[Oe List ...] With Love, Hope, Peace and Joy at the Holidays

Sun Dec 28 20:31:42 EST 2008

Dear Margaret:
We send you abundant light for tomorrow's journey. Our candle will be 
lit. Jim & Alice Baumbach

Margaret Helen Aiseayew wrote:
> Wanted to tell you that Susun Weed is an old friend. I have several of 
> her books, but not this one. She pronounces her first name "sue sun" 
> by the way, which is a part of how she knows who knows her. I will be 
> getting it and have requested my library to get the others. Haven't 
> figured out how to pass on to the girls my sense of peace, but I am as 
> ready for tomorrow as I will ever be. Thanks again, Margaret
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Patricia Tuecke <mailto:ptuecke at charter.net>
>     *To:* 'Order Ecumenical Community' <mailto:oe at wedgeblade.net>
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, December 23, 2008 2:58 PM
>     *Subject:* Re: [Oe List ...] With Love, Hope, Peace and Joy at the
>     Holidays
>
>     Dear Margaret,
>
>     You are on an awesome journey. Seven years ago I received the same
>     diagnosis, ILC. Such a shock. So many practical decisions to be
>     made while you are reeling from the news and old images pop into
>     your head.
>
>     Mine was not caught on mammograms, either. The last one just six
>     months prior. My tumor was 4.9 centimeters, which I found myself
>     during an every-month-or so self exam. It was so large that I
>     didn’t think it was cancer as I had been feeling for a “little
>     bean-size lump.
>
>     I had a mastectomy, too. At the time, I was asked if I wanted
>     re-construction. I had never heard of that. My image was that
>     show-girls had breast enhancements – implants and the like. My
>     feminist side came forth saying that I didn’t need a breast to be
>     a woman. and, I was told that I can always have it done later.
>     What I have discovered is that I don’t like to fool with my
>     prosthesis every time I get dressed. I miss being able to throw on
>     a sweat or tee shirt to run out for the mail, etc. Yes, I know I
>     can, but choose not to. I also don’t want another surgery, even
>     though, by law these days, insurance has to pay for it. That was
>     not always so.
>
>     I found a wonderful BC support group at one of the hospitals here.
>     Had I found them before my surgery, I likely would have chosen
>     reconstruction at the time of my mastectomy. I still go to the
>     group meetings after 7 years. It’s like another family of choice.
>     Every body and every cancer is different, and there is no one
>     choice fits all. It depends on the size and stage of your tumor,
>     and your own health and your feelings.
>
>     How did you discover your tumor? When was your diagnoses? What
>     stage and size is it? Did you have a biopsy? Will you need to do
>     chemotherapy &/or radiation (the final answer to this won’t be
>     known until after the mastectomy. It partly depends on whether
>     there are any lymph nodes involved. Do you trust and feel good
>     about your surgeon? Have you talked with an oncologist/radiologist
>     yet? There are a lot of new chemo drugs and radiation procedures
>     that are now in use that weren’t 77 years ago.
>
>     Please call me if you like. It seems to help to have someone you
>     can cry, laugh or bitch to someone who understands, have done all
>     of that to someone who has been on the same journey. We, our
>     support group, find that many of us have family that doesn’t
>     understand. Men, husbands, fathers, sons usually want you to have
>     it “fixed” and can’t wait until you are your usual self, back to
>     normal again. They don’t realize that you will be different.
>     Children of any age are scared that you will die, so you try not
>     to act scared; you can do that with your support group, or me, or
>     any of the other family-of-choice women who have also traveled
>     this road. I bet you have already heard from some of them ; Marie
>     Sharp, La Donna, Lynda Cock are 3 that come to mind. There are
>     more that I can’t recall right now.
>
>     A few words of advice.
>
>     Be your own health care coordinator. Each doc. will do their best
>     in their field, but you are the only one who’s concerned about
>     your whole self/being. Start a loose-leaf notebook and put
>     everything in it –every permission page you sign, every visit to a
>     doctor, every test you are given, Start getting a copy of all your
>     doctor visits notes, and lab tests results. Ask about support
>     group. Visit at least twice to see if it is helpful.
>
>     I leave you with a few books that I found really helpful. You are
>     likely like me – wanting lots of information. Some people don’t.
>
>     *Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book* is at the top of the list. It’s
>     quite thick & most likely in your library. *Breast Cancer? Breast
>     Health! The Wise Woman Way* by Susan Weed. *Crazy Sexy Cancer
>     Tips* by Kris Carr. I think these can be found on Amazon.com. Read
>     them. They will answer most questions and the latter two have
>     amazing whole-person perspectives.
>
>     Know that healing thoughts and prayers are coming your way.
>
>     Hugs,
>
>     Pat
>
>     Patricia R. Tuecke, Sierra Circle Consulting
>
>     /Facilitating Amazing Results!/
>
>     775-333-6998 ptuecke at charter.net
>
>     *From:* oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net
>     [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] *On Behalf Of *Margaret Helen
>     Aiseayew
>     *Sent:* Friday, December 19, 2008 7:34 PM
>     *To:* Colleague Dialogue; Order Ecumenical Community;
>     earthrise at yahoogroups.com
>     *Subject:* [Oe List ...] With Love, Hope, Peace and Joy at the
>     Holidays
>
>     Dearest Colleagues,
>
>     I have been deeply involved with some health concerns for quite
>     some time. Usually notes like this come to us from second parties,
>     but my circle here in Iowa is intensely blood family. Only a few
>     of them can even begin to understand the intensity of my collegial
>     circle, a family of choice so to speak. I want to draw the circle
>     of love and care and friendship that I count on all the time as
>     large as I can. I am sorry that we cannot combine the Dialogue and
>     OE lists so that so many of you (as I do) will not get this two or
>     three times. When you continue to not know anything there is
>     really nothing to share. Now seems the time.
>
>     I have been diagnosed with breast cancer (invasive lobular
>     carcinoma--ILC) and a week from Monday, December 29) they are
>     going to do a complete mastectomy. This is a breast cancer that is
>     almost never found on mammograms and ultrasounds. I've been
>     through five since August and even the last report two weeks
>     before the lumpectomy declared "there is no mass." :-)
>
>     I am confident in my doctors and confident in my faith. I don't
>     know why I have been chosen for this special journey (not unique,
>     and not a detour) but I trust that the purposes will be revealed
>     with time to someone somewhere, even if it is not revealed to me.
>     I also know that I can count on your prayers and energy coming my
>     way for whatever results the creative powers of the universe may
>     have in mind.
>
>     My life with you has been a gift of being beyond compare. Few have
>     been and are as blessed as I.
>
>     Emmanuel, Margaret
>
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