Yesterday.. my Mom was afraid to tell me some news from a mutual friend of ours that has supported me through my breast cancer journey.  She’s felt so drawn to me because she too had breast cancer… almost exactly a year ago. Her breast cancer was a bit different, she was HER2+, but she went through chemo and surgery….

Yesterday, I spoke of health and happiness and how you never get to feel that bliss of feeling healthy…. you always worry about your health…. Well my friend Phylis… found out that she now has a tumor on her brain… It’s the size of a grape. And she’ll undergo surgery on Monday… When my Mom told me…. I cried. I was devastated for her…. Just when you think… I’ve got this…. another blow…. the fight continues!  So I texted with her yesterday… right away. She’s in such good spirits…. Unfortunately, the tumor affects her right side, so it’s affected her ability to text, write, lift her right arm, etc…. so she was texting with her left hand… quite impressively with punctuation and all! I had so many questions for her… They just did her PET scans back in December and all were clear… but, that’s not a brain scan… they don’t automatically check your brain… I have NO idea why and I may be demanding some more tests….

You hear over and over again… breast cancer loves to spread to the liver, the lungs, the bones and the brain…. you would think… all of these things would be checked out…. I learned something else from Phylis yesterday… Chemo doesn’t affect the brain… so if there is cancer on the brain… it would be unaffected by the chemo…  I asked her if she had headaches beside the other neuro symptoms…. she said she used to get migraines… before chemo, but when chemo put her into menopause, the headaches went away…. I’m so proud of her attitude…. she’s ready for whatever comes her way! She said… it was a sucker punch to the gut… but she has her game face on…. She’ll most likely undergo radiation too…. Phylis…. I know you read my blog…. I love you very much and I’m going to be praying for you and I hope everyone joins me in prayer for Phylis….  We know there is only one solution for the cure of these problems….. and, we wait…  I will be anxiously awaiting updates…. I’m a quote lover…. and I found this quote…..Love you girl…

On a lighter side…. yesterday, we received an evite from one of our upcoming weddings… Let me go back for a minute… I was in Wisconsin last year when their email came in….. they were head over heels in love with Greyson Steele Photography before even meeting… I don’t think they ever looked elsewhere…. We had to coordinate schedules…. but in the meantime, they sent me photos…. they are seriously, the cutest couple…. gorgeous actually….I fell in love with them too! After they left our meeting, they sent me pictures enjoying the treat I’d gotten for them…. They text with me often.   When I told them of my cancer… they didn’t even bat an eyelash, they just supported us. Anyway, they invited us to their engagement party that is upcoming…. she had texted me and told me that we were invited and she told me what they were going to say in their invitation…. but when I actually read it, I was just so touched….

A note from Amy & Evan:
One of the most important responsibilities in a wedding is documenting every moment so that it can be relived forever. It takes a special connection between the bride, groom and photographer to save each special memory. We have been very blessed to meet a very special person that we trust with saving each memory of our special day. We were heartbroken when we heard that Dawn Gaddy was diagnosed with breast cancer. Dawn’s fight has been long and very challenging. Instead of gifts for this party, we would ask for donations in honor of Dawn and her fight to overcome her battle with cancer… Thank You!

I told them, this is their engagement party.. they said, it was already done…. I’m just taken aback by the goodness of some people. We’ve met once…. Truly humbling. There is such goodness in the hearts of some people…. Amy & Evan… this quote is for you…  I’m devastated I can’t be there for your party… Darrell will be photographing your engagement session, you are in amazing hands….. but you know I’ll be there with bells for your wedding… ❤ I cannot wait!

One other thing I wanted to mention….  I had given up ALL sugar except my coffee creamer in the morning… well after Phylis’ news…. I’m so committed to ousting all sugar from my diet. Breast cancer and all cancer’s feed on sugar….. so these are some things I’ve found and I’m doing….

At Harris Teeter I found these items…. the chocolate is really, really good….. you don’t need to eat a lot, just gives you the satisfaction of having some chocolate! And… I haven’t tried the brownies… they have gluten in them… I’m trying to stay gluten free for the most part…..