Alrighty, here is yet another one that was in my draft folder...don't know why I don't just post these things immediately...maybe I think I will edit later...who knows lol
Hey guys,
I know it's been forever since I've posted anything. Part of the reason for that is I seem to catch anything and everything, the other part is I just haven't felt like typing anything.
So first of all I'm gonna throw in that even though I've been sick pretty much constantly since Christmas, we did have an amazing Christmas and New Years. Again this year we had someone amazing step up and give us a Christmas that I would never have been able to give myself. I know she wants no recognition and that is not the reason she did it and I know she did it just because she loves us but her name is Tracey and over the last year she has become a really close friend. We met at the Susan Komen Survivors Brunch in 2010. Both she and I were in the Survivors fashion show and somehow throughout both our journeys we had never met. She is a young breast cancer survivor just like me. We have gone through so much together just in this short period of time we have known each other. She continues to amaze me with her giving heart and her heart for others going through the same battles. So thanks Tracey, and thank you to her family and friends as well for loving us just because Tracey loves us.
I know I do this so much but I would also like to take a moment and thank each of you for everything. To the HPC Single Moms Ministry for taking me under their wings the whole month of December and provided meals for both me and Madisyn while I was recovering from surgery To put into perspective for you guys, we had enough food to be able to bless another family with meals. Also to my family for blessing us with meals as well throughout my recovery. To Madisyn's best friend and her family for taking care of Madisyn while I'm in Texas and while I was recovering ( I love you Lynn!). And to her good friends family for taking care of getting the girls home after school everyday ( Thank you Patty!). To the amazing woman who I refer to as my sister friend, Toni, thank you for taking care of my sweet Cassie Fay while we are gone all the time. It means so much to me to have someone to turn to who can take care of her. To my friends for keeping us company and just being there for us. To our HPC family for everything they do for us on a daily basis. And to everyone I haven't mentioned. I don't love you any less but I think I've already lost readers so I'm gonna stop now.
It's been an eventful couple months to say the least. Sometimes I think my life could be a sitcom. At the very least a weekly newspaper column where I get to tell everyone about my insane life.
I guess I'll start in December. At the beginning of December I had surgery. It was a short, successful surgery with an easy recovery compared to some of the other surgeries I have had. In fact in same ways I actually felt better after the surgery then before. It's the events surrounding the surgery that make it interesting. So, we all know that for six years I have been begging for a complete hysterectomy. I managed to get the go ahead but ended up having my breast reconstruction first (in July) and waited until December to have my hysterectomy. When going in for my consult for my hysterectomy the doctors changed their tune to no for the complete hysterectomy and gave me the ultimatum of: removing just my ovaries and Fallopian tubes or no surgery at all. The reasoning behind all this was since I tested negative for the genes then I had little to no chance of uterine or cervical cancer. To put it in layman's terms they told me I had no more chance then the general population to get cancer in these organs. I spoke with both my local oncologist and my Houston oncologist and they all agreed it was just to many risks to go ahead and do a complete hysterectomy when i had no reason for it to benefit me. My argument was simply that I had no risks for breast cancer but look at me now! Also, look at my record, if there is any chance for it to happen, it will. Around that time it just happened to be time for my yearly checkup with my gynecologist. While my preliminary results were good and they saw no reason that the final results would come back any different so they wouldn't budge on the hysterectomy idea. But when the results came back positive for HPV with atypical cells and I asked what this meant the doctors assistant simply said, in a snide way, "yes this does mean you might get your hysterectomy after all". If this was jeopardy no way would that question and answer go together. I went on to clarify what my question had meant and so she explained that a biopsy was necessary to see if these cells were cancerous or not. Again the preliminary results were good but while in pre-op for surgery, groggy from the meds, my doctor comes in with the news that it did come back as stage III precancer and during surgery they would take part of my cervix out to see if there was any cancer involved. In a way I was kind of bummed to hear that but a larger part of me was like "Booya! Did I tell you or what?!" Unfortunately they didn't perform the complete hysterectomy like they told me they would if anything came back precancerous or cancerous in the cervix. I'm over it now though.
Well I woke up from surgery and to put it into words, well, I felt refurbished. lol. I felt like something was taken out of me that was never supposed to be there. I don't think I always had problems with it, but apparently I did at this point. I had gone to the gynecologist a few times complaining about it but nothing ever came of it. So, let me tell you, that stuff should have been gone a long time ago. They say some get depressed, some get hot flashes, some gain weight, and some other crazy side effects of this surgery. Well, after surgery I felt better then ever, my depression has gotten better, and well I have had hot flashes for years from the hormone suppressants I have been on so that doesn't bother me at all.
Well, I made it through the surgery fantastically, Christmas horribly sick but blessed beyond reason (I love you Tracey!). So the next drama came from our sweet Cassie Fay. The weekend after surgery the poor baby started having bloody diarrhea. I know all of you want to hear about this but it's kind of a funny story. I was still on meds from my surgery and still out of it, and one day i wake up to what looks like a murder scene in my house. I can't even explain how much blood was everywhere. It was awful, and hysterical at the same time. So I start scrubbing. Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing. With my lymphodema and my recent surgery it became nearly impossible to keep scrubbing. That's when my poor mother came to my rescue. And like a magical fairy she scrubbed, and scrubbed until it was all clean. She is amazing. It was a looooong weekend. No sleep, constantly running to bring my dog outside, and waiting until Monday to bring my dog to the vet because i knew I wasn't ready to drive yet. In the end my poor baby had hookworms and heart worms.
So then came Madisyn's stomach virus. She called me from school one day because it didn't start till after she made it to school. I spent two days taking care of her. A week later is Christmas when my stomach virus hit..so like I said, crazy right?
The good news that came from all of this is as of the day of my surgery December 5th I quit smoking. Yep, cold turkey. Finally! I have been smoking on and off...mostly on...since I was 14..13..crap I don't remember, it's been a long time, and all of a sudden I knew it was time. I hope it continues to stay this way. I find it amazing I have made it this long!
So that brings me to New Years...I stayed home! I knew if I were to step out that door that the first place i would stop would be the gas station for cigarettes. I mean, it's New Years Eve right?! What better night to smoke and quit tomorrow...that was my way of thinking so my brain kicked into gear and reminded me that if I do smoke even that one cigarette that there was no turning back for at least another six months. So Netflix and me had a great New Years Party.
Thats all for now!
Shannon
Hey guys,
I know it's been forever since I've posted anything. Part of the reason for that is I seem to catch anything and everything, the other part is I just haven't felt like typing anything.
So first of all I'm gonna throw in that even though I've been sick pretty much constantly since Christmas, we did have an amazing Christmas and New Years. Again this year we had someone amazing step up and give us a Christmas that I would never have been able to give myself. I know she wants no recognition and that is not the reason she did it and I know she did it just because she loves us but her name is Tracey and over the last year she has become a really close friend. We met at the Susan Komen Survivors Brunch in 2010. Both she and I were in the Survivors fashion show and somehow throughout both our journeys we had never met. She is a young breast cancer survivor just like me. We have gone through so much together just in this short period of time we have known each other. She continues to amaze me with her giving heart and her heart for others going through the same battles. So thanks Tracey, and thank you to her family and friends as well for loving us just because Tracey loves us.
I know I do this so much but I would also like to take a moment and thank each of you for everything. To the HPC Single Moms Ministry for taking me under their wings the whole month of December and provided meals for both me and Madisyn while I was recovering from surgery To put into perspective for you guys, we had enough food to be able to bless another family with meals. Also to my family for blessing us with meals as well throughout my recovery. To Madisyn's best friend and her family for taking care of Madisyn while I'm in Texas and while I was recovering ( I love you Lynn!). And to her good friends family for taking care of getting the girls home after school everyday ( Thank you Patty!). To the amazing woman who I refer to as my sister friend, Toni, thank you for taking care of my sweet Cassie Fay while we are gone all the time. It means so much to me to have someone to turn to who can take care of her. To my friends for keeping us company and just being there for us. To our HPC family for everything they do for us on a daily basis. And to everyone I haven't mentioned. I don't love you any less but I think I've already lost readers so I'm gonna stop now.
It's been an eventful couple months to say the least. Sometimes I think my life could be a sitcom. At the very least a weekly newspaper column where I get to tell everyone about my insane life.
I guess I'll start in December. At the beginning of December I had surgery. It was a short, successful surgery with an easy recovery compared to some of the other surgeries I have had. In fact in same ways I actually felt better after the surgery then before. It's the events surrounding the surgery that make it interesting. So, we all know that for six years I have been begging for a complete hysterectomy. I managed to get the go ahead but ended up having my breast reconstruction first (in July) and waited until December to have my hysterectomy. When going in for my consult for my hysterectomy the doctors changed their tune to no for the complete hysterectomy and gave me the ultimatum of: removing just my ovaries and Fallopian tubes or no surgery at all. The reasoning behind all this was since I tested negative for the genes then I had little to no chance of uterine or cervical cancer. To put it in layman's terms they told me I had no more chance then the general population to get cancer in these organs. I spoke with both my local oncologist and my Houston oncologist and they all agreed it was just to many risks to go ahead and do a complete hysterectomy when i had no reason for it to benefit me. My argument was simply that I had no risks for breast cancer but look at me now! Also, look at my record, if there is any chance for it to happen, it will. Around that time it just happened to be time for my yearly checkup with my gynecologist. While my preliminary results were good and they saw no reason that the final results would come back any different so they wouldn't budge on the hysterectomy idea. But when the results came back positive for HPV with atypical cells and I asked what this meant the doctors assistant simply said, in a snide way, "yes this does mean you might get your hysterectomy after all". If this was jeopardy no way would that question and answer go together. I went on to clarify what my question had meant and so she explained that a biopsy was necessary to see if these cells were cancerous or not. Again the preliminary results were good but while in pre-op for surgery, groggy from the meds, my doctor comes in with the news that it did come back as stage III precancer and during surgery they would take part of my cervix out to see if there was any cancer involved. In a way I was kind of bummed to hear that but a larger part of me was like "Booya! Did I tell you or what?!" Unfortunately they didn't perform the complete hysterectomy like they told me they would if anything came back precancerous or cancerous in the cervix. I'm over it now though.
Well I woke up from surgery and to put it into words, well, I felt refurbished. lol. I felt like something was taken out of me that was never supposed to be there. I don't think I always had problems with it, but apparently I did at this point. I had gone to the gynecologist a few times complaining about it but nothing ever came of it. So, let me tell you, that stuff should have been gone a long time ago. They say some get depressed, some get hot flashes, some gain weight, and some other crazy side effects of this surgery. Well, after surgery I felt better then ever, my depression has gotten better, and well I have had hot flashes for years from the hormone suppressants I have been on so that doesn't bother me at all.
Well, I made it through the surgery fantastically, Christmas horribly sick but blessed beyond reason (I love you Tracey!). So the next drama came from our sweet Cassie Fay. The weekend after surgery the poor baby started having bloody diarrhea. I know all of you want to hear about this but it's kind of a funny story. I was still on meds from my surgery and still out of it, and one day i wake up to what looks like a murder scene in my house. I can't even explain how much blood was everywhere. It was awful, and hysterical at the same time. So I start scrubbing. Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing. With my lymphodema and my recent surgery it became nearly impossible to keep scrubbing. That's when my poor mother came to my rescue. And like a magical fairy she scrubbed, and scrubbed until it was all clean. She is amazing. It was a looooong weekend. No sleep, constantly running to bring my dog outside, and waiting until Monday to bring my dog to the vet because i knew I wasn't ready to drive yet. In the end my poor baby had hookworms and heart worms.
So then came Madisyn's stomach virus. She called me from school one day because it didn't start till after she made it to school. I spent two days taking care of her. A week later is Christmas when my stomach virus hit..so like I said, crazy right?
The good news that came from all of this is as of the day of my surgery December 5th I quit smoking. Yep, cold turkey. Finally! I have been smoking on and off...mostly on...since I was 14..13..crap I don't remember, it's been a long time, and all of a sudden I knew it was time. I hope it continues to stay this way. I find it amazing I have made it this long!
So that brings me to New Years...I stayed home! I knew if I were to step out that door that the first place i would stop would be the gas station for cigarettes. I mean, it's New Years Eve right?! What better night to smoke and quit tomorrow...that was my way of thinking so my brain kicked into gear and reminded me that if I do smoke even that one cigarette that there was no turning back for at least another six months. So Netflix and me had a great New Years Party.
Thats all for now!
Shannon
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