Yep, I feel great today. I even went for a 25 minute walk when I got home from work. That is the same exact route that took me over 40 minutes to do last week! How awesome is that. I'm enjoying not feeling in pain right now, not feeling bogged down from the after-effects of anesthesia. Its wonderful.
My experience with Karla this morning was so powerful. Karla was so encouraging, so open with me. She shared all the inside information she's learned and all her experiences with breast cancer and its treatment. I could not ask for a better friend and mentor in this journey. I learned a lot this morning, but I haven't totally organized my thoughts yet. A few key things -- I had no idea how closely you work with your oncologist during this journey (so I am not triple thankful to have the amazing Dr Keedy on my team). I had no idea how close you can become to people who were complete strangers because you share the common cancer bond. I didn't know that "normal" (non-medical) people could become so fluent in lab results, drug names & doses, etc. I've heard before that a critical factor in beating cancer is believing you can do it; I saw that in practice with Karla & her friend this morning.
Work was great. I know that sounds weird, but its so good to be in my office, feeling normal, working and thinking about stuff that doesn't have a single thing to do with cancer. I have to say here that I work for the best company in the world. The degree of flexibility I've been given, the amount of care and concern I feel from my colleagues, and the genuine passion for what we do are unbelievable. LP is truly my family, especially when we are here in Nashville without any family. Every day I'm taken aback by something someone does or says that is so insightful, so impactful, so genuinely kind. And it always seems to come exactly when I need it.
I did talk to the nurse practitioner at the Breast Center this morning. She agreed they will rush the biopsy results as much as possible. And Dr Meszoely, my breast surgeon, is going to remove my drain when she places my port on Monday. Hooray. Dr Vicki moved back my start date for chemo to March 6th to allow time for the breast biopsy results and hopefully, if they are negative, enrollment in the clinical trial.
This weekend Kendall & I are going to dinner at the Palm, then to see Shen Yun at the TPAC & spending the night downtown. A delayed anniversary celebration and our last big outing before treatments start. We're excited about it!
For today's photos, I just picked a few that make me giggle. Hope you enjoy!
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| Emilia & Eriana during the Floods |
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| Our pumpkin carvings this year; think we went a bit overboard??? When your neighbors have a pumpkin carving party, why not! |
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| See anything wrong with this picture? |
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| Is it just me or is she GORGEOUS? |
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| Love all these kids! Stephanie & Dan's twins (Maddie & Will) with EB & Eriana - almost two years ago. Wow. |
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| This is our friend Cameron when we were on vacation in Port St Joe. I just love this picture. The look of sheer FUN on her face is priceless to me!! |
good luck on the chemo. it is no fun. i am so glad to hear you have found a friend who has been there to help you through. someone can to me recently who's husband had been in an accident 2 years ago and it helped calm me down so much. she was so kind and came to meet me when i was in the ICU with mark in his complete and total comatose state and she talked me through their journey and sent me a text the day we have to move to phx. just knowing someone else has been there and came out okay m akes yucky situations so much easier to bear!!! mark only had to do 2 rounds of chemo this fall. i hope you don't have to do too many. i will continue to pray for you along with mark. keep up the good spirits!!!
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