Sunday, February 6, 2011

The forecast for the next 3 1/2 months is........

Cloudy with the sun breaking through! Where to begin? These next three and half months are going to be scary, exhausting, stressful, hopeful, exciting, painful, happy and pretty much any other adjective you can use to describe life. The promising thing is that it starts kind of cloudy, but then slowly but surely the sun begins to break through.

Mama's double mastectomy surgery will be next Wednesday, February 16th. Though I know how hard this surgery/recovery will be, I know that this means we will be even closer to hearing the doctor say
"you are cancer free"

Then on April 5th, I will be having weight loss surgery. This will be an anxious and exciting time for me. These last 6 months of hoop-jumping for insurance approval has been a huge pain in my...... extremely helpful. I was quite frustrated when I found out what all had to be done just to get the approval from the insurance company. That 6 month journey has included:
  • 6 months of support group meetings listening to people share their own storeis about their weight loss journeys. I lovingly have called these my AA for Fat people meetings. LOL!
  • 6 months of supervised medical weight loss, which I was successful with. I have lost 13 pounds since September. And that was even through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays!
  • a psych evaluation that ruled that I am (in the words of the psychologist) "disgustingly healthy psychologically" but that I have ADHD! Thank you Dr. Walfish. I do not have ANY idea how I have lived 31 years through three college degrees without Adderall.
  • Sleep study at home with a nasal cannula and several other things
Needless to say, it's been a long journey. Now that it's all finished though, I have ALOT more perspective about what it's going to take to be successful post-surgery than I would have been before. I have learned more about myself and how as much as I don't want to admit it  I am TOTALLY and at times uncontrollably addicted to food. It controls me and I now believe that I have the will power I need to eat to live, not to live to eat.

May 6th will bring our 11th wedding anniversary. It has been a CRAZY ride but has been amazing all the same. I wouldn't trade anything for the trials or for the good times. Jason is the biggest blessing in my life. He is my very best friend and is truly my soul mate.

May 7th will bring Jason's graduation from Piedmont College with his Master's degree in Special Education. Words will never be able to express how proud of him I am. He has been hard at this for 2 1/2 years and deserves every accolade people give. He is making such a difference in the lives of the students at Cornelia Elementary and I am believing God to provide a teaching job for him next year.

On another note, May 21st will bring the wedding of my baby sister, Brooke Nicole Melton. It really doesn't even seem real. Brooke was 5 years old when Jason and I started dating. Brooke has grown into a beautiful young woman and I couldn't be happier to be welcoming Levi Westbrook into our family.

Though these next couple of months will bring anxiety and stressful situations, they will all be followed by some pretty exciting and happy occasions for my whole family. No matter what happens, through it all, I know that THE SON will break through the clouds, no matter how dark they may get. I will be very cautious to give YOU Lord all the praise!