Welcome to Chez Geek Soaps!

The first inklings of this company came in 2020 when, like everyone else, I found myself with a lot of free time and nowhere to go. I ended up on YouTube and finding the channel of a Texas soap maker. As I watched, the idea of trying it for myself started to nest in my mind. Before I could pick up a kit or the supplies to really try it out, however, I was called to return to work as a per diem medical receptionist.

As I resumed working, I was the first face most people saw coming back into the medical offices while the pandemic was still at its greatest threat levels. Most people were understanding and cooperative about safety measures that we requested they follow, but those that weren’t were challenging. I told myself it would get better, and to give it some time to feel more normal again. A year and some months later with still no visible improvement in the work environment in the future… I decided it was, instead, time for a change.

There were other changes happening too: my husband and I were selling the house we owned in New Hampshire and moving to my home state of Maine to be closer to family, at the same time that I was having this realization. We moved in with my parents, got lucky and found a house that needed a little freshening up before it was ready to move into (SO. MUCH. WALLPAPER. Love you Mom and Dad!) and… I got diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

I will say that I was extremely, extraordinarily lucky here: A few years back, my migraine symptoms changed on me so my PCP sent me to have an MRI done of my brain to make sure that was all good. Unprompted, the radiologist who read my scans noted that I had a nodule on my thyroid. My PCP told me this, I said “well my mom and my sister have some thyroid issues” so we left it at it would probably be a thyroid issue and moved on. For the next few years it was tracked via ultrasound, slowly getting bigger but never worryingly so. That meant when I met my new PCP here in Maine I told him that was what our plan had been for the last few years, so that’s what he did for me… except this time the radiologist called him and told him it looked suspicious and recommended a biopsy. I agreed, figuring it was actually nothing and I would rather get the biopsy and have peace of mind than not do it and worry for a year… except then the biopsy came back positive for cancer. Two months later, I was in for surgery, or more formally for a thyroid lobectomy, as one half or “wing” of my thyroid gland (and ultimately two suspicious looking lymph nodes behind it) was removed. Recovery was rough, but I finally bounced back and Chez Geek Soaps formally opened online a few weeks after that.

If you’ve read this whole thing, thank you so much for choosing me and my products. I appreciate every time I see an email that says someone has ordered from me, everyone who stops by my table at a craft fair or an event, or even just the folks who like or comment on my posts online. Make it a great day, chics and geeks!

xoxo, Jenn