Cancer Journey/ HEALTH/ Love

My Cancer World and Be The Match

I am in the cancer world. I am a two-time survivor, take medication everyday to help keep cancer at bay, and question every ache and pain. I have an Oncologist who tells me this: “give each ache and pain a two-week window. If it lasts longer than two weeks, or you find a lump or bump, come see me.”

I have been in this world for 7 years. It has changed me. I have lived more fully, loved more deeply and know that loss can be right around the corner.

Have you loved someone with cancer?

Being in this world means meeting others in this world. I am not alone. Oh how I wish my loved ones and I didn’t have this in common. I’m sure you can relate, for who has not been touched by this, with cancer so common?

What can we do with our commonality?

“Cancer is an epidemic.” These words were spoken last week by my very heart friend, the one who talks to me every day and who is texting me this very moment, my phone buzzing at me. She has survived recurrence and spends her days at a non-profit organization that helps women fight this beast. She knows. Her weary words ring true.

How do we fight an epidemic?

My phone buzzes again, a text from another heart friend, so so dear to me. She asks if we can meet Friday morning before she leaves for Houston, gone for at least 3 weeks. This is the place she goes to fight the beast that has shown up for the second time in her delicate neck. How can something so ugly invade such beauty as my friend?

How do we fight the beast?

And then the children.

I remember my brave Lottie Mae, we lost hair together and were on the same schedule of growing it back, the schedule of fighting cancer. I couldn’t fathom her courage or the courage of her parents as she battled leukemia. Lottie’s beautiful red locks are now long, they grew as did she, now a beautiful young lady. Prayer along with the right medical treatment saved her life.

Can I tell you of one more story?

It is the story of 11-year old Kamryn, another beauty whose life could be saved with the right medical treatment. Watch the video and see courage, light, and life. Even the tears on the cheeks of her Momma are courageous tears, asking others to be the match for her sweet, sick girl. She needs the right medical treatment, but it is on hold, waiting for the right match, a marrow donor.

{Learn more about Kamryn’s story and sign up to join the registry at join4kami.org.}

Can you imagine waiting for others to give?

I can’t imagine having a sick child where there is life-saving treatment but that treatment depends on the giving of others. There are many just like Kamryn who have no donors available.

AN ANSWER: BE THE MATCH REGISTRY®

A marrow transplant can be a life-saving treatment for more than 70 diseases including leukemia, lymphoma, and sickle-cell. 70% of patients are just like Kamryn and don’t have a fully matched donor in their family.

They depend on Be The Match. This is an answer! We can be available.

Be The Match Registry® is the world’s largest and diverse donor registry, but there are still thousands of patients who don’t have a match.

All it takes to join the registry is a simple cheek swab. It is mailed to you, you swab, then mail it back.

How amazing would it be to know that you helped cure someone’s cancer? Blood cancers can be cured with the help of bone marrow donation. Becoming a donor is something we can do to fight the beast of cancer and many other diseases.

Can you commit to becoming a donor?

Donating is a lot less painful than one might think. Most donate through a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell donation where a machine draws blood from one arm, extracts the cells it needs and returns the remaining blood back to your body through your other arm. Donors are fully awake for this procedure. Lives are saved with this cell extraction.

For some people, the doctor will need to extract marrow directly from the back of the pelvic bone with a needle. In this case, one receives anesthesia, feels no pain during the procedure, and most donors feel completely recovered within a few weeks. This is a sacrificial act, but a small one for the chance to save a life.

Can you help spread the word?

I know I am not alone in watching loved ones fight cancer. I know the whole world has seen and felt the sting of this beast.

We can help others who are waiting. We can reach out our hands, hearts and arms to others who need a life line.

Visit Be The Match. Make a commitment and get on the registry. Spread the word. Every person who joins the registry gives patients like Kamryn more hope of finding the match they need.

Help beat the beast. Be The Match.

{Help spread the word by pinning above image}

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

DIY/Crafts/ Frugal/ FUN/DIY/ HEALTH/ HOME/ Homemaking/ How-Tos/ Natural Products/ RECIPES

DIY Daily Sink Scrub

This DIY Daily Sink Scrub could easily be called twice a day sink scrub because I use it at least twice a day— if not every chance I get! I can’t tell you the satisfaction I feel making such a simple, inexpensive but effective DIY cleaning product. Yes, satisfaction, and JOY!

I know, it is a stretch to use the word joy with a cleaning product but this sink scrub makes me so happy. I’ve learned that scent is a very powerful way to experience emotions, especially when the scent is essential oil –pure and from nature!

DIY DAILY SINK SCRUB – JUST TWO INGREDIENTS

DIY Daily Sink Scrub has just two ingredients—baking soda and essential oil. The essential oil not only makes it a powerhouse when it comes to disinfecting and cleaning your sink but can also be a powerhouse when it comes to affecting your mood!

DIY/Crafts/ FUN/DIY/ HEALTH/ HOME/ Natural Products/ Organizing

The Best DIY Glass + Mirror Cleaning Spray

This DIY Glass + Mirror Cleaning Spray is my most used DIY Cleaner. I have been using this particular recipe for a couple of weeks now and don’t know how I ever lived without it!

We own 2 glass top tables, one in the kitchen and one in the dining room. I use this spray several times a day to clean those off after use. Because of this, we go through glass cleaner quickly so I wanted a spray that not only worked but was inexpensive to make.

I also wanted a cleaner with ingredients that would not trigger my daughter’s asthma. Regular glass cleaner from the store with all of its harsh ingredients has been a major trigger for her asthma, and since I am spraying the product in my home every day all throughout the day, I want to know what is in it and that it will not make her react.

Thanks to Clean Mama and her new book, Simply Clean, I found this DIY Glass + Mirror Cleaner Spray recipe and it has already made me a very happy lady. It uses just 4 ingredients!

DIY Glass + Mirror Cleaning Spray

2 cups water
2 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
2 tablespoons vinegar
5 drops essential oil

The rubbing alcohol causes the cleaner to dry quickly, which eliminates streaks. Brilliant!

Rocky Mountain Oils To Scent Your Glass Cleaner

The essential oil is optional in this recipe, but I highly recommend it. It is there to add scent, which is wonderful! I use Rocky Mountain Oils and their Lemon Oil is a favorite of mine to use in this glass spray… it is wonderful. It smells amazingly refreshing!

I also love peppermint as a scent for this oil. Did you know that Peppermint Oil is often used for focus & alertness? It helps awaken the senses. No wonder I love using this spray with peppermint oil, especially when I need to wake up in the morning when wiping breakfast crumbs off my glass tables. Love it!

I bought these awesome glass spray bottles on Amazon, and I truly believe they make cleaning a little bit more fun! They had high reviews and did not disappoint. They have both spray and stream options and are very good quality. I love that they are beautiful and functional. They come 2 to a package and chalkboard labels are included!

I picked up the above cleaning caddy at Target. If you would rather order on Amazon, I am crushing over this galvanized carry-all container. I have mine sitting out on my counter. Until I clean out under my sink to make room for my cleaning caddy, it is just fine sitting in all its glory on my counter. It sure makes it easy to grab a cleaner and get to work!

I used washi tape and a sharpie to label each bottle. It is easy to remove but has enough staying power to stay on until I’m ready to switch the labels out. The Sharpie is smear proof, which is important.

I keep my squeegee, eraser sponge and a scraper/scrub brush in the caddy along with some other DIY cleaners that I will be sharing with you in upcoming posts!

Keeping A Clean Home Printable

Make sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss future posts by signing up for my email list to have new posts delivered right to your inbox!

If you sign up, you can download and print this handy “Keeping a Clean Home” printable checklist which divides tasks into Everyday, Once a Week, Once a Month, Once a Season, and Once a Year. This checklist allows me to focus in, know exactly where I am at and what needs to be done.

What about you?

Do you make your own cleaners? Have experienced the amazing-ness of essential oils yet?

If so, what brand do you use?

Cancer Journey/ HEALTH

Cancer Journal Night Before My Mastectomy

I recently opened my cancer journal on my Caring Bridge site for the first time in quite a while. Thankfully, I was not opening it to start another entry informing you of sickness. I am healthy.

Yes, I am healthy, yet cancer is still very much a part of my world. I have ongoing hormonal treatment which keeps it in the forefront of my mind, nightly when I swallow down cancer meds and every 3 months when I get an anti-cancer injection.

Cancer is a part of my story and the story of many that I love. I have dear friends who have found remission and who are fighting to stay there, who allow me to enter in and be a part of their fight and stories. I also have many of you who write me and tell me of your own stories, whether it is about you or your loved ones, you share with me and I pray for you.

Yes, cancer is part of my story and always will be, and that is ok with me. It is a part that has brought many fears and tears, but also such sweet, sweet gifts; the most precious of these gifts in the form of some of my closest friends. Without cancer, I would not know them, and I would not want to walk this life without them in it.

I visited my cancer journal with the idea of consolidating the entries (along with many cancer posts I wrote for this blog) to create an ebook. I’ve had many people who are just starting out on their own cancer journey ask where they can read my story, and sending them to my Caring Bridge site has been the only answer so far.

I cringe every time I do because I know it is not an easy platform to read my words. You have to click on every entry to read, and it is easy to get lost in it. It is not a convenient way to read my story or leave my words for my girls to read someday. I’d rather have them in book form–one that I have control of– not a platform that could go away at any point. Hence my desire to write an ebook.

Looking back on bits of my cancer journal has brought on all the feels! I thought I would share the entry that I wrote the night before my mastectomy with you.

Cancer Journal

The Night Before My Mastectomy

Surgery time is finally here. I’ll be honest, I’m scared and nervous. My way of dealing with it today has been to not think about it and focus on the house and my girls. I’m about to watch a movie with Todd to distract me, then a sleeping pill, and before I know it, it will be 5:30 a.m and I will be standing in front of admissions at the hospital. I do have to shower between now and then, so I will have some time with God in there and say goodbye to my chest. How weird.

My girls really struggled tonight. We ate an awesome meal that was made with love for us, and watched a show. Right when the show ended, all three girls started crying! They knew it was time to say goodbye and go to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for a sleepover. They seemed to have a harder time with the idea of surgery than they even had when we first told them I had cancer. It broke my heart. I felt almost a sense of guilt as I saw them hurt, feeling it is my fault that they are hurting because this is happening to me. I know that is all messed up thinking..

My in-laws are great. They had us in and took time to read the Scriptures and pray with us. That was so very comforting to us all. Not heavy, just a few minutes to hear the truth of God’s Word. Don (my father-in-law) read a couple of Psalms, and it was like a salve for my heart. While he was praying, his words “Lord, we know she is in your hands” rang loud in my mind and was the exact, simple truth I needed to cling to in those moments.

Kathy (my mother-in-law) had beautiful cupcakes sitting on the counter, which was the perfect distraction for my girls as we left. We got a message a few minutes ago that let us know they were not upset anymore and are doing fine.

I have so many, many people who have contacted me. Friends, family and strangers–telling me they are praying.

So neat.

I had a lady I have never met email me today to tell me she woke in the night last night and I was on her mind, which caused her to pray for me that moment! God is taking care of me through all of you.

I love you all. I am so grateful.
Todd will update this site tomorrow and let you all know how it goes.

PS BY NOON TOMORROW I WILL HAVE CLEAVAGE!!! Lol. Hee hee.

I wrote that 5 years ago, and I am sitting here 5 years later with cleavage and cancer free! I’m so very thankful.

Would you like to know when the ebook comes out? Sign up to be on my subscribe list. You will receive updates from New Nostalgia and get 9 Simple & Healthy Breakfast Recipe Cards for free!

Counting Gifts/ FAMILY/ Leaving A Legacy/ Spiritual

From My Heart Posts In 2016

What do I mean by “from my heart?” These are posts that go deeper than a recipe post or a DIY post.

These posts are my favorite to write, and also some of the most well received by all of you, which makes this heart of mine so touched and happy. It is clear I often write from my heart when hardship hits, as there are posts on suffering, anxiety, grief & tragedy. But, I also capture meaningful life moments in posts on amazing family memories, this wonderful life I get to live, and my Todd.

Saturday Morning Musings

Oh my. I must write more posts like this–the ones where I just sit across from you all with a warm cuppa and just chat about life. It is therapeutic, and you are all so dear to just allow me to share. It also captures the fleeting seasons of life, as this post was written just last summer, but life rhythms have already changed so drastically. Time for another Saturday Morning Musing!

Read more here.

A Family Update

Posts like these are so fun to look back on. I’ve talked about how this blog is my recipe binder, my memory keeper, my cancer journal & a place to connect with such a great and caring community. It has certainly become something very special to me and my family over the years. It is especially comforting as a 2-time cancer survivor that my words and our memories are in a place where my 3 girls could easily access them and know the things I think about and am passionate about. This post captures the personality of my teens in this season of life. I don’t write as often about my girls now that they are teens. It is a delicate thing, letting their stories be THEIR stories & not over-sharing. But once in a while…

Read more here.

How To Find Relief From Severe Anxiety

Whoa. Reading this post about a year after writing it was…whoa. It brought back many memories of struggle. It reminds me how far I’ve come and how many prayers have been answered.

Read more here.

I Am A Sinner If Its Not One Thing Its Another

This is the post where I write raw all my feelings of shame and failure as a Mom and wife, and then LYSA TERKUERST, one of my all-time fav writers and amazing woman of God, comments on it. She told me that the post was powerfully and beautifully written, with a few more sentences of wisdom that made my year. Yeah, that was a pretty amazing. Take a peek at her comment in the post!

Read more here.

Enter Into Others Suffering

This post is about my beautiful friend and amazing artist, Alison Rush. I want you all to know her. I will be going to her home in just about an hour and wish you all could come with me to meet her. She is pure joy.

Read more here.

Severe Anxiety Symptoms

As I reread these posts on anxiety, I feel like they just might be some of the most important ones I have written. As much as I wish anxiety was not part of my story, reading comments and remembering the emails I get in response make it worth it. Sharing a bit of my very personal journal and journey has brought so many of you to share yours with me, too, and that makes it all worth it. I received an email from a teenage reader on Christmas night that shared her own anxiety story and thanked me for this post. Yes, it is worth it.

Words from my journal, here.

When Grief Hits

“… I also found myself in a pool of sadness, swimming in grief. Anxiety and depression can often go hand in hand. I am acquainted with anxiety, but never of that severity & had not experienced it accompanied with depression. Deep sadness was a new experience for me. Together anxiety and depression are a brutal duet that brought my life music & happiness to a halt. It was survival time. I was a survivor learning what survival really meant…”

Help In Suffering

So often a song will spur a writing. That is what happened in this post. It is a cry out to God of help and thanks and praise.

Read more here.

To Be a Part of Love Winning

I wrote this in response to the Orlando shooting and tell of the time my own sister was caught in a deadly mall shooting.

“I want to feel others pain. I want to have ears to hear and eyes to see and a heart that cares enough to stop for a moment and just listen and absorb, to mourn with and feel with. I want to enter into pain with others because this is what love does…Evil creates pain. Love enters into the pain. Love wins.”

Read more here.

Forced Rest

I write about a hero of mine. I just saw this precious man yesterday and life has not gotten any easier for him or his family since writing this post early last year. They take it day by day not knowing what each day will bring. Yes, he is my hero, and so is his sweet family.

Read more here.

Let Me Tell You About My Todd

Last but not least, my personal favorite post from 2016 because it is about my very favorite guy. How fun that you all liked it too!

Read it here.

Well, I have had all the feels reading back over these 11 posts from my heart. THANK YOU for reading and allowing me to share. You all are so dear to me and so very very gentle with my heart.

Emotional Health/ FAMILY/ HEALTH/ Spiritual

Help in Suffering

“God, I look to you, Your where my help comes from.”

—God I Look to You, Bethel Music

I listen to this song and it takes me back as often songs do.

A slight ache starts in my inmost being and I remember that time of desperation.

I listened to this song and my soul cried desperately to you.

You came.

You were there.

You saw.

You hid me under the shadow of your gentle wings. I was covered, hand-held. Never alone.

You held and helped me in my suffering.

God you reign and so does your timing.

I cried out for you to take it away.

Your timing was not what I desired, but I held on because I was held.

I trusted you and you showed me that you are safe,

you’re worthy of my belief,

your plans better and bigger than mine.

God I looked to you.

You were and are where my help comes from.

You gave me wisdom and showed me what to do

You led me right to Psalms and to

the right book

the right therapist,

the right medical doctor

and the right medication.

You made my path straight

You brought healing in your time.

You lifted me out of the muck and mire and set my feet firm.

Lord, I still need you.

When I cannot stand, help me fall on you.

When I stumble catch me, turn my eyes and face to you.

Help me to keep looking up at you.

I will love you all my days.

You have become so very real to me, especially in the trials this life brings.

You have not left me alone.

Forever all my days, I will praise you!

The time of suffering I mentioned above was when I was in the thick of anxiety. If you are in a season of suffering, hold on! Look to God. He promises to never leave or forsake His children. He is with you and will get your through.

HEALTH/ Spiritual

Enter Into Others’ Suffering

If you do this, this entering into suffering with others, you might just glimpse a joy unspeakable. This has been my experience. There is so much suffering on this earth. I ask God to help me see those who walk through suffering and love them well.

He has allowed me to enter into stories of suffering and I see what a gift this can be, not just for them but for me. I come away from these interactions changed.

I go to encourage, and walk away encouraged.

Let me tell you about my friend Ali:

A young mom, we met at a conference for cancer survivors, the two youngest in the room.

Our eyes meet and she comes straight to the empty seat next to me, which was my hope. She is all beauty and bright-eyed. Her sense of style is effortless and spot on, her hair regrowing is a pixie cut perfect for her face shape, and her smile the best of accessories.

Our hearts connect, she invites me to her home and introduces me to her man and her two littles with cherub faces. Dare I say some of the cutest I’ve seen?

We eat greens and drink kombucha and talk all things cancer and life. We just get each other, our stories very familiar. That was in the spring.

Late summer her story takes a turn. We meet for coffee she directs my hand to her elegant neck and it looks like I am taking her pulse. It is quite a moment, as I feel her life pulse and what could cause death at the same time. It is cancer in a lymph node, the placement in her neck places her as an automatic stage four.

I write these words and tears fall for my beautiful friend.

But, here is what I see and want the world to see, too.

Her beauty overcomes and shines through and I see peace and joy and she proclaims to me with eyes bright:

“I’m keeping my eyes on Jesus”

I see love. I see Him reflected so clearly in those big beautiful brown eyes.

She is the epitome of grace, courage, hope, trust, joy and all things lovely. Despite an automatic stage 4, she shines.

Several days later her text to me:

“I spoke with my Doctor”

“She said median survival for my stage 4 cancer is 2 years.”

“I plan on much longer than that”

She meets with doctors and loved ones and forms a plan, walking in trust that the God she loves holds and directs her path.

She is choosing a path less traveled, one that will bring toxicity and hopeful healing and she walks bravely forward right into it. This road leads to Houston, months away from her littles, (3 years old and 5 years old) and all that is familiar. This is the road that we pray will provide her with the “much longer than that.”

In the meantime, God is providing all that she needs. She lives this and proclaims it.

She invites me to Houston and I go, and spend 4 precious and some of my most favorite of days there. I write a bit about that trip here, and share a beautiful breakfast recipe that my Ali lovingly made for me while I was there. This early morning act of service for me is just one tangible example of how entering into someones suffering brings blessing beyond. The recipe is amazing, but the memory of being served by her in the midst of her hardship, the morning of her chemo treatment, is the most precious of memories. Such a sweet gift, one of so many that Ali has given me by just being who she is.

Enter into others suffering. Gifts will abound, you will give, and will be astonished at all that will be given back to you.

Update: Ali is back from Houston and reunited with her littles and husband. She will have ongoing treatment here and periodic trips back to Houston. If you are a praying person, will you add her to your list?

Ali is also an accomplished artist, and the above piece is her work.

Visit Alison Rash to see more.

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