Welcome to our Caring Bridge website, a tool to keep our families and friends updated in one place. You have asked for updates and needs that arise as my treatment progresses. Here is the place to find it! We appreciate your prayers, support and words of hope. Thank you for visiting, and thanks for being you!
"Life is a journey not a destination," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A sudden diagnosis of breast cancer is bad news, a hardship. Fighting it is the journey. But what is the destination? Where am I going with this? It started with a routine mammogram. Where and when will it end?
Believe it or not, my finish line is not recovery or remission, though I intend and hope to get 150 percent better.
Last month, the day after Thanksgiving, a breast surgeon of Mount Carmel Health called to confirm a malignant tumor in the left breast and cancerous cells in the lymph nodes. I'll need chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and hormone treatment. Three MRI scans, two consultations, blood work for genetic testing, one CT scan, and one echocardiogram later, I am navigating a new normal.
So this is happening. But it's not going to define me. It will make me stronger like a muscle, not stiff like a wall. We've heard it a million times, but it's just as true. "Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
George (rockstar hubby), the kids, and I have been absorbing from family and friends everywhere limitless love and compassion, filling up every chamber of our hearts. This village of ours is our strength-builder. Your texts, phone calls, meals, rides, and, most of all, prayers have been breathtaking and making me feel a trifle guilty.
How am I going to repay you for your kindness? I cringe at the idea of asking for help when I need it. And here you are giving it to me. I'll take it for all our sakes: my family will be helped, we will feel the love, and you might get the blessing of helping a person.
My destination is surrender.
My goal is not to give up but to give in to your selfless service on our behalf and to His will. My goal is not to give up but to take up this cross and follow Him.
CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.
