We recently received a very nice surprise, in regards to the Komen race that we'll be walking in later this month. About two weeks ago I received an email saying that breast cancer survivors walking in the Detroit race were eligible for four free tickets to the Detroit Tigers game on May 17.
The first thing I did was check my work schedule -- lo and behold, I was not scheduled to work that day. And then I replied back to the email -- thanking them, explaining that my nine year old is
over the moon! about sports, and particularly baseball, BUT that we have five people in our family not four. Could we possibly have five tickets.
Yesterday, all five tickets arrived in the mail, with a nice letter from the Tigers and Komen Foundation -- what a wonderful surprise! I did not tell Liam about the game until I had the tickets, and he was thrilled! The older two boys kind of mumbled a "great" when I told them, but, they'll go and they'll have a good time. I hope!
The past couple of days I've been cleaning closets and hidden places of my house trying to find things for our church rummage sale. The problem is not finding things -- when you put your life on hold to fight something like cancer for two years, things accumulate! -- the problem is getting it all organized, and keeping myself and my house sane in the process.
It has been a stressful process -- trying to get it "all" ready for the sale on Saturday. Now, I've resolved myself to getting as much ready as possible, and giving myself permission to give the rest to Salvation Army as I find time to get around the remaining closets, boxes, etc.
But I have a real
need to purge, clean out.... When I was first diagnosed almost three years ago, I looked around my house at all the piles of papers and things. It was an "organization" system that I understood, but which I knew no one else would be able to muddle through. I immediately started to organize things -- I didn't want to die with all the lose ends and confusion left in my memory.
Now, I'm a bit more relaxed, and not worried about dying...
But I still feel this huge burden to get my life "together." To get rid of all the extra "stuff" in our lives, and to simplify so that we can move from season to season, event to event, andeven, if necessary again, from crisis to crisis, without being overwhelmed by the stuff and busy-ness of our lives. I guess, I want CONTROL, and purging my house feels like one angle of control.
Another area of my life I want to get a better handle on is my eating. I heard a cancer conference, specifically for triple negative, that discussed a low fat diet being crucial to avoiding a breast cancer recurrence. Especially in the case of trip-neg cancers. The WINS Study had something like 20-25 grams of fat per day targeted for these ladies. The reality was that the ladies could manage about 30-33 grams of fat per day, and this was still enough to show a positive impact on reducing recurrence.
I found an on-line tool -- My Daily Plate -- on
www.livestrong.com. It is free... it has restaurant foods... generic foods... and it calculates calories, fat, sodium, etc. It is wonderful!
It has also taught me that my eating habits (which I thought were at least decent) are horrible! Fat, sodium, blind calories! It has been a real eye opener for me.
But, I'm going to stick with it, and be honest about it. Next week I have an appointment with a dietitian, and I'll take my food diary to her. Maybe she can help me, help me?
Lastly, I had an MRI last Monday. On Friday the
radiologist who read the MRI called me. Never a good sign. But, she assured me all is "probably" fine. She needed to update her records RE: my surgical history. A lot has changed since my last MRI, only a year ago. She said she felt comfortable things were fine, but she wants another MRI in 6 months to compare. Then she wished me a Happy Mother's Day, and I went to find the chocolate ice cream! (This was before I found the livestrong website, so I don't think it counts!??).
Time to walk the dog, and then get back to my closet cleaning... I don't know WHAT we'll have for dinner tonight? Paul is gone, I have to work this evening, and haven't made any time to cook. Maybe breakfast for dinner... ?
Well, we had a beautiful day for our walk! The weather was just right for walking -- not too cold or too hot. The race was CROWDED -- I don't know how many attended, but I heard something along the lines of 50,000 people, and that this was the biggest race Detroit has ever had! Liam really enjoyed all the "bling" of the day -- he wore the pink hat, two scarves, a pink cape and a couple of hat buttons that were handed out for free. He held my hand during almost the entire race. I think he and Tyler enjoyed the day the most? Although Karen commented later in the day that it was so inspiring because of all the positive energy -- that many people "celebrating" and remembering loved ones creates a lot of good feelings all around. 
