Back to Work

Well, it was back to work again today - thank goodness! :) I will go in tomorrow as well but have to gear up for my next chemo treatment on Wednesday. I do understand why these are so dreaded. Aside from the obvious discomfort, having deadly chemicals put into your body to kill bad cells, and good, and know that you are going to get ill, is no fun. But somehow, I continue to push forward and I am under the 30 day mark now. Nov 12th, 2009 will be my last chemo treatment - thank you Jesus!! I almost feel like a child getting ready to taste ice cream for the first time because I don't want to miss a thing from now on and I feel so alive.....wow...for all the hurt, and the tears, and the fear, there is hope, and while there is hope, I will thrive and survive.

Preaching time: If I haven't said it enough already, let me say it again - please, please ladies, get your annual mammograms!! I can only sit here and write and tell you what I am learning on this journey - and believe me, I don't want YOU to have to experience any of it. Know this, most mammograms will detect a problem, but there are those that miss them, and further, some doctor's will inadvertently misdiagnose, so it is absolutely imperative that you take charge of your health! If you think there "might" be a problem, get a second opinion, or demand more testing. And as I've said before, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!! If I hadn't been so tired, I might not have gone to the doc, and not gotten my mammogram - and that would have cost me my beautiful life. Some women, will never have the chance to go back and do that. Google Karen Olga George,and read her story. She died from breast cancer at the tender age of 33. Daughter, wife, mother of two boys.....gone, because of a misdiagnosis. I cried while reading her blog and her husband's entry after she passed.

If my passion to promote breast cancer awareness is to continue, I have to start somewhere, so it starts here, with me, and YOU. When I'm out, I am constantly aware of others looking at me, and I don't run, I smile and say hello. I want it to open that line of communication - because that's what it is all about. Communication, education, and technology... More than 100,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and next year, and the next year -that is A LOT of women!!! And way too many of them will die. Another 1,000 diagnoses will be men and a lot of them will die as well. The environment we live in won't change anytime soon, so we need to ensure that we change our attitudes so that we can live and we help be the change for future generations. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to make a difference, even if it is just a tiny one... baby steps lead to walking... love to all