The Riveting Uncomfortable Truth

The fabric of our society as African Americans have not been woven together in America’s institution of being created equally. Due to the inequality of being treated unfairly and unjustly. The systematic nature of violence that has embedded blacks in this country has a long lineage of hatred, which is steadily increasing within the numbers of death against blacks. And yes, black on black crime is a troubling issue in America, no matter how you look at it or what institutionalized reasons have caused these killings, it has to stop. With this said, are blacks indiscriminately killed, or are there being targeted systematically?

In response to the Charleston shootings and the growing epidemic of police shootings of people of color, Timeline Theatre presents a story that is bold and conceptual and demands the audience to witness the plight of the black man in America. Kill Move Paradise pushes the envelope and forces white Americans to come into the light of racism and deal with it.

What seems to go unreported on US media outlets is the alarming statistics of white on white crime. Fellow Caucasians killed 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, a staggering 83 percent of white murder victims. And even though there are more Caucasians in the United States, 2016 FBI statistics show that white on white crime was equal to or higher than black on black crime.

Criminologist Richard Rosenfeld, a lead author of the NIJ paper at the University of Missouri–St Louis, states that white people both are murdering and getting murdered at strikingly increasing rates as well.

On June 17, 2015, a white supremacist took the lives of nine black parishioners as they attended Bible study at one of the oldest and largest Black congregations in the nation. The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

1 in 1,000 black men and boys in the United States will die at the hands of a police officer. Police enforcement is 1.6% of all deaths of Black men between the ages of 20 and 24. They are killing people of color (Blacks, Latino, and Native American) men, women, and children at an alarming rate higher than their white peers. The deaths have become a day to day reality that people of color face within this country.

Inspired by the ever-growing list of murdered and unarmed black men and women, one of Philadelphia’s most prolific and dynamic playwright James Ijames, known as the “Messy writer” who strives for excellence, gives us a new play “Kill Move Paradise.”

This production is a story that is rich in poetic dialogue and where Ijames, wants its audience to see characters that paint a portrait of the slain, where four young black men without warning are ripped from the world, only to become stuck in the afterlife of purgatory. The men try to find peace and balance within their new state of being.

Timeline metamorphoses the stage into a black and white hazardous slope with a portal at the top, which is the way station between life and death where the characters come plummeting onto the stage. Although the set is minimalist, Ryan Emens (scenic designer) and Jason Lynch (lighting Designer) created the ramp so that Ijames gladiator arena can keep the audience focused on the performance and the text.

Being ripped from their lives, the four men express their rage as they debate and dialogue, trying to reconcile their fate. Uncovering the scars that they have endured living in a racist country, they try to reconcile the seemingly endless racial injustice in America.

The opening scene with Isa (Kai A. Ealy), the first arrival, is disoriented but resolved to understand his surroundings. With a printer rattling off names of soon-to-be entrants, he can see the audience around him but contemplates why. Soon after, a dazed and confused Grif (Cage Sebastian Pierre) tumbles through seeking answers to why he is has fallen into this new darken paradise.

Daz (Charles Andrew Gardner) is the third man to arrive, but his entrance was through a magical pathway. As the door opens to bring him to his new resting place, he’s irate wondering how did he land into the twilight zone. In an odd twist, he brought a lawn chair and commenced to tell them about all of the items stored inside from the latest widescreen television to the legendary blues singer Bessie Smith remains.

The last to arrive is Tiny (Trent Davis); he is the youngest. At first, his reaction is typical until he tries to go home, remembering what his mother told him about not interacting with people he didn’t know. He tries to leave by repeatedly running up the steep slope. Being unsuccessful, he finally gives up, exhausted, and struggling to breathe.

Like each before him, Tiny shares a story about how they arrived. Carrying a toy gun, he shares that he saw someone get shot, which Ijames alludes to the real-life shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014. He had a toy gun playing with his friends in the park when a police officer shot and killed him. In this gripping scene, Tiny recants how he felt when his soul was ripped from his heart and how the blood felt gushing from his body, as he tries to deal with his new reality.

A crumpled piece of paper is now on the set, and Isa reads what appears to be instructions to the guys to prepare them for their next journey. All of them have flashbacks about the moment their lives ended.

At different times, the characters observing the audience asks, “what are they doing?” Grif taunts and says they like to watch. The men break out in a smooth doo-wop song, choreographed by Breon Arzell, and perform the opening scene of The Bill Cosby show, which Tiny asks the audience, “Is this what you want,” and “what are you afraid of?” This metaphor is a direct reference from Ijames, playing to the views of the white audience of blacks.

Wardell Julius Clark is a director known to give us the unapologetic truth on the contrary views regarding blacks with a keen direction. He brings out the reality of the uncomfortable facts by breaking down the conceptualization of Ijames’s work. One scene that will cut you to the quick that cuts through the heart, mind, and soul of Black America are the reading of the names of senseless black murdered victims.

Names that are now forever embedded into a list of institutionalized violence are The Charleston Nine, (Tywanza Sanders, Susie Jackson, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, Myra Thompson, and Clementa C. Pinckney). Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Laquan McDonald, and Tamir Rice. These fatal shootings victims’ names included in the list of countless Black lives lost to the violent and oppressive system of white supremacists and police officers.

Clark puts together a very talented group of men. Trent Davis gave an unforgettable memorable performance as Tiny, Charles Andrew Gardner, as Daz was equally strong and Kai A. Ealy as Isa and Cage Sebastian Pierre as Grif rounded the ensemble with thought-provoking performances.

“Kill Move Paradise” is a challenging piece of work, and Ijames intends to show all sides of their humanity and identity as black men and boys in the theatre are gripping and riveting of the perils of being black living in white America. Chicago will be featuring another one of Ijames’s play called “White” at Steppenwolf Theatre in May 2020,

Let’s Play Recommends Kill Move Paradise but warns its audience that this in your face play will make some feel uncomfortable while others will be justly gratified that you can feel how they live every day.

TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY
Kill Move Paradise
By James Ijames
Directed by Wardell Julius Clark
February 12 – April 5, 2020

So, fellow Cubs fans, was it worth it?

I remember writing a column back on October 30, 2016, an open letter to the Chicago Cubs. It started this way:

“Dear Cubs,

I know you’re busy. I’m guessing you’ve got several things going on today as you prepare for the fifth game of the World Series. Of course, I know you’re down 3 -1 to the Indians, and I know last night was tough. I watched your eyes as you saw it slipping away. I saw some of you start to lose your composure, swinging wildly, making out-of-character throws. I saw your manager trying to figure out what lever to pull, while pulling pitcher after pitcher out of the game. I saw the fans, stunned, quiet, some crying.

Yes, I saw it all.

But even with all that, I want you to know something.

That I’m proud of you. And I’m thankful for everything you’ve given us this year. Oh, yeah, and one other thing.

You can still win this.”

The column went on, but you get the picture. As a life-long Cubs fan, someone who’d sat through many “next years,” that team had made a real difference in my life.

Now, of course, any Chicagoan and probably anyone around the world, including those steadfast researchers in Antarctica, can tell you what came next. The Cubs ended up winning three straight games, including the seventh game of the World Series after the most famous rain delay in sports.

Then came the party.

And the party after the party.

And the buses filled with Cubs players and the Championship trophy.

And Grant Park.

And the hoisting of new flags above Wrigley Field.

108 years.

And it was glorious.

But, man, has the hangover been rough.

I mean, seriously, doesn’t it feel like every season since that season has been worse? With starting pitchers trying to make it into the fifth and oh-so-blown ninth inning leads. And free agents being signed who look like they should have actually been free or at least on clearance. And base-running mistakes and errors and realizing that, if we had runners on and there were two outs, then there might as well have been three. And many of our superstars going a little dim, while David Ross tried dancing with some other stars. And injuries. And Zobrist, though, of course, that was hard and personal stuff.

Speaking of stuff, how about those Joe Ricketts emails, and Maddon ─ a favorite of mine notwithstanding some bizarre playoff bullpen moves and not taking accountability for almost blowing the World Series ─ turning from slogan maker to the uncle who’s just waking up from a nap? And watching like sad children as the Cubs and WGN divided up the books and dishes during their divorce, and Bryant’s seemingly decade-long arbitration hearing and trade rumors, to then hearing that the most exciting player to happen to the Cubs in a while, Nick Castellanos, will now be seeing Red.

From trying not to suck to actually sucking.

Now, I don’t mean to be a downer.

And, I’m definitely grateful.

But I still wanted to ask.

Was it worth it?

All this gunk after ─ balanced against that one World Series win.

Just like 1987, 88, 89, etc., for the Bears after their Super Bowl win, then Trestman and Fox and “telegenic Cody” after the final clang echoed.

Was it worth it?

In my eyes, after giving it careful consideration, after assessing all the variables, after measuring all the angles, and evaluating all the evaluatables, I only have one thing to say.

I remember watching that last out in 2016.

I wasn’t sitting on the couch anymore. I was standing. Close to the TV, as if my presence could somehow help them win, as I were there, on the field.

The grounder hit by the Cleveland Indian’s Michael Martinez off Mike Montgomery. It went right to Kris Bryant.

But, still, catastrophe loomed. After all, as mentioned earlier in our story, it had just rained. Briefly but hard, a storm that tracked right over Progressive Field, and would start up again later and last all through the night. A storm that brought Jason Heyward the moment that erased his countless flailing strikeouts.

A rain that meant the grass was slick. A perfect “Cubby re-occurrence.”

I tensed as Bryant got the ball and went to make the throw ─ and almost slipped.

Almost.

Then relief. And joy. And a level of emotion I never expected. After all, it was just baseball, wasn’t it?

No, it wasn’t.

It was more.

It was thinking about my Mom and Dad who loved the Cubs – when they were here.

It was hugging and kissing my wife, Gina, knowing we were sharing an unforgettable moment.

It was talking to our kids and other family members on the phone right after.

Yes, as they say in the movies, after Rizzo safely caught the ball from Bryant, tucked it in his back pocket and raised his arms in victory while running towards the others, everything was a blur.

A long and glorious blur of people waiting in line to buy championship T-shirts, and flying Cubs flags on cars, and everyone walking around with that crazy crooked smile. Oh yeah, and lots of jokes about how close Spielberg got it with “Back to the Future, Part II.”

So, after all that, was it worth it?

The long hangover afterwards.

All the things since.

Was it?

Damn straight.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Contact me at [email protected]. And listen to my podcast.

Comments Note: All comments are reviewed. Any that are considered to be a personal attack or hate speech will be removed. In my blog, I always try to be respectful. I expect the same from my readers, both in responses to me, and about or to each other. And, again, thank you for reading.

Copyright 2001-2020, James R. Warda. All rights reserved.

This blog post is the eighteenth in a series about my (and my twin sister’s) preventative breast cancer screening journey that began when we were 30 years old in July 2019. The first post is about my first mammogram ever; the second post is about my consultation at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the third post is about my stereotactic core biopsy at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the fourth post is about my diagnosis with “Stage 0” DCIS breast cancer; the fifth post is about my in-person DCIS diagnosis at Mayo Clinic, beginning thoughts on my surgery timeline, and discovering that my twin sister might have breast cancer, too; the sixth post is about my twin sister’s invasive ductal carcinoma clinical stage 2A breast cancer diagnosis; the seventh post is about my breast MRI and two ultrasounds to investigate “suspicious” spots on my right breast and liver; the eighth post is about my second DCIS diagnosis following a week of MRIs, ultrasounds, and biopsies at Mayo Clinic; the ninth post is about preparing for my twin sister’s chemotherapy appointments, including details about her egg banking procedure in the city; the tenth post is a summary of my sister’s ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and visit to the emergency room; the eleventh post is a summary of my double mastectomy surgery plan scheduled to occur on December 3rd, 2019 at Mayo Clinic’s Methodist Campus Hospital in Rochester; the twelfth post is about my twin sister’s first chemotherapy infusion at Mayo Clinic; the thirteenth post is about foobs, photo shoots and nipple tattoos (my plastic / reconstructive surgery plan); the fourteenth post is a recap of my successful double mastectomy and immediate direct-to-implant reconstruction operation; the fifteenth post is about my surgical recovery and day full of follow-up appointments at Mayo Clinic in Rochester; the sixteenth post is about my one-month-post-surgical-follow-up appointment and preventative baseline ovarian cancer screenings at Mayo Clinic; and the seventeenth post is about a suspicious rash I developed a month after my surgery called “pigmented purpura,” my consultation with a gynecological oncologist about ovarian cancer prevention, and my sister’s fifth chemotherapy infusion. To keep tabs on new posts, sign up for the “A Daily Miracle” email list at this link.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” -Ephesians 3:14-21

My twin sister just finished her sixth session of neoadjuvant chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and the doctors say her tumor is shrinking! One of the PAs she saw last Thursday said she couldn’t even find the tumor on physical exam which is GREAT news because my sister is scheduled to undergo a double mastectomy with reconstruction on Friday, March 20th at Mayo Clinic’s Rochester Methodist Hospital and it’s our (and the doctors’!) hope that she has a “complete pathological response” at the time of surgery, which means her cancer was completely responsive to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment and there would be no signs of cancer left in her system when she has her double mastectomy!

Here she is knocking out her final neoadjuvant chemotherapy session at Mayo Clinic before surgery!!!

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and prayers for a complete pathological response at time of surgery

“Neoadjuvant chemotherapy” is chemotherapy for cancer that occurs before breast cancer surgery. Sometimes, breast cancer patients have breast cancer surgery like a mastectomy BEFORE going through any kind of chemotherapy or radiation treatment, but there are different types of breast cancer and having chemotherapy before surgery has been proven to be especially effective for HER2+ breast cancer patients in shrinking tumors and preventing the cancer from coming back! Because my twin sister’s cancer is HER2+, her oncologist and surgeons decided neoadjuvant chemo was the best choice for her. For more details about neoadjuvant chemotherapy’s effectiveness, you can watch this amazing presentation by a world-class Mayo Clinic breast cancer surgeon.

The good news is that her doctors haven’t been able to locate her lump on physical exam hardly at all anymore, which means her chemotherapy so far has been effective. We are praising the Lord for her healing and we are humbly asking for God to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” in curing her COMPLETELY at the time of her surgery on Friday, March 20th!!! We trust her doctors and know God is making a way for us by providing us with, literally, some of the best doctors and treatments in the world.

Here we are with shirts from one of my sister’s friends/coworkers: “Check Your Boobies, Mine Tried to Kill Me!”

What’s next after my sister’s surgery? 

There are two options for my sister from here, and both involve some more treatment after her surgery on March 20th.

Option #1 is: If she has a “complete pathological response” / “pathological complete response” at time of surgery and the surgeons and pathologists find no cancer at time of surgery (hooray!), she will likely need a little bit of targeted therapy after surgery–called Herceptin (also known as Trastuzumab). These treatments would occur through 11 infusions taking place once every 3 weeks for another ~9 months total.

Option #2 is: If there is some cancer left at time of surgery, she will likely need to go through a new chemotherapy regimen called T-DM1, which would also be 14 infusions 3 weeks apart, also for ~9 more months total. T-DM1 is a new chemotherapy regimen just approved for HER2+ breast cancer patients like my sister–it has excellent outcomes for HER2+ breast cancer patients in destroying the cancer and making sure it never comes back.

Either of these options–#1 or #2–will likely be complemented by the administration of Tamoxifen for 3-5 years, which is a pill that can be taken orally and ensures her cancer won’t ever come back (by blocking some of her body’s production of estrogen to keep the estrogen positive hormone receptors of her cancer from growing again).

These options are subject to change based upon my sister’s pathology report that will come back after her surgery, so stay tuned for final prognosis!

It is my sister’s prayer that she won’t need T-DM1 after her double mastectomy with reconstruction, which is our prayer too. Our prayer is specifically for a “complete pathological response” at the time of surgery, which means her tumor will be completely gone and there would be no sign of cancer in any of her lymph nodes. That would mean she only has to do some more Herceptin, which, because it is a targeted therapy, wouldn’t have nearly as many side effects as the drugs she’s experienced in these 6 rounds of neoadjuvant chemotherapy so far!

A complete pathological response also means that radiation won’t be necessary. We are also praying that radiation won’t be necessary after surgery!

My sister got a “Celebrate Life” pin from Mayo Clinic’s chemotherapy staff for completing her regimen of neoadjuvant chemo before her surgery coming up! They said that, even though she’ll likely have some more treatment of some kind after surgery, it’s important to celebrate every chapter completed. AMEN!

But why does she need more chemotherapy after surgery?? Isn’t surgery the end??

The neoadjuvant chemo has been very effective so far, which is great. But, like my sister’s oncologist said at the beginning of all of this, he hopes for her to be cured at the end of this, and the cure will come from a year of treatments when all is said and done. All along we’ve known my sister would need ~12 months of treatment including surgery, but it’s important to celebrate the victories along the way, including:

1. As of Friday, the Cold Cap (which she’s wearing in the photo above) will be gone forever!!! My sister lost about ~45% of her hair during her neoadjuvant chemo, but the Paxman Cold Cap has helped her keep the ~65% AND wearing the Paxman Cold Cap will help her with faster hair regrowth. Taxotere is a drug that’s probably to blame for the hair loss, which we are saying goodbye to forever starting now (after surgery, it won’t be part of the picture). While the Cold Cap has been awesome in helping preserve some of her hair, it’s been very cold and it’s time to say goodbye! Bye Taxotere, Bye Cold Cap, hello hair regrowth!!!
2. No matter what treatment is coming after surgery, it won’t be as intense as what she had before surgery. As her oncologist said at her intake appointment at Mayo Clinic in October, they pulled out the “big guns” before surgery to take care of things so that, after surgery, treatment would be much simpler and less intense. Like I said, our prayer is for a complete pathological response!

It’s hard for my sister to know she has to face another 9 months of treatment after her operation coming up in a few weeks, and it’s hard for the friends and family who have been praying for her to know that she has to go through another 9 months of treatment, but it won’t be as intense as what she’s endured already no matter what and we are praising the Lord for His strength in sustaining her on the journey so far. Even more than that, God has provided her with effective treatment so far–the fact her tumor is shrinking (and may have completely disappeared!) is an incredible blessing! Not to mention, she was diagnosed with Influenza B last week and was able to heal in time to have her sixth neoadjuvant chemotherapy infusion yesterday. Hallelujah!!!

Here is my twin sister with her husband at the emergency room last week where she was diagnosed with Influenza B!

Influenza B and (another!) trip to the emergency room

I’ve been back and forth to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for several of my own appointments in the past couple of months and have been able to attend several of my twin sister’s appointments at Mayo Clinic, too. I don’t want to miss an appointment because, aside from having FOMO in the first place, as I look back on our journey so far, every time we go to Mayo for appointments and treatments, I feel like I’m in the front seat watching a miracle unfold. That is especially true of the healing my sister experienced this past week leading up to her final chemo infusion at Mayo Clinic: She was diagnosed with Influenza B a week ago Friday and kicked it in time for her chemo appointments at Mayo yesterday.

This is a miracle in and of itself–for a chemo patient to get sick in the first place is terrible. Second, to get sick a week before the last chemo infusion scheduled to happen before a major cancer surgery is bad news. Third, thanks to amazing doctors and prayers from family and friends, she got well enough to go ahead with her final chemo infusion before surgery without changing the timing of anything!

God is good!!!

Even though she’s going through chemo, my sister has wanted to keep working out and has been on the treadmill 4-5 days per week! She even wanted to go to the gym last week so we lifted weights at Lifetime Fitness together with our husbands! She came down with the flu the next day but we don’t blame the gym for that. Hooray!

Where did the flu come from??

So how did she come down with the flu? Typically, my sister has a chemotherapy infusion on a Friday, sleeps and rests a lot of the weekend, works from home for a few days following her infusion, and then gets back to work. She’s had a fairly significant amount of nausea and has spent some quality time in the bathroom since chemotherapy started, but the prescription Imodium and some other nausea meds her doctors prescribed her with have worked wonders for the most part, and has kept her going to work most days of the week following her infusions (at the very least, she works from home).

As a lawyer who loves going to court, she’s even been to court to argue some cases a few times this past couple of months! That’s why, the week after her fifth infusion, when she couldn’t leave the bathroom for almost 2 entire days, we were worried. Then she started having the chills a few days later along with a headache. When she spiked a fever of 102.5, we knew it was time to take her to the Emergency Room. This was stressful, especially because we knew she caught it from someone or somewhere probably from being out and about at work, at the gym, etc.–but all along we’ve encouraged her to stay active and go about life as normal as much as is possible–something her doctors have encouraged her to do, too. It just sucks that it’s during a time of year when everybody seems to be sick. She was almost done with her chemo treatments when she got sick, too, but as my sister said: “I guess my journey wouldn’t be complete without me getting sick during chemo.” It really does make the journey complete, I guess!

Watching my sister get tested for the flu with a flu swab was a horribly uncomfortable experience, but it wasn’t as bad as watching her panic over the strep throat test which was a fairly traumatizing experience for her. Luckily, her husband and I were able to make a joke out of it, which we think she appreciated later. 🙂 An hour later, we were relieved when her diagnosis came back as Influenza B because at least we knew what we were dealing with.

Given it was Valentine’s Day (and a Friday evening at 8pm) when we headed for the hospital, we got on the phone with the Mayo Clinic oncologist on call who agreed Tamiflu was a good treatment plan. When they ran her blood labs, the ER doctor found that she was super low in potassium–my sister’s potassium levels had plummeted to 2.8 and were supposed to be 3.5. So they got those numbers back up to where they needed to be, thankfully!!!, due to 8 pills of potassium along with two bags of liquid potassium administered through IV. She got home around 2am that night after many prayers and much supplication from family and friends. 🙂

Once again, God is good!!!!

Here we are with our masks on waiting for my sister to get admitted to the ER (we only had to wait an hour)!

Here we are with my baby sister, mom, my twin sister’s husband heading into my sister’s checkins with her surgery team and oncologist before her final neoadjuvant chemo infusion!

Up next (on March 20th!): Double mastectomy with reconstruction!

My twin sister will have the same surgeons I had for my double mastectomy with reconstruction in December 2019, and she’s set to meet with them to sketch out her double mastectomy and reconstruction surgical plan on Friday, March 13th. She had her first appointment with her mastectomy surgeon last October as part of her multidisciplinary intake team meeting at Mayo Clinic, and is set to meet with her again as well as her plastic surgeon to discuss reconstruction options.

My baby sister, mom, and sister’s husband were able to attend meetings with her oncology team and a PA from her mastectomy team to figure out what we have to look forward to on March 13th, and found out that my sister’s surgical plan will look a bit different than mine because her cancer was invasive, as it’s a guarantee she has to have 2-4 sentinel lymph nodes removed and she gets to decide whether or not she’s going to keep her port in for her post-operative treatments or have it removed at the time of her double mastectomy.

For now, we are grateful for her healing and are praying for zero side effects (as much as is possible! :)) this coming week as she rests after her sixth and final neoadjuvant chemotherapy infusion before her double mastectomy on March 20th! We also get to look forward to her meetings with her surgical team on Friday, March 13th–I will be meeting with our plastic surgeon that day, too, as a three-month follow-up!–and we’ll have updates then about what exactly her surgery will look like. In the meantime, we’ll be praying Ephesians 3 together.

Here my twin sister and her husband are, ready to take on surgery and what’s next together with God’s help!! 🙂 #cutestcoupleever

This blog post is the eighteenth in a series about my (and my twin sister’s) preventative breast cancer screening journey that began when we were 30 years old in July 2019. The first post is about my first mammogram ever; the second post is about my consultation at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the third post is about my stereotactic core biopsy at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the fourth post is about my diagnosis with “Stage 0” DCIS breast cancer; the fifth post is about my in-person DCIS diagnosis at Mayo Clinic, beginning thoughts on my surgery timeline, and discovering that my twin sister might have breast cancer, too; the sixth post is about my twin sister’s invasive ductal carcinoma clinical stage 2A breast cancer diagnosis; the seventh post is about my breast MRI and two ultrasounds to investigate “suspicious” spots on my right breast and liver; the eighth post is about my second DCIS diagnosis following a week of MRIs, ultrasounds, and biopsies at Mayo Clinic; the ninth post is about preparing for my twin sister’s chemotherapy appointments, including details about her egg banking procedure in the city; the tenth post is a summary of my sister’s ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and visit to the emergency room; the eleventh post is a summary of my double mastectomy surgery plan scheduled to occur on December 3rd, 2019 at Mayo Clinic’s Methodist Campus Hospital in Rochester; the twelfth post is about my twin sister’s first chemotherapy infusion at Mayo Clinic; the thirteenth post is about foobs, photo shoots and nipple tattoos (my plastic / reconstructive surgery plan); the fourteenth post is a recap of my successful double mastectomy and immediate direct-to-implant reconstruction operation; the fifteenth post is about my surgical recovery and day full of follow-up appointments at Mayo Clinic in Rochester; the sixteenth post is about my one-month-post-surgical-follow-up appointment and preventative baseline ovarian cancer screenings at Mayo Clinic; and the seventeenth post is about a suspicious rash I developed a month after my surgery called “pigmented purpura,” my consultation with a gynecological oncologist about ovarian cancer prevention, and my sister’s fifth chemotherapy infusion. To keep tabs on new posts, sign up for the “A Daily Miracle” email list at this link.

It’s one of those hard-to-find Leap Days that falls on a weekend, so look for a few special beer events. Not the least of which is More Brewing opening its new space in Huntley, a beerfest at Mickey Finn’s and more!

Friday, February 28

Saturday, February 29

Sunday, March 1

My cousin introduced me to the band Metal Church, by way of a little ditty called “Badlands,” way back in 1989. He would fly into Chicago, Ilinois, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his family every summer to visit. With him, he brought lots of heavy metal, and some Beastie Boys.

I, on the other hand, was into The Smiths and Public Enemy, to name a few, but the Beasties were definitely something we had in common.

We both loved music and we would share much of the stuff we were listening to, at the time, with each other. On this particular occasion, he brought Blessing in Disguise, the third studio album from Metal Church. On that record was “Badlands,” and I was instantly hooked with the chorus.

I’ve always loved the song and I thought I would share a recent version they did. You never hear one-minute intros anymore, and they really build this one up before Mike Howe (who, crazy to think, was the new vocalist for the band at the time) comes in. It’s a great listen, enjoy!

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