New day...New Shoes...New Attitude

When life gives you lemons...Lemonade?! NO!! You go SHOE SHOPPING!!

Feeling very overwhelmed with mom's cancer (looks like it will be masectomy, and possibly radiation and chemo--depends on what they find during surgery...), my cancer scare (WHEW!) magazine article (but it will be an AWESOME article!) girl's camp (feeling like they just wanted a "warm body" for leader's count going up...since no one else would go...) my kids wondering where their mom has gone (between mom's appointments, my appointments, article interviews, camp meetings, tv appearances, etc. my daughter called in tears one day, "I just don't feel like I see you anymore...") isolation from a new move, and husband's increasing work travel, I felt the need to get grounded...in a new pair of shoes!!

These shoes make me smile!

SUPER-STAR!!!

Look out Molly Shannon...there's a new girl in town (hee hee)...

I was on KSL's "Studio 5" Wednesday, at 11 am, talking about "Summer Shoes" from my article that I wrote for "Wasatch Woman" as their Fashion Contributor...

Autographs upon demand... ; )

Pancakes and Microcalcifications

Went to my check-up...Went something like this:

1) Silent car ride up
2) Prayer in car
3) Bouncy "nervous" legs in waiting room
4) Called back
5) Put on lovely gown that opens in the front
6) Proceed to get a diagnostic mammogram

STOP!

Let me just tell you this...BIG DIFFERENCE between a film (regular) mammogram, and a diagnostic mammogram (digital)!! The first is truly, no big deal. No overt pressure or pain. But...tis not so with a diagnostic mammo! My breasts (all full C to D of them) were compressed to the width of a PANCAKE! Each time the tech turned the lever and asked, "Are you okay?" I cringed as another crank was applied. I will never look at this breakfast food again in the same light...

Continue...

7) Showed me films. Clusters of microcalcifications that will be re-evaluated in 6 months. No need to worry quite yet.
8) Relief
9) Clothes on
10) Saw my sister in the waiting room.
11) Two thumbs up...
12) BIG SIGH OF RELIEF!!

So...I'm shelving this issue until January, where you will find me anxious, and worried before the next test. I have so much other stuff to focus on, and I truly wasn't able to do so before I had these tests over.

Next on my agenda:
1) Interview Salt Lake company for my next magazine article (Wasatch Woman)
2) Enjoy the 24th with my friends and a PIG (they roast a pig in their backyard each year, and invite everyone...well...everyone that matters...SO MUCH FUN!! (Kacy's blog)
3) Something with Wednesday, KSL,"Studio 5", SHOES and me..., then go to my mom's 3 hour strategy meeting for her cancer
4) Camp meetings Wednesday night
5) Thursday is the photo shoot for the Salt Lake company I'm interviewing
6) Friday...See if I'm still breathing!!

I'm grateful for Pancakes and Microcalcifications...and LIFE!

The Beat Goes On...

When I was little, I use to LOVE listening to this song by Sonny and Cher...

"The beat goes on...yes the beat goes on...
Drums keep pounding a rhythm, to the brain...
La-de-dah-de-de, La-de-dah-de-dow........"

I've thought of this song often the past week, with all the events that have unfolded. I find myself realizing how true to life this song is. LIFE GOES ON! Whether you are going along with the flow, fighting the current, or trying to keep your boat a-float, it never stops.

I sit here, with my mouth numb from getting some cavities filled...I cannot even enjoy my ice-cold Diet Mountain Dew w/ cherry, for it simply drools out the sides of my mouth, since I cannot make a tight "O" around the straw!!

On Thursday, I will go to a diagnostic specialist, along with my sister, as we deal with the fact that BOTH our mammograms came back abnormal...My new favorite phrase is officially, "WHAT THE CRAP?!" Couple this along with my mom, who had her MRI today, and will meet with all the doctors next week, as they lay out a game plan to proceed with her own, breast cancer.

I have been called as a YW Camp assistant, and while I'm excited to be interacting with the young women, my mind has been totally, and completely distracted...Will I end up going? What is going to happen on Thursday? I don't know how to cook "dutch-oven!!"

So as I sit here, numb, and slightly overwhelmed, I hear the drums beating in the background to this song...Beating for strength, courage, peace, and sunshine.

Announcement

Since no one is commenting, I take it I have scared everyone away with my mom's condition, and no one knows what to say...Which is okay, and understandable. Or... I'm just not an interesting read...

Instead of bad news, how about some FUN news?!

(Drum roll, please...)

I am the new Fashion Contributor to "Wasatch Woman" magazine, and the July/August edition contains my first article!! (You should all recognize the title...It contains a very "infamous" name...) So go out and buy a copy, or better yet, subscribe at "Wasatch Woman."

My first topic? Why SHOES, of course!!

Numb

My mother has breast cancer.

Has Hell Frozen Over?

Miracle? Body Snatchers? Drugs?

I, Yolanda, have begun running again...every day...IN THE MORNING!!!

No, no, no, I'm not kidding. Thanks to a wonderful sister, who promised to be my "motivation to move" in the early morning hours, I have added a wonderful chapter to my existence...The ability to be awake and cognitive before the hour of 7am!

Not only is this great for me physically, as well as emotionally, I love the early morning chats I am able to share with my sis...Who would of thought we would be this close?! We are six years apart in age, and what seemed a gap "so wide" in our youth, now seems virtually non-existent.

The house is quiet, except for the taps of my finger-tips on the computer...I'm beginning to understand why people enjoy this time of day...(But not so much that on the weekends, I will have any trouble embracing my sleep a little longer!!)

And yes...this is how we look when we run...