Song above:  When Mercy Found Me by Rhett Walker Band.

I belong to a couple of wonderful support groups whose members have supported me along with my wonderful neighbor/friends, co-worker, my great fabulous boss and her husband, my church group, friends, but most importantly my most incredible, wonderful, caring, loving husband and my sweet, sensitive, loving, gifted daughter.  I could not have gone through it all without you!  You all know who you are!!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!  I have been blessed where I am today.

Someone I knew for quite a few years who was beautiful, sweet and kind to me, who asked how I was always doing during our girls night outings over the years, who had such a cute gorgeous haircut and style of clothes, wonderful family and husband, ended up taking her life.  Why!!!  I am heartbroken when I heard the news yesterday.  I pray for family members, friends, and of course her dear sister/neighbor/friend of mine whom I love.  My neighbor/friend and her husband have gone through so much over the years and now this tragic event that took place with her sister.  I pray for my dear friend and her wonderful, caring, giving husband.

I started thinking this morning how precious life really is.  I have always known this, before my cancer, and I have always stopped to smell the roses and appreciated life.  It is not like I needed cancer for me to realize this.  I really started thinking when my journey began with breast cancer.

It seems from all the stories I have been hearing and reading lately, the results of being told “YOU HAVE CANCER” was told at the worst time.  Some were driving in a car, in a meeting at work, getting off a plane, at their daughter’s school function, in a grocery store, at a son’s soccer game, when trying to finish Christmas Eve preparations (geesh), on their birthday, etc.  There HAS TO BE a better way of getting the results.  My results were told to me, day after my double breast biopsy.  I was previously told it would take a week to get results.  I was at home (THANK GOD) on a Friday around 5:03 PM (closing time for all clinics and doctor’s offices for the weekend) and was told by someone I don’t know and never met.  I was NOT told what type of cancer I had, just that I had cancer in BOTH breasts and I need to call a breast surgeon and oncologist Monday morning.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  That weekend was the longest weekend in my life.  I bet I aged a ton of years during those 63 hours, waiting to call the breast surgeon Monday morning to see if I was dying.  I was in no mood to call an oncologist.  Just the thought of it made me want to throw up.  I figured since I had cancer in both breasts, my cancer was spreading like wild-fire and I was going to die in a few weeks.  I was an emotional mental wreck, basically a big ball of mess, yet trying to keep my composure for my husband and daughter’s sake.  I had NO IDEA this is when my roller coaster ride would begin.