Catching up ... finally! :-)

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to blog the last few days. I am on the 5G plan with Verizon (MiFi card). This is  the first month that we have used it. I have had to be extremely careful with
the using of the Internet - can't afford the overages. Sigh. I guess I used it because of all the research, and paperwork. No games on line ... no movies or TV on line ... this has been a month of WORK! Sigh. Anyway ... month rolled over on the 19th - so I am BAAAAAAACK!!! Well, at least for a few days! LOL 

September 10 -- Rick drove us to Houston - it was a pleasant trip. We enjoyed getting out of the house and seeing a different road. Course, we had been in the house - or back and forth to Sulphur Springs only - since July 25! That is a lifetime to a trucker! LOL

We got to Al & Christine's that afternoon around 6 or so. I am so thankful for their love and care of us!
Yes, they are family - but they are more ... they are friends! :-)
A beautiful home. Precious time spent around the table. Conversations, laughter, sharing.
They made a difficult and stressful time so much less difficult and stressful.
They even helped with traffic conditions and how to get to MDA the easiest and quickest way.
We thank God for them every moment! 

Went to MDA on 9/11. OMW!!! What a place! Never seen anything like that! (They are probably saying the same thing about me now! ROFL!)
Valet parking ... cool. (Remember we were the Beverly Hillbillies going to the Big City! LOL) Out
of the car, and into the door. :-)
Nice and helpful staff - even if the security guard did laugh at me because I was overwhelmed with the size of it all! LOL
Found our way to the 6th floor - after 2 elevator rides ... 
Check in ... wait ... watch the fish ...

Registration as a patient with MDA.
That was surreal to me.
To see MY name and MY birthday on all these papers and forms.
To be signing my name as a PATIENT.
Just surreal in every way.

Wait ...
Not an unpleasant waiting tho. The office is big with comfortable seating - recliners and couches and rockers and chairs. Fish tanks ... puzzle tables ... books and magazines ... ice and drinks ... tables and chairs to sit at ... Felt more like a "home" than a doctor's office.

Meet with nurses ... then with intern ... finally with Dr. Michael Frumovitz.
All of them were very nice and kind.
And although I had to lose my privacy (pelvic exams) - they made sure I did not have to lose my dignity. Which I greatly appreciate from them!
 
I cannot say Dr. Michael's last name ... my redneck/hillbilly" tongue just doesn't want to do that! LOL - So, he is "Dr. Michael" to me. :-)
I really like him. He is serious and professional, but with the ability to make us feel comfortable and to laugh - even in the face of cancer.
I told him what I want from all this ---
(1) to be cancer free when all this is done ...
(2) to help not only myself, but anyone else along the way. So whatever he can do with me in research - do it.
(3) to wear my brand-new pair of white panties with no worries! LOL
He just looked at me on #3! LOL Priceless! (Told you that they didn't know what to think of me!)

I think he came in prepared to press his point of how important and vital a hysterectomy is to me right now ... but I stole his thunder! LOL
I asked him for a total hysterectomy! Told him that it was not a threat to my womanhood. This is - but not a hysterectomy! Told him to get it done, get me well - and I would show everybody what being a woman was all about! LOL
I also told him that I was not going to take hormones after surgery - that they could feed me chocolate and give me coffee to drink! Then everybody could just deal with my hormones (or lack of)!!! ROFL
More than once he cut his eyes over to me, dropped and shook his head! ROFL!!! 

We talked about the research part of it all ... and I agreed, signing papers, that they could have my "junk" after they were finished with it for me. I don't want it back!
Also, the MRI I am having on the 9/26 will be not only for me, but to be used in research to hopefully help in the discovery and treatment of uterine cancer.
I also am to meet with the genetic researcher on the 9/27 - beginning with me and working backwards into our family. Trying to see if there is a "reason" for me having uterine cancer. 
Whatever can help me ... or my daughter ... or my granddaughters ... or any other woman!
Whatever can bring about the end of so much fear and trauma at being told that she has uterine cancer. And surely there must be a better way to test for uterine cancer than having to endure a DNC! 
 
Finished up @ MDA with blood work and a chest x-ray. Dr. Michael said that if the uterine cancer leaves the uterus, the first place it goes is into the lungs. He wanted to see if anything shows up now, and to use it as a baseline for the times to come. 

Scheduling set the appointments for the last week of September.
With surgery being on the 28th. 

I think the realization of having cancer is settling in. It doesn't feel as surreal as it did. But I am still scared. Thankful that God is bigger than all my fears!!!