The Angel Forever

Let Me Tell You About My Breast Friends

Posted on September 1, 2011 12:00 am by teawithfrodo

Hi, I’m Irene. I’m 32 and I’m planning on having a Bi-Lateral Mastectomy. No, I don’t have Cancer at least not yet. I’m what you call a “Previvor”. I have the BRCA 2 mutation that leaves me with an 84% chance of having Breast Cancer by the time I’m 70. Both my mother and her birth mother had Breast Cancer. Sadly her birth mother died at 36 after losing her fight. I don’t plan on succumbing to the same fate.

Why would anyone want to cut off their breasts if they don’t have to?

First off, I don’t want to do it. I do however feel that I need to do it. I know it seems extreme to many people but when I look at my percentage I can’t ignore it. Think of it this way: if you were told that when you went outside today you had an 84% chance of being hit by a bus would you want to go outside? Probably not.

I look at my son and I know I want to be there to watch him grow up. I don’t want take a chance with my life.

Aren’t you scared?

Yes, I’m pooping my pants about it. I was supposed to be having my surgery this fall but my husband was laid off and our current state insurance won’t cover it. Now I have to wait even longer to get it done. It’s bad enough having to go to the plastic surgeon with pictures of boobs (yes, I did go with pictures of what I want my new boobs to look like) and get measured and look at pictures of what I’ll look like post surgery. I wanted the main surgery to be over with and I am a little scared that it is not put off until my husband finds a new job.

I worry about how I’m going to look. Am I going to hate them? Is my husband going to hate them? Are people going to look at me and point at my fake boobs? How will my son react to them?

I’m high risk but I don’t want to have the surgery…

It isn’t for everyone. It’s a hard decision to come to and not one that I came to lightly. I’m lucky to have the support of my husband and family. I also have a great breast specialist who even before my genetic testing had me go for annual mammograms. If you know you’re at risk take action, that doesn’t always mean surgery. Go for regular exams and make sure to do self exams.

Thinking I was alone was the hardest part for me but I found out I’m not alone. There are so many people who have the same condition and have documented their choice. I remember it being so rough when my brother told me I was being a drama queen, and then he did a search and found women 10 years younger than me choosing the same surgery.

I’m not alone and the support I’ve found from both doctors and other “Previvors” has been amazing. I’ve chosen to be proactive and not let the disease defeat me.

For more information on the BRCA 1 and 2 mutations check out:

Bright Pink

Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE)

Update January 5, 2013 from TheAngelForever:

Since Irene wrote this post, a lot has changed. She moved with her family, became the coordinator for the Memphis FORCE group, and scheduled her surgery. The date is this week when she will have a bilateral mastectomy and start reconstruction. She will have expanders that will be filled each week until she reaches the desired size to have implants. On her personal blog, Irene has written about coming to terms with her femininity before her surgery date. Once Irene is feeling better I will update again. Wishing her the best of luck as she moves forward with being a Previvor.

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The Crafting Hobbit is a mommy to an amazing little guy and wife to a loving (although sometimes frustrating) husband. Both of which have Asperger’s. She became an Earth friendly, crunchy, granola mommy and loves her return to the simpler things in life.

She knits, sews and dabbles in other crafts and love creating things. She tested positive for the BRCA 2 mutation and will be undergoing a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy.

Categories:
decisions doctor family friends Guest post health awareness PSA

A Kid and His Disney Stuffed Friends

Posted on August 31, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
Disney jsl laughs Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tales – Bad Kitty and the Reluctant Reader

Posted on August 30, 2011 12:00 am by Kileigh7

Tuesday Tales

I have a struggling, reluctant reader. He seems to have better things to do with his time than read a book. When it’s time to sit down and read a book, he will do things like

Announce it is time to have "Guinea pig time"
find one of our cats to go "love" (Read: maul.)
build with Legos
find my old Game Boy Advance and play a round of some random old game and ask me for tips.
Anything he can do to avoid reading a book. Of any kind.

So, thus far, my motto has been "If he’ll read it, I don’t care." And we have had very, very little luck picking a book that will keep him interested long enough to actually work on reading skills past looking at the pictures. A few months ago, I was at a book fair and came across a book that I had heard about and never really dug into. This was for no other reason than I had been reading other things. I found this:

I figured a cat that looked like one of ours, doing insane things would at least get the Shrimp’s attention.

WARNING TO ALL WHO HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK BEFORE please pre read this book, as you will not be able to share this book with your child without laughing hysterically .

The initial Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel is what seems like a simple ABC book where Bad Kitty runs out of her favorite foods and her owners try to feed her healthy foods. That goes nowhere well, as Bad Kitty does things that are just so naughty-like tip over her litter box in protest. This book had us in giggles until it hurt. Isaac tried to read some of the words himself without prompting, which was new to us! So, since this book was such a huge hit, I figured I’d try to find more in the same vein. Whoah. Wait. There are MORE in the Bad Kitty series? Wait. They are CHAPTER BOOKS?! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! Our next stop was at the library to test these out. We found this:

Isaac immediately asked to check it out and if we could read it when we got home. We read it through in a matter of two days. It was one of the most reading heavy weeks we’ve had since the real reading instruction started!

The book is picture heavy, yet still full of words that are decodable. The chapters are short, and have produced a serious sense of accomplishment with Isaac, because he can read two chapters in a night. Then, there’s the fun factor. The pictures and the type are just a real joy to read. They engaged Isaac quickly and kept him going through the book. He loved the search for Kitty to get her into the tub.

These books are my favorite for reluctant readers. The vocabulary is not intimidating, the pictures help when the reader is a bit lost in the emotion of the story, and Bad Kitty-she’s just funny. It is the only series of books that have us running back to the library for more.

Now, please excuse me. I need to go listen to Isaac read Bad Kitty Vs. Uncle Murray and try not to spit soda out of my nose and ruin the library book.

Check out the video trailer here for the series. Classic!

Laura is a mom, teacher, knitter and a former Disneyland (ANAHEIM!!) cast member with a penchant for Star Wars. She always wanted to be a Jedi when she grew up. Come visit her at My 3 Ring Circus of a Life, where she details all of the stuff she can’t make up.

Categories:
books Guest post Tuesday Tales

The Trip That Never Was Thanks to Hurricane Irene

Posted on August 29, 2011 9:50 am by TheAngelForever

For weeks, I have been writing up posts to schedule. At one point I had two weeks set and would not need anything until after Labor Day. Two guest posts are set for this week alone. I was on a roll, things were flying onto my computer from my fingertips. Then things changed. Our world became obsessed with watching the news, checking on weather reports, and debating what to do.

I should be on the road to Long Island, NY right now (writing this Sunday afternoon). Instead, I am home watching record amounts of water fall outside my home. I am numb. Worry for family, friends, and our own home is not letting all of the reality set in. All I can do is sit here and wait on my bed with power (for now), but no internet or cable

You see, Tuesday morning I should be getting on an airplane. TechyDad and I decided in late July that we were going to just do something crazy. We were going to figure out a way to do a 10th Anniversary trip. We looked at several different options. In the end, we wanted something magical, something that would remind us of our honeymoon. Of course, that was a trip to Walt Disney World.

My in-laws agreed to watch the boys for the first time ever. I was nervous about a quick trip (we booked in the end of July) and leaving the kids to only get back home the day before school started, but they would be fine and we needed this.

Then something happened. Hurricane Irene decided to slam everyone up and down the east coast. My in-laws asked us to try to go on Saturday. I could not do it. The storm appeared like it was going to be so much more in the NYC/Long Island area that I wanted to be at home to keep an eye on things here. Friday night, I was so restless. I tossed and turned. The what if aspect of everything was killing me. Sure, perhaps we would have a flight, but could we guarantee being able to travel from here to there? Right now, TechyDad’s parents have no power. There was no way I could leave two young kids with them for five nights without power. That was not fair.

So, just before noon on Saturday, I made a tough call. It was time to call our airlines and travel agent to cancel our trip. We needed to focus on getting ready for the storm and not worry about how/if/when we could get to our flight. Our airline was fantastic. We are not reimbursed, but have credit that must be used with us back home by a certain date. We can handle that.

When I tried to call Disney to cancel on my own, the woman asked how she could help make my day magical. With tears in my eyes and obvious sadness, I told her she could make Hurricane Irene go away. She immediately got serious and said she was so sorry. In the end, our agent called and we were reimbursed for the package we purchased.

Now, as the storm is likely at the worst. How will this week be? I know I should be thrilled that my family and friends are safe. I am, do not get me wrong. Still, with each passing day from Tuesday to Sunday it will sting. I will think about the meal we are missing. I will morn the special trip that should have been. I will be ok, but it hurts. I shouldn’t complain since the last six weeks of dreaming of the trip helped make the summer bearable. The weeks went by as we planned to meet friends, eat special meals, and more. This last week of summer vacation for the boys is going to be hard. We will be picking up the pieces from the storm, assessing damage in our basement, and wondering how and when we can reschedule the trip that we needed. Yes, I really am ready for 2011 to be over since she has been so very evil in too many ways.

Update from Monday morning: Sunday was a long day here. The rain intense and the wind got worse into the dark evening. We were SO lucky here. Some issues in our basement that we now have to look into, but no major damage. Unfortunately, others within our area were not so lucky. Irene may have only been a tropical storm when she came into our area, but she packed one hell of a punch. Mud slides, dams bursting, lakes in front of houses at the base of mountains – a massive mess. We never lost our power here, but across the street they have none right now. Sheer exhaustion from no sleep for days caught up. I went to a room where I could not hear the howling wind and fell asleep on TechyDad’s chest. Today, he managed to get to work after closed roads leading to Vermont were just reopened. Now to see what we can do around the area to keep our minds busy.

One other thing, I really wish people would stop talking about the over-hyped nature of this storm. Should more people have died? Perhaps they have not seen some of the damage and more that is coming NOW thanks to all of the flooding that is still not at the worst level. I think a lot of people living inland and in parts of South Carolina and Virginia would beg to differ. No, NYC was not destroyed, but lives were forever changed up and down the east coast. The fact that people were safe is not a fail, but something we should celebrate after the mistakes from Hurricane Katrina. We need to remember that less is more in the case of a hurricane – especially when it is not as much damage in some very populated areas. To those with damage and picking up the pieces – my heart goes out to you.

Categories:
decisions Disney family me moments messy photos summer TechyDad vent weather weekend

Conquering Rope Bridges and Crocodiles

Posted on August 29, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The opportunity to go on the Wild Africa Trek at Disney’s Animal Kingdom was something I could not pass up. As I have written earlier, the Trek is a behind the scenes tour that takes you to places you will otherwise not visit. Friends of mine had gone on media tours of the Trek and reported back with photos, video, and lots more. Of course, everyone spent a lot of time talking about the rope bridges. Even Disney’s own video did. Shannon and I laughed with each other for weeks about the two of us doing this part. Fact – Since I had my kids, I have a slight fear of heights.

So when I last left off we had finished with the hippos and Alex walked up to a skull marker on the path. *gulp* What you can’t tell is that Alex and Bethany are really into their roles. The entire time you go on the trek you are IN Africa – not Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Then Bethany showed us a few more pieces of the puzzle. Check out these pearly whites that belong to some “critters” that we would soon be seeing from way up high.

Suddenly Bethany mentioned that the route that we should go on was not available to us. Instead we would have to be brave and go a different way – over the water. Insert dramatic music here! Yes, this involved heading up onto the platforms to the rope bridges that we had practiced for. I think Alex was having too much fun watching us. Some in the group could not wait to be first, others were just waiting and watching.

Bethany would head across the bridge first to show us how it was done. Conveniently, it would also place her across the way to take some photos of each member of the group as we made it across. This was the view from the top as we stood waiting.

This is a photo of members of our group waiting to be hooked up to the safety lines for the trip across.

I have to admit, I had lost a lot of my fear at this point. My biggest worry was TechyDad’s camera. Recall it was hanging around my neck and the lens cap was way back in the lockers. So imagine me on a slightly wobbly bridge trying not to knock said camera into the side of the ropes (being short it was perfect height for this).

Seriously, the bridges were not bad at all. The only moment I cringed a little was when one of the safari vehicles traveled under me when I was in the middle. Thanks to the vibrations from below the bridge swayed a bit. Here is a view just before I stepped onto the bridge for my second trek across a bridge.

When you travel across the second bridge – these are the critters that are looking up from below.

Here I am almost at the end of the second bridge. My bridge buddy is behind me. You can see I am more at ease now – the camera is going to be ok!

Of couse, I was not nearly as at ease as Alex. I mean check out how much fun he had watching all of us and then crossing the bridge.

From here we went down to wait for everyone to take their gear off. Yes, we no longer needed those contraptions on. We were heading to a safari vehicle for the next part of our adventure into the savannah and eventually to the Boma for a meal.

More about the African Trek coming soon. To read the previous parts of my adventure you can check them out here

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.