Love and Support

This week has been incredible.  I've been on this cancer journey for 4 months now and the continued outpouring of love and support is just amazing.  To start the week I received a wonderful gift - a quilt about "What Cancer Cannot Do" with patches of handwritten letters of encouragement from our Texas family.  The next day I received a bouquet of roses from one of Brady's classmates parents who had just learned of the news.  Truly I am blessed!

  Support From Far and Near

This week I also learned of the news that my Aunt Rose has been diagnosed with the same type of breast cancer.  Fortunately they found it on her annual mammogram and were able to diagnose it early.  She will have an MRI this week then meet with her surgeon about removal options all of which will be followed by radiation.  She called me to tell me how much she had learned in the last ~2 weeks going through this process, how she's been thinking of me, and how the chance of recurrence doesn't change much whether you have a lumpectomy or mastectomy.  We may be recovering from surgery the same week!  Our love and prayers to Aunt Rose for strength and healing as she begins this process.  What a heck of a 2016 for her and Skippy (Skippy is currently in a neck brace after a fall at work, multiple lacerations to his head and face, and 3 broken vertebrae). 

Sometimes you just have to put mind over matter.  Today, 6 days after completing my 8th and final chemo treatment, I went for a run.  I won't kid you it was hard.  I have put on ~10 lbs in chemo and lost probably the equivalent if not more in muscle mass.  I ran for 4 minutes, walked for 3 minutes, ran another 2 minutes, and walked another ~10 minutes back to my car.  My legs felt like lead.  My back was stiff.  I'm sure I looked awkward but hey you have to start somewhere.  

Speaking of awkward, since I have to travel for a business meeting with my customer and supplier later this week (first biz trip since starting chemo), I attempted to draw on eyebrows and give my face some resemblance of professional.  Apparently brow pencils are for filling in gaps, not drawing on new eyebrows altogether.  This is going to take some practice.  Here is a time when I would have benefited from a female sibling LOL.