Journey Out of Pink

They say "necessity is the mother of invention" and I believe it's true. I couldn't help but think of this saying as I began packing for our upcoming trip to the beach. Beaches mean swimming and swimming means you need a bathing suit and what am I going to do? Number one, I don't have a bathing suit because I don't like to wear them in public and number two, I don't know how you swim with prostheses....The more I thought about it, the more concerned I became and the more I realized I had to come up with a solution. I'm sure they sell prosthetic breast forms made specifically for swimming but I don't have any of those and I'm sure they're very expensive. I bet I can come up with something, I thought to myself and then I got an idea. My daughter and I were out shopping. We were perusing the aisles of T.J.Maxx for items we needed for our trip. As we went down the women's clothing aisle, we passed one of those U shaped neck pillows. Someo

The sign outside my treatment room Another day of Lymphedema therapy! I am so tired of going for these appointments. The frustration comes from not only having to drive an hour each way to the Piedmont Hospital Physical Therapy/Rehab Center but also from having to lay on the treatment table for an hour while the therapist does her thing. I feel really weird having a woman rubbing and massaging my body parts! That's probably why I've never gone for a professional massage in my whole 58 years of life. I know massage is supposed to be really good for you and is supposed to be a great way to receive relaxation for overworked muscles but if I had my way, a man would be working on me! Lisa, my CLT (Certified Lymphedema Therapist) is nice. She's kind, caring, and personable. If we didn't have a professional relationship, she'd probably be a good friend of mine but as fate would have it, she'll only be in my life a short time to help me with post breast cancer side

For the past 22 months, I’d wanted to attend one of the Look Good Feel Better seminars offered for women who’ve been diagnosed with cancer; but every time a class came to a city near me, I never signed up. I don’t know why I didn’t feel comfortable enough to call and register, but I didn’t. I knew, if I went, I’d be around other breast cancer patients and survivors, but I was still hesitant. For some reason, I just couldn’t do it. At the beginning of May, I received a bi-monthly calendar of events from my local cancer wellness center. I always look forward to receiving the calendar because there are usually interesting classes available so I flipped it open to see what was on the schedule. There were several art therapy classes, writing classes, a one hour drumming class, and several more. The one that caught my eye was the Look Good Feel Better class. I noticed the dates and realized the next one was only a week away and it was going to be held at the hospital around the corn

If there was a stronger word than hate, I'd be using that word right now. Well, maybe there is...how about detest, abhor, or loathe? No, hate says it best. I hate, hate, hate going to the doctor, but today I had an appointment with my primary care physician so I had to go. Boo! So, I got up early and got a shower. I don't know why I made such an early morning appointment...note to self, don't do that again! After my shower, I got on the scale. I wanted to see how much I weighed before I actually had to get on the scale at the doctor's office. First, I weighed without clothes and then I weighed with clothes. I was surprised to find a 2 pound difference with my clothes on. Next, I had to decide which shoes to wear. I wanted to wear some lightweight ones. I had two pair from which to choose...Crocs and leather sandals. Before putting them on, I weighed the shoes...yes, I know, a little obsessive but hey, we do whatever we can to keep the numbers on the scale as low as

What a day it's been! I just got home and I'm bushed. Today was my first day back to Lymphedema therapy in a little over a year. It's amazing how much things can change in a year. When I walked into their office everything looked so different. They'd remodeled so much I wasn't sure I was even in the right place and felt like I was having a senior moment! After filling out paperwork to update my file, I was taken back to the treatment area. My old therapist, Allison, had been replaced by a woman named Lisa. Lisa seemed competent and a little brusque at first, but she warmed up after we talked a little. Cold Laser Therapy Machine It was freezing in the therapy room as Lisa asked me to remove my blouse and let her see my scars. She didn't say anything but I could tell what she was thinking. After looking with pity at my chest for a few minutes, she asked me to lie down on the exam table. She turned to put on some soft music and dimmed the lights (I know, it&#

Woe is me! Have you ever wanted to say that? Well, I've always heard it said by a cartoon character in distress or on an old black and white movie...not many people use the word woe in today's language but I couldn't find a more fitting word to describe how I've been feeling and that tiny little word did a pretty good job. This morning, even before I got out of bed, I was hurting. Every muscle, every joint, every bone in my body was hurting. I felt really, really old and I just wanted to cry. I have been having more and more days like this lately and it's beginning to worry me. I've read about a lot of breast cancer patients/survivors who've developed Fibromyalgia after surgery or treatment and I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps that's what's wrong with me. I hate to say it, but I hope it's Fibromyalgia and not a recurrence of cancer... I looked up the symptoms of Fibromyalgia online and here's what it listed: Fatigue - yep, I've d

This weekend was crazy busy, but in a good way. We had company come to visit on Friday and they stayed overnight. While it's always good to see extended family, it's challenging for me to be a good hostess...not because I don't want to, but because I just don't have the energy. I did my best and hopefully they felt welcomed and loved. On Saturday, we had more family come over for a cookout and that made for another long, but good, day. We always enjoy having my daughter, Laura, and her family come over to spend time with us. It's such fun to watch my granddaughter play and enjoy experimenting with various art mediums. She knows her Gigi will let her do just about anything and she's learned where all of my art supplies are located. This time she got to try her hand at using pastels. It was so fun to see her learn it's okay if your hands get messy and that art is fun! Sunday, we decided to drive up to spend the day with my youngest daughter. The weather wa