Soccer Season Begins!

Here is a little something to report about...the first day of our soccer season.  After Ryan tried soccer for the first time last year, Stacey and Zachary decided they would like to play this year.  This was the first day getting used to three uniforms (who is wearing red? who is wearing blue?), three start times, three fields to find and how are we going to stay hydrated and cool while playing and watching.

What a blessing it was to have all of the games right in a row today.  Starting at noon we had a 12 o'clock game, a 1 o'clock game and a 2 o'clock game.  Who knew that it would be sizzling hot and everyone would have drank through their sources of hydration by half time of the first game!

Ryan's game was the first.  They did very well.  I am remembering last year's team and enjoyed watching a team today that was spread out, watching the ball, and not just clumping up wherever the ball is located.  Unfortunately although there was some pretty great execution at times, the accuracy of the other team was a good bit better than ours today and we suffered a loss overall.  As much as the boys want to win, as the mom, I loved watching the game. 

Zachary's team played next and wore red for his game. He did so good for his first time playing.  What fun to see him out there doing what his coach has told him.  I don't think it will take him as long as it took his big brother to learn how to get in there and be aggressive.  He did great defending and on offense and we are looking forward to seeing him get the hang of the game and get more comfortable on the field!  I love to watch Zach, he always has a little smile on his face.

Poor Stacey, it was a HOT afternoon!  Her game was last and they all felt the heat!  She started out a little bit tentative but by the second half she was taking the ball down the field and getting in there on defense and helping out the goalie.  It will not take her long to feel right at home on the soccer field.  It was a little discouraging to have lopsided refereeing for her game but that happens occasionally.

I like to see my kids do their best and although each of their teams lost today, I had a lot of fun watching them in their own ways do their part on their teams.  Next week thankfully there are three games in a row again but after that we will probably be going in shifts to morning, lunch time and late afternoon games.

Cancer Files: Lets Put Things in Perspective...Thanks to YouTube!

DAY 1

The girls were interested tonight in the progress of my healing.  David gave them permission to be his assistants as he checked out incisions, changed out gauze and put the antibiotic ointment on the "angry spots".

They were both very excited to see my progress because they recognized things are healing.  Seeing them smiling and encouraged lifted my spirits for sure.

Dawn is extremely interested in my new belly button and just thinks it is funny that they would make me a new one!  She was wondering how they do it so I told her I would try to find her a YouTube video and we could watch it tomorrow.

DAY 22

So, armed with a pick me up from my daughters telling me how great everything looks, after bedtime, I took my Nook to my bed and searched YouTube.  Guess where I ended up?  YES...viewing all kinds of videos!  Here have been some of my questions since surgery: Why do my ribs STILL hurt?  Why are there these two poke-like holes on my hip area right above the incision? Why does if feel like I have been hit by a MAC truck if I am 1 minute too late with my pain meds, and why can't I function without the pain meds 22 days after surgery?

I found the answers to those questions and feel pretty darn good about my recovery half way to six weeks.  Why a change in perspective?  How have I developed a new found patience with myself I didn't have yesterday?  Well, I eventually found two YouTube videos of my surgery.  The exact thing that I had done I watched being done to someone else, and I will tell you, I looked pretty good on day 1 now that I know what really happened while I was sleeping!

No more being hard on myself...we are going to make it, I will go walking again.  I will be caught up on laundry some day and I will make my bed one day because I KNOW I won't be getting back into it until bedtime.  That day is not today, and that is OKAY!

Cancer Files: Overcomer!

We have a great God!  I sit here in my house moping around this week because I am not getting well fast enough (for my liking anyway), have had a couple small setbacks, my house is not sold yet and at least three or four specific doubts have been left (probably with my permission) in my head to grow dangerously close to bringing me down!  The physical healing has definitely been progressing, the emotional and mental healing is a bit behind.

Did I also mention how I watch my wonderful husband come home, and after tackling a day at work he jumps in and does most of what I usually do in the evenings?  Feeling a little sorry for myself and worthless right now?  Yes!  Am I surprised? No!  I have a tendency to let my human-ness show sometimes.  It isn't too pretty for those who haven't seen that first hand.  But maybe, some can relate?  You know who you are, those who aren't afraid to let some of the real-ness of your life show every now and then.  My husband tells me that I am all out there, that no one ever has to guess what I am thinking.  I know for a fact that is not true because he is the only one who really knows me, he "gets" to see the whole me (not just the facebook version of my life).

Lets face it, don't we all do as much as we can to put our "best life" forward even when the risk isn't very great? Well, I am a true believer in putting my "real life" forward even if the risk is great.  We only have one life to live, one chance to make an impact.  How do we know what God has planned for our weaknesses?  How can we know the effect our storms of life can have on other people?  In my experience, sharing our true selves in a real way leads to more joy than pain or embarrassment.  How many times have I second guessed a note I was going to send, or a few words I would say only to later regret that my true wish is that I had entered that life at that time with what only I could give.  Being on the other side of that lately, I know the importance of the perfectly timed interaction!

So, lets bring this all down to brass tacks...I am weak, but I have strong friends in the Lord, they let Him use them.  There have been a few friends in my life in the last 48 hours who have spoken truth to my heart.  If you don't have people in your life that can do that for you, pray for that...it is so important on the good days and the bad days.  I also have been touched by someone I don't even know who sent a note of encouragement to me.  I need to do that, reach out when I see a need, even to those I may not feel like I know.  That very act could open the door to a new dimension of life through a new relationship.

There are a lot of things to overcome in this world, whether it is the cynical, ungrateful world we face each day (have you ever just smiled at someone at the grocery store and seen their reaction of surprise or horror?), or something more tangible like grief or illness or a lonely spell in life.  God sent me those this week who were willing to put something out there, written word, a long distance link on facebook, or God's word quoted over coffee.  I am certainly not bouncing around happily giddy, but I am feeling VERY blessed!

Cancer Files: No More JP Drains!

After surgery I came out with four JP Drains at my incision sites.  They were very uncomfortable under my arms and I was pretty excited to get them out two days after being released from the hospital because they stopped draining large amounts.  Being in the hospital for four days, most of the emptying and record keeping was done by the nurses.

Dawn has been quite the home care assistant since I have been home.  I have enjoyed having her to keep me company and not get freaked out by the paraphernalia that is required with such a surgery.  I was explaining at home to those who wanted to hear about it what the drain looks like once it comes out.  The white part (A) in the picture is inside with all of those little holes and collects the extra fluid.  Then when you close the valve on the outside bulb part it creates a suction and that extra fluid comes out.  Don't ask me why, but Dawn LOVED the science part of all of this.

Drain free!

So, when she heard me explaining about what the drain looked like inside she begged for me to let her come to the next appointment where the first hip drain came out.  Thankfully those aren't as uncomfortable because the white part inside is in a straight line instead of wrapped all around the new breast tissue!  Not nearly as uncomfortable to remove.  Thankfully, she had still not started school yet and was able to join her Dad and I when the drain came out!  She thought it was cool.

I can't wait for this afternoon when I can take my first shower without the drains (you have to wait 24 hours before showering after removal).  It will still be a long time till I can soak in the tub, but I am hopeful for the day when that again will be part of my routine.

My Super Cool Son

Changing it up today and working on some digital scrapbooking.  I have a lot of catching up to do!  I love my subject matter!

Looks Like I NEED a New Black Pair of Sandals

I wanted to make it to church this morning.  Being gone for a couple of weeks, I missed being there, seeing everyone and getting out of the house.  So, when David came in this morning and kissed me at 8:40 a.m. (guess who missed their alarm?) I was jolted awake and asked why he didn't wake me up sooner!

Thankfully I didn't need to take a shower this morning so that saved some time.  I found the perfect outfit that would look fine for church and also cover up all of my necessary undergarments.  The color scheme leaned toward black so I slipped on my black sandals and got in the van.

Matthew wanted me to take him to his class today so I told him he would have to tell me which class was his.  I hadn't taken him to his new class yet since I have been gone the last couple of weeks.  I was lead by one of the helpers in the hallway to the children's church room not knowing that this isn't the Sunday school room for Matt.  He started crying and said he didn't want me to leave.  I wasn't sure why he was having such a hard time and eventually I just left him.

That was a little more drama than I expected.  So, as I made my way to grab some coffee I noticed something wasn't quite right with my foot.  Looking down I saw that the left sandal strap had come loose and had broken.  Amazingly enough, in approximately five more steps, the right strap popped and it was broken too!  What are the chances that both sandals would have popped at almost the exact same time?

The funniest thing about this story isn't that I had to try to find a way to wear these shoes through the rest of the morning at church, but the funniest thing about this story is that I have been in the shoe store at least six or seven times to buy black sandals to replace these.  I figured that I have had these sandals for about 16-17 years.  I had these long before I was a mother, long before my feet size expanded.  In fact, for awhile I wasn't able to get my foot into them.  After Matt was born though they must have stretched out because I was back to wearing them.

So, every time I went in to buy a new pair of black sandals, in the back of my mind I would say "Hmm, I do still have those good black sandals that work for dress up and dress down, I don't really need a new pair."  So, I would walk out of the store without a new pair of black sandals.  I think we have reached the day when I can walk into the shoe store and pick out a new pair of black sandals because now, I NEED black sandals!

A Boost of Morale

Well, the first test of my recovery was today.  A trip up to Minnesota to celebrate Uncle Jule and Aunt Wendy's 40th anniversary and a visit to grandma Bushlack in the nursing home.  The car trip was much more tolerable than I imagined it would be.  (I did double up on my pain meds so that I could handle the slow downs and bumps)  A few pillows helped a lot too.

Two breast cancer survivors!

We visited Grandma first.  When we pulled up we saw my aunt and uncle sitting outside with her.  The nursing home had called them and Grandma wasn't having a very good day.  Seems she was being a little ornery.  After talking with her for a bit, it all boils down to the fact that she doesn't get to do what she wants or go where she wants.  I wish I lived closer and could visit her regularly.  It was perfect timing.  She needed a diversion and we were able to hang out and visit with her.  She was laughing and being goofy by the time we left.  I know it was a temporary fix for Grandma but I was very glad we got there when we did.

We went from the nursing home over to the 40th anniversary party.  It was fun to celebrate with Jule and Wendy and all of the rest of the family.  There wasn't any dancing in my evening but there was a lot of visiting and catching up with cousins I hadn't seen in years!  I think the coolest thing (at least for Stacey) was the photo booth.  We got to dress up and take goofy pictures.  We picked hats and sunglasses.  What a fun idea.  Jule and Wendy got a CD with all of the pictures taken during the evening.  I bet they are laughing hysterically as they are going through them all.

It was very fun for Stacey.  She got her picture taken with all of the cousins who would go in the booth with her.  Boy, wouldn't that be a cool thing at a birthday party!  I may have to price something like that as they enter into their teen years soon.

Dawn struggles at parties with dances lately.  She prefers to dance slow dances and doesn't like the fast songs.  It is much more common though to have faster songs where people just go out on the dance floor and stand there and wiggle around.

 It was a very fun day all around.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it because I had a rough day on Friday but am so glad I did.  It  was such a boost after the last few days of feeling lonely and tired of laying around the house.  I am back to doing that after church tomorrow, but I am smiling at the opportunity I had to gather a lot of "soft" hugs and words of love and encouragement.  Not to mention Jule and Wendy and the wonderful milestone they have reached - 40 years!