Darla in the Desert 🌵☕📰

An honest update on cancer, faith, a last-chance medication, City of Hope, a new Honda CR-V, and why we chose family over Egypt Some moments are worth holding onto. 🌵 A note on Parkinson's & cancer — keep scrolling for our important update ↓ Did you know? Research shows Parkinson's patients have a nuanced cancer picture. Overall cancer rates are actually somewhat lower than the general population — but with one important exception: melanoma risk runs about 75% higher. For those carrying certain genetic variants of Parkinson's, risks for breast, brain, and blood cancers are also elevated. The relationship is complicated — not simply "more cancer," but a shifted pattern altogether. Sources: BMJ meta-analysis of 17+ million participants (2021); NIH Mendelian randomization study (2024) I share this because so many of us are walking similar roads. In my own circle of friend...

Lost in Circles in Surprise AZ: Parkways, Ice Cream Sandwiches & Why Silver Alerts Make Total Sense 🌵 Desert Girl Goes to the City: Sun Valley Parkway, Ice Cream Sandwiches, and Two Cranky Desert People Accurate representation of us navigating Surprise AZ with no A/C at 4 PM. 🦀🦀 The Day the GPS Lost Its Mind (and Took Us With It) There are days when the desert feels like a quiet friend — and then there are days when it decides to test your patience, your marriage, and your ability to remember which road is which. We had a medical appointment on a part of town we don't usually navigate. Simple enough. Clear weather. Nothing dramatic. Except the GPS had other plans. First it sent us past the turn. Then it sent us back the other way. Then it tried to route us onto the freeway — which, as every desert person knows, is where chaos lives at 4 PM. Hard pass. By the third wrong turn, somewhere in Surprise, we were already behind. The car had been sitting in ...