SueroViv: Hydration During Chemo

I originally started this blog when I became a Mission Marketer with Beyond Organic. My goal was to give information about the company and the great products. But when I was diagnosed with breast cancer I decided to change the blog to include my story, my journey to beat cancer. Lately all my entries have been about my story...but I haven't stopped Beyond Organic!

I am still a Mission Marketer with Beyond Organic and I am still ordering the great products. I drink SueroViv daily to help me from becoming dehydrated which is especially important the week after chemo (chemo dehydrates the body).

 

SueroViv is a whole food, living cultured beverage. It contains cultured whey, Reign Supreme Mountain Water (from Beyond Organic), organic essential oils and is abundant in electrolyte minerals, B vitamins, probiotics, antioxidants, enzymes, calcium, potassium and magnesium. Each flavor contains other unique ingredients such as citrus, cinnamon, orange, berries, etc to make it's own flavor. All ingredients are certified organic.

I have been drinking the "Green" flavor which is wheat grass, carrot juice and lemon juice combination. I have been told by everyone (doctors, naturalists, other survivors, and people who work with cancer patients) that wheat grass is very good to fight cancer.

I am so thankful that I have these products to help me restore my body while going through chemo.The decision to do chemo was very difficult for me to make and when I finally decided to do it I knew I had to do everything I could to restore my body while the chemo was attacking it. 

Having Fun and Enjoying the Summer

My mom stayed for two weeks while I recovered from the mastectomy surgery. She cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids, did the laundry and took care of me. She helped me do everything including washing my hair and bandaging my incision. She gave me a necklace and matching bracelet that was a gold and silver mix of the word GOD. I love it! It is constant reminder that God is taking care of me and wore it almost every day this summer.

A week after my surgery Mark and I went out for a date night. It was nice to get out of the house and to spend some time alone together...we're still fun and silly!

I recovered quickly and was determined to make the summer fun for the kids! We spent a lot of the time at the pool...my kids are little fishies!

We soaked up sun at the beach.

And of course we fished.

Mark and I spent a weekend at a beautiful bed and breakfast to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

God gave us many days to rejoice and be glad!

Recovery

I heard far away voices, my bed was moving, everything was spinning and I felt like I was going to throw up. The elevator bell dinged and the door closed and that's when I really started feeling sick. I still couldn't see anything, but I heard Mark's voice and felt him grab my hand.

I started to come to and realized that Matt, Mark's brother was there. He had come and spent the entire day with Mark while I was in surgery. I'm thankful he came to entertain Mark since my surgery was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours long but ended up being 5 1/2 hours long.

Granny and Papa Harper were there too. I asked for some water but was given ice chips...Granny spoon fed me ice for the next hour. I felt good but I was starving and the nurses wouldn't allow me to eat since I had been nauseus.

Later in the evening after she got off work, when I was much more alert Kasey, Matt's wife came. She helped me freshen up and change out of my hospital gown into my cute new pink pajamas.She and I were finally able convince Matt and Mark to leave and get some food to eat around 9pm. Mark hadn't eaten since we left the house at 5:30am and he was starving! Kasey insisted on staying the night in the hospital with me and after we sent Matt and Mark home we talked a lot and had a great bonding time. The nurses brought her a pillow and blanket and she attempted to get comfortable on the stiff recliner chair when the nurses wheeled in a half dead lady to share the room with me...it was a long night listening to the lady moan and wheeze and gasp to breathe. We called the nurses many times to come check on her! (she lived)

New Friends and Feeling very Loved

During the miscarriage process I felt so alone. We had just moved 7 months before and we hadn't connected or made very many friends. We were still trying to find a church and friends to connect with and families to be friends with. I remember my mom asking me when I called her in middle of the night "isn't there anyone you can call to come watch your kids so you can go to the ER?" and I felt so sad responding "No"...we just hadn't connected or so I thought.

Once word got out that I had breast cancer we were overwhelmed by the love and support of friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers!

People started calling, texting, emailing, sending Facebook messages, cards and care packages. People from Mark's school organized food, and mailed cards and offered to watch our kids. Church people who we hadn't yet met did the same. EVERYONE was willing and wanted to help us. We ended up meeting more people, faster, through this trial than we would have normally. God blessed us with some really great people who loved on us and encouraged us without really even knowing us.

One sweet friend, the mom of one of my husbands football players, connected me with a group called Breast Friends of Brevard. These women gave me books, articles, pillows, hats, scarves, meals and called regularly to give me love and support. My friend asked them what was most important and put together a beautiful care hospital care package.

Friends of family members who I had never met sent cards, packages and even money. God was really showing us how He is constant and faithful in taking care of his children. We have made so many wonderful friends and feel so very loved!

Surgery

Mark turned the alarm off and rolled over to wake me up. It was 5AM and I was already awake, I had been most of the night. I jumped into the shower and scrubbed my hair good as I knew I would feel greasy and gross after staying in the hospital along with not being able to shower properly the week after my surgery.

No coffee for me, no water, no breakfast...nothing. I was starving!! I didn't follow the doctors orders and I brushed my teeth...I just couldn't go to the hospital with morning breath!

We walked into the hospital around 6:20AM and the old little volunteer lady gave us a cross look as she glanced at her watch and said "we were expecting you at 6:15". I smiled and nicely asked her if we had to cancel my surgery since I was late....I don't think she appreciated my humor.

The nurse called me back to the ACC area and gave me a gown to put on...with specific instructions of how to wear it: it ties in the back. Well, when I looked at it, it just didn't look right. I needs to open in the front since he has do surgery on my breast which is in the front! So I put it on how I thought it should go...I was wrong and had to fix it when she came back in. Soon after we got settled the nurse came in to hook up a phone in my room, she said we had a call. We were surprised and wondering who would call us, as my mom and the kids were at home sleeping and the rest of our families lived in another time zone and would not be awake to call us.

I answered the phone to Mr. Cantor calling from California! I had agreed to donate my tumor to his company, Scantibodies Laboratories, and he needed to give me some last minute information to get the hospital to release the tumor to Mark so he could mail it out after surgery. It was 7am EST, which meant it was 4am PST. Mr. Cantor talked to Mark and gave him all the instructions for mailing it out, and the names of the doctors to talk to, he had personally talked to the head of pathology in the hospital and made specific arrangements  (we had brought all the signed permission forms along with us) and then he had me put back on the phone and he prayed a loving and sincere prayer for a successful surgery, wisdom for the surgeon, for healing for my body and for all cancer to be found and removed.

With all the prep work completed I was now rolled up to the surgery wing. Mark was allowed to go with me into the prep area. A little bit of panic set in...all kinds of smells and strange sights and just the reality that I was going to be cut open hit me! The anesthesiologist came over and and introduced himself to us...when Mark hear his last name he said "I teach a girl with your same last name, do you know anyone who goes to HT?" And yes, he did, she was his daughter!

Dr. Sherman came in to make some pre-surgery markings on me and he surprised us by asking if we would rather attempt a lumpectomy (since I would not be able to start reconstruction at the same time of the mastectomy; he was trying to find a way to make me not be so disfigured for so long). After some discussion we all felt it was best to stick with the original plan of a full mastectomy...at that point all I cared about was getting the cancer OUT and I could care less what my breast looked like!

Dr. Sherman then surprised us again by asking if he could pray with me before I was put under. He took my hand and said a simple yet moving prayer asking God for wisdom and guidance, thanking him for the ability God gave him and  asking him for healing on my life. I immediately felt at total peace and all fear was gone.

The anaesthesia began to work and I was out.

The Day Before

Surgery was scheduled for Thursday May 17th.

The days leading up to the surgery were busy! I had an MRI to check the left breast to see if there were any small lumps that had not been detected in the mammogram. I was also running around trying to get all my scans to send to a company in California and worked on getting permission from the doctor and hospital to donate my tumor to the same company in California. (There were a lot of forms to write, print and sign, along with calls to make). Not to mention just being a wife and mom.

My mom flew in late Tuesday night, and Lilly drove with me to Orlando to pick her up from the airport. She was so excited to see Grandma but ended up falling asleep shortly after mom got in the car.

Wednesday morning Mark went with me to meet with the surgeon, that was his first time to go to any appointment and his first time meeting Dr. Sherman. We discussed the mastectomy surgery and he explained everything in great detail. Mark was intrigued by Dr. Shermans bow tie.

A Myriad representative was there in the office to administer the BRACA test...Mark and I were humored by this animated man! He walked into the exam room and jumped right into his sales pitch and started going on and on about how important BRACA testing is. I don't think he could talk if his hands were tied behind his back! He gave us extreme stories and examples of how a BRACA test result saved a woman's life, how many women who test positive for BRACA go ahead and have a double mastectomy, hysterectomy, remove their ovaries and never go in the sun again to avoid skin cancer...He told us Bob Marley died of melanoma of his toes. He didn't stop to breathe and his hands never stopped moving. By the time he was finished with his speel I was convinced he thought I should be cut up and all parts removed.

 After Mr. Animation left the room the surgeon came in and asked if I wanted to wait two weeks for the results before we went ahead with the surgery. He said some women, if they test positive for BRACA, opt to have a double mastectomy rather than a single. But since I had already mentally prepared to have surgery the following day and my mom had just flown into town AND I had just had an MRI which showed nothing on the left breast, I decided to keep the surgery scheduled for Thursday and make a decision about my other breast after we got the BRACA results.

We were all set and ready to have surgery the next day.

Shaving My Hair...

At the end of July my parents and sisters flew out to visit and help me with my last treatment. They were here to witness both Luke and Lilly getting baptized and to celebrate Lilly's 7th birthday party. Having them here for my last treatment was a huge help! They entertained the kids, cooked meals, cleaned the house, bought the kids school supplies and took care of my family while I moaned on the couch. I don't remember much of that week...except for shaving my hair!

Lilly's and her new American Girl Doll that she got for her birthday.

My hair started shedding and was falling out like crazy but since I had such a thick head of hair it took a full week before it started to really thin and show my scalp. It got to be so annoying everyone was ready to shave my hair! We all went into the garage and the kids and my sister and parents all watched and took pictures while Mark shaved it all off. I am still adjusting to my bald head...and the kids hate it! I mostly wear scarves and bandanas as hats don't cover my entire head. I have a couple big floppy hats that I wear but I still have to wear a scarf under it. 

The next week I felt better and was able to do more fun things with my parents and sisters. My mom's sister flew in we all had a great time together going the beach and taking a girls day to go to Orlando to go shopping while my dad watched the boys and another girls day getting pedicures. :)  Mark and I were even able to get away for a night for a "stay-cation" at a local B&B. We had such a relaxing time that Mark said we will make going away for the night an annual tradition to kick off football season. He has started football full force and is gone early in the morning til late at night. His first game is 8/24 we are hoping for a great season!

Nathan started 4k this week and he loves it! He is attending a Christian preschool which is next door to Mark's school. His teachers have already been so loving and kind to our family. His school is 8:30-11:30am but they have a before and after care program that he can be apart of on days I feel bad and Mark has to take him and pick him up. Luke starts 3rd grade and Lilly 1st grade on Monday. They will be attending a small Christian school that is also close to Mark's school. I have met both their teachers and they seem to be really neat ladies. Both have had family members who went through chemo so they have experienced it first hand. 

My next big treatment is Tuesday the 21st and my mom's other sister Betty, is flying in to help us. I am so thankful for my family who all are generously giving their time and money to help us out during my treatments. I feel so loved and cared for. We are so blessed! I have received so many cards and even packages from people I have never met...they are friends of some of you and they have sent money, cards, pictures and gifts!! I really am amazed and extremely humbled by the love and support people are showing our family. God has been so good to us and we can see his constant provision for our family. THANK YOU!! Thank you for your love, for your encouragement, for your support and most importantly for your prayers! The cards, notes, emails, phone calls, texts, and facebook messages keep me going. I have saved every card and note people send...I love rereading them when I get down. So thank you for your love!