November Update: I'm Not Dead Yet!

I apologise most emphatically for the radio silence. Here is a quick update on my Heath (reason for current hiatus) and a (hopeful) idea of when I'll return to regular blogging. Feel free to skip the health stuff and go right to the blogging information farther down the page if the other grosses you out or is TMI. (I've discussed my diagnosis/Heath stuff with so many doctors, friends, family and curious people in waiting rooms at MD Anderson that I may have lost my sense of when/what is acceptable to share on this issue!)

HEALTH STUFF

On October 15 I underwent an intense abdominal surgery that lasted several hours. The purpose of the surgery was to test several areas of my abdominal cavity for cancer cells. (In July I was diagnosed with appendix cancer and it was discovered that the mucin produced by the tumor in my appendix had managed to perforate the wall of my appendix and flooded my abdominal cavity with mucin - which will be hereafter referred to as "The Snot Monster".) 

The reason for the sampling from various sections of my abdomen was due to the face that my Snot Monster could potentially carry cancerous cells and 'seed' those cells in various cracks and crannies of my abdominal cavity. (Booooo! Hissss!)

Good news! During the biopsy phase of surgery all the samples returned cancer free. So then the surgeon opened me up all the way (samples were taken via laparoscopic incision) to remove part of my colon (joy) and clean the Snot Monster from my abdominal cavity. Final pathology results have come in and I am now CANCER FREE! *happy dance*

My recovery is going well in general. I've never had to recover from a 10in incision through all the fat and muscle of my abdomen, but my doctors seem pleased. I'm, personally, starting to get a bit stir crazy from all the restrictions of healing. But hey, I am cancer free, so I guess I just need to suck it up and be thankful. I see my doc next week and will be discussing when I can return to work. But have a feeling it will be several more weeks as I had a minor setback about 10 days ago when part of my incision reopened. And yes, it is JUST as traumatic and gross as it sounds. So now I have this small, but rather deep wound that I can see preventing my doctor from giving me the "green light" back to Libraryland.  So that's where I stand health-wise, on the blogging. 

BLOGGING

All of this cancer diagnosis, surgery and recover have really killed free time. Currently I exhaust myself merely sleeping and reading. Sad, I know. So I believe the smart this is to put my blog on hiatus until at least mid-December. The reality may be more like January 2014, but I really hope to get at least a couple posts in before then.

Again, I am very sorry for the lack of current posts but also flattered and thankful for all of your support and well-wishes.  Thank you.  

I look forward to supplying you all with quality reviews, teen programming, letters from the frontlines, and more Book Posters and Bookmarks in the near future!

Review: 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl' by Jesse Andrews

“No, you don’t have to live inside my head.

For every, just, insanely stupid thing

I do or say, there are like fifty even worse

ones that I just barely avoid

 doing or saying, just out of dumb luck.”

Greg Gaines has perfected the art of social invisibility. He knows everyone in all the typical high school social groups, but isn’t a part of any of them. He and Earl, his one and only friend, spend their days making obscure, terrible movies they refuse to let anyone watch.  Greg likes his life standing on the periphery and is looking forward to coasting through his senior year. But when Rachel, an old friend from Hebrew school, is diagnosed with leukemia, Greg’s mom convinces him that he needs to step up and befriend her.  As Greg is pulled further and further into a friendship with Rachel, and he and Earl agree to make a movie for her, Greg learns that invisibility might be an impossible life choice.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is one of those rare novels that mixes stylistic choices and tones, yet still manages to come together and form a cohesive, exceptional whole. Greg, our socially awkward, reluctant
narrator, is so hilarious (both intentionally and accidentally) that I was afraid to read the book in public for fear I would have to explain my stifled laughter.  But in between the comedy, there are moments of brutal honesty and self-doubt that elevate Greg beyond the superficial.  Greg is far from perfect, generally wrapped up in his own problems and unwilling to step outside his carefully constructed box, but likeable nonetheless.

I particularly loved the writing styles Andrews uses. The novel is written in a mix of styles, incorporating straightforward prose, scripts (fitting, since Greg and Earl are amateur filmmakers), and bulleted lists. The writing doesn’t mince words and is often brash, but then, so is Greg.  Reading this book felt like I was taking a peek inside Greg’s head: Abrasive, chaotic and sometimes (often) inconsiderate, yet haphazardly insightful and desperate to please.

What I most appreciated about this novel is that it is a cancer book that doesn’t revolve completely around cancer.  In fact, the cancer plot line takes a back seat to Greg’s struggle to accept the death of his social invisibility.  Andrews doesn’t force you to feel all the typical emotions wrapped up in kids dying of cancer.  There is sadness, yes, but it’s tempered by Greg’s inability to grasp the big cancer picture.  Even when he finally does understand what cancer means for Rachel, the reader isn’t forced into gut-wrenching, all-encompassing misery. Nor is the book sappy and melodramatic, because let’s be honest: Brash, self-centered Greg is immune to sappiness.

At its heart, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is about a self-absorbed, awkward teenager reacting to difficult situations. Often, we are touched by unexpected challenges and our lives our forever changed. But, sometimes, we are like Greg, unable to process and unwilling to see how our lives could change or, more likely, have already changed.  And, you know what?  That’s okay, too.

Book Source: Purchased
Reviewer: Kimberly

Recommended Ages: 16+ for profuse swearing, drug references and accidental drug use, lots of crude humor