9 Days, 2 Corners, and 1 Awesome God

9 days have passed since I last posted and I honestly just had to read my own blog to remember what I said.  I was cracking up because I know that I sat at my bar that morning after chemo and typed, but I remembered NOTHING!!  Does that tell you a little about last week??  Luckily, I never had to use the bowl that sat near my bed, but felt on the verge more times than I could count each day.  Headaches came and went just as often, and naps were a must, sometimes twice in one day!   I had to make myself eat, especially in the mornings!  I felt I had two choices, eat and feel the same way or eat and feel better.  The important thing to remember is that I survived round 1!

2 corners were turned!  I turned the first corner on Monday, a week after my first treatment, I felt 'normal' again!  For that, I was thankful for several reasons! Chemo is not fun, but at least I know that I will feel better for a while before it's time to do it again.  It was just GREAT to feel normal again!!  I actually washed clothes, made it to soccer practice, went out in public and was just plain NORMAL!  For the most part, our activities resumed to normal schedule.   I don't know if I can put my finger on exactly when the second corner was turned, but I am getting a lot better at saying "YES, that would great" to the many offers of help we are receiving.  Asking for and receiving help was hard for several reasons.  Asking for help means I have to-- get ready for it-- ADMIT that I can't do all the things that I normally do.  I guess it's just one of those hard things that has come with my diagnosis, just like writing down on a paper that I have breast cancer, it's just hard to do!  It was also hard to know what help we needed to ask for and would like to receive until we experienced exactly how a chemo treatment would impact everything and everyone.  So, with one under our belt, we know what would be helpful and we are ready to say YES! 
We are in the process of setting up a "Care Calendar" that will allow friends and family to sign up to bring meals, hang out with me on those days I don't want to be alone, play with Sawyer, clean, run errands and drive me to appointments.   This will be a long journey, so the needs may change after surgery and definitely during radiation, when I will have an appointment in Chapel Hill every day of the week for 5 to 6 weeks.  It's in the works, but will be linked from my blog, as soon as it's ready!

1 Awesome God is at work in my life!  I hit my knees in praise of Him daily!  On Monday morning, I received an email from a co-worker who is a sister in pink and 7 year survivor of Breast Cancer.  Another day, it's a text message of encouragement from someone fighting this fight right along side me.   I praise God for this sisterhood of women that my path has already crossed with, that without the words Breast and Cancer, I would never have met!  

Friends, today (I think it's after midnight) I will put on my "big girl panties" and head to Chapel Hill to take care of a little more business.  At 9:00am, I will have a port placed and at 1:30pm I will slide back in that tight place with the C-R-A-Z-Y sounds for a Liver MRI.   On Tuesday, the news that there was a spot on my liver that the doctors wanted to "clear" and that it would mean another MRI, rocked my world, but one thing is for sure, that same, awesome God I mentioned before, has reminded me this week, in so many ways, each and every day, that He knows all, that He is in control, and that He works everything for His children's good!