On a personal note

The calendar has flipped to September, the leaves are beginning to turn and life gets busy! I usually look forward to September, as a time of
re-establishing routines and getting back into the grove of "regular life". I am not quite sure what regular life is anymore.

Sure the girls have gone back to school, and dance begins today, youth group meets for all 3 and there is order to the week. However when the calendar changed this year to September - I began counting days - not planing class schedules, or making travel plans for trade shows as would be "normal" for me this time of year. Surgery has been set for the 24th. I know that this needs to happen. I know that I have made the right decision. None of this eliminates the anxiety that comes when facing surgery of any kind nor the wondering "what comes next?"

This surgery is pretty much 18 months to the day from my first surgery, I am feeling good, and have nothing to complain about truly, I am facing the "best case scenario" for sure. There are still questions and wondering.

So often life looks much different than we think it should. We make plans we hope, we dream and then you hear the words "breast cancer" and the plans change in an instant - for a time the plans are made for you. You are at the mercy of the medical system, doctors schedules and hospital times. These plans get made for you and everything else gets put on the back burner. Surgery looms ahead and plans are made in the context of , can we fit that in before surgery, or that will have to wait until after surgery / recovery. Then there are the plans that simply can not be at all because the timing that has been dictated squelches them. It is o.k. - it is a small fraction of time when you look at the big picture. Dreams are still there and if anything else more important that ever. They are something to look forward to something to strive towards. Thankfully for me the hope is still there, yes it is cancer, however I have been assured from my medical team that it is not life threatening and we are taking the right path for treatment. I know that I do not walk through this valley alone, God is walking with me, family is walking with me, friends are walking with me. When I think of it in those terms it seems like a party. (o.k. that is a bit of a stretch, but IF we were all in the same place at the same time it would be a whopper!)

I will go into surgery on the 24th with the right attitude, do as I am told by the doctors (YES - I will!), listen to the home care nurse when she comes to visit and remember that it is o.k. for it to be about ME as I recover and not feel bad for the things I am not able to do.

I am buoyed by the encouraging emails and well wishes I receive - Thank you. 16 days and counting.... In the wait time I am living life, enjoying family and friends and getting ready for the Garage Sale here on Saturday!
Looking forward, looking up and genuinely happy to be able to do so!
Blessings
Di