My Thoughts - My Journey

Inner beauty is inside each of us. We are all beautiful in God's eyes as we are created in the image of God. However, many people do not feel beautiful inside. We are often smothered by a lack of confidence and even a lack of acceptance of other people. It is easy to compare ourselves to others especially when we compare our outward appearance. God's Word makes it clear that we are all beautiful to Him. Beauty isn't reserved for models, beauty queens, or Hollywood actors and actresses. YOU are beautiful! There are so many Scripture passages dealing with inner beauty.....true beauty. When our minds take us down a different path as to how we view ourselves, we need to refocus and allow God to heal us as we come to the realization of how much He loves and values each of His created children.  "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16 Post Bilateral Mastectomy, it took a week

Today, I had my first appointment with Dr. Susan Salter. She is the Radiation Oncologist at the Bruno Cancer Center in Birmingham. My appointment was set for 1:15, but everything moved very slow. I had to go to meet with three different women prior to being called back. All normal procedure since this was my first visit and they needed to get my file information verified and a picture of me was also taken for the file.  Ashleigh joined me with my consultation and exam today because I wanted a second pair of ears to pick up on anything that I might miss. In addition, it provided her an opportunity to ask questions. After arriving in the consultation room, an RN, Denise, took my vitals. I am so excited that my blood pressure is now GREAT! The cancer process and then Taxotere had my blood pressure very high....with my top number being 247 and my bottom number running at 165. I thank God for keeping me from having a stroke. Praise God! Praise God! I was put on Lisinopril 10 MG and Hydroc

Foods and Habits that Increase Your Cancer Risk Inflammation is the underlying issue that dictates cancerous tumor initiation, progression and growth. Studies suggest that 30 percent to 40 percent of all kinds of cancer can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle and dietary measures! And other sources claim that this number is in fact much higher, with around 75 percent of cancer cases being lifestyle-related. Here are examples of some cancer-causing foods you might not realize are in your diet: 1.  Processed Meats While quality meats, fish and dairy products can be included in an anti-cancer diet,  processed meats  are definitely something to avoid. The American Cancer Society states on their website that “The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified processed meat as a carcinogen, something that causes cancer. And it has classified red meat as a probable carcinogen, or something that probably causes cancer.” A recent meta-analysis of 800 stu

Yesterday was a day filled with so many different emotions, senses, and information over-load....yet, so many unknowns. I had a scheduled appointment with my Oncologist, Dr. Cara Bondly for my follow-up since my last chemo treatment on January 23rd. She gave me a brief check-up and did lab work. Since I was only one week out from my bilateral mastectomy, there wasn't much for her to check physically. She did go over the pathology report from my surgery with me.  I was very disappointed to learn that following chemotherapy treatments there were still "live/active" cancer cells in one of the five lymph nodes that were removed during surgery. They were only 2 mm; however, they were active and the report could not definitively tell me if I have a live cell/cells that could have moved outside of the lymph node. At this point, we know that IF that has happened it would be very small and might not show up or be detectable for some time.  I further learned that I had a second

Today is day 6 from my Bilateral "Double" Mastectomy at St. Vincent's Main Hospital, Birmingham. A hospital representative called me today for a telephone interview to go over my stay in the hospital, to see if I have any complaints, compliments, etc. and to see if I was sent home well-equipped to handle my needs.  I had nothing but praises all around. I had excellent care in the hospital. They gave Ashleigh detailed, hands-on instructions as to how to strip and empty my drains, as well as, document the millimeter counts each time they were emptied. I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my Oncologist, Dr. Bondly, at the Bruno Cancer Center. Then, I have a follow-up appointment set for Wednesday at the Breast Care Center with my Surgeon, Dr. Thomas. Dr. Thomas wanted to get a number count today on how much my drains are still releasing fluid each day. They have now said that if my drains continue to decrease in fluid numbers by tomorrow, they will work me in to see D

Well, the day is here, Tuesday, March 5th. Today, I will have both breast removed along with some lymph nodes. I arrived at the hospital right at 7:00 am which is my designated time. I didn't really know what to expect, but knew I would have dye injected in each breast to aid Dr. Thomas, my breast surgeon, to know which lymph nodes and how many needed to be removed during surgery. I do, however, feel very safe and secure knowing that God is going through this with me....always ahead of me leading the way.  I went back to my holding room where I got changed into my hospital gown. During this stage, I could only have one person with me and Michael came back. They could not put an IV into either hand/arm since I was having a double mastectomy and lymph nodes would be taken from both sides. Therefore, I had to have the IV put into my foot. It was a horrific and extremely painful experience. They first tried my left foot, but could not get it to thread; therefore, they had to remove