Well, here we go again trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together. Surgery #3 for this summer is happening tomorrow (Monday, September 13). My incision came open for a second time, again at the 6 week post-op time frame. Unfortunately, our attempts to avoid the Latissimus Flap Procedure did not work. I will avoid explaining all the details, but if you are in the mood for a big wince and shiver, go ahead and look it up. That is what we will be doing tomorrow. As much as we are tired of being in the hospital, it has become old hat and doesn’t seem to phase any of us much anymore. We all feel well prepared going into this and know that the next 8 weeks will be gone before we know it. Prayers for a speedy and uncomplicated recovery will be appreciated. Prayers for patience and endurance for all my menfolk, even more coveted and appreciated – they have to pick up all my slack and are back into very hands-on caregiver positions. Prayers and thanks in advance to my amazing tribe of friends and family who seamlessly step in and help us out without us asking and in all the last minute situations that come up along the way – truly couldn’t do it without them! I’ll try to hop on here when I get home Wednesday and let you all know how it went.
NOW…. about this neglected website. As many of you know, my dad passed away at the beginning of this year from COVID-19, I had a big flare up of GVHD (graft vs. host disease) which has been a booger to manage, and we put all three of the big boys in school for the first time. I’ve been a bit preoccupied. We are settling into a pretty good routine now and hopefully after this surgery no more surprises for a while. Even though I haven’t actively been working on the website, my mind has been here the entire time. I have been trying to hone in on what exactly I want this space to be. I don’t want it to be a purely personal blog – but I have decided that it is cumbersome updating both here and Caring Bridge. I will post my health updates here from now on and likely link them back to CB. I would like this page to grow into a resource for supporting anyone with cancer, but obviously focusing on what I know and have experienced – breast cancer, leukemia, bone marrow transplant, and cancer while being a mom with young kids. I also want it to be a place from which ideas and projects for supporting cancer patients grows from. My Cozy Closet at the hospital is still there and I have spoken with people at my Cancer Center for ways to get more of the community involved in supporting this. Hopefully some fun partnerships come from this idea. I also welcome your input for topics you would like me to write about. There should be a section for comments below this post – PLEASE! Share with me questions you would like to have answered, either about my experience, knowledge I may have, my opinions – but also, things that I could write about that would be helpful to friends and family to help you all support someone you know going through cancer. If you don’t feel like commenting publicly, feel free to email suggestions to thecancermamma@gmail.com too. I am going to try to get myself onto a writing routine of once a week at first and see how we can do with that 😉
Blessings to you all! I will check back on Wednesday!
Lesley
Cancermamma 