10/2/15

From the flowers on my kitchen table you would probably assume I had died - but no - I'm still here. So relieved that the surgeries are over! If I could have I would have jumped off the table with joy when I came out of the anesthesia. The doctor had talked to Scott and Alysha then left. She said everything had gone well. She had taken 20 lymph nodes that would be sent away to check them for cancer. I'm so grateful for the peace of mind the gospel brings to us through priesthood blessings and prayers. Of course I knew I would look different but going from looking large busted to seven months pregnant is a bit of a shock. Merely because of these grenade looking things that are connected to tubes that are draining blood and stuff from inside my chest. Two on one side and one on the other. Scott had been wonderful. Draining, measuring, and keeping track of amounts of liquid and making sure I have medicine on time is a bit of an ugly job. I am so grateful for him and my family and friends who care for us and pray for us. I think the body pain with the chemo has helped me because it is used to having pains in different places. My chest looks like a massacre has taken place - not difficult to identify me if I wander off somewhere. There are so many women who go through breast cancer surgery, I have such a reverence for them. Here it is Friday and to think I thought that Tuesday would never come. I have been blessed beyond belief. Usually the unknown is worse than the event itself and that's how this surgery, so far, has been. It just reminds me that we need to find joy in every day; to look for the good around us because life can change at any minute for anyone of us.