Hello Everyone,
While some of you know what it going on in my life, others of you do not. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in early April 2008. This of course is a major life changer as it effects every aspect of my life and those of my family & friends.
I have been thinking about doing a blog to document my journey with Breast Cancer. I wasn’t real sure about this, but I’ve been highly encouraged to do it. This will be a great way for me to journal my experience, while sharing it with others. I will probably replace my group e-mail with blog entries. You can sign up to receive notice every time someone, including me, adds a post or comment. Right now I’m doing e-mails and a journal, so I’m going to try to combine them all into one . . . the blog.
I think this will be one great source of support for me as I go through the months ahead. You have all been very encouraging & supportive and I thank you very much. Please continue to communicate with me and leave lots of comments on my Blog.
I’m going to backup just a bit to record things that have happened since being diagnosed and up until today. There is going to be more detail in this and future post than have been in the e-mails. It may be some interesting reading. . When you have nothing else to do. Then I will add new post as things happen. I will also incorporate some of my photography into this blog, sharing images with you as I go along.
WARNING: Hmm, I’m not sure how much detail I will include in my post, but I’m thinking it may be a bit more than what has been in my e-mails. If at any time you do not want to receive notice of new posts etc., please just let me know. I understand that not everyone will want to know all the details of this.
Also, this first post will be quite lengthy.
Early March 2008 - I felt a small lump in my right breast. I do not do self exams ever, but for some reason (God) on this day I did. I continued to feel it and wonder about it for a few weeks. Is it really a lump or has it always been there. No, it was different enough that it had me a little concerned. So I went to my doctor and had an exam. Yes, she felt it too and she wrote papers for me to have a mammogram done.
March 28, 2008 - I had my mammogram done. After viewing the initial images they wanted more pictures. After looking at the additional images, they wanted me to have an ultrasound. I was lucky that they were able to take me down for the ultrasound right away.
After the ultrasound the doctor came in and told me that when viewing my mammo results his concern on a scale of 1-10 was about a 5, but after seeing the ultrasound his concern level jumped to about a 9. He wanted me to schedule a biopsy, so I did.
Oh great, I went home and kind of played things down. I told Rick it didn’t look good, but not to worry. I was scheduled for a biopsy. My first reaction is to try and protect the one’s I love. So I did not tell them everything and played it down a bit. Rick has had 3 close family members die from cancer and although I knew that if I had cancer it would not end that way, but I still hated the thought of telling him, knowing what he’s gone through in the past. I later found out that my efforts to try to protect him and keep him from worrying didn’t work. He later told me he knew better!!
After the ultrasound the doctor came in and told me that when viewing my mammo results his concern on a scale of 1-10 was about a 5, but after seeing the ultrasound his concern level jumped to about a 9. He wanted me to schedule a biopsy, so I did.
Oh great, I went home and kind of played things down. I told Rick it didn’t look good, but not to worry. I was scheduled for a biopsy. My first reaction is to try and protect the one’s I love. So I did not tell them everything and played it down a bit. Rick has had 3 close family members die from cancer and although I knew that if I had cancer it would not end that way, but I still hated the thought of telling him, knowing what he’s gone through in the past. I later found out that my efforts to try to protect him and keep him from worrying didn’t work. He later told me he knew better!!
April 2, 2008 – I had my biopsy done. They said it went really well and they were able to get some really good tissue samples. It was not the most pleasant experience, but it wasn’t too bad either. This was a Wednesday and we were hoping for test results by Friday.
April 7, 2008 – Monday – I didn’t get test results on Friday. The weekend was pretty rough . . . waiting . . . I tried to sleep a lot and keep busy. About 10am this morning I started making phone calls. No-one had any test results yet. I thought I’d go nuts, the waiting was crazy. I was pretty sure what the results would be, but I didn’t want to tell anyone anything until the “test results” were in.
4:00PM - My doctor called me . . . I have Breast Cancer. I know she told me what kind, etc., but after getting off the phone all I remembered was that “I have breast cancer”.
4:00PM - My doctor called me . . . I have Breast Cancer. I know she told me what kind, etc., but after getting off the phone all I remembered was that “I have breast cancer”.
April 8, 2008 – Tuesday – I had an appointment scheduled with a surgeon, just in case it turned out to be cancer. I had my appointment with Dr Holman today. Mom went with me and Brenda met us up there. He seems like a really nice man and seems to know his stuff.
I have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. The tumor is small, under 2 cm, which is good. He doesn’t think any lymph nodes are involved, but during surgery he will remove some and have them tested to make sure. It’s a medium grade cancer with 3 being the best and 9 being the worst I am a 6. The test came back negative for hormone receptors which are worse than if it had been positive. The whole hormone receptor thing is still a little confusing, but I’m learning more. They are still waiting on further test results for something called HER/ (something).
I’m scheduled for an MRI next Wednesday. Before then I have to get all my blood test done, a chest x-ray and an EKG. Then on Thursday I will meet with Dr Homan again to discuss further results and probably schedule the surgery. The plan right now is to have a lumpectomy and then radiation treatment. The radiation treatment will be once a day, Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks.
I have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. The tumor is small, under 2 cm, which is good. He doesn’t think any lymph nodes are involved, but during surgery he will remove some and have them tested to make sure. It’s a medium grade cancer with 3 being the best and 9 being the worst I am a 6. The test came back negative for hormone receptors which are worse than if it had been positive. The whole hormone receptor thing is still a little confusing, but I’m learning more. They are still waiting on further test results for something called HER/ (something).
I’m scheduled for an MRI next Wednesday. Before then I have to get all my blood test done, a chest x-ray and an EKG. Then on Thursday I will meet with Dr Homan again to discuss further results and probably schedule the surgery. The plan right now is to have a lumpectomy and then radiation treatment. The radiation treatment will be once a day, Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks.
April 16, 2008 – Wednesday - Today I went and had my MRI. Now I am done with test and I see Dr. Holman tomorrow. I’m anxious to see him and see if any of the tests showed anything new and to also get a surgery date scheduled. I want to talk to him and see if I’m being realistic about being able to do Ride the West. Heck, even if he told me I might not be able to, I’m sure I wouldn’t listen, but I just want to know what he has to say about it.
April 17, 2008 – Thursday - Had my appointment with Dr Holman today. Thankfully all my test came back great, no additional problems showed up!!
We have surgery scheduled for Thursday, April 24th @ 12:30pm. I have to be at the imaging center by 8:45am to start getting prepped for surgery.
I guess they have to put some wires in my breast to mark the tumor for the surgeon. Then I get some kind of injection 2 hours before surgery to help find the sentinel node during surgery. The Dr also injects some blue dye stuff during surgery to help find the sentinel node so he can remove it and a few others to have them checked for cancer. I should be home by dinner time. I’m hoping he gives me some good drugs so I can just sleep a lot.
I’m not supposed to do much for about a week after surgery and especially cannot use my right arm for much and cannot lift it over my shoulder. I found out that I can wait to start radiation for 2-4 weeks after surgery. This is great because then I can get the northwest trail challenge & RTW done before starting radiation!!
April 21, 2008 – Monday – OK, so, as if breast cancer is not enough . . . . . . I went to see Katie (my doctor) about a swollen cyst in my groin area that was just killing me. She couldn’t do anything for me but thought it should be lanced and that I should call my surgeon to see what he thought about it.
I called Dr Holman and he wanted me to come in so he could look at it. He said it needed to be lanced and if I didn’t get that done then he would have to postpone my surgery that is scheduled for Thursday. I knew this was not going to be pleasant but that I needed to do it so I could have surgery on Thursday.
I have to say that it was the most !@#$%^&* painful thing I’ve ever experienced. The nurse had a hold of my arms/hands and was kind of holding me down. I was literally screaming about how much it hurt. Mom came over to stand by me and wipe my tears and tell me it would be ok. I know it was really hard for her to see me in such pain. I swear I will NEVER have that done again!!!! The actual lancing I did not feel, it was the many, many red hot poker feeling needle pokes for numbing it that just about put me through the roof!! The numbness lasted for several hours, but when it wore off it was hurting pretty good. The incision is about 2 inches long and he removed the layer of skin that was the top of the cyst and was about the size of a dime. It has to be packed with gauze so it can heal from the inside out and that has to be changed 2 times a day.
April 24, 2008 – Thursday - SURGERY DAY
The first part of this day was NO fun at all. I had to go to the imaging center to get the nuclear injection, which is a radioactive material they inject in my breast. It travels through the lymph nodes and they use a Geiger counter to locate and follow its path during surgery so they know which lymph nodes to take and test. They inject this stuff in 4 different places around the nipple. Each time they inject it there is about 1 minute of pretty painful bee stinging feelings . . . not fun!! Then they had to insert a very thin wire into my breast and through the tumor to help the surgeon locate it during surgery. Then they took more mammogram images. All of this took about 2 hours and by the time they were done I was NOT feeling good at all shaky, weak, a horrendous headache & feeling nauseas. Rick drove me across the street to the hospital and he had to stop so I could open the door and throw up. I was a bit shaky & weak feeling after that, but still felt better than before.
They got me prepped for surgery and the next thing I know I’m waking up in recovery. The surgery went well. He removed the cancer and 4 lymph nodes to test.
Dr. Holman said the cancer was bigger than they originally thought. This could be enough difference to warrant chemo, but he won’t know until he gets more tests back and has a chance to talk with the oncologist and discuss the treatment options. I have an appt with Holman next Thursday and I’m sure that’s when I’ll know more.
My breast & under arm are hurting pretty good. I can’t imagine what it would be like without the pain pills. The incision under my arm pit is about 4 inches long and I was told that this would probably hurt worse than the one on my breast.
May 1, 2008 - Thursday - 1 week after surgery
I had my follow up visit today. Dr Holman said everything looks really good. The caner is NOT in my lymph nodes and that is GREAT!!!
The tumor was bigger than he thought though. It is NOT hormone related. There is a chance I might have to have Chemo. I will be meeting with the oncologist to discuss my treatment plan options soon.
I called Dr Holman and he wanted me to come in so he could look at it. He said it needed to be lanced and if I didn’t get that done then he would have to postpone my surgery that is scheduled for Thursday. I knew this was not going to be pleasant but that I needed to do it so I could have surgery on Thursday.
I have to say that it was the most !@#$%^&* painful thing I’ve ever experienced. The nurse had a hold of my arms/hands and was kind of holding me down. I was literally screaming about how much it hurt. Mom came over to stand by me and wipe my tears and tell me it would be ok. I know it was really hard for her to see me in such pain. I swear I will NEVER have that done again!!!! The actual lancing I did not feel, it was the many, many red hot poker feeling needle pokes for numbing it that just about put me through the roof!! The numbness lasted for several hours, but when it wore off it was hurting pretty good. The incision is about 2 inches long and he removed the layer of skin that was the top of the cyst and was about the size of a dime. It has to be packed with gauze so it can heal from the inside out and that has to be changed 2 times a day.
April 24, 2008 – Thursday - SURGERY DAY
The first part of this day was NO fun at all. I had to go to the imaging center to get the nuclear injection, which is a radioactive material they inject in my breast. It travels through the lymph nodes and they use a Geiger counter to locate and follow its path during surgery so they know which lymph nodes to take and test. They inject this stuff in 4 different places around the nipple. Each time they inject it there is about 1 minute of pretty painful bee stinging feelings . . . not fun!! Then they had to insert a very thin wire into my breast and through the tumor to help the surgeon locate it during surgery. Then they took more mammogram images. All of this took about 2 hours and by the time they were done I was NOT feeling good at all shaky, weak, a horrendous headache & feeling nauseas. Rick drove me across the street to the hospital and he had to stop so I could open the door and throw up. I was a bit shaky & weak feeling after that, but still felt better than before.
They got me prepped for surgery and the next thing I know I’m waking up in recovery. The surgery went well. He removed the cancer and 4 lymph nodes to test.
Dr. Holman said the cancer was bigger than they originally thought. This could be enough difference to warrant chemo, but he won’t know until he gets more tests back and has a chance to talk with the oncologist and discuss the treatment options. I have an appt with Holman next Thursday and I’m sure that’s when I’ll know more.
My breast & under arm are hurting pretty good. I can’t imagine what it would be like without the pain pills. The incision under my arm pit is about 4 inches long and I was told that this would probably hurt worse than the one on my breast.
May 1, 2008 - Thursday - 1 week after surgery
I had my follow up visit today. Dr Holman said everything looks really good. The caner is NOT in my lymph nodes and that is GREAT!!!
The tumor was bigger than he thought though. It is NOT hormone related. There is a chance I might have to have Chemo. I will be meeting with the oncologist to discuss my treatment plan options soon.
May 7, 2008, Wednesday-almost 2 weeks after surgery. My breast, armpit & incisions are still very sore. I can do more with my right arm, but I am still very limited. It’s very frustrating and I just want it to get better!!
May 14, 2008 – Wednesday - I met with Dr Samuels. He is my medical oncologist. I was fully expecting to talk about the possibility of chemotherapy, but I was not prepared for talking about maybe needing to get a mastectomy!!
He wants to talk to Dr Holman & the pathologist to confirm some test results and then he’ll let me know if he thinks I should have a mastectomy.
Chemo will involve 6 treatments, one every 3 weeks. This means it will be about 4 months of treatment with me getting weaker as each treatment goes by. If the fatigue from chemo is all I have to deal with I will be lucky, but it will be enough to probably mess up my photo schedule.
As soon as I know about the mastectomy I plan to e-mail several of my show/event people and let them know that I may not be able to photograph their shows. This is really a bummer for me, I’ve worked so hard for this and this is my busiest schedule ever!!
I’m trying to be positive and maybe I’ll be able to do more than I think, but I’ve also got to be realistic and 10-14 hour days on my feet shooting a horse show, probably isn’t going to be possible after a treatment or 2. Plus I’m not sure just how brave I’ll be to get out there and strut my stuff after my hair falls out!!
Talking about chemo before was one thing, then sitting in the cancer center yesterday and seeing a couple of women wearing ball caps because they have very little to no hair, well that was a dose of reality.
I had a funny feeling after surgery that this wasn’t all going to be as easy as originally thought. I expected Dr Holman to give me bad news, but it wasn’t until I saw Dr Samuels that I got it. Well, at least possible bad news. Uggghhh, I really don’t like the thought of a mastectomy, really don’t, really don’t!!
May 14, 2008 – Wednesday - I met with Dr Samuels. He is my medical oncologist. I was fully expecting to talk about the possibility of chemotherapy, but I was not prepared for talking about maybe needing to get a mastectomy!!
He wants to talk to Dr Holman & the pathologist to confirm some test results and then he’ll let me know if he thinks I should have a mastectomy.
Chemo will involve 6 treatments, one every 3 weeks. This means it will be about 4 months of treatment with me getting weaker as each treatment goes by. If the fatigue from chemo is all I have to deal with I will be lucky, but it will be enough to probably mess up my photo schedule.
As soon as I know about the mastectomy I plan to e-mail several of my show/event people and let them know that I may not be able to photograph their shows. This is really a bummer for me, I’ve worked so hard for this and this is my busiest schedule ever!!
I’m trying to be positive and maybe I’ll be able to do more than I think, but I’ve also got to be realistic and 10-14 hour days on my feet shooting a horse show, probably isn’t going to be possible after a treatment or 2. Plus I’m not sure just how brave I’ll be to get out there and strut my stuff after my hair falls out!!
Talking about chemo before was one thing, then sitting in the cancer center yesterday and seeing a couple of women wearing ball caps because they have very little to no hair, well that was a dose of reality.
I had a funny feeling after surgery that this wasn’t all going to be as easy as originally thought. I expected Dr Holman to give me bad news, but it wasn’t until I saw Dr Samuels that I got it. Well, at least possible bad news. Uggghhh, I really don’t like the thought of a mastectomy, really don’t, really don’t!!
May 15, 2008 – Thursday - Tomorrow, Friday the 16th Chelsea and I are going to Spokane for Ride the West. I’m so glad she is going with me and I hope we are going to have a real good time together. I’m going to give her one of my cameras and set her loose taking pictures. We’ll stay at the hotel Friday and Saturday night and then come home Sunday night when it’s all over. So, starting tomorrow I am going to try and not think or talk about all this cancer stuff. I just want to totally get into Ride the West and have a blast and then I’ll get back to “life” next week!!
It’s really weird but I still feel like I’m not talking about myself and I’m having a hard time getting a grip that all of this is really happening to ME, to me, to me, to me. Maybe it’s a safety catch. Maybe if or when it really totally hits me, I’m going to lose it and I don’t look forward to that.
I still totally believe that God has a plan; I just have no clue as to what it is!! I was talking to Him this morning and asked Him to keep holding my hand through all of this and lead me in the right directions.
It’s really weird but I still feel like I’m not talking about myself and I’m having a hard time getting a grip that all of this is really happening to ME, to me, to me, to me. Maybe it’s a safety catch. Maybe if or when it really totally hits me, I’m going to lose it and I don’t look forward to that.
I still totally believe that God has a plan; I just have no clue as to what it is!! I was talking to Him this morning and asked Him to keep holding my hand through all of this and lead me in the right directions.
May 20, 2008 - Tuesday
I had a great time at Ride the West and it was so nice to have Chelsea there with me. I really enjoyed her company and she was a great help too. It’s been 3 weeks since I had surgery, but doing this event just kicked my butt. I can’t imagine what it would be like while going through chemo.
So, as hard as it is, I have decided to cancel almost all of the shows/events that I have scheduled for the rest of the year. This is going to be really hard for me because it’s my busiest season so far, but I don’t know how I’ll be feeling and I don’t want to be stressing over wondering if I’ll be able to do it or not. I also don’t want to leave anyone hanging at the last minute, so I want to give them plenty of notice to find another photographer if that’s what they choose to do. I need to spend the next however many months on doing what I need to do to get rid of this cancer. Then I can hit it hard again next year.
May 23, 2008 – Friday -
Hello Everyone, I’m having a bad day today and it reminds me that I wanted to warn you all about something
WARNING:
I’m trying to have a positive attitude about all of this and most days I am positive, but occasionally I am NOT!! I want to apologize in advance for the upcoming days when I may have a bad attitude and some dry & sarcastic humor to go along with it. Please forgive me and try to understand. Please know if you ever want me to take you off my “group e-mail” all you have to do is ask, I won’t take it personal and I will understand. I still don’t know if this “group” e-mail is a good idea, but lots of you tell me it is and even if you never write me back (which is truly ok), it’s nice for me to be able share things with you all.
I got my hair cut pretty short yesterday, (although my mom thought it would be even shorter), but I love, love, love it. I was it, put in some moose and comb through and in 5 seconds I’m done!! Doesn’t get much easier than this and it looks cute too!! I’ll have Chelsea take a picture of it and I’ll send it out so you can see me before it’s all gone!!
I had my big horse event “Ride the West” this last weekend. I’ve attached a photo of me and Chelsea. The lady that puts this on is Susan Rae and she is totally awesome. Saturday was Tough Enough to Wear Pink day, promoting of all things . . . Breast Cancer Awareness. So lots of people were wearing pink in support of this. I was going to buy a pink t-shirt from the 4-h girls, but their order did not arrive in time for RTW, so I bought a hat instead. Just FYI for those of you who do not know . . . Tough Enough To Wear Pink is sponsored by Wrangler and most Rodeo’s and/or horse events have 1 day that they designate to promote this. Anyway, on Saturday Susan Rae found me and said she had something for me and she wanted to trade golf carts because they had decorated this one pretty with the flowers just for me & Chelsea!!
I almost forgot about what I was writing to tell you all . . . I have to have a 2nd surgery to remove more tissue from my breast and that will happen next week on Friday the 30th. The oncologist likes to have a larger margin (good tissue) around the cancer and my first surgery didn’t have hardly any margin around it. It’s mostly because I don’t really have more tissue to take, so the surgeon will be taking some skin & muscle this time. The oncologist just wants to make sure they got it all and didn’t leave any of the tumor cells in there. I still think this is better than needing a full mastectomy and I’ll be real happy if that never has to happen. Ok, it’s getting late and I’ve been working on photos from last weekend and I’m tired.
Hope you are all doing well and I’ll write again when there is more info.
Love & Hugs,
Wendy
May 27, 2008 – Tuesday - Hello everyone,
Tonight was Matthew’s (my son) high school graduation. It was a very long but nice ceremony. I am totally wiped out but wanted to share a couple of pictures with you all. One reason is to show you my hair cut that I said I was going to get, (my mom thinks I should go shorter) and also to show off my 3 youngest kids, Jessi, Matthew & Chelsea. I think the last time we all got our pictures taken together was about 4+ years ago. The only one missing is Mitch, my oldest, who lives in Colorado . . . maybe I should Photoshop him in?!?!?!?!
It’s going to be a busy week and I have surgery on Friday. I may not write again until after that and let you know how surgery went and if there are any new developments.
WARNING:
I’m trying to have a positive attitude about all of this and most days I am positive, but occasionally I am NOT!! I want to apologize in advance for the upcoming days when I may have a bad attitude and some dry & sarcastic humor to go along with it. Please forgive me and try to understand. Please know if you ever want me to take you off my “group e-mail” all you have to do is ask, I won’t take it personal and I will understand. I still don’t know if this “group” e-mail is a good idea, but lots of you tell me it is and even if you never write me back (which is truly ok), it’s nice for me to be able share things with you all.
I got my hair cut pretty short yesterday, (although my mom thought it would be even shorter), but I love, love, love it. I was it, put in some moose and comb through and in 5 seconds I’m done!! Doesn’t get much easier than this and it looks cute too!! I’ll have Chelsea take a picture of it and I’ll send it out so you can see me before it’s all gone!!
I had my big horse event “Ride the West” this last weekend. I’ve attached a photo of me and Chelsea. The lady that puts this on is Susan Rae and she is totally awesome. Saturday was Tough Enough to Wear Pink day, promoting of all things . . . Breast Cancer Awareness. So lots of people were wearing pink in support of this. I was going to buy a pink t-shirt from the 4-h girls, but their order did not arrive in time for RTW, so I bought a hat instead. Just FYI for those of you who do not know . . . Tough Enough To Wear Pink is sponsored by Wrangler and most Rodeo’s and/or horse events have 1 day that they designate to promote this. Anyway, on Saturday Susan Rae found me and said she had something for me and she wanted to trade golf carts because they had decorated this one pretty with the flowers just for me & Chelsea!!
I almost forgot about what I was writing to tell you all . . . I have to have a 2nd surgery to remove more tissue from my breast and that will happen next week on Friday the 30th. The oncologist likes to have a larger margin (good tissue) around the cancer and my first surgery didn’t have hardly any margin around it. It’s mostly because I don’t really have more tissue to take, so the surgeon will be taking some skin & muscle this time. The oncologist just wants to make sure they got it all and didn’t leave any of the tumor cells in there. I still think this is better than needing a full mastectomy and I’ll be real happy if that never has to happen. Ok, it’s getting late and I’ve been working on photos from last weekend and I’m tired.
Hope you are all doing well and I’ll write again when there is more info.
Love & Hugs,
Wendy
May 27, 2008 – Tuesday - Hello everyone,
Tonight was Matthew’s (my son) high school graduation. It was a very long but nice ceremony. I am totally wiped out but wanted to share a couple of pictures with you all. One reason is to show you my hair cut that I said I was going to get, (my mom thinks I should go shorter) and also to show off my 3 youngest kids, Jessi, Matthew & Chelsea. I think the last time we all got our pictures taken together was about 4+ years ago. The only one missing is Mitch, my oldest, who lives in Colorado . . . maybe I should Photoshop him in?!?!?!?!
It’s going to be a busy week and I have surgery on Friday. I may not write again until after that and let you know how surgery went and if there are any new developments.
Jessi, Matthew, Me & Chelsea
I hope you all had a great Memorial Day!
Hugs,
Wendy
May 31, 2008 – Saturday -
I had surgery yesterday, May 30th and everything went really well.
At first I did not believe the doctor when he told me this would not be as bad as the last time, because yesterday I felt pretty bad, but now I do believe him because I feel a lot better today. Since there were no lymph nodes involved with this surgery, I still have almost full use of my right arm and one less area that hurts from being cut.
He did take out some muscle behind my breast and if or when I move just right, boy oh boy can I feel it. And of course the incision is very, very sore, but luckily it doesn’t get touched much.
I have a follow up visit with the surgeon next Friday and I see my oncologist 2 weeks from this coming Monday. Things should be pretty quiet until then, as that is when I’ll find out when I start chemo. I do have a feeling that I will be starting it right away, which is fine with me. The sooner I start, the sooner I’ll be done.
I hope you are all having a great weekend!!
Love & Hugs,
Wendy
13 comments:
Good Job!
I love the summary.
I don't know how to tell you how much love I have for you - you're my big sister - there aren't enough words in this universe.
You've been here since before i was born.
I can only hope i can be there when you need me. I hope i think ahead and make it so you don't have to ask.
But if for some reason i happen to get caught up in the day to day - remember this- i will drop everything - Everything - to do even the smallest thing for you.
You're my big sister - I love you dearly.
Wow, wow, wow, Holy-Canoly girl, what a powerful message. Dang you trying to make me cry with my first comment?!?!?!
You better know I feel the same way about you.
You know I have a hard time asking for help and we have talked about this and I will try very hard to ask for help when I need it, I promise.
Love you,
Wen
Wendy, I think your blog is a great idea; all of us will be well informed and through the process you will have tremendous support and encouragement. Our hearts and prayers are with you throughout this challenge; may the love and concern of the many who care give you strength and peace.
Don't apologize for any negative thoughts or "down" days as that just proves that you're human!
Praying for your full recovery and for your peace and reassurance as you make this journey.
Hugs from your new friend,
Nina
You did all women a life saving service with this Wendy. I am proud of you and so very grateful that you have let us be here to support and encourage you.
My Mom and Grandmother are breast cancer survivors :) Be strong Wendy...we are here for you (((hugs)))
Colleen from epn
You have been given a challenge and as I see it you are boldly pushing through.
Be strong, Stand tall. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Jenni from EPN
I love you so much Aunt Wendy!!
Please know that we are thinking about you and if there is anything you need or would like- we aren't that far away;) (and we are coming to visit at the end of August)
You are a strong and beautiful cowgirl- go get 'em, girl!
hugs and kisses,
riah
I love your new blog. See, I told you that you would do something wonderful with this experience. You are so amazing and so brave. You are such an inspiration!
And don't worry about the bad days, that is where we, your friends and family come in. If you need anything that I can do for you, you just let me know. I will always be here for you.
Love ya,
Pam
Wendy, that is a wonderful blog. My prayers are with you and your family. You will do great and be back photographing a full schedule again soon!
Julie
Hi Wendy,
I''m just continuing to wish you the best and will look forward to your positive updates. My mother in law was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 with lymph node involvement and I'm so happy to say that she is right as rain. It wasn't an easy road but she's still on it and that is ALL that counts!
So a big hug and continue to keep us in the loop as you feel up to it! I thoroughly enjoyed you in the marketing course and look forward to seeing what you come up with now that you have "free time!" he he.
Take care,
Maria
Thank you everyone for all the comments. Thank you also for all the positive feedback & encouragement. It is all greatly appreciated.
Keep Smilin'
Love & Hugs,
Wendy
Honey, I Love ya! You have always been a strong girl, this blog just proves it. I want you to know I'll be with you every step of the way, so if there is anything big or small that I can do, you better let me know. Cause you know I still have my slippers handy!!And a nice cozy bed for you to take a nice little nap in.
Love you
Mom
We haven't been communicating all that long and while being also a cancer survivor (10 years!), it's awfully hard to realize what one must endure but keep your chin up because there is a positive outcome to this. Yes, you will face some life changing challenges but you'll find out that people will still there for you no matter how you look and all you have to do is graciously accept their kindness, friendship and help. You will have your "up" days and your "down" days, best way to handle the "down" days is to either stay on the couch eating bon-bons (advice from my oncologist!) or just nap. Your "up" days will slowly overcome your "bad" days and it will happen, keep faith. It's hard to share your story but you're doing great, it proves both inspiritional but more importantly, educational. The hardest thing in dealing with cancer of any kind is facing all the "unknowns" that go with it and it makes it somewhat easier to deal with knowing what to expect, the procedures and yes, even the pain. Be strong, girlfriend, stand tall and keep the faith in God, your family and your friends.
Wendy this is the first I am hearing about this and after the initial shock I found myself absorbed in your journey as you have recorded it. You are truly an inspiration and I shall continue to check on your progress. Take care, be brave, cry whenever you want, lean on friends, bitch, complain, and swear as loudly as you want....and live life to the fullest.
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