Yet another scare

Last week I had another "You've got to be kidding me" scare. I have been having some cramping for the past month or so, sometimes it's bad other times it's not noticeable, so I didn't think much of it. Sunday morning, I was woken up at 6:00 am by awful, think I should go to the ER pain. It was hurting into my back and I had to lay in the fetal position to have any relief whatsoever. I tried to walk and thought I would pass out or throw up from the pain so I woke the Hubby up to tell him what my symptoms were "In case I die this is what you can tell the paramedics".
I was, needless to say, afraid. I called my primary care doctor and my girl doctor both on Monday morning to see what they would suggest. Both wanted to see me, so I had bloodwork done at my Primary care on Monday and they scheduled me with a Gastroenterologist (sp?) for a colonoscopy. On Tuesday the girl doc wanted to see me for an ultrasound to see if she could find the source of the pain. When the ultrasound was complete, she told me I had a "big, nasty cyst" that was 8 cm...basically the size of my entire right ovary. She thinks maybe I had another one that burst on Sunday AM and that was the cause of all the pain. Of course, with my history of cancer this was cause for concern, and I was immediately sent to another office for a CT scan to make sure it wasn't a tumor.
I was freaking out a bit needless to say, but honestly I think I was in denial. I mean, what are the chances that I could've grown a tumor during chemotherapy? That would be crazy, and terrible!
So for over 24 hours I tried to go on with life, hoping this nightmare wasn't about to kick into high gear again.
I finally got the call that the bloodwork was fine, and the CT scan showed no sign of cancer. It is apparently just a cyst. I was elated! Bad news is, the cyst still has to be removed (that appt. hasn't been scheduled yet so I don't know what to expect) but I'll take that any day over that nasty c-word!
The GI doctor still wants to do the Colonoscopy because of my cancer history and to make sure that another little issue I'm having that I won't share (just in case you're eating...trust me, you don't want to know) is just a minor issue and nothing to be concerned with. Apparently young breast cancer patients should be carefully screened for colon cancer as well. Yay for me! That is scheduled for the 29th. I'll let you kow how fun that one is!
Apparently I'm going to be known as a "lab rat" for the rest of my life and any issue will be treated as a major issue until cancer can be ruled out. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about early detection, but the fear that is ALWAYS there in my head is a bit intensified when a medical doctor becomes alarmed. So, that's my update. Good news so far, Thank you Lord!!!

Oh, I keep meaning to tell you that my body seems to have adjusted to the Tamoxifen (remember, the estrogen blocker that I have to take for 5 yrs) and I rarely have hot flashes anymore! I really thought I was going to lose my mind for a while, SO thankful the summer heat didn't bring hot flashes along with it!!! :)

Wedding Fun!

**You'll have to excuse this post for being all over the place with pictures and captions. I have changed and updated it at least 20x and I'm done. I could probably start all over and re-load the pictures, but I don't have patience for that again! Just think of this one as a puzzle you have to match up the pictures with the captions ;-) **

The Little One was a flower girl in a friend's wedding this weekend & she loved every second of it! My friend and I were a little concerned that one (or maybe even all 3) of the girls would be too scared to walk all the way down the aisle, but they did great!

These were from the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner. The Hula Hoop was the greatest gift ever! She's been practicing non-stop ever since she got it!

Well, if you know my little girl, you know she can be a bit bossy with other children (Shocker, right?). She, of course, carried that attitude over to wedding day! I stayed inside to make sure they didn't have any meltdowns right before they were to go out, and my best friend, who was the Matron of Honor, was going to keep them in line during the ceremony. So, the Hubby sat in the back row and said that she was telling the other 2 girls "slow down, throw your petals, wait for me" etc. about half way up, and everyone was laughing. Then, the girls heard the laughter and got the crazy giggles the rest of the way up. I SO wish I had it on camera!

My best friend, the Matron of Honor, with her precious daugter, The Little One's Best Friend!

I'm sure she was giving them a "last minute tip" type of conversation here. They were SO excited!

The gorgeous bride with her most handsome nephew, the ring bearer.

It was a beautiful ceremony for a sweet couple! We were glad she could be a part of such a special day for them!

They did it...going back down the aisle at the end! Of course she's still saying "Wait! Slow Down!!!" the entire time.

The reception was lots of fun also! The girls danced all night, and so did the wedding party :)



Dancing with the girls and with Daddy :)

Ringing the bells for the happy couple to leave!

We had a really fun weekend with one of our favorite families, so glad everything went beautifully for them!

Here it is

Well, drum roll please........Here I am in all my baldness.

I don't think my color is as grey as it appears to be in this picture. It's lighter than it was before, but I don't THINK it's in the grey family...maybe that's me just denying reality though!

I will not be going out like this any time soon, but since I feel so close to all of you I thought I would share. I feel sure you're not as shocked as a lot of the general public would be ;-)

More Randomness

The Little One was visiting family in TN for 4 days this week and finally came home yesterday! It's sometimes nice to have a break, but we really miss her when she's gone. We honestly don't know how to handle a quiet house all the time or having so much time to ourselves. It's strange. I know my sweet in-laws will miss her terribly, but they're probably a little glad to be able to get their house back. She takes over wherever she goes. Immediately.

She went to work with me this morning because I had to be out early and honestly I didn't get up and get her ready in time to take her to the sitter and be at the neighborhood so early. Close your mouth, I know it's no shock for me to be running late!
Anyway, we had to meet some people doing work out there, and I needed to take "before" cleaning pictures of a house that someone had just moved out of. This house is trashed. Like, don't touch anything, need to take another shower when you leave, EW! We were walking through it and she was exclaiming how nasty it was at every turn (which is big for her, she's usually all "it's not that bad"). I get about halfway through the house and she stops, looks up at me and says so very honestly "Mommy, your job is gross! Why did you want to do this yucky job?" I couldn't stop laughing!
I explained to her that my whole job isn't gross, just a little bit of it. She didn't buy it. Then we went to Baskin Robbins on the way to the babysitters and she was all good with my yucky job suddenly. Ya know, because I reminded her that you have to work to eat and since we like to eat (including ice cream) I should probably keep my job...even if it is a little gross some days.

Hope you don't have a yucky job kinda day. Even if you do, it's Friday! It'll all be better tomorrow!

Random

This just made me laugh. Clearly he doesn't go by the motto: "Safety First!"

Hair, how I missed you!

I know I have told you my hair is growing back, and I'll post a picture soon. I am so happy about this I can't even describe it to you! It's still not long enough for me to feel like I could leave my house wearing nothing on my head. Right now I feel like people would think I was a crackhead that went all Britney Spears & shaved my head in a fit of craziness...well, that's what I tell myself and it keeps me from going out with my new 'do exposed.
I'm hoping in a few more weeks when it's a little longer on top I'll be able to brave the stares and suck it up!

Along the same lines, and maybe even better in my opinion, my eyebrows and lashes are back! Woo Hoo!!! I no longer have to spend an hour painting a face on before I feel like I can step outside. That was really getting to me & making me feel a little depressed. Just as quickly as they left, they came back in no time and I am SO SO happy! It would be a bonus if my eyelashes took off and got all long and thick like the Hubby's and the Little One's. I've always said it wasn't fair how awesome his eyelashes are, only girls should be blessed with that! Oh well, at least my little girl has pretty lashes, she'll appreciate that one day!

Just thought I'd share a little happy update! :-)

Update

I'm only updating because my husband and Mom have been calling me a slacker with the blog lately (you probably have too, you just haven't told me! It's ok just admit it). Truthfully, I just feel like I have nothing interesting to tell you. I hate to bore you to death with a recap of my recent weeks but I don't really know what else to tell ya!

A couple weeks ago I went to Myrtle Beach for a quick weekend trip with my BFF, her sister and cousin for a girls weekend to celebrate her sister's upcoming wedding. We had a great time but didn't take many pictures so you'll have to excuse the goofiness of this one!

We all had on balloon hats, along with 98% of the rest of the people at Senor Frogs, but the other girls took theirs off for the picture.

It was a fun weekend getaway, and I have to say I haven't been to Myrtle Beach in a very long time and didn't know what to expect, but the beach was beautiful and there was lots to do in the area. The lack of fresh seafood restaurants was a downer, but we were only there for 2 days so we got over it.

On the medical front, I have been feeling guilty for not exercising at all for the most part in a long while, so I decided to start back in baby steps. I played in the yard for 5 minutes with the Little One recently and almost passed out in the yard, but I thought maybe it was from the heat. Earlier this week I decided to do a 20 minute cardio stint...and nearly died! The doctors all tell you that chemo affects your heart, and it will take a while to be normal again (I'm beginning to wonder if that will EVER be the case). Well, they aren't kidding! I knew any time I had a busy day or did a lot of physical stuff I would be really tired the entire next day and I attributed that to my heart trying to keep up, but this was crazy! I couldn't even catch a full breath hours later! Yeah, I won't be doing that again. The Oncologist said maybe I'm anemic but she didn't rush to check that out, so I guess we'll just have to hope my heart keeps pumping along and I'll do my part not to over work it!

I saw Dr. Hurt a couple weeks ago, and he gave me some depressing news. One of my breasts, (the one that had the tumor) is really not softening up still, and seems to have a lot of scar tissue build up. He seems to think it shouldn't have happened so quickly after surgery, but doesn't have any answers. His solution is for me to keep squeezing (surprise, surprise) and see what it does after a while. He said if it stays the same or gets worse he may have to go back in, remove some scar tissue, and put in a new implant. You can imagine how much this does NOT make me happy, so I am praying for a break here!

The day where I do not have to spend hours thinking about my chest will be such a wonderful change of pace!

On a happier note though, I have had lots of fun buying some new shirts and dresses that I wouldn't have felt comfortable in before cancer...at least there's that! ;-)