Joy

There was a song on the radio I heard yesterday that described how I have felt this whole time.  I was really thankful for Shazam that could tell me the title of the song. The song is Old Church Choir by Zach Williams.  The song afterward was also an amazing song. (It was How Sweet the Sound by Citizen Way)

I won't let cancer steal my joy. 

A couple of years ago I went to a conference and the theme was Joy. The conference was one of Joy. That conference had a huge impact on me. Everyone there was filled with joy.I brought back that attitude and decided to look for the joy. 

I have joy because I have a Savior that loves me and is taking care of me. I am blessed and filled with joy. Does that mean I never have bad days? Nope, I have them. I pray and pray and pray. I know God will take care of it. 

I am working on my stretches. My PT is a rock star. I am doing my stretches every day. These are very important because I need my flexibility for my radiation. I have to have my arms over my head for radiation.  

I have another radiation appointment this week. I have my lotion, soap and deodorant.  This might be TMI, but I can't use deodorant with aluminum. So I had to buy special deodorant. I am amazed at all I am learning about each phase of this journey. 

I am not amazed at all the paperwork that comes along with this journey. I do have my back to work date. I have to get a note from my doctor to say I am ready to go back to work.  I also needed a note from my radiation doctor and a note from my chemo doctor. My mom didn't need to write a note. She did offer to write one though. Even though there is a lot of paperwork, I have joy because I am healing and need these notes. 

And I am ready to go back to work. I'm looking forward to seeing the students and working with teachers again.  What shoes should I wear on my first week back? 

My advice to you is to look for the joy each day. Yes, you will have bad days. (we live in a sinful world, there will be bad days) I have had bad days. But I deal with the bad day and look for the joy.  Even if it is the joy of watching your dog try to bury (or hide) a bone in the couch. Yes, Jovi got a bone and was trying to hide it from me in the couch. If you come to visit, I promise that I will move the bone so no one sits on it. 

Jovi brings me joy, drinking tea brings me joy, meeting people for lunch brings me joy, eating brings me joy  attending church brings me joy. I hope you can find joy in your day today!

Oh My!

It has been quite a week. First I had a blog post all written and I went to do something and the post disappeared. I had saved it, but it decided that it would disappear instead of staying saved. Sigh. 

That being said, I have been busy with appointments. As I was talking to the nurses at the Plastic surgeon, they told me I needed compression after being filled. They suggested a sports bra. Ladies, you know how difficult getting into a sports bra is when you have two flexible arms. After my appointment I went shopping for a sports bra. I bought two. One zipped in front. The other did not. So the next day, me being a rule follower, went to put on the cute sports bra that I bought. The nurse told me to lead with my bad arm. So I tried to lead with my left arm since it isn't as flexible. Well, I tried to pull it over my head and got it stuck. I was stuck, I couldn't get it on and I was having issues trying to get it off. It was sad. My shoes flashed in front of my eyes while I was stuck. ( I have some cute shoes!)

Luckily my mom is here and I called her to help. I'm so thankful she was able to help me. Needless to say I went out that day and bought some more zip up the front sports bra so I won't have to worry about being trapped in my sports bra.

So I have been seeing my plastic surgeon to be "filled" After that appointment, I'm a little sore. I knew I would be sore. It's not too bad. I just take it easy that night. The ladies who work there are amazing. I turn my head and close my eyes really tight. They ask if I'm ok. I say, this is my face when someone does something medical. They laugh. I'm so thankful there are people who want to do the icky medical stuff. 

I am going to PT once a week. I have an amazing person who does my PT. She listens and answers all my silly questions. She spends time stretching my arms and working on my flexibility.  I have exercises to do at home. I faithfully do them. I'm looking forward to getting my flexibility back. With that said, I'm not to the point of my recovery that I am looking at when I can go back to work. I miss the students and the staff. I love what I do. So more paperwork to go back to work. I am paperworked out. Sigh, I know it is for a good reason I need to fill out tons of forms. I'm so glad I have an Rockstar HR person who has walked me through all the paperwork I needed to do. 

I will miss seeing these two everyday. Yesterday they decided to stop by for a snack out of my planter. Lemon Balm and Lemon Grass. That is not the name of these two, it is the plants in the planter. They are fun to watch and their wing span is huge. Either Jovi will be sad that I am gone all day or happy she can nap all day without me bothering her. 

When I started on this journey mom and dad asked what I wanted. I said that after my treatments and surgery, I want to go out for a lobster dinner. They agreed as long as they could go with. So this week, we went out for a lobster dinner to celebrate the end of my treatments and healing from surgery.  Dinner was very yummy. As you notice I had shrimp and scallops along with my lobster. It was very yummy and we had a great waitress! 

i was so glad we could celebrate. Then later that week someone brought Chicken Alfredo and some yummy ice cream. After Dinner Mint is really good ice cream to have with brownies. Just the right amount of mint and ice cream for the chocolatey brownie. 

Next week I go back for my chemo maintenance. This I have to do every three weeks until the end of March. With this chemo, I don't get sick, I don't get the low days and my hair will grow during this time. It's still not auburn or curly, (sigh I'm beginning to think it won't be either) I'm really looking forward to getting my memory back. I wonder when that will happen. Not that I had a great memory to begin with, but it got worse with chemo. 

I'm also looking forward to going back to church choir. I really miss singing with the choir. I love choir and the choir director is great.

 

I know I can't go back to my full schedule yet. I have some things planned. Like going to the Sheboygan Children's Book Festival. But that means I need to make sure I have down time that week. Same thing when I go see Hamilton. Yes I'm thrilled to go see Hamilton. But I also need to make sure I schedule nap time. 

Next steps with new shoes.

Hi, my name is Shelly and I like to buy cute shoes. 
On the good side, all the shoes I buy, I wear! I don't have shoes in my closet that I have never worn. ........Well, I did by clearance boots that I haven't worn yet. I don't wear boots in the summer months.  Most of my shoes I buy on sale. I found a good sale and bought some new shoes to wear to school when I get the go ahead to go back to school. 


I finished the shoe puzzle with the help of my mom. 

I was so blessed to see a friend I have known since Kindergarten. When she moved away, we wrote letters. (this was before email, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.) I'm so glad we were able to keep in touch and are able to see each other once in awhile.  

I had a plethora of doctors appointments this week. I saw my amazing plastic surgeon. I had fluid around my expander. He said it was normal. I was glad to hear that. Then he put fluid in my expanders. He explained the whole procedure. I closed my eyes and didn't look at anything except the back of my eye lids. I am so thankful there are people who are nurses and doctors. I am not one of those people. I have been blessed with some great nurses who were very kind. 

I kept saying I was going to be seeing Radiation guy on Thursday. My friend said it sounded like a super hero. As I got to think about it, it is like they are all super heroes. I'm not sure if I have a Justice League or Avengers.  I have to think about that. Well, radiation guy turned out to be a female dr. So the name is now Radiation gal. I wasn't sure what to expect. I asked a lot of questions and got information. I now have to figure out when it will be time for me to go back to work. I'm sad I missed the beginning part of school. 

Friday I had PT. I have more exercises to do to make sure I have full use of both my arms. I really like my PT lady. She stretched my arms. I am seeing improvements every day. The worst part is when I am sleeping and I move my arm without remembering I don't have my mobility back and it hurts and wakes me up. I have a couple of pillows to prop up my arms so I am comfortable. 

I did get some good news. At the place I go to PT they have someone who does massages and understands about people who have had bilateral mastectomies. After two weeks of sleeping on my back and having surgery, I am excited to have a massage!! whoot whoot!! 

My hair is growing back. It is dark, but not curly and auburn. That is what I was hoping for. It's not long enough to see if it will be curly. I am still holding out hope for auburn and curly. 

Pastor came to visit. I'm so thankful they will come to visit and talk about how God is in control and watching over me. He reminded me that God loves me and he is in control. What a great comfort this brings me. 

The farmers market in Green Bay is every Saturday. I love to walk around and see what everyone is selling. I bought some purple potatoes. I love purple potatoes. And I bought flowers. Flowers make me happy.

 

I am finally sleeping. I was having issues sleeping on my back. I had to sleep on my back when I had the tubes in. Then the next couple of days, my sides were sore because the holes were healing. Now I am sleeping and not tossing and turning. Jovi is happy about that. She didn't like the tossing and turning. Jovi did not like all the storms that went through. I didn't like the storms either. Not because of the thunder but because of the flooding it was causing. I prayed it wasn't going to impact my friends and others in the area. 

Next week I still have a plethora of appointments next week also. And the week after that also. Most are with my favorite plastic surgeon and my amazing PT person. 

#Blessed

I am blessed! I am healing and am blessed. 

The nurse called with the results from the pathology reports. They found no cancer. Where there was a biopsy, it showed there had been cancer, but it was no longer. My lymph nodes were cancer free! I am go thankful that the chemo worked and I am now cancer free!! #Blessed. 

I saw my plastic surgeon and rock star surgeon. Both said my incisions looked good. I was healing like I should. #Blessed. 

I don't have to see my rock star surgeon for six months. Which means I'm doing well. She gave me the same advice. She wants me to eat, sleep, laugh and cry. #Blessed.

My plastic surgeon took out two of my drains. I was very thankful for that. I'm also thankful for my mom who helps change the dressings on my drains. I see him again this week. #Blessed

I am blessed by having so many people bringing my family very yummy food to eat. Everything everyone has brought has been very yummy. The weight I lost by losing the girls, I will gain by eating all that good food. Thank you to all who volunteered to help with the meals! #Blessed

I still have to sleep on my back due to my drain tubes. I don't like sleeping on my back. I'm having a tough time falling asleep. Jovi has no problem falling asleep and staying asleep. I still have two drainage tubes that I am praying will be removed soon.  Even though I have this issue, I'm still blessed. 

Same with wearing men's Hawaiian's shirts the past two weeks. And wearing the corset and cami since the operation. All are serving a great purpose. I'm looking forward to the day I don't need them. The men's Hawaiian shirts I might keep, I only bought the cute ones. #Blessed. 

The socks I got at the hospital with the grippies were extra large. I don't have extra large feet. At least I didn't think I did. Who considers size 6 1/2 an extra large foot?!?!

I have been working on my Knit for Freedom hats. They are due soon and I am going to mail them to the person who is collecting them. My total was 22 hats. I was so happy I could make those hats for the soldiers. I'm so proud that the Daughters of the American Revolution in Michigan decided on this project. They have had many awesome projects in the years I have been a Daughter. Mom made some for the soldiers also. #Blessed

Tuesday school started. I have an amazing sub who will take care of my schools while I am gone. I was so happy she was able to sub for me. I miss seeing all my friends at school and all the students. I have an appointment with the Radiation Oncologist and will find out more about when I can return to the job I love. #Blessed. 

I am thankful for all the prayers and well wishes that everyone sent me. God is good and has watched over me. #Blessed.