this disease, it’s very important to detect and treat the cancer as early as possible. Doctors recommend that men perform a testicular self-exam while standing up, and preferably after a hot shower or bath when the muscles are most relaxed …” – MedicineNet.Com

That quote says “after puberty” I had one of the top pediatric urologists at UCLA tell me that it is NOT unheard of for YOUNG boys to develop testicular cancer. That would be boys under the age of TWELVE. This is NOT something they tell us moms as we are traipsing our babies from well doctor check up to check up. Regardless of their age, start teaching your sons now to know what to look for and to not be embarrassed if they find something – no matter how tiny or silly it may seem.

8 Symptoms of Testicular Cancer:

1. A lump in or on a testicle;
2. Any enlargement of a testicle;
3. Shrinking of a testicle;
4. A feeling of heaviness in the scrotum;
5. A dull ache in the lower abdomen or in the groin;
6. A collection of fluid in the scrotum;
7. Pain or discomfort in a testicle or in the scrotum;
8. Enlargement or tenderness of the breasts.

I’ll step off my soapbox now.

I hope this post finds you happy and healthy. Stay well.