Always look at your options

I had another follow up with my plastic surgeon. This one is for adults only. Oh my. 

When I had left my other appointment He had my make another appointment to discuss what else I wanted to do. I wasn't really sure what that all meant. But, I like to hear what he had to say. 

I have to wear a mask to all my appointments. I got to my appointment 15 minutes before the appointment. The receptionists are amazing and awesome. They also had to take my temperature and ask all the Covid questions. I'm sure they are tired of asking the same questions again and again. But they always greet you and treat you with kindness. 

The doctor looked at my implants. He said I had healed very nicely. That was great to hear. 

Then he went into my options. Yes, I still had some options and some decisions to make. Again, disclaimer here. There will be some adult words and such. If you don't want to read about it, skip down to the Bitmoji and the subject will change. 

So one of my options was to have fat sucked out of my stomach or love handles and put on top of my implants to round them out more. Not to make them bigger, but a more round shape. Now the sucking fat sounded good. He actually could've kept the fat. He wouldn't have needed to put it back in, even if it was in a different part of me. 

Option two was to have him make me nipples. The nipples would be small and flesh colored. If I wanted them to be a color, I would have to have the color tattooed on. 

Option three would be just to have a tattoo of a nipple put on there. 

Now, I will share that I am not going to have any of those done.Even though it was tempting to have fat sucked out.  But it was really good to hear my options. I am happy with the reconstruction he has done. He is a great doctor. I'm so glad my surgeon recommenced him. 

I will have to see him every year. I have my appointment with him for next year already set up. If I have any issues, I have to call right away. 

I did ask what are some signs that something is wrong with my implants. I don't think something will go wrong, but I do need to be informed so if something does happen, I know what I'm looking for. 

Now some of you might be thinking I'm over sharing and giving way too much information. The reason I am sharing my whole experience on this blog is that a dear friend of mine gave me a book written by a woman who went through breast cancer. It was actually someone I followed on Twitter. It was her experience, everyone's experience is different, but it was good to hear what she went through and how she tackled everything. I want to let people know they can share this blog with anyone going through this and hear what someone went through. Like what it is like to go through reconstruction and how it will look when it is done. So I'm sharing all this to help anyone else going through this. 

I'm so excited that all my restrictions have been lifted. Whoo hoo. That means healing is done. I am ready to move forward. Then again, this whole time I have been moving forward. 

Now I am on keeping cancer free. Which means I need to make sure I eat healthy, exercise, have a good outlook, and laugh. 

And pray and read my Bible and sing. Ok, well, sing at my house, in the car and I am looking forward to singing in choir someday.  Someday Covid will be under control and we can sing again. Amazing Grace, In Christ Alone, Any Christmas carol And yes I sing Christmas songs all year long. 

 

What is normal? Or is that just a setting on your dryer?

So, trying to figure out my new normal again. I went to see my rock star PT lady. She is amazing. She needed to see me to see how I was healing from my latest operation.  She said I was looking really good and now I only need to call her when I have signs of lymphoma.Signs are my arm feels heavy or swelling. She is really good about informing me about what I need to look for and how important it is to call right away. 

I had my follow up visit to my plastic surgeon. He is really amazing and his staff is really good at listening and asking questions. I had a spot of red under my left one. It is really difficult to see what was the spot of red. I thought it looked like blood that was under the glue they used to put me back together. But I wasn't sure and I wasn't too concerned since it wasn't dripping. Dripping blood is not a good sign. So I told the nurse that there was a spot, it wasn't sore, and didn't have red around it, so I thought it was dried blood. My plastic guy came in and put on his special glasses and said it was dried blood under the glue. That made me happy. He said I looked good and was healing nicely. 

I have to see him in a couple of weeks to discuss next steps. I'm not sure what next steps are, but I will go back and listen to what he has to say. 

I'm getting use to wearing a mask for all my appointments. Sometimes its really difficult to hear what people are saying. Everything is muffled. I'm not excited about not hearing people talk.  

Has anyone else noticed that some people are more snarky? How sad. I have a feeling everyone is tired of having to be so careful and they are becoming snarky. I try to be kind to everyone. 

I have been trying to walk everyday. Some days I walk along the Fox River Trail. It is so pretty. I love walking along the water. It is so pretty, it makes walking fun. 

I have been so excited to be able to attend church. It has been uplifting to worship with my church family. We have to register for church, and we still can't sing in church. We either listen to a cantor sing, or we speak the words. I usually sing the hymns on the way home from church. And I was able to take communion. 

July 22nd 2019 was my last big chemo. I can hardly believe it has been a year since I had my last big chemo. I remember how tired I was after my last one. And how excited I was to be done with my big chemo. And how blessed I was to have all the support while going through chemo. I went to lunch to celebrate. I didn't wear my purple wig. I could have. But now I have hair. Real hair. I'm so thankful. It has been a very eventful year. 

These are a few of my favorite things

Do you have some favorite things? 

A favorite song? 

A favorite food? 

A favorite place to go? 

A favorite Bible verse? 

A favorite book? 

I never could give one answer to any of those. 

A favorite song? Well, that depends on my mood. I have a favorite rock song, a couple of favorite hymns. OK, I'll be honest, more than a couple. I have a couple of favorite songs we sung in choir. 

I have several places I love to go. I love Mackinaw Island. It is so beautiful and there are only two cars on the entire island. I love the sound of crashing waves. The sunset on Lake Michigan is also beautiful. One of my favorite places to be is with my friends. The laughter and smiles and great conversation is one of the best places to be. Sitting next to the Jovers, also one of the best places to be. 

Food? Yes please!! Seafood is wonderful. I think that is from going fishing with my family and eating what we caught. I also love lobster. No we didn't go fishing for lobster. 

Before this whole journey started, I had some favorite Bible passages that meant a lot to me. Jer. 29:11 I know the plans I have for you. Psalm 23. The Lord is my Shepherd. 

A friend always liked Be still and know that I am God. I spent a lot of time being still last summer. I spent a lot of time this spring being still. I learned how to be still so I could spend time talking to my Savior. We had a lot of chats. 

Phil. 4:8 Whatever is true, whatever is noble Whatever is right.....think on these things. With the world going wackadoodle, you need to think about the blessings you have. I always look for the joy, the blessings in my life. I have been so blessed. I have a jar of joy. When something great happens, I write it down and put it in the jar. The jar is very full at the end of the year.  

Those are only a few of my favorite passages. Anyone else sit in church and listen to the Bible readings and go.. Oh I like that passage, that one is really cool. Or am I the only person who does that? 

And favorite book? Don't even get me started. I would need to start a whole other blog for all the books I really love. One of my favorite authors is Dee Henderson. She is a very talented author. I love reading books all sorts of books. One of my favorite series is Mr. Lemoncello's Library series. 

May you find your favorite things today and enjoy the blessings you have. 

Conference gone virtual

Ya know when you get a box in the mail and you are so excited to open it. Especially when it is from a company that is amazing. Then you are told you can't open it until a certain day and time. Yep, that's what happened. 

As you know my favorite conference to attend was made virtual and I couldn't attend it in person. I was sad that I wouldn't be seeing my friends in person. One of the best parts of the conference is the conversations that take place during meals and in the evening. The people who attend are Rock star educators from around the world. I am privileged to learn from all of them. 

This year was different because I had been asked to present at the conference. I had all my slides ready to go, I had everything I wanted to say written down. I didn't present until the second day. 

All the times they gave us were in Eastern time. I'm not in Eastern time. So I had to make sure I was logging in at the correct time. 

The beginning was a cute video which they always start the conference with a cute video. It was people packing for DENSI, then taking their suitcases to another room. I laughed so hard. Then it started. We had to have our box next to us and they did a count down for when we could open it. We got a selfie light. Everything had a great purpose. We got a selfie light because we let our light shine as an educator. It was fun. They know how to make us feel appreciated. 

Then we had some great sessions. They had breakout groups to go to according to your role in school. So I was with the tech and library people. It was great to talk to them. 

Day two they had what was called an icebreaker. Usually I'm not a fan of icebreakers. But this one was amazing. We had to click on the link then we were in a "room" then we were sent to another room and joined by another person at the conference. There were questions you could answer to keep the conversation going. You had 8 minutes with each person. I was so excited when one of the people was someone I knew. We were both excited to see each other and catch up. How awesome it was to meet people. The DEN is awesome at making sure there are connections made at the conference. I don't know how they are able to pick people who are willing to make connections and make everyone feel connected. I have made life long friends at past conferences. 

I got on early to my session. All my tech worked.I was so relieved. That was the part that made me nervous. It is really difficult to present sitting on your couch talking to your computer. I really like presenting in person and looking at the faces of the people. I had a friend watching the chat and answering some questions that came up. Everyone seemed to learn something new. It was great to present. 

I loved every minute of the conference. It did seem odd that when it was done at 3pm, it was done. There was no DENmazing race, no DENivator fair, no late night name that tune. Part of me really missed those times. 

The last day of the conference was more presentations about what is coming next and what they are working on  and how to use this with remote learning. 

The hardest click I had to make was the leave meeting. It asked if I wanted to leave the meeting and I wanted to say no. I wanted to spend more time with my friends. I clicked leave the meeting and was sad to say good bye to my friends. 

I was a big mix of emotions. I was so happy to be able to attend, I was so sad to not see people in person.