Terri's Blog

I mentioned on my facebook page the other day that I had two of the best sisters-in-law that a girl could have and a friend of mine called me on the fact that I didn't say anthing about my brothers. There was a reason for that. My brothers were great during my recovery from breast cancer, too, but in my mind, they sort of have a responsibility to check on me and care about me. They are my brothers.

My sisters-in-law don't have the same responsibility, in my opinion. I know that just being married to my brothers should require that they care what happens to our family, but I think my sisters-in-laws go the extra mile and do more than what might be expected. And the reason for this is that they are both more than my sisters-in-law. They're also my friends. I once told both my brothers that if they ever did anything stupid and divorced them, they'd be out of the family and Alicia and Sally would stay.

Before my surgery, Alicia was there to talk to me about the process. She may not realize it, but just because she asked me about every step of what was about to happen, she made me feel that I wasn't alone in it all. I knew that if I needed someone close to talk to, I could go to her. She kept Dave informed, as well as many of our mutual friends. And even though she couldn't take off work and be with me during my recovery, she was there during my surgery and she called every day after to see how I was doing. She came and got me one Saturday so that I could have lunch with her, Dave and Zach.

Sally took off work and came with my mother to take care of me the week after surgery. She made sure that I took my medications on time. She helped measure and empty the icky drains, and she helped me with ointments and dressings. She even repotted some of my plants so they wouldn't die. She probably was one reason that I didn't think too much about myself during that first week. She shared things about the kids and work and what was going on with others. She made fun of me when I was a little confused after surgery because of the pain meds and she brought me chili from McAllisters when I was tired of hospital food.

I probably sound like a broken record, but I'm just so blessed. I've wondered if God didn't allow all this to happen to me because I needed to be reminded in a huge way just how blessed I am. Whether that's true or not, He certainly has turned it into something good. He couldn't have given me any better sisters or friends. And I am very thankful that my brothers had the good sense to see it too.

It's been several weeks since I posted anything to the blog and I hope you'll understand that I've been a bit busy with surgery and recovery. I have so many different things that I could share, but the most immediate is that on top of everything else, today I had to have a tooth extracted because it was broken and couldn't be saved. When I smile the huge hole that was left cannot be seen by anyone and yet, I had moments of feeling sorry for myself because of it. I think in those few moments I felt the lose of this tooth more than the lose of my cancerous breast. For some reason, that toothless-hole seemed much more cosmetically ugly; and it made me feel old. Teeth become brittle and softer with age don't they? No one in my family has had to have dentures or teeth pulled because of aging and I guess I don't want to be the only one. I'm not that old, but sometimes all these changes make me feel that way. I had my 50th birthday and it's as if my body is falling apart.

I did say that these feelings existed for only moments. After taking some pain medication, and no it wasn't from the medicated euphoria, I began thinking about my blessings instead. Today was such a sunny, beautiful day and so many more good things have happened to me over the previous weeks, that a tooth just didn't seem important at all. The small amount of pain will be gone by the weekend. I'll have a bridge inserted in a few weeks, and life will continue to go on. I'm going to look at everyday as an opportunity to learn something new, enjoy my family and friends, and live to serve my Lord. I know there will be other challenges, but just like these, God will bring me through them. As Beth Moore, my favorite Bible Study author says, if God delivers us from the fire, our faith will be built. If he delivers us through the fire, faith will be refined and if we're delivered by the fire into his arms, our faith is perfected. I am thankful that each day my faith is being refined.