Sunday, March 9, 2014

Happy Mardi Gras!





For those of you who are reading this from a city other than NOLA, I send you my condolences.  That means that you had a regular work week, your children were in school, and life coursed along as usual.  In New Orleans, it was quite a different story, and I don't mean to rub it in, but you missed out on a great party.  Happy Mardi Gras!  


2014 seems to be racing by already.  As the BC patient, I am thrilled.  It means the countdown continues to the end of treatments, which should be the end of May or beginning of June.  I did have an exact date in my head but my oncologist thwarted that plan because she wants to postpone treatment a week or two after April's surgery.  Delaying it even a week is frustrating when you've been counting down for 52 weeks but the alternative keeps me grateful and more than happy to suck it up.  

So, surgery in April is quite exciting!  It's set for April 17.  It means I'm reaching the end of the reconstruction phase as I get implants for spring break.  (Still appropriate even though I didn't get them for Mardi Gras as I had wished.)  My plastic surgeon says this should be much easier than the mastectomy so I'm ready.  Yet another countdown.  The expansion phase is over, and I'm back to literally feeling comfortable again in my own skin.  Very happy to be finished with that part of the journey!

I came across a site that I love called My BC Team, which has an app, too.  The site is just like Facebook but for women with BC.  If you know anyone who has been diagnosed, pass on the info because it's a wonderful place to connect with people who are on the journey and in a very easy way.  Lots of times you think you are crazy for feeling some kind of pain that makes no sense at all and My BC Team is a great place to throw out the strange questions.  When you post a question and several people answer you, it just confirms that you're not crazy in a way that a Google search can't.  (Are my eyes really twitching from chemo?  When will my insomnia go away?  Are my eyelashes really falling out AGAIN???)  It's also a place where you can go at any time of the day or night and get support however you need it.  Although other people can be wonderfully supportive, sometimes the only people who truly understand are the people who are ahead of you on the journey.  One of my favorite aspects of the app is the "hug" button; a virtual hug can sometimes make all the difference in the world from another Pink Warrior. 


From Mardi Gras to spring... I am so ready! 

I am coming, I am coming!
Hark! the honey bee is humming;
See, the lark is soaring high
In the blue and sunny sky,
And the gnats are on the wing
Wheeling round in airy ring.
-from The Voice of Spring by Mary Howitt

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