Tuesdays with Naqvi--Herceptin #28

It's a VERY full week at our house--birthday party, Bunco, rearranging bedrooms after new bunkbeds {We FINALLY have a dedicated guest room!}, helping with preparations for our first nephew, oh..and another surgery.  This one is just touch-ups--lifting and tucking and rebuilding--and has a much easier recovery, but I'm trying to squeeze every last ounce of energy, organization, and creativity out of me before I'm down and out again.

To add to the list of exciting events, over the weekend we experienced something completely out of my normal realm.  I was invited to attend the US Women's Polo Open, for the championship game, as a special guest.  Westside Surgical Center, the hospital where my mastectomy/reconstruction was performed, was sponsering the event, and my doctor was able to invite a few breast cancer survivors and former patients as honorable guests.   The goal of the event was to bring attention to breast cancer prevention and treatment, as the organizers feel that Breast Cancer Awareness and Women's Polo is a natural fit.   We were invited to sit in a reserved box and were recognized before the match.  I found it touching that one of the doctors included in his speech how we are all touched by breast cancer and shared the story of his grandmother who succumed to the disease 20 years ago.  Thankfully, with advancements in treatment and awareness in early detection and prevention, the survival rate is significantly higher today.   I also enjoyed meeting the other women and their families, hearing their stories, being insipired to keep going, and found myself thankful for my own story and that I didn't have to endure even more.  {One has SIX more surgeries to go, as her tissue didn't take AND she had to do chemo, surgery, AND radiation.  Also, her boyfriend left her as soon as her hair fell out.  Another came back BRCA positive and was so far advanced she had to travel to Houston for the intense care she needed.  Another found cancer, had a single mastecomy, found out she had cancer on the other side the next year, had that removed, and her husband left her because she was too different.}  How grateful I am that my treatment has worked, that we caught the tumor soon enough that it hadn't spread, and that I have the love and support of an amazing husband, family, and friends.   I am grateful to have been invited to this event, to have experienced something new, to be an example of spreading awareness for a disease that can be caught early and treated.  

Even though the box could only hold the special guests plus 1, the hospital had a huge tent with food, drinks, and activities for kids.  Stephen and I were able to go without the boys, though, thanks to a generous neighbor.  The boys had much more fun playing there than they would have at the Open.  Stephen and I felt a bit out of place, but we can cross 'Going to a Polo game' off our bucket lists.  We even got out on the field and stomped the divots during half-time....so "Pretty Woman" of me, I know!  From Ruth's Chris Steakhouse catering, to the Aston Martin sponsership, it was a little beyond our paygrade, but I was grateful for the opportunity to promote breast cancer awareness and the ability to try something new.   

Happy Tuesday!