It’s been a hot couple of days. The air conditioner went out at work on Friday and it didn’t take long before it was almost 90* in my office. I spent part of the day at my property and the rest of the day at the other local property where the AC worked. I did the same thing Saturday. Sunday and today I stayed at my property but it was so hot it was hard to do anything! I was grateful to have 2 fans but all I could do was sit in front of then. The AC repairman showed up today just as I was thinking about running away. I was feeling sick and just wanted some relief. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ I was miserable because I still had not gone to the bathroom for going on 6 days. Friday when I went to the oncologist office for my weekly blood work I asked for suggestions and the doctors assistant, Karen, told me to get Magnesium Citrate (aka poop juice) and drink 1/2 the bottle. So on Saturday evening I did that. I was up most of the night but there was never really any substantial action…if you know what I mean. A lot of the problem is the looming hemorrhoids and the thought of pushing! 😬 All weekend I’ve has small successes but I’m still eating so there’s way more going in then what’s coming out!

Now the reason I went into all of that was because it’s really not an ideal situation to be super hot and super constipated. It makes for one miserable me. At one point I just wanted to go home and drink the rest of the poop juice and wait. But I stuck it out. I even went to dinner with Terry, Rylee, Melanie, Joe and Lia. But before I left for dinner, I drank the rest of the poop juice and about 30 minutes ago… ☺️ there was a movement and I’m feeling better. I’m in my air conditioned house. I’m getting ready to go to bed and I’m hoping the juice will keep working! There’s still work to be done there!

Tomorrow is another chemo day so I’ll let you know how that goes. For tonight I have to say my blessings for today were Magnesium Citrate and time with family! 😉

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

Today started as they have for the last 2 weeks and will continue for the next 9 months…the alarm goes off at 5:30, I wake Rylee up and I go back to bed for 30 minutes. I don’t normally go back to sleep, I just “rest”. Ok, well some days I might fall asleep. But then I’m up fixing my coffee, making sure he has everything he needs as he’s throwing a lunch together because planning ahead takes too much time. We need to leave the house by 6:30 to get him to school before class starts. I think it’s only happened twice. The first month of carline is always a learning process. Mostly learning how to be patient with the new people. Well, this year, I’m a new people because I’m trying to figure out the upper school carline process. If we leave the house…I’m talking going out the door at 6:30, I will be home at 7ish to do what I need to do to get ready. Like rushing around throwing a lunch together because planning a head takes too much time. Yep…the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Rylee is a great kid but he almost didn’t live through middle school. He didn’t want to do the work and almost didn’t pass. The problem is he’s so stinking smart it wouldn’t be a problem if he’d just apply himself. One day I asked him how it was going to feel next year when I dropped him off at the upper school and all his friends walked in the door but he’d have to walk around to the middle school because he “didn’t want to do the work”? I guess he thought about because he started applying himself and his grades did come up enough for him to pass 8th grade. I kinda feel bad for him because we don’t live in a neighborhood where there’s a bunch of kids to hang out with. He can’t go down the street and see his buddies. They live in Cornelius and Huntersville and Statesville and Davidson. It’s not like a neighborhood where all the kids go to school together and after homework and dinner meet back up to play games or whatever teens do these days. On top of that Rylee has had to grow up really fast this summer. With my diagnosis and my chemo treatments, Rylee had to take care of me while his dad was at work. The first week I just wanted ginger ale and he ran up to the gas station on the corner and bought me some. He made me toast or a sandwich or regulated the thermostat and he makes dinner a lot! What ever I needed, he did it without grumbling. He was at my first 2 chemo session and part of the 3rd session. He asked me if when school started he could take off the Mondays when I have chemo. I asked why and he said, “I just want to be there”. I was kinda surprised because it’s really boring! But it made me feel good that he cared enough to want to be there. Lol the answer of course was no. Terry told him he could be at my last treatment. When it’s over I get to ring the bell and that’s a big deal for us all!

Being a mom of a 14 year old at the age of 59 is not without its challenges. My older kids keep telling him he’s got it way better then they did. (I don’t agree) it’s just different! Rylee is ummm…very strong willed and opinionated! That Apple is not from my tree by the way! He can be very lazy. And as a mother my first instinct is to yell. It’s what my mother did and I did it to the older kids and I do it to him and he hates it. Mom. mom…MOM stop, he tells me but it’s already started. It makes me crazy when I ask him to do something and he doesn’t get up and do it. So I ask him again. Nope! So I yell! He’s like, why are you yelling, I’m going to do it. So I tell him in my time, not his and he’ll say, what difference does it make as long as I do it. My answer…because I’m the mom. Hmmm lame I know. That’s my story and I’m sticking too it!

It’s really a different place to be raising kids these days but I don’t know why! He tells me, I don’t like saying yes ma’am and no sir. I tell him tough beans! He does it but sometimes I think he just wants to buck the system a little. Like I said before, Rylee is a really good person with a heart of gold. I just wish we could get him to get his work done! He puts off until tomorrow what could be done today more often than not and THAT really makes me crazy! Boy Scout merit badges. I hate them. It’s like pulling teeth. But the other night as other boys were getting 2 or 3 or even 4, Rylee got 9. I was so proud of him. Maybe I need to tell him that more often!

This diagnosis has changed him. He’s becoming a young man and I’m really proud to call him my son!

I love you Rylee, you are a blessing to me!

Be blessed,

Diana aka mom

#standbyme

Not much happened today. We had the AC repairman come out about 11. It was so hot in here it’s taken most of the day to get it back to comfortable. But it has! I was still feeling yucky today so I slept most of the day. I’ll be glad when this antibiotic kicks in and I get to feeling better. This has been a long week!

As most of you know I have a coffee business that will one day be our sole source of income. It is the vehicle with which I will one day be able to retire my husband, quit my job and build our dream home. It is the vehicle that will bring financial and time freedom for my family. I plan on growing this amazing business to help my children and my children’s children be financially free. I want to be able to go to the local children’s hospitals and give cash to the parents to help with their bills. They have enough to worry about! I want to help homeless veterans by building tiny home communities with a community center where they can eat and gather and maybe even work. I want to help local animal shelters find forever homes for their guests. I want to stop the mother who’s pawning her wedding ring so she can feed her children, but this all takes money and I’m not going to get that kind of money working for someone else. Yes it is direct sales. Most people have been programmed that DS is a pyramid scheme. Well, it’s far from it. The job I hold now is a pyramid scheme. There’s a guy at the top making mega bucks, then the people under him/her who make the day to day decisions. Then there’s the managers who have to jump through hoops and make the numbers look good. And then there are the peons who make the numbers but don’t ever get ahead because our hourly pay keeps us just above the poverty level. I will never have to top guys job where I’m at. I will never have anything where I’m at. So a year or so ago I went looking for something better and I found RESIDUAL INCOME! If you don’t know what that is, I would encourage you to look into it. I found Success By Health!

Success By Health was an answer to prayers I hadn’t even prayed yet. I can look back now and see where God was leading me so when this diagnosis came about, I would be strong enough to handle it. One of the biggest things our CEO and Founder, Jay Noland, has said from the beginning is to “Make it a great day, every day, no matter what”. If you are breathing, have food to eat and a roof over your head then it’s a great day. If you have things in your life that don’t work for you then only you can fix it.

If you don’t like the one your with, say so long!

If you don’t like where you live, move on.

If you don’t like your job, find a new one.

If you’re tired of making money for someone else, find a way to make it for yourself.

Are these hard things to do? That depends on how unhappy you are. Basically you are in control of who you love, where you live, who you work for and who you surround yourself with.

When I started with SBH back on October 1, 2017, I came in as Affiliate number 156. That’s ground floor. I’m being trained by the industries master trainer, my CEO and Founder. From day one he has pushed me to see that I am the only one who can make my life the way I want it to be. But I have to do the work. With a few years of hard work, my freedom would be my reward! I had to see that the 14000 hours I spent in school taught me to learn, graduate, possibly go to college, get a job and work my way up the ladder to put money in someone else’s pocket! They never told me I could make way more money using other people’s ideas, other peoples efforts and other people’s money. For $49 I bought into a system. You know like McDonalds has a system and Subway and Dunkin Donuts and all those franchise you can buy have a system you follow when you buy into it. Except it cost YOU 1.5 million to get started. My company is the Legacy company for Jay Noland. This is his baby. He’s put in multi millions of dollars to get it started…other people’s money! He’s spent countless hours perfecting the products and making sure they are the best…other people’s ideas and I’m building a team of awesome people who work hard to fulfill their dreams…other people’s efforts . BUT as I mentioned before, I would be a wreck with this cancer diagnosis if this had happened a year earlier. Jay Noland has taken me from a beaten down woman from a controlling ex-husband to a woman who says EVERYDAY “I will survive”! I won’t have it any other way. I’ve got a husband who loves me. Children and grandchildren and dear friends I love to be with. I’ve got millions of dollars to make so I can do the things we long to do together but can’t because someone else dictates what I can do and when. Ive got living and loving and sharing to do. I’m not a quitter. Even though I’ve been sidelined for the moment I have a village of people who love me and are praying for me and I won’t let them down. And a lot of those people are my SBH family. I love you all and I thank you for keeping me uplifted. We started this journey together and I intend to grow right along side of you. Success By Health will be the number 1 Direct Sales company in the world very soon and I thank God everyday that He brought this opportunity into my life. I have hitched my wagon the the right star!

Mr. Noland, I’m not sure you read my blog but if you do, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me! You have changed my life and I will be forever grateful. I will make this business work and I will make you proud! This side trip my life has taken will be over soon and I will come out stronger in the other side. I really hate that Im missing all the trainings right now but I’ll see you in January when we fully launch this company out into the world.

Being an SBH Affiliate is my blessing for today. Oh and a working air conditioner!

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

So one of my favorite books is The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd. One of my favorite memories was listening to it with my best friend Sue on one of our summer trips to Florida to visit my parents. The story is about a young girl named Lily Owens. Now Lily’s had a rough life and decided to run away in search of something better. She’s looking for someone who knows or knew her mom. During this time Lily becomes a person of her own and she is able to grow up a little and when things go wrong her word is “SHITBUCKETS” ⬅️pardon her French! Well this past week I’ve had a few “SHITBUCKET” moments myself, and so has Sue! Now she’s the only one who knowns the history behind the word in my world and the only one I ever say it too…but today has been a “SB” kind of day. Let’s see if we can list the issues and find the blessing of the day.

1. Last night when I went to bed it was 81* and I slept very little because it was so hot and I was running to the bathroom every hour to wet.
2. When I got up at 5:30 to wake Rylee up for school I almost didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. It’s like my bladder forgot how to work. If this is chemo related and it stays this way I’m going to be screaming “SB”!
3. I take Rylee to school and come home and it’s 79* in the house. I take a shower and lay down in my bed with the ceiling fan and the tower fan blowing on me. I don’t want to move!
4. Off to work I go and I’m doing my lock check and my golf cart dies just about as far from the office as you can get on the property…BUT just feet from an outlet! Blessing!
5. Back at the office I realize I’m needed to wet with urgency more frequently and this time when I went potty there was a familiar burning in my lower belly. 😳 Oh great! I googled Urinary Track Infection. I had 5 of the 7 symptoms listed on WebMD. So I called the oncologist to see what they want me to do. Come leave a sample and we’ll call you in an antibiotic. So on my lunch I’m off to pee in a cup.
6. I had several customers today and most were very pleasant (one not so much). But meeting Bill was my blessing for the day and but my life in a little better perspective. Bill and his wife are moving out of their home of many years and into an apartment. There’s no up keep, no grass to mow, nothing that they have to worry about fixing. You see Bill is 79 and has blood and bone cancer. He told me the name but I don’t remember. He said it’s in remission but he believes God did that so he could get his wife someplace safe and secure. He’s been through chemo but that has left him with several other issues that he didn’t go into. I asked him if I could pray for him and he said he would appreciate that and said he’d pray for me as well. Then he said, if you would please, pray for my wife, she worried to death about me and it makes me sad. Her name is Sara and we’ve been married for 59 years. I assured him I would.

So as I sit here in this hot house tonight, with my UTI, I am reminded that I don’t have it so bad. There is always someone out there who is going through far worse things then I. Bill and Sara need our prayers! And tonight I offer up the heat and the pain I’m complaining about for Bill and Sara. For healing if it be Gods will and for peace if not.

Good night.

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

I really thought I was going to just die last night… As I’ve told you before going number 2 has been a struggle for me. Now even worse than before. And when you force it, you get hemorrhoids with their own zip code. Well, it’s taken a turn for the worse. Now the homie is bleeding. I took something to help me move it move it Thursday night and my body decided to let it take effect last night starting around 12:30am. FYI…Pooping with hemorrhoids is like pooping shards of glass! And now I have twins! Except one is really aggrieved and it looks like a massacre has taken place every time I 💩!

😳😡🙄🤬😭😬🤢😷🤮😩😖

There aren’t enough emojis to tell you how miserable I was last night. On top of feeling like I had morning sickness and a hangover at the same time, I was going to the bathroom every 30 to 45 minutes until about 3:30. My neither world hurt so bad I really just wanted to cry. I had to wake Terry up for nausea meds and had just taken 4 200 mg ibuprofen to help with the pain. Poor Terry, bless his heart, was probably wondering what was going on. I’d no more get comfortable and I was up running to the bathroom again. He got up and got my pill and let the dogs out but never came back. I guess he found a quiet place to rest. My alarm went off at 5:30 and I told him I wasn’t going to Mass. I just needed to sleep because I had to go to work.

At 7:45 my alarm went off and I got in the shower. I was out the door at 9 and change and was at work a few minutes early. Still not feeling good I realized Ive not eaten much in the last 4 days and sent Rylee a text and I asked if they could bring me something to eat after Church. They did and I ate what I could and actually starting feeling better about 10am. Because of the heat and my not feeling good, I hadn’t cleaned out any storage units that vacated in the last couple of days. Now I had 8 to check on and I wasn’t looking forward too it. Any over exertion would put me back several steps. I just didn’t want to over do it. But today I made a list of units to clean and lock and was getting ready to go out when my son in law and granddaughter walked in. When Joe (son in law) saw how many units I had to clean, he offered to do it for me. I don’t think I resisted real bad, but I did tell him no at least once. The good thing was Terry had put an extension cord on a reel and a leaf blower in my van for me to use instead of sweeping. So even though there were a lot to do, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Joe, I can’t thank you enough! You are a life saver!!! PINEAPPLE! The day was pretty slow and I made a few phone calls and laid my head down on my crochet bag at lunch time. Set the alarm for 30 minutes and closed my eyes. 👀 HEY I think I’m feeling better! I did a little bit of cleaning, talked with an old friend and waited for 5pm.

When I got home, the house was stuffy! Terry had called me earlier to tell me AC was out again. Oh joy! Just what I needed to hear. Why when it’s just going to get hot again? We decided to go to Wendy’s for dinner. I was feeling hungry and ordered a burger and fries and I got a ginger ale. I ate a few fries and half the burger and drank a lot of the drink. All I wanted was the $.50 Frosty. Now that went down great! But the more I sat there the worse I was feeling. I took one of each of the nausea pills and home we went and here I am. I hope Terry finds someone to look at the AC tomorrow. I’m going to have a hard time leaving my puppies home in the heat! Maybe I should take them to work with me. We’ll see.

My blessing for today was my son in law Joe stopping by and offering to help me. It’s hard to believe I’m still feeling this bad this far out! Joe you saved my life today!

Also talking to my friend Teresa after not seeing or talking to her in months! You are a blessing to me!

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

I’m sorry I’ve been absent. It’s not been a good week. The last 2 treatments have been…um…ok. With the steroid Monday (chemo day) I usually have an ok day. This Monday, I felt terrible before I ever left the treatment room. By dinner time the house was hot and I said, I don’t think the air conditioner’s working. I was in bed early and up at 5:30 to Rylee to school. I got back from carline at about 7:15am and checked the breaker switch to see if it was on and it was. Shoot! So I sent a text to a friend who’s husband is a Jack of all trades and Master of most of them! She said she would let him know. I started cleaning up around the house. I did a few errors and grabbed my dads fan and that Jack of all trades was in my drive way when I got home. Thank you Ray! The day was pretty typical but the evening wasn’t. I sank real fast Tuesday night. I couldn’t sleep. I laid in bed tossing and turning most of the night. This had been the worst night of nausea since the beginning. As I laid there crying, I wondered what normal felt like. What does it feel like to feel good and will I ever feel it again. I laid there crying and thinking about all the crap they are pumping into me and I just felt lost, tired and sick.

Wednesday morning a friend came and got Rylee for school because Wednesday typically isn’t a good day for me. And it wasn’t. At around 10:30 the oncologist office called me to see why I hadn’t come in for my shot on Tuesday. Oh crap…I told her I’d get dressed and come in. But that wasn’t going to happen without help. I was too shaky and unsteady. I called Melanie and asked if she could take me and she was here quickly to take me in. I’d taken a “pill” and wasn’t doing too bad. We went to Walmart and picked up a few thing and I was done. But it was time to pick up kids so off we went to carline. When we got home, I went and laid down. I really don’t remember must of the rest of the day and Thursday, I slept all day. A friend brought us dinner and I tried to eat it but it wasn’t going down very well. Seems I’m having trouble swallowing some things now. Thank you Michelle for bringing us dinner.

Friday I got up and went to work. It was a hard day. I felt bad but took “pills” most of the day and survived. Another friend brought us dinner and I was grateful because I was so tired. Thank you KC! Today was worse then yesterday. I felt sick when I woke up but got ready for work and off I went. It was a rough day. I was busy in the morning with customers and cleaning out units. By lunch things got quite so I laid my head down and closed my eyes for 30 minutes. It helped a little. It seems like forever for 5pm to get here. I had to run to the store and the pharmacy for my dad and after dropping his meds off I headed home. I was really feeling sick but I think part of it was that I hadn’t eaten in 3 days. So Terry cooked dinner and when I ate I felt better…for a few minutes. Now here I sit, trying to type without errors and having a hard time. I just want to go to bed, so I think I will. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

And getting ready to crash. The day after chemo I feel like I’m high as a kite! The steroid I get before each treatment must be pretty intense because I only got about 3 house of sleep last night and today I was running around like a crazy woman. My day started at 5:30, waking up Rylee to get in the shower. We were off to school in record time. Oops, forgot his pill so we returned home and still made it before class began. I came home, drank my coffee and ate breakfast then jumped in the shower. I had an ultrasound appointment at 10am to make sure there wasn’t a blood clot in my neck. Something they should have done when I went to the ER the weekend before last. Thank you Jesus, I was fine. But really thirsty so I ran through the Chick Fil A drive through for an unsweet tea. Then off to grab a fan from my dads because our AC isn’t working. Grrrrr. I got in the car and took a big gulp of my unsweet tea and it was sweet. 😡 so back to CFA and the lady was so kind. She even gave me chicken strips for my trouble. I couldn’t eat them! One bite and I felt like I was going to gag. Not because of the food, it’s just how this day after goes. Im heading home with my unsweet tea and the gas light comes on so I swing into the QT for a fill up. It’s 1:00pm and I’m finally heading home. I have an hour before I have to go get Rylee and Lia. I pull into my driveway and there’s a blue truck in the drive with the driver side door open. It only took a minute to realize our sweet friend Ray was checking out my AC unit. He replaced something and had it running but it stopped and that’s when he found this…

Yikes, so we turned it off to let it melt and sweet Ray wouldn’t take any money so I paid him in honey!

I went back to cleaning my room and before I knew it it was time for car line. I pick up Lia first, head to the upper school and get Rylee, drop Rylee off at Big Lots to shop for school supplies, take Lia home and go pick up Rylee. Apparently Big Lots dose t really carry school supplies so on to Staples we go. First stopping by to retrieve my hammer and nails I keep forgetting at my dads. Rylee ran in and got them for me. Staples had what he needed and we were home by 4ish. I sat and started a crocheting project when I should have cleaned the kitchen but it was too hot to do anything but sit in front of the fan! So that what I did. At 5:40 we left the house for dinner at Lancaster BBQ and a Prepper meeting to learn about Ham Radios. Now here I sit at 11:30 trying to finish this blog that I have started over twice and my eyes are getting very heavy. Maybe I’ll get a blessing and tomorrow I won’t be supper sick and I can get some work done in this house. I hope! But if the last 2 treatments are the norm, Im not going to feel like doing anything but sleep for the next 2 days. So you’ll know why if you don’t hear from me.

Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a few days and I keep forgetting. This whole being bald thing has been a real experience! The first day after having my head shaved I got into the shower and the first thing I always do is lean my head back to get my hair wet. 😳 oh my goodness. Talk about a strange sensation! But it felt great. And it takes me half the time to get ready to go anywhere now. But the really strange feeling came the other night when I went outside with no hat and the breeze hit my head. I had someone tell me it felt great but I wasn’t expecting it to feel that different. Oh and if I take a nap, my hair doesn’t get messed up! Lol I’m not saying I’m happy being bald, just looking for the positive side to as much as I can!

My blessing for today was finding Ray, who took time out of his day to come check my AC. I’m hoping the ice will be gone tomorrow and we will be cool again!

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

Joey (eldest son) picked me up and we left at 8:30 to pick my Rx, some sandwich supplies and popsicles. We got to the doctors office at 9:27 for my 9:30 appointment. The waiting room was packed. I’ve never seen it so busy. We sat there and sat there and finally receptionists Megan called me up and said because I didn’t do a blood draw the Friday before, my appointment was canceled. I know this was probably my fault and my responsibility but just the same, I felt someone needs to be calling to to set these appointments or at least call to find out why I’m canceling my appointment. I mean why would you cancel your chemo appointment? So I said to Megan, is there ANY way I can be fit in today. I told her Joey had taken the day off of work to be with me for the day. She said, I know we can do the blood draw but that takes 24 to 48 to get back. BUT let me check. She was gone for several minutes and came to tell me she fought and cried and acted like a little girl just for me and told them about Joey taking the day off and they said they would do it. I was so grateful!

Within a few minutes they called me in for my vitals and to talk to the doctor. I told him about going to the ER last weekend and that they did an X-ray and sent me home. He wasn’t happy and said I needed to go in the next 30 hours for a scan to rule out a blood clot. I told him about the tenderness and bumps in my mouth and the hemorrhoid with a zip code. Then he asked if I have acid reflux and I said, why yes I do!!!!! It started about 4 days ago. He explained that because these parts and all connected the Doxorubicin causes them to have issues. That’s the reason they tell you to eat popsicles during the push. It helps with the mouth sores. We finished up and Joey and I walked back to the IV room and it was packed. I said to Joey on the way back that maybe I should use a popsicle suppository for my hemorrhoid. But I didn’t put it that nice! Use your Imagination friends…the hemorrhoid is very painful! We sat there forever. I wasn’t upset because I knew I was being worked in but 2 of the nurses were upset that their schedules were changed. I felt really bad but the doctor said it was ok and sent me back. The part that bothered me was when I heard one of the other nurses say she wasn’t going to touch it…ME! Thankfully around 12ish a new nurse named Stacy came to access my port and draw blood. They don’t have the cold spray anymore so she just stuck the HUGE needle in. It really hurt and that surprised me a lot. I teased her and told her I was going to blog about the mean new nurse in the floor and how I was glad to have something juicy to blog about. In reality she was great! The pain wasn’t her fault and if it hadn’t been for her stepping up to the plate, I might still be sitting there. Soon Madison came to hook up my steroid and nausea meds. I could tell she was upset and I told her how sorry I was to upset their schedules! She said, she was the one who was sorry that I’d been left just sitting there for 2 hours. I assured her it was alright and she just needed to smile. She was upset that someone yelled at her as if it were her fault. So I said, don’t let those people upset you? Don’t let this define who you are. You are so much better than this situation and I’m sorry this has happened. I told her she was amazing and not to let someone who doesn’t have what she wants upset her! She smiled with tears and thanked me. A few minutes later Stacy flushed my port and suited up for my “PUSH”. Popsicles were brought out by Madison and Joey and I began eating the frozen treats! Stacy started pushing and boy she was very efficient. Only 2 singles treats and she was done and had hooked up the saline flush. Next the other drug was flowing. All was done just a little after 3 and I was home by 4:10.

BUT…in the middle of all that Terry text me to say he wasn’t going to make it during his lunch because he needed to finish a job. THEN Melanie showed up after lunch and she and Joey had something to give me. Joey took and envelope out of his bag and there was a pink bracelet ⬇️ and a piece of paper in it.

And the paper was a flyer for a fundraiser/benefit for me that they along with their families are going to have on October 13th. I was floored and started to cry but knew if I didn’t stop it was going to be an ugly cry and I didn’t need the headache on top of how I was going to feel in a few minutes.

So here’s the flyer…

I’m so excited! Finally something exciting to look forward too. Please come out and play or watch! Some have some food and see what venders will be there. I really don’t know. Maybe Joey and Melanie can comment with details. I know Acrofittness is going to preform, so a really feel special! If you want to add something let Joey know at KickinForACure7@gmail.com. Oh and I showed the flyer to Madison and she’s going to play on the family team! 🙂

My blessing for today of course spending one on one time with a Joey. Joey and Mels surprise and just the fact that I received the treatment at all. I am so blessed so you…

Be blessed too,

Diana

#stsndbyme I did however miss my husband today. I love you Terry Pupp!!

Tomorrow is chemo day. No it’s not that I’m excited about chemo and it’s effects but the tumor is getting smaller and there is less pain. So if I have to put up with being sick a few days to get results, I’m ready. For 2.5 months I’ve taken 800 mg of ibuprofen in the morning, 2 max strength Tylenol at lunch time, another 800 mg ibuprofen after dinner and still I’d wake up around midnight in pain and have to take 2 more Tylenol. Today I took 400 mg ibuprofen at 7am and 2 Tylenol at about 3. It’s still there, but it’s not like it was and that’s awesome! I’m not even sure I’ve told you where it’s located. It’s in my left breast, on the outside by my arm and about 3 inches back from the nipple! The reason we are doing chemo instead of surgery first is because it’s very close to the surface. In order to do surgery AND reconstruction there needs to be a margin of healthy tissue all the way around the tumor and there wasn’t. So as it was told to me just before my first treatment, it was the size of a small lime. Now I would say it’s smaller than a golf ball. BUT I’m not a doctor and my estimate could be wishful thinking. I just know it’s smaller and the pain has been way less than it was. As for the 4 to 6 limp nodes that were showing signs of cancer from the MRI and body scan, that’s the other reason we went with chemo first. It’s our hope that the chemo will get rid of the cancer in the nodes. One of my biggest fears is lymphedema. I’m sure you’ve seen people with the compression sleeve on their arm or the sock on their legs. Usually people who have to wear them have had lymph nodes removed and it causes swelling in the extremity near the area where the nodes were removed. I don’t know this for sure but I’ve been told there is no cure for this problem and I don’t want to risk lymphedema if I can do something to possibly prevent it.

Did I tell you when we first got the diagnosis we looked into other treatments. Natural treatments because radiation causes cancer and chemo kills everything. Who wants that? We didn’t! We even looked into go to a clinic in Mexico that has a treatment for cancer that the FDA doesn’t allow in the US. Only problem was I would have to be in Mexico for 6 to 8 weeks and the treatment started at $45,500.00. The treatment included room and board for myself and a companion but who can go away for that long. No one! Then we heard about a treatment in Switzerland that had great results. Price tag was $100,000.00 and 3 months and I would be alone. I made several phone calls and talked to my regular doctor and I asked her who would she go to if it were her and that’s who I went too. Besides the ridiculous cost for the other treatments, I couldn’t find anyone to talk to in person who could tell me about their experience. No one to tell me it was 100% better than what we have in the US and if you’ve read any of my blogs you know I think they have a cure for cancer and other diseases already. But if I have to have cancer and I have to have treatments then I have to have my family around. I need them and they need to see that I’m alright. So we move forward and we pray that God Almighty Hand will protect me and cure this demon inside me. AMAN!

Tomorrow Joey will be my companion. I’ve already warned him that it’s boring. We’ll do some catching up and Mel will bring us lunch! I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow night. I love you all!

My blessing for today is this massive thunderstorm we’re having. Kaboom!

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme

It’s been a pretty good day. It was slow but I had plenty to do. I knew it was going to be hot so I got it all done early and that was a good thing. Just after lunch I had 2 walk in customers and then my manager showed up. Now this man and I are like North and South. Oil and water. Beer and champagne. But we have always had a mutual respect. We share fun pictures of each other’s adventures outside of work and we have a few things in common. We both like to camp, fish and be out in nature but I’m pretty sure that where the similarities end. When I first met him I told him I would pray for him for something he was mad about. It was my normal response and I think it actually shocked me when he said something (I don’t remember what) that let me know he was not a believer. I said, well. I’ll pray that God reveals himself to you. He was making fun of me and said well how will I know when this reveal happens. And I said, God will come to you in a way you will understand. He just said ok, and the conversation was over. It wasn’t too long after that first conversation that he was in my office again and he asked me if I thought God would come to him as an animal. Huh? I wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first but then I remembered. I asked him why and he said he was in his garage a few nights back. It was kinda late and he was at his work bench. He said he’d had a few adult beverages and he turned around and there in his garage sat a beaver. I laughed and asked how many adult beverages he’d had and he said a few but the beaver was real and he just sat there. He said he tried to shoo it away and it wouldn’t leave. So he started walking toward the woods or water and the beaver walked with him. My manager stopped walking but the beaver kept going. Now I know this sounds really silly but he had pictures and the beaver was sitting in his garage and it walked with him to the woods/water. That was over 2 years ago and I have prayed for this man on several occasions for different things.

Today he showed me his vacation pictures and told me all about the beach and how there was hardly anyone around the whole week. We also had an in-depth conversation about my cancer and the treatment and if I would have surgery and when. He said I seemed in good spirits or something like that and I said, I have so many people praying for me that I have no choice but to be positive and being negative is just a waist of time and energy. Then he said, well if I prayed I would pray for you. And I said thank you, that means a lot to me. Then he said now if you see a beaver, you’ll know it’s from me and we both laughed! That my friends was progress and meant the world to me! It was a good day!

I’m off to bed. 5:30 comes really early when you’re use to sleeping until 7:30. Schools back in session! Be aware of the children flooding the streets to wait on their bus. We all want our littles to come home safe!

My blessing for today was to have had such a good conversation with my manager and we shared a few laughs too.

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme