Month: February 2021

Day 9 of 30…WE GOT THIS!

Yesterday was a full day! My mom had her follow-up with her boob surgeon and we didn’t get the best of news. While the papilloma removed was benign, it was also atypical. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that word along this journey and it was never good. Apparently, this atypical means my mom has a greater chance of getting breast cancer. #TheDevilIsALie #HeDon’tKnowMYGod

Let me just point out a few things:
– My childhood was atypical, but I am here to tell the story.
– I switched colleges because I didn’t feel at home; some might’ve called that atypical, but I still finished…graduated Summa Cum Laude too!
– I am the most random thinker. I mean, I think of stuff that no one else even considers…atypical…but it has allowed me to move out of the way of so many speeding trains AND bring a sense of creativity to whatever I do.
– Thing 1’s math test scores were atypical for a child her age when she was in 3rd grade. My child has been in Gifted Education for Math ever since. She’s gearing up for an Algebra placement test for SIXTH GRADE!
– Thing 2 did not hit a lot of milestones “on time” and her behaviors are often seen as atypical…but trust and believe that child is intelligent and wise beyond her years. She is the most out-of-the-box thinker in the house. If you need anyone to fit a square peg into a round hole, it’s Thing 2! She has that GIFT!

So, what I need the Doctors, masses, tumors, etc of the world to know…atypical is what we do! And if you think for one second that good will not come from this, you are sadly mistaken. God didn’t make this family typical for a reason, so watch us WORK! #AllPraisesGoToHim #WeGotThis #CuzHeGotUs

I will say, though…admittedly, I felt all the feels after hearing the news. But I told my mom, we can’t allow ourselves to be stuck in that possibility. Today, the only cancer we are fighting is the cells Arnold left behind…THAT’S IT! Tomorrow’s uncertainty is not our worry today! #IFinallyGetItLord #WhyWorryWhenIHaveYou

Fast Forward to today. The girls have been playing this song on repeat. And then, it’s on a singing game that we just bought over the weekend. It goes a little something like this:
Always had high, high hopes for a living
Didn’t know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes

When I tell you this song (High Hopes by Panic! At The Disco, by the way) spoke to my soul on today…I was ready to break out in a praise dance. I was driving, so instead, I sang my little heart out and felt the spirit move in me. Listening to the words gave me so much affirmation that when the odds are stacked against us, we always prevail. We are atypical by design, so if anyone was going to step out of this storm better than we stepped in…IT’S US! This song is also further proof that it doesn’t take a Christian or Gospel song to bring out the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is everywhere! #Atypical? #IThinkNot I got too many HIGH HOPES!

It has been a little bit since I posted about Thing 2’s shenanigans. Not that there were no shenanigans, but I have not had the time to post about it…until today!

So, yesterday was a big day. My mom had her first radiation session. For the first session, the Doctor took x-rays. In addition, my mom met with the Nutritionist and Social Worker. So, the first session took a little longer that it would on a normal day. My father and I had a good talk in the car about what the next 6 weeks will look like and his health. See, he has been forgetting about his priority #1…himself. I told him, you won’t be any good to her (my mom) if you are not okay yourself! I am sure that statement went in one ear and out the other, but I did my part in saying it! #OldPeople! #MEN!

I had to take the rest of the day to relax on the couch. I have these days sometimes where I need to let the rest of the world be, and I need to just be too. It was nice. I didn’t want to skimp on my workout, though, so I made sure I carved out time for it.

Working out with my BFF is always a good time. We have to improvise, living in different states and all. FaceTime has been our go to and we have been going strong for at least a couple of months now. The girls typically join in and even give us some new workouts (Thing 1 just wants to hear me say Uncle and Thing 2 just wants me to break something!). My mom even participates and when she’s able, gets her workout in too. Yesterday, we had a new guest…the hubby! I guess he finally got sick of me whipping this body back into a decent shape he had to catch up! #ICrackMyselfUp #ActuallyItsJustHisDoctorsOrders

We made it through the arm workout and had moved to abs. Thing 2 decided to paint instead of working out, so she was sitting in the kitchen messing up my table. I must’ve looked up from my nice, cushy yoga mat about to continue hitting these abs up and saw what I thought were ketchup stains splattered across the ceiling…right…above…the table…

I rose up, abs all tight and locked from the workout, and looked to get all of the questions in my head answered. #How? Why? #When? #HowDidINotHear? #WasAnyoneGoingToSayAnything? I see Thing 2 coming back from the bathroom with a red substance dripping from her hair, down the side of her face…just dangling! Turns out, she couldn’t get the tube of red glitter glue opened and SQUEEEEEEEZED!

My husband must’ve got up, mad, and all I heard was “Thing 2, you ain’t gone say anything or get anybody?” Thing 2, “I was trying to clean it off of me.” I did what any intelligent, responsible, strict, no-nonsense, clean-up-behind-yourself parent would do in this situation…I looked at the ceiling and looked back at my kid and I LMFAOd! Like, hurt the abs even more, bust a gut, almost shart, OMG it hurts laugh! The hubby and I pride ourselves on having a united front against these kids when it comes to discipline. But the Lord knew I needed this, so the hubby just had to excuse me. I have this very moment a time or two per year. It’s what I call, My Mother of the Year Moment! #Hey #NobodyGotHurt #ExceptTheCeiling #TurnsOutItDoesntHaveFeelings

These kids give me LIFE! I birthed them, but somehow they managed to give me the life I never knew I wanted AND NEEDED! #MyPurpose #MyLoves #MyPoorCeiling

What a great end to such a big day!

Just a side note, the wall did pretty much come clean…with a few specks of glitter left behind for the memories. #LeaveYourTrail #MakeYourMark #2021Memories

So, I realized I mentioned A LOT yesterday! I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t mention the hard work that went into making yesterday a wonderful Love Day!

For starters, I had been eyeing a few t-shirts I wanted to make for the hubby for Love Day! It all started when my hubby told me the Player 1 – Player 2 matching sweatshirt he got for Love Day many moons ago was too small. #Growth Sooooo, the light bulb went off. I made a few creations that were very well received…

The girls made something special for him too…

Then, the hubby got me something I did not expect and it was beautiful…

The best part of the day was the chocolate, though. I mean, whatever Portillo’s puts in their cake has got to be illegal!

It was a great day!

Soooooooo…it’s been quite a while since I’ve spent some time on my blog. Let me catch you up on what all has happened since my last post.

First, my mom had her boob surgery. She did amazing! I was worried about the hospital experience here with COVID and the procedure being outpatient. Not to mention the anxiety associated with her going under for yet, another surgery. I am happy to report everything went off without a hitch. My mom got her volume to calm her down and some good ole fentanyl when she was all done. Most of the nurses were exceptional! Which reminds me, I need to submit a review for those ladies because they made our day! Now, back to most. Y’all know there’s always one. Well, this one came to the door with her mask under her nose. You read that right! I SAID…a nurse…came to the room door with her mask…UNDER her nose! The Lord told me to shut my trap and so maybe she had some underlying condition??? Yeah, let’s roll with that one. Oh…OHHHHHHHHHH…I forgot about the doctor. This man walked into the room before the surgery with his thermal underwear showing. I mean, he had a pager hanging off his butt cheek and all his thermal glory showing. The Lord had to tell me to shut my trap again. He had to tell my mom the same because the look on her face said everything that my mind was thinking! #IHopeSomebodyToldHim #DidntHeFeelADraft. #GuessThemSomeGoodThermals

Anywho, after the surgery my mom was still HIGH! Like, so high you think you smoked it too! Conversations started on one topic, but ended elsewhere. It was quite the entertainment. She still doesn’t remember much of what happened after, but boy do I wish I captured it on video.

The doctor called a few days after the surgery. It is just like the original biopsy showed, a non-cancerous papilloma. #HealthyBoobsForTheWin

Let’s go back, though…the day right after the surgery, my mom met with her Radiologist about the upcoming radiation plan for Operation Keep Arnold Out! It wasn’t ideal to go right after having any surgery, but it was super important to try and get the ball rolling. So, she went…slowly, but surely.

The Radiologist is probably one of the best doctor’s we have come across during this entire process. He put my mom at ease, answered all of her questions, and told her if she needed him to repeat anything at all due to her memory setbacks he would be more than happy to repeat himself. We truly felt like family and for that, I am grateful. #LoveHimAlready #KeepUsingHimLord

In addition to discussing the plan, my mom got fitted for her Mike Myers mask. Yep…MIKE…MYERS! What I learned while on this journey, radiation requires precision. The machine is set to run it’s course at each visit and the patient must be in the exact same position each time. The mask helps them do that. So, after my mom makes it through all of this, she will have a fun parting gift! And her birthday is on Halloween too… #OhThisIsGoingToBeFun #HalloweenThemeAnyone? During this appointment, my mom also got her potential start date for her first radiation treatment, 2/15. #IshJustGotReal

Fast forward to today…Love Day! We had a wonderful day! We got to see my brother’s new house, spend some quality time as a family, and have our usual heart-shaped deep dish pizza from Giordano’s AND our heart-shaped chocolate cake from Portillo’s. Boy were they DEEELICIOUS! It was all bittersweet, though. Because my mom starts radiation tomorrow, that meant her first chemo pill started tonight. I FaceTimed with my mom to make sure she ate dinner on time, then again to make sure she took the anti-nausea pill and again after that to make sure she took the chemo pill as directed. I held it together until it hit me that my mom was officially on chemo. And as we were hanging up she said, “We Got This!” When I hung up from our FaceTime call I lost it! I had to get it out. I know that God has us, but I still feel all the feels. I pray my mom tolerates both the chemo and radiation well. It will pain me to see her suffer any more than she already has. #LordHearMyPrayer

Tomorrow will be great! I claim it! #InTheNameOfJesus

Happy Valentine’s Day!