Many of us take a few moments and reflect on the past year and then look forward to what we hope will be a better year. I’ve been thinking all week, what do I think of 2008? I guess I have many reasons to hate this year, and justifiably so. But there are many reasons I like the events of 2008. Let’s recap.
January saw Sydney start karate with Anna. Both girls were half way through 2nd grade and Kindergarten. Anna had sleepovers for 4 of the first 5 weekends. Hayden stopped nursing, finally, and was sleeping in his room. Life was good!
February and March were busy with Hayden's cochlear candidacy at Texas Children's. He and I spent many days downtown over 5 weeks. The decision was to wait another 3 months. At the same time, we were waiting for the change over for Jason's company which was acquired in December. The deal was final in April and he was fortunate to have been kept on.
It was during this time, that I noticed the lump. I dismissed it as nothing, just my body readjusting to not nursing. I was so involved with Hayden’s tests and keeping the girls lives normal with school, that I moved it to the back of my mind. By the beginning of April, I couldn’t ignore it any more. It wasn’t normal. I went to my doctor who wanted me to get an ultrasound and mammogram. The doctor wanted to do a needle biopsy that day. Two days later on May 1, our lives changed. I had breast cancer.
May was a whirlwind of activity. Jason's birthday and our anniversary were anticlimactic. I saw a number of doctors, had lots of imaging done, and started chemo. By the end of May, I was tired, sick and thinking what a summer we were going to have. We were able to celebrate Sydney's birthday and make that special though.
June started with hair loss. The girls got out of school on June 5th and I let them cut my hair short on the 4th. I was doing chemo every 3 weeks, with one sick week and 2 kind of normal weeks. Hayden was finally approved for his implant in the middle of the month.
July was more of the same. Hayden was implanted on July 21st and I was able to be there to help him during a good week. He did great!
August saw a little change with chemo. The worst part was over. I started on 2 different drugs and was just tired. My hair started to grow back, slowly. The girls went back to school and Hayden's implant was turned on. Life was kind of normal.
That continued into September and October. Then Hurricane Ike hit. I don't like hurricanes and don't recommend being in one. We recovered from that. I was volunteering a lot at school and with the PTO. Anna and Sydney started soccer for the first time and had a lot of fun with that. My last chemo was on October 17.
November was another month of change. Jason started a new job with a new company. This was a hard decision to make considering all we'd been through during the year. In the end, with some negotiation, he decided it was a good opportunity. Let's hope so!
December is a month I'd almost like to forget. My mastectomy surgery went well, though it was, and is, still painful at times. I'm doing better each day as are the kids and Jason. More time is needed until I am back to my old self, but it will happen. The kids are doing well and are having as normal a life as we can give them, all things considered.
So, as I'm writing this, I've decided that I don't want to forget lots of things that happened this year. We made a lot of hard decisions for our family that we hope will be good in the end. We discovered a deeper faith in God and that has brought us all closer. We found out that we have the best group of people in the world to call family and friends. And we discovered strengths in ourselves that we didn't fully realize were there.
I could hate this year for so many reasons, but in the end, life is short. I don't have time to dwell on all the bad. From past experience, I know I'll not forget it, but it will be overshadowed by all the great times we had this year.
Many people have commented this year on my positive attitude. I have times that I don't feel great about life, just like everyone else, but really, my life is pretty good. Cancer aside, I'm pretty healthy, I have great kids and a wonderful husband. We're happy and 2008 didn't change that. Let's hope that 2009 holds the same happiness for our family and yours.
Happy New Year!
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