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​Small Soap

10/27/2016

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I called the Magnolia Hotel in Omaha today and asked them to send me a photo of their soap. I’m sure this was the first request of this nature. I told my story (briefly) to the housekeeping manager, Greg. He sent it to me in about a minute and said, “Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.” People are so amazing.
Picture
I wanted to share my soap story today. I was at the Magnolia for work in late September. I used this round, small soap in the shower. The little piece of soap fit perfectly in the palm of my hand not like the larger bars of soap I use at home. Like I’ve done countless showers before, I scrubbed my under my arm. However, this time my fingers now exposed by the smaller circular soap landed on a new spot of skin. And that spot had a lump. A very hard, specific lump. I knew right away that it was not good. 

Fast forward to today. I’m just one week from having the cancer removed surgically. I’m feeling great. I called my doctor to check on the pathology report. She said, “There’s nothing in the lymph nodes. They removed three nodes, and none of them have cancer. They are all negative.” I had to repeat it three or four times and write it down. She said the tumor was 1.6 cm and was found very early. Early detection. Found because of a little round bar of soap. 

From that day in late September to Oct. 19, I encouraged women to feel my lump. Some women felt it and the color in their face would drain.  I did it because I want others to learn from this: use a different size of soap, don’t skip your mammograms, talk to your doctor if you have family history of cancer, reach out to another person if you have a story to share. 

We are so grateful for every action you have already taken to help our family: the kind notes, thoughts & prayer, meals, play dates with the kids and laughter—we love laughter. 

So here’s to small soap and big support from amazing families and friends. Thank you. 
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Dryer sheets and cancer

10/18/2016

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My sister, Stephanie, swooped in the day I found my cancer while taking a shower. She drove me from Omaha to Iowa City. She’s a great sister. A sister who also spoils my children and came for a visit that same weekend, even though it was completely out of her way. She's an amazing sister.
 
Steph and I got to talking about cancer. She mentioned in passing that she quit using dryer sheets because they have chemicals in them that could cause cancer. Lucy was listening, and after Stephanie left she said, “We should quit using dryer sheets—you know because I don’t have cancer yet.”
 
So I did a little online research and found these wool balls. They are dryer balls. They got good reviews and I quickly ordered some for my myself and my sister. They work pretty well. 

Do dryer sheets cause cancer? How about dairy? Red meat? I don’t know. The point of this blog is that I decided to take action—I got myself some balls.
 
My breast cancer returning after a double mastectomy is extremely rare. And I don’t regret the double mastectomy. It made this stupid cancer pretty easy to find. I’ll post later about how a circular piece of soap helped me find it.
 
Tomorrow is surgery. Then we’ll discuss other treatment options such as radiation, chemo, etc. For now, we are hopeful that the cancer has not spread anywhere—specifically my lymph nodes. We’ll know more after tomorrow but today, we focus on action. And balls.
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    Sarah Corkery is a mother of three, wife, friend and marketer. 

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