Holy Benadryl, Batman!!!!

I'm baaaack!  Again.  Please excuse the long absence, but this time I have a great excuse: I had a major health crisis I was dealing with.  True story, but I'll try to make this quick since ya'll know I have the tendancy towards rambling.....In the last few months I have seen more needles and have been poked & prodded more than I have ever been in my life.  It seemed like I couldn't even drive past a hospital without them having to draw blood from me, and due to severe anemia, I had to undergo an 8-hr. iron infusion.  Holy Benadryl, Batman....8 hours? you ask?  Yes, cyberfriends, I did say 8 hours.  2 of them spent in a Benadryl-induced coma (they give you a Benadryl drip in the IV in case you have an allergic reaction), and the other 6 hours reading, texting, and praying I didn't have breast cancer.

Whaaat????  Did she say cancer?  I did indeed.  Cancer.  The Big C.  One of my greatest fears.  The iron infusion was merely to get my blood levels up so that I could have a lumpectomy - surgical removal of a large mass/lump found in my right breast (my "lucky breast" deemed by my doctor, as I've had two prior surgeries on this very breast).  Like many people, cancer runs on both sides of my family, and my paternal grandmother died of breast cancer.  As mentioned, my first "brush" with breast cancer was in 1998, my second was 2010 (another lump and another surgery of sorts), my third was 2012, and who knows when my 4th brush will be.  Right now, I'm just grateful that I do not have cancer.  And I'm trying to take better care of myself - drinking more water as often as I can stomach daily, eating more fruits and vegetables, and I've joined a gym. (Coincidentally, two of my favorite things both begin with the letters "PF" - Planet Fitness and PF Chang's. Polar opposites. smh.)  I'm also trying to reduce or at the very least control the amount of stress in my life.  Hard to do in today's world, ain't it?  But do whatever you must to protect your health.  Control the things you can control.  Give the other things to God.  And be grateful for the friends and family who have supported you along the way.  It's good to be back!


* Fun Fact: Two years ago, one of the local news stations did a feature on me and my experience to raise breast cancer awareness.  Awesome experience!  And shout-out to Barbara Ciara, one of the baddest anchors to evvvvver report the news.  Ron Burgundy ain't got nothing on this woman.  I mean,....she's "kind of a big deal."  Google the video, ya'll! :-)