My Family

My Family
Showing posts with label Breast Cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breast Cancer. Show all posts

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Komen Race for the Cure 2010 - I'm going!

Oh my goodness... my life is way too busy. It looks like I'm averaging about once a week posting on this blog. That makes me very unhappy. My original plan was pretty much daily. I think as soon as I get used to my new job, things will be a little more manageable, and I'll be able to post more here.

I wanted to post about something I'm excited about this weekend... I'm walking (WALKING) in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this Saturday in Salt Lake City, Utah. I've been wanting to do this since I was diagnosed with breast cancer almost 2 years ago - it's been kind of a goal for me. But, last May, I was recovering from my reconstructive surgery (that was 4 days before the race). I was still in bed! So, this year, I send out an email to all of my friends and family to ask for their support in walking with me this May. I got exactly one response. ONE. From my sister, Kristin. So, it's me and Kris. One of my friends, Barbara Morrell, gave me some money to donate to the walk, so I donated that. Thanks Barb! I just posted a comment on facebook, about no one walking with me. I probably just offended, like, 100 people. Oh, well. Whatever. I just can't understand why it's such a big deal to take maybe 1 1/2 hours of their whole day to support me! Geez!

I'm excited for the walk - don't really know what to expect, but it will be pretty cool to be there with 1000s of breast cancer survivors and supporters. Kris and I will probably wimp out and do the mile and a half instead of the 5K. That's ok. Next year we'll be able to do the 5K. Rick even offered to come with me if I agreed to walk the 5K (which is weird - he never likes to do any of the Breast Cancer support stuff - I think he's just sick of breast cancer). But, I'm not sure if I can do it, and Kris's back is pretty bad, so I know she can't do that long of a walk.

One more thing...

I've decided to get a tummy tuck later this year. Yep. There are several reasons behind this decision. I've learned that belly fat is REALLY bad for your health. It can really hurt your organs. When I needed to have reconstructive surgery on my chest, I wanted to get the surgery where you take the fat from your stomach and transfer it up to make your new boobs. But, my surgeon said that he didn't think I'd be happy with the results, and that we should do it another way - with implants. I'm really glad I did it that way, but I have to admit I was disappointed. I could have had a boob job and a tummy tuck all at once, AND my insurance would have paid for it! Of course, the pain would have been awful, and the recovery would have be horrendous. My surgeon said, "Let's worry about your chest first, and then we can do the stomach later." So, now I've got a job, and I'm saving money. I think I can get rid of my butt and legs with walking, but how do you get rid of your stomach?! Especially when your body is completely screwed up from cancer and you just can't lose anything, no matter what you do?? Plus, apparently my muscles were so stretched out from all of the kids I had, that they need to be repaired - sewn back together. And if I lose a bunch of weight, I'll still have all of this skin that is stretched out. I think I'm going to try to have this surgery without telling people. My family will know, and my sister, because she will come to help me. But, I don't think I'll tell anyone else (except all of you - Haha!). I don't want people judging me. My reasons are good ones - it's not all about looks. I'm really stressed about the damage that it's doing to my organs. I don't want to have survived cancer, and then have a heart attack or something else go wrong. And, I'm so TIRED of always wishing I looked better, and never being able to make it happen. I've just had it with being uphappy about the way I look. What do you think?

Friday, October 2, 2009

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

CHECK IT OUT... The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Try to do something during this month to help the fight. Here are 10 suggestions...

1. Find a local breast cancer walk and join it. On October 10th, there is a walk in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City that I'm going to try to go to. Why don't you join me??? http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY10GreatWest?pg=entry&fr_id=19868 You can sign up as a team or as an individual walker. Don't forget to make a donation!

2. Do a self exam. Go to my breast cancer blog and click on the self exam button on the sidebar. This will give you directions on how to do your self exam. On the 15th of every month, I do a post on that blog reminding you to do your self-exam. It's important. www.foobbabe.blogspot.com

3. Schedule your mammogram (once a year - October is a great time). There is a button on my breast cancer blog that you can click once a day - this is easy to do and it provides a free mammogram to those women who can't afford it. Cool, huh? So visit each day to help out. Here is my blog... www.foobbabe.blogspot.com OR here is the website (The Breast Cancer Site) http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2&ThirdPartyClicks=BCS_linktous_120_01

4. Help a friend who is going through cancer. A few tips. Just offer your help - don't try to say "I know it must be hard", or "I know how you feel". Unless you've been in that exact spot, you'd don't know. So, just help. Bring dinner. Send flowers. Show up and do some laundry, or help clean. Send a note. Anything is appreciated. Believe me, there are days when you just can't even get out of bed, so any help is great. Call first. :-)

5. Donate money to help find a cure. Tina, over at Blogging For Boobs Bash, is raising money for breast cancer research - she will be featuring survivor stories on her blog all month. I'll be there at some point. Go and take a look. http://talkinwithteenie.blogspot.com/search/label/blogging%20for%20boobs%20breast%20bash She's doing lots of give-aways this month as well.

6. If you are a survivor, find someone to mentor - answer their questions, lend them your scarves and hats, etc. There are lots of online communities that you can join to share your story - one I belong to is Wellsphere. I'm in the Breast Cancer community there. Check it out... http://www.wellsphere.com/home.s

7. Be aware! Don't bury your head in the sand and hope breast cancer doesn't come your way. Some statistics:
An estimated 192,370 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009- that's about 528 per day, 22 per hour - one woman every 3 minutes!
An estimated 40,170 women will die of breast cancer in 2009 - that's 110 per day!
The median age at breast cancer diagnosis in the United States was 61 years. This means that half the women diagnosed with breast cancer are under the age of 61 - I was 42.
An estimated 2.5 million women living in the United States have a history of breast cancer.
So take care of yourself and make sure the women in your life - mothers, sisters, friends, aunts, cousins - everyone - takes care of themselves.

8. Spread the word about breast cancer - talk to everyone. The internet is a powerful tool - use email, facebook, twitter, blogs - whatever you can think of to spread the word about the importance of early detection in breast cancer.

9. Know your family health history. This is something I need to work on. It changes all the time. You should be aware of the health problems (especially stuff like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer) of your siblings, parents, and grandparents. When you go to see a doctor, they'll want to know about your history and it really is important.

10. Keep "abreast" of Breast Cancer. Research for Breast Cancer is making huge strides. Gain some knowledge - read books, search the internet, etc. Become an expert. It could help you or someone you know!

Breast cancer SUCKS. You DO NOT want to find out how much. Believe me.
(This post will be repeated on my cancer blog)

Take Care Everyone! Love you all. Thanks so much for helping me through this last year - you were all wonderful. MMMMWWWWWAAAAA!

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My Gorgeous Boys

My Gorgeous Boys