Pink, Pink, Pink Everywhere!

Hello all!


So, I raced (walked) for the cure yesterday! I have never done anything like that before - what a great experience! One of my friends (a mom in my neighborhood playgroup) had signed up a month or so ago and sent an invitation to have others of us join her... and I thought, "Why not? If ever there was a year to participate in something like this... this was it, right?"


So, despite all my whining in the days leading up to it about WHY does it have to be SO early???... I was so happy that I did! It was a perfect morning for a walk and I had great company! Here are some pics:

Right before the race - from left to right: Simon, Rachel (the initiator... and due to have a baby THIS week!), Terri (another friend and member of our playgroup), and me!


Right before kick-off of the 1-mile race and balloon release...

Walking - left to right: Rachel and Simon's legs, Alan (Terri's husband) and Alexa, Jonathan (Rachel's husband), and Terri

Where were Mike and the boys, you may be asking? We decided it was too early to get them up, fed, and out of the house for a 1-mile walk. I didn't know what to expect in terms of traffic and parking, etc. Bleh... Next year I won't be so easy on them! ;)

You may also be wondering about that t-shirt I'm wearing... with the 2 strategically placed baseballs. My cousin-in-law (the marvelous Tracy!) sent it to me. It's a Save 2nd Base t-shirt, and I knew the Race for the Cure was the perfect event to wear it! Thank you Tracy!!!

While the 1-mile walk started before the main 5K event, we were still able to see just how many people participated in this - especially on our walk back to the car - just a sea of PINK t-shirts running and walking. I think the website said that the Atlanta Race had a little over 12,000 participants (that that may include some that signed up for the Sleep In for the Cure... YES! you have that option!).

I had to stop and think about all this... for me, this whole breast cancer scene is really new to me. My journey so far, though has been nothing but reassuring... Today, there is a standard of care. A defined diagnostic and treatment process that provides a very good prognosis for all but the most advanced stages of breast cancer. From where I stood, this was something that will be difficult for a time but will be dealt with and I go on with my life.

But when you take a step back... you see that this wasn't always so. There have been SO many advances in the detection and treatment of the disease. I feel fortunate to be going through this at this point in history!

I am also becoming MUCH more aware of just how many women - young, old - have gone through this and are going through this. It's really staggering... and then when you think of the impacts and stress of going through treatment and surgery and reconstruction, yada, yada place on her family... on herself. This thing really is a beast!

So, now I'm in the club. Do your breast self exam! Do it!!! Especially if you are under 40, before you are prescribed the annual mammograms. The earlier you find the sucker, the easier it may be to get it removed and over with... You may not be able to prevent getting it, but you CAN potentially nip that sucker before it gets too big and spreads.

Enough preaching. I'm so happy that I participated in this event - let's leave it at that!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who sponsored my walk and contributed generously to this cause!

If you are interested, here are a couple of sites that advocate this message of empowering women to actively participate in their own early detection of breast cancer (there are SO many of these, but here are just a couple):

Susan G Komen for the Cure (sponsor of the Race)

Feel Your Boobies

At long last!

Dear Family, Friends... and Wanderers of the Internet!

I have been dragging my feet for a month at least in starting this blog. Typical me! So, to those of you who have been patiently waiting for this thing to materialize - thanks for hanging in there! :)

So, just a little background on me, and the reason I've been meaning to write this:

My name is Leslie.
I'm 38 years old (as of earlier this week).
I've lived in a beautiful old downtown Atlanta neighborhood for about 5 1/2 years (and LOVE it!).
I'm a chemical engineer (snort!) working part-time as an environmental consultant.
Married to Mike (my soul mate - absolutely!)... another engineer! Aerospace. (You should be a fly on the wall during some of our conversations about data and facts and logic and whatnot!) I'm sure I'll tell you all about him as I go along... but for now, I'm keeping this short.
We have 2 boys, Henry (3 years) and Vincent (1 year). Again... I could go on and ON (they are a constant source of entertainment)... but another time!

My life in the last 6 years has had many changes: I met Mike, moved down here, bought a house, got married, had two kids... all WONDERFUL things! But I will say that I've struggled a lot in finding that balance. You know that balance? Between the things you really love to do... want to do, and the things that you NEED to do? At the end of the day, though... after I do the things I need to do, I'm frankly just WIPED out!... and so, while I flop down to veg out, I have to hear that voice in my head running down all the stuff that I still didn't do that day, that I should have done and where does the day go???? blah, blah, blah.

So, anyway... 2007. Last trimester of my 2nd pregnancy. Had a new baby. Breastfed for 6-7 months. Then, got back to work, etc. That "new mommy extended vacation" was over, which actually felt pretty good. As 2008 neared, I felt "This is it. This is going to be MY year! I'm going to get it together. Get what I want. Get that damn balance. I'm going to be a better mom, wife, sister/sister-in-law, daughter/daughter-in-law, aunt, friend... "

Then in March, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Oh crap! Are you f'ing KIDDING me???

To give some perspective... I've got no family history. No risk factors really, other than I have them. Breasts. Oh Dammit! I completely forgot about that liability! Geez! I've been walking around all this time with jiggling time bombs!
... and evidently there's something there about not having babies until after 30 or 35 or something.

I'm never sick. I'll repeat that... I'm NEVER sick!!! (I don't count those seasonal annoying colds, which are probably not colds but allergies considering the air quality down here) So, you can imagine what mental gymnastics I've had to do in the last couple of months just to get my head around this. I NEVER saw this coming! Not in my wildest nightmares!

I'm currently undergoing chemotherapy. I've lost virtually all the hair on my head (and elsewhere - but yay! a vacation from shaving!) There is this light fuzz that has decided to stick it out with me for the moment. Almost like "Hey... we'll stay. Nobody has ever noticed us before. Let us stay and grow and have our moment!" I haven't the heart to tell them not to bother. They're cute... but peach fuzz does not a head of hair make! Oh! and so far, the eyebrows and lashes are standing their ground too! (knock, knock on wood!)

I will be brave and post some pictures soon!

I've completed 3 of 8 doses of chemo, which should end in mid-July. Soon after that, I'll be having surgery... likely a mastectomy ('cause I am NOT going to do this again!).

So, back to my original point. I started this blog in order to keep all of our wonderful family and friends, near and far... up to date and tapped into this experience. A place they can check in from time to time and read up on the latest goings on. Hopefully, I'll find something to write about OTHER than this blasted cancer thing!

Since this hit, I've received so many notes and phone calls and gifts... did I mention how WONDERFUL and SUPPORTIVE our family and friends are??? It has knocked me... all of us... flat on our asses! In a good way, obviously! Everyone has been so truly amazing! I only regret that it takes something like this for me to have started reconnecting in this way.

I also regret that I have just not kept up with the one-on-one communication with everyone - even emails! So, yeah... I feel very guilty about that and I hope opening up this blog will help in some way to connect us (or that at least the journaling part of it will be good therapy - even if I'm the only one who ends up reading this thing!)

Also, when I first found out... instead of FREAKING out entirely, I turned to Google (like you do!) and found MANY personal blogs from women (some way younger than me!) who have gone through the same thing. For me, it was a comfort. You can read the books and the websites about breast cancer, get the facts and all that. But reading about someone's personal experiences... being able to empathize and even laugh at the humor they found in all of it.... made it less of an unknown and I was able to put myself there. So, I also hope that this accounting of my experience will help someone else keep from freaking out.

So you... Yeah, YOU! If you are reading this. Don't freak out. It's fine. You are fine. You CAN do this. It's just a "thing" you have to deal with and then it's done. Onward and upward! Courage!

I've always said and will keep saying... my strategy through this is to keep on keeping on! Not forget that I am stronger than this thing. It has been served and will be killed before the year is over... and I ABSOLUTELY believe that laughter and a sense of normalcy is essential medicine!

Ugh! I could keep going and there's more to tell. But it's late and I'm getting up at the crack of my ass (I LOVE that phrase!) tomorrow to walk in the Komen Atlanta Race for the Cure. I'll post something tomorrow and share some pics!

Love, Leslie