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Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Amazing Mind and a Plea

The human brain is really a remarkable thing. The way our minds help us cope with things is truly amazing.

Take childbirth for instance. For those of us who've had the pleasure, we can tell you the pain is awful. With Emily, they turned my epidural off when it was time to push and being that she was my first child, I spent nearly an hour pushing. With Mary, she came so quickly there was no time for an epidural and so I felt it all. With Connor I had an epidural but because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice the placenta was being pulled away from my uterus and while I didn't feel the pain of his delivery, I felt the pain of that.

And yet any mother will tell you that almost the instant the baby is delivered that pain becomes a memory and while we can tell you it was excruciating, we don't really actually remember the pain. It's that ability to forget the pain that allows us to have more than one child.

The same thing can be said for the memory of the side effects of chemo. I think back now to my 6 treatments and they are but a memory. I feel better, I don't remember the horrible nausea I had with the first three treatments. I don't remember the psychological issues I had with water (I'm managing to drink some again - though ice is still a trouble spot) I don't remember the burning bone pain and exhaustion and mouth sores from the last three treatments. My mind has overcome that. It's really quite amazing.

Though unlike having more children, I truly hope and pray that I never have to endure that again.

I most definitely have lymphedema in my right arm. It's not too bad, though I suspect that with radiation it's going to get worse. I've been calling my right hand my sausage hand. I can't wear my rings anymore, my bracelet is a bit tighter and if I use my hand a lot it swells up horribly and is quite painful. My arm is not as swollen but it is a bit. I'm convinced it's from the tattooing for radiation because there has been nothing else that's happened to my arm or hand on that side. My only hope is that it doesn't get worse.

On to other news now. Big news!!

We've begun planning for our Spring Tea Fundraiser. This is our main fundraising event for our Relay for Life team . We did a tea last year and it was a great success - we raised over $800 for the Canadian Cancer Society and this year we're hoping to raise a whole lot more.

Last year we had all of the Papa's Pride merchandise for sale. We sold a lot of tote bags, some greeting cards, and some photos. We had a raffle - two tickets for Class Act Dinner Theatre and many door prizes!

This year, we're going to do all that again but we'd also like to get enough stuff together to do a silent auction as well. So I'm putting the call out - here in my blog, on FB and anywhere else people might hear me. We're asking for your help! We are looking for donations of items that can be used in a silent auction.  It can be just about anything: gift cards, housewares, home decor, beauty supplies, etc. If you are a business owner - we would be happy to acknowledge your businesses generosity (we will acknowledge everyone's generosity!)
If you are able to donate items for our silent auction or raffle please contact me asap. And thank you!!

And for everyone else, please visit our  Papa's Pride blog and check out the info about the tea. If you're local, we'd love for you to come and enjoy the afternoon with us. If you're not local, you're welcome to buy a ticket anyway (it's still a donation to a very important cause!)

This has, for obvious reasons, become more important to me than ever before. Any donations - both as pledges or for our auction - are greatly appreciated.

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