What R U Thankful 4?

                I teach Sunday school at Mill Creek Parish United Methodist Church in Derwood.  Currently, I am one of the teachers for the 4^th- and 5^th-graders, including my son, Matt. One of my teacher duties is to put up the November bulletin board in the hallway, which I am working on. The subject is, because of Thanksgiving, of course, “What R U Thankful 4?” So I've been thinking about that. The last two weeks I have so much to be thankful for myself, particularly in the cancer department, that I should at least mention them here.

                --In the course of my recent reconstruction surgery, they did routine biopsies of everything. The results came back yesterday, and they are all clear. Yay!

                --I survived the first of what I hope will be many years’ worth of boob MRIs. Should have the results back soon. I am thankful for not freaking out, because I didn’t realize it would involve 20 minutes in a closed MRI tube. If I had realized that was going to happen, I would have asked for a  Xanax or Valium or something. I am claustrophobic, and this was about all I could handle. But I made it through without totally freaking out, though I was close to tears when they got me out and I was shaky for a while. When I got out of there, I drove straight to the Lindt chocolate store for some life-affirming truffles. Yay!

                --The boobs continue to heal and readjust just fine. I am so glad I decided to do the reconstruction! I impressed my trainer yesterday very much by demonstrating that, in fact, I still have nearly complete freedom of motion both my shoulders, which we had thought was going to be an issue.  I am allowed to go back to light exercise at the gym now, but no weights for another couple of weeks. Yay on all counts!

                --This whole exercise has provided numerous opportunities for completely embarrassing and horrifying my children. Always gratifying.

                Example:  In the carpool line, someone shouts to me, “Hey, haven’t seen you in more than a week!  Where you been?” 

                And I shout back out the minivan window, “Oh, I was getting my new boobs!  They turned out great!” 

                Julia and Matt sink into their chairs in abject horror.

                 “Mom, you can’t DO that!  You can’t shout the word ‘boobs’ in public like that!”

                “Well, I just did. Do it again, if you want.”

                Wish I had it on film.

                --Meanwhile, all the Pinktober hullaballoo has encouraged various friends and relatives to go and get their mammograms, Pap tests, etc. Thank you!  One who had a suspicious situation was found to have nothing scary or alarming going on.  Yay!

                --Last weekend, my friend, Steve, who is our school athletic director and my daughter’s soccer coach, and who himself has been battling lymphoma for several years-- including a bone marrow transplant and everything that goes with that--was well enough to run a 5k!   Yay!

                --Also last week, that same man, along with Julia and her whole soccer team, played a game with two pink soccer balls of Awareness.  I was hanging around waiting for them after the game; I wanted my daughter to take a photo of me with one of the pink soccer balls, because all this Pinkness amuses me. But after the game, while the girls were still in their huddle, they all signed the ball and called me over and gave me the game ball and said kind words about my "warrior spirit."  Coming from Steve, who had just battled back from a bone marrow transplant, and from my daughter and her friends, some of whom had pink ribbons in their hair, this completely made me fall apart.  I cried all over the place. A very cool moment.  Thanks, guys!

Thanks to my friend, Kathleen McKay, for the photos!