Reconstruction - First Surgery

I know that I said that I was going to write about the reconstruction surgery right after it happened. I have had "writer's block." First, I was disappointed. The right breast didn't seem any bigger, just squarer, and the left breast had the nipple re-sectioned higher, but still hung low.

I went in after a couple of weeks and saw the surgeon and he was not too happy either. Anyway, we are going to do surgery again in September. The girls will be standing tall and be a full C cup, kind of like when I was twenty. Wow! And, the good news is that the insurance will pay for it again. I found out that there is a law in Virginia that says that if you have breast cancer and surgery to remove the breast, then your insurance is obligated to pay for reconstruction, even if it is years down the road.

The bad news is that I had to quit my shots of Enbrel for 3 weeks because it lowers my immune system. So then, the RA got worse, which I fixed with 20m of prednisone. Not good, now I am back on Enbrel but feel so much better taking the prednisone, I don't want to stop. I don't like to think of the swelling, inflammation, and pain that will happen when I cut back. At least, I was able to enjoy my trip to Kentucky to see my mother. She is in assisted living now. She has dementia. That is really difficult.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! 

ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

Can I get Pink(er)?

Seven Days and Counting to Reconstruction!

Monday was a day of preparation for surgery. I went to the Plastic Surgeons office and met with the nurse for a detailed evaluation for my surgery on Tuesday, June 30, 2013. Boy I was almost stumped at the questions that were asked. Why are you taking this medication? How often do you take it? How does it make you feel? Considering all the medications that I am taking, there were loads of questions.

Taking something for anxiety, blood flow, Gurd, pain, RA, Osteopenia. So many medications that some even have more than one for one problem. I am also taking Vitamist Spray Vitamins. I started doing that over 3 months ago and am feeling well enough to do the surgery. I don't smoke anymore (23 years), I don't drink alcohol (I don't like to lose control and it tastes nasty to me), and the only drugs I do are prescription. If I could quit eating too, I wouldn't have a weight problem. I seem to be able to go cold turkey for addictions, but not modification for food. I just love food, all kinds of food. What is a girl to do?

Oh, I forgot the pictures. They took pictures of my boobs and I had to sign away my rights to them. My face was not in them, and the doctor will use the pictures for the surgery and who knows? I might end up in a medical journal someday. Did you ever think: could someone identify my body without looking at my face? I am not sure I could identify myself. They took pictures when I had my tummy tuck in 2002. It has done really well. I may have a big butt, but my tummy is flat. That also makes your boobs look bigger. I have noticed  little luv handles forming around the sides. Got to exercise more.

We have been on Atkins and Ray has lost so much weight. I don't seem to be able to. (I guess I will have to give up my stash of Cheetos.) Remember the old joke: The woman got on the talking scale and it said "One at a time Please!" I could lose a small ugly person.

Anyway, in just seven more days, I will have 2 complete boobs! The other boob will be raised to where it used to be.

God is Good All the Time! - All the Time, God is Good!

I am going to share every day until the surgery and for a while after. Leave comments or join my blog for updates.

Love and Kisses!

Survivor Reconstruction Pink

Wasted Time!

I finally decided to have breast reconstruction. If you are a regular reader, you know that it has been 4 years since I had the surgery to remove the cancer in my breast. I don't know why I thought that it wouldn't matter to me. I even remember saying to someone "It doesn't really matter to me. I am married and I don't ever plan to marry anyone else. My husband says that it doesn't matter to him either."

Then, I remember the times I got out of the shower and could not look at myself. I wouldn't let Ray see it either. I decided last year to go to the doctor and have the reconstruction done, but I missed the appointment. I think that I subconsciously missed it because I was afraid.


I have had so many issues with the Rheumatoid Arthritis and sometimes even felt like I wouldn't live another year like this. I think I have been using the RA not to get the surgery. I have tried to keep busy with writing, tweeting, blogging, posting to Facebook, Pinterest, Empire Avenue, etc. Sometimes I can not get out of the house. I have started taking more Prednisone and it certainly helps. The problem with larger doses of Cortisone is that they can make for brittle bones.

I have been so fortunate to find friends on the different areas of Social Media. Everyone has been so supportive through all my illnesses, that I don't know how I will ever repay the kindnesses. I know, prayer works. The Prayer Room is open, if you need prayer or need someone to share with, let me know and we can get in touch and pray it down.

The surgery is scheduled for July 31st. The doctor says that it will be day-surgery and I will be able to come right home a couple of hours after the surgery. It will be at the hospital, not in his office. The really good news is that he said he will lift the other breast to match the surgery.

It really is weird that women (me) are so wrapped up in what we look like that even when a body part that is covered most of the time is damaged, we begin to feel that we are really damaged and no one would want to be with us because we are not "whole." I am being honest here. I feel bereft of my breast. I saw some pictures of the same kind of surgery they are doing on me, and it looked really good, and almost normal.

I just keep telling myself:

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME

ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD

10 lbs Down!

Peanut Butter Meal Bars. We also bought some Atkins frozen dinners. I like the chicken and turkey dinners, and Ray likes the meatloaf and Italian sausage dinners. I had to make a special place in the fridge to hold all that Ray bought. I also made some chicken soup with bouillon cubes, a little butter, and lots of salad leaves, like kale and mustard. Also, added some coleslaw mix veggies. Most of the veggies burn more calories than they provide when you eat them. The soup was wonderful. We have had two dinners out of the pot.

We have been trying not eating anything before bed. Those things tend to go right to the middle and stay there. Sometimes I do have a small piece of Cheddar Cheese when I take my bedtime medicine. Otherwise, they back up on me.

I absolutely hate exercise. Since the weather has been just right, I have decided to direct my exercise toward the garden. Here are some perennials that my mother gave me. Aren't they beautiful? I have been weeding the flower beds. I can surely feel the thighs shrinking. There were some weeds that were almost as tall as the flowers. It has rained quite a bit, so they were easier to pull out. If you look carefully, you can probably see the weeds. The red flowers are from an Abraham Lincoln Rosebush. They are like velvet and so red. On the other side of the bed, I have the JFK Rose which is really white. I have rose bushes all over. Seems like there is usually one blooming most of the time.

Then, imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale this morning and I was 10 pounds down. It is the most wonderful feeling when you see that scale with less than there was last time. Another great thing was wearing my new jeans yesterday. When I bought them 2 weeks ago and brought them home, they were too small to get together around my waist and my thighs were tight. When I put them on yesterday, I could actually button the waist and the thighs were not too tight. The place to get to will be when they are baggy and I have to give them away.

I really didn't want to buy fat clothes, but over the past year, I have acquired a few.  Hopefully, soon, I can give them away and get back into my smaller clothes.

If anyone would like to comment or submit a guest blog, I would love it. It would be great to have interaction and encourage each other about our weight problem.

 This was me at Christmas, Look at those hips! Wow!

I always said that I am going to write the worlds smallest diet book and it is going to have 2 pages: first page says - Eat Less; second page says - Move More! If we could all do that, we would have a more comfortable life.

MOVE MORE - EAT LESS!

Nostalgia Pink

Tonight, on #smmanners (Social Media Manners-Twitter), we had an open-mic night. Somehow, we got to talking about things that used to be: Howdy-Doody, so I mentioned Clarabelle; Mr. Green Jeans, so I mentioned Captain Kangaroo, and so on and so on. We chatted about vinyl records, the over 300 33-rpms that I have in my shop. I have some original Elvis, and the Beatles. Remember "Hang on Sloopy"?

There are lots of Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Billy Joe Royal, etc. There are a lot of religious recordings. Tennessee Ernie Ford was one of my favorite as a child. Ray must have belonged to the Columbia Record Club too. Some are doubles.

There are a lot of memories on those records. We have a new turntable and have tried a few. They sound pretty good. Ray and I had a DJ Business for about 15 years. We belonged to Parents Without Partners and one Friday night, the Juke Box broke. I went home and to my LPs and my stereo. We had our dance anyway. The next week, Ray brought his stereo, so we had two, not so much lag time between music.

I remember that my son, Jeff came to visit. He gave me a CD of Fleetwood Mac that I could play in the car, but then Ray bought a CD player so we could play our 1 CD. The next thing he bought was another CD player that you could program and play 3 CDs randomly. Then there were speakers, and then a microphone to make announcements. Ray found Karoke CDs and the next thing you know, he was singing Frank Sinatra songs and the ladies were swooning.

Actually, Country and Western music was really popular then and everyone was learning line dancing. I ended up teaching line-dancing, because I could dance but couldn't carry a tune.

Our chat tonight brought up some really wonderful memories. Just thinking about a song, brings up lots of good and bad memories. "I Want to Know What Love Is" after a bad break-up, There were so many break-up songs, you wondered if song writers' ever wrote happy songs. Then "Don't Worry, Be Happy" came out.

Billy Ray Cyrus was on TV the other day. He sure has held up well. We were all doing the "Electric Slide" until he came out with "Achy Breaky Heart". That was a difficult one to learn because it had so many steps before a repeat. But, once we caught on, we learned to do it to so many songs. I have a book full of line dances somewhere around here.


Our next door neighbor used to be a DJ at NASA dances at Langley. He sold us a lot of the equipment and he and his wife used to accompany us when we played parties and weddings. When we played PWP every Friday Night, they had a regular table. I had a large stuffed male doll that had on a Tux that I used to dance with when there were not any single men left to dance with. Since Ray DJed most of the time, it left me a lot of time to line dance. I remember DJing for about 6 weeks by myself. Ray was in the hospital with Guillian-Barre Syndrome and I don't think I have ever been so frightened. We really thought he was going to die. I actually tell about the miracle of his healing in my blog Thoughts of Christ: Guillian-Barre Syndrome Miracle 

Well, I better go to bed. I took a Vicodin because of my Carpal Tunnel and RA, and Golden Girls is almost over. Thanks for letting me go down memory lane.

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

Boston Pink

We pray every day for those who are ill, homeless, out of work, etc. Now we are praying for those who were maimed and killed in Boston at the Marathon. Satan never gives us a break. There are people who say that why would God do this. God didn't do this, Satan was in the person who did this horrible thing. I am praying for the families of those murdered and those who were maimed. I have no idea who could have done this heinous act, but I would be willing to bet that it comes from Al Keida.

I don't understand this and I am sure there are those out there who do not understand it either. The world seems to be turning into an even more scary place. People are sending poison in the mail, there is an insane leader trying to scare our country into  his beliefs by threatening a nuclear missile. Who are all these stupid/insane people? I almost feel like we are on a merry-go round and there are nuts taking pot-shots at us all. No wonder I do not like going out into large venues.

When I was young, I remember being frightened because the Russians were threatening to bury us. Everyone was building bomb shelters, storing food, and just generally scaring the devil out of everyone. It is so awful that we cannot even go out and run in a marathon now and feel safe.

The world has forgotten how to be kind. Everyone is out for themselves and they do not have empathy for others. I have my opinion of why things are going this way. We have barred God from our schools and almost everything that happens in this life. Have you heard this quote?

     I would rather live my life as if there was a God and die to find there isn't, than to live my life like there was no God and die to find there is. Albert Camus

T

I will write more tomorrow. My sadness over the happenings in Boston is almost overwhelming. I have retweeted a couple of people who are talking about it on Twitter, but just haven't been able to express myself. I hate it so that we are so mean to each other.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

  ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!       

Five Years to Pink

This is a follow-up to my blog "Thoughts of Christ" Miracle at Zoe which you might want to read first to bring you up to speed.

On Sunday, March 24, my Ray and I went to Calvary Revival Church Peninsula (Zoe) CRCP. Never complain about a one-hour church service. We got there at 10:30 a.m. and they had already started, and got home around 4 p.m., but it was not a hardship at all. The Holy Spirit filled that church for sure. We sat with the Reverends' Ray and Nakia Johnson. It was a wonderful service.

There was lots of heart-felt singing, praising God, prayer, and preaching. People were singing, crying, and laughing. It was one of the most exciting days in my life. And, I was asked to speak to the Fifth Anniversary since I was there in the beginning. Each person there has my heart and I love them all so much.

This was not really the Fifth Anniversary for me, it was more like the tenth, because if you read the Miracle at Zoe story on Thoughts of Christ, you know that it was 10 years ago that the Holy Spirit spoke to me about giving the church to the people of Zoe Community Church. This past Sunday, Reverend Ray Johnson, Sr., told us that the morning that Walter Satchell, Sam Moore, and I came down to give them the gift of the church, there was a prayer circle in the basement under the Sanctuary praying for just that. It was all so overwhelming for everyone that day that he forgot to mention it.

I think they had planned to give me an award or something, but I told Reverend Ray that I didn't need anything. Just being there was one of the best gifts I will ever receive. The church has been cleaned, painted, and has a new heat and air system. They are working on raising the money to finish paying for the system. The church is on the Historical Registry. The beautiful wood floors shook with joy. I have never been to a service quite like it. I really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. I really didn't know what I was going to say, but it went very well.

Reverend Ray had everyone who had a baby since the church was given to them, everyone who was saved from drugs and alcohol, every family that got married there in the past five years. Then he said I would have a ruby for everyone standing as adornment of my crown in Heaven. But it is not just my crown, but every member of First Baptist Church of Newport News who deserves the credit. They had to jump on the bandwagon and it took 5 years, but it was in God's time. There were many who said that they had thought it for years, but Dr. Everett made me say the words. To God be the Glory.

Reverend Ray Johnson has also started another congregation in Hampton and the Bishop has indicated that he will be appointed as a church planter and move up in the hierachy of the denomination. It is so wonderful how God is working in our lives.

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!