<p>Surely time should stop, suspended by the tragedy of a serious disease?</p><p>Surely life should become embalmed, preserved from the buffets of minutiae.</p><p>Surely one should be exempt from laundry.</p><p>When Sandy Glum, a high school teacher, was first diagnosed with rectal cancer</p><p>she chose to record the ups and downs of her post-diagnosis life in a series of blog</p><p>postings. Most of us would choose to keep the challenges of cancer&mdash;the ruthless</p><p>toll it all takes on the body, family, and life&mdash;and the thoughts they provoke, for</p><p>private reflection and introspection. Sandy chose to share so that we could better</p><p>understand the world and life of someone with cancer.</p><p>&ldquo;Life is pain, Highness,&rdquo; said Wesley Buttercup in The Princess Bride, and it is</p><p>with these words that Sandy summed up her fears and diminishing hope. Fearful</p><p>of being a &ldquo;whiner,&rdquo; and aware of the need to be strong and courageous for her</p><p>young family, Sandy muses on what she sees as her multiple failed attempts to</p><p>live up to her self-imposed expectations of bravery. Her self-deprecating accounts</p><p>overflow with endearing and captivating honesty during what is unarguably one of</p><p>the most vulnerable times of her life. Tongue-in-cheek, she pores over the bizarre</p><p>rites of the cancer patient&mdash;from PICC lines to hair loss&mdash;the distressing changes</p><p>in relationships, the confounding wrestle with mortality, and the significance of</p><p>faith in the light of it all.</p><p>This book offers a selection of entries from her blog Damned Near Killed Him.</p><p>The entries were compiled by her friend, Sandy Oshiro Rosen (author of Bare&mdash;The</p><p>Misplaced Art of Grieving and Dancing), who also contributed the Foreword and</p><p>Afterword.</p><p>It offers an honest, unembellished insight into the private life of Sandy Glum as</p><p>she bares herself&mdash;body and soul&mdash;to deliver a touching and inspiring narrative.</p>