Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
I continue to learn more and more about my disease and what is to come as far as my treatment. This education allows me to prepare. In the 'olden days' this was was not the case. I remember back in the early '80's when my Mom was going through lung/brain cancer. She was diagnosed, she began treatment, she got deathly ill from the treatment all without much information as to what was to come. Today there are so many wonderful resources that have come in to my path that are helping me in so many ways. I am so thankful for these resources as they take alot of the anxiousness away. I'm here to tell you that cancer is scarey ... it just is. I'm also here to tell you that cancer treatment has come so far since the early '80's. I praise God for all the resources as I walk this journey.
I believe that preparation is a must when you're sitting where I am. My body has gone through a dramatic appearance change. I mean you don't have your breast removed and think people won't notice. <smile> But to me that is just an appearance change. Dr. Young, my oncologist, told me on Monday as far as they (the doctors) are concerned all my cancer has been removed. Praise the Lord. Yes, the boobs are gone but so is that mean old cancer. I opted not to have reconstruction and I am so ok with that. My greatest desire is for my incisions and lymph node removal area to completely heal. I gotta tell you that I'm still sore, however, it's getting better every day and I'm praising the Lord for that.
I will be having an assessment appointment with another surgeon about getting my port surgically put in in the near future. My surgeon, Dr. Chow has a very busy surgical schedule so she has turned that procedure over to Dr. Bayouth at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorder (I call it the Center). She says he puts in a lot of her patients ports. I was also told that I can't drive for at least two more weeks. I tried the sad puppy dog face but Dr. Chow said 'no, let's wait'. Ok, I'm ok with this.
There continues to be lots of preparation to get ready to begin treatment. I feel like I have come a long way since my diagnosis and Dr. Chow and I talked about this yesterday. I'm in a much better place today than I was the day that I walked in her office for the first time. My blood pressure that day was something like 154/98 and yesterday it was 110/68. I'm telling you that knowledge is power and calms many many fears. And we are always afraid of the unknown so I say dig in and get in the know.
After my appointment with Dr. Chow and the removal of my drains yesterday, I ask my friend, Alverna, if we could walk up to the Survivor Gal shop in the hospital (Baylor-All Saints) and check out the wigs and scarves. It is unavoidable that I will lose all my hair so I might as well prepare now while I can.... right? Right! So we walked up and got a treat at Starbuck's celebrating my two drain removal and headed in to the the shop. There are wigs sitting every where and racks and racks of scarves and cap type head covers. Looking at the wigs, the first thing I looked at was the style and then the color. The wigs in the shop are for you to try on and are all orderable in different colors - thank goodness. Alverna and I picked out 6 wigs to take for me to try on. I am going to share those pictures so keep in mind ... I was looking for a good style and just discounted the color because they you have to order the wigs. These are just the 'try on' samples.
First you have to get rid of your hair ...
Let the fun begin ...
Liz was my personal wig lady ... She is so sweet and she was having fun too.
My sister liked this style. It's ok ...
Next .... I'm a 'hands on' kinda gal ...
Ummmm ... I don't think so.
Darker color, little different style ...
Not too bad ... lotta hair in the front though.
Next is the Suze Orman kinda look. These wigs all have a lot of hair upfront which I do not with my real hair but Liz is a wig sylist and she will fix and detail my wig to me. The following is my favorite and it felt really good.
Taking a look at the back ................
Another little flippy style ...
Now let's look at alternative head coverings ...
Did not like this covering at all.
The cap says .... Save the ta tas ... little late for that ... <giggle>
My friend, Alverna, bought me this t-shirt ... because I am a survivor ...
Thank you for sharing my field trip yesterday. I hope you enjoyed the trip. So many great things happened yesterday and I'm so thankful.
Thankful Thursday ...
Thankful for getting two more drains out yesterday.
Thankful that when I was leaving Dr. Chow's office, I ran into my dear friend, Stephanie, who has walked a much worse cancer journey. It was a blessing to see her and get a big hug. Everyone in the office and in the waiting room were sharing in our reunion. I left her with the words ... We ARE survivors.
Thankful for the opportunity to prepare for what's to come on my journey.
Thankful for women like Liz at Survivor Gal who care enough about us cancer patients to take so much time helping us find a new hair do.
Thankful for my friend, Alverna, who I met 20 years ago when our daughters started kindergarten. We have remained friends and actually call each other 'sis'.
I continue to be so thankful for my understanding and helpful family. It's not easy for me to go from extremely active to needing so much assistance in my daily routine.
THANKFUL that God continues walking beside me and lighting my path.
Today I leave with the words to This Little Light of Mine ringing in my ears ....
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE ....
This Little Light Of Mine Hymn
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Won't let Satan blow it out.
I'm gonna let it shine.
Won't let Satan blow it out.
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Let it shine til Jesus comes.
I'm gonna let it shine.
Let it shine til Jesus comes.
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel - NO!
I'm gonna let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel - NO!
I'm gonna let it shine, Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Let it shine over the whole wide world,
I'm gonna let it shine.
Let it shine over the whole wide world,
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Love and blessings to all,
Gena
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