I'm Thankful...

That I got breast cancer. Crazy right?  And yes, I am crazy...but let me explain.  (no, it's not just because of my "free" tummy tuck & amazing new girls!)  This is the month of "thankful" statuses on Facebook.  I love it.  It's so much better than all the whining & complaining--which I've been known to do from time to time, of course.  Now, I have never participated in the "thankful" statuses & I don't know why...other than I just don't.  It's not that I'm not thankful!  In fact, every night I pray to God thanking him for ALL the blessings in my life--my family, friends, job I love, roof over my head, MY HEALTH!  Yep, I even say thanks for my health.  And that's kinda funny considering the other day I was having a weird stomach pain & told my boss I was ready to pass on the torch for mysterious body malfunctions!  I'm over the poking & the cutting...but I'm also thankful for it.

School started here at the end of August.  Since the beginning of school this year, I have been contacted by 3 different women in my life regarding their recent diagnosis of breast cancer.  These three women have chosen to keep this diagnosis relatively private & even tho they are on Facebook, you wouldn't know the personal health journey they are taking right now.  And each of these women come from three totally different paths in MY life--none of them even knows the others. They came to me with questions, but I also believe with HOPE.  And that right there is why I'm thankful.  I've been in their shoes.  They've got a scary journey ahead of them--some don't even know all the details of what that journey will entail yet.  It's so long right now that they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But that's where I'm standing.  And as long as I'm here, they can get there too.  At least, that's what I hope they're thinking.  I hope that's why they've reached out to me. With that being said, I certainly don't have all the answers...but I have a boob expert in my back pocket as I am so thankful to have an amazing breast pathologist for a sister.  And, she has always been there.

Breast cancer sucks.  ANY cancer sucks.  Big. Time.  But there's support out there--there's HOPE out there.  My heart is so heavy for these 3 women right now (all mothers...all with children elementary age or younger), but I know they'll be okay. I'm so thankful they knew they could talk to me.  I'm so thankful for doctors like my little sister who make it their life to study & research breast issues.  God puts us in a place at a certain time for a specific reason & while that reason may not be revealed immediately, it's really on purpose.  I am thankful I was in that doctor's office on July 7, 2006 and I'm thankful that I got breast cancer.