A Step in the Right Direction

Today I drove over to St. Marks Hospital to drop off chemo scarves. Something about today's visit was different than other times I've gone there. Usually I'm assaulted with anxiety and memories. Today I felt none of that. I was happy to be there and felt like I was there with a purpose! It was an amazing thing to experience. My drive home took me past my chemo center. Again, there are a lot of memories and raw emotions associated with this place, but not today. I was surprised  at the peace I felt as I drove by. Maybe in some small way I am accepting what I've gone through and who I have become...or maybe this chemo scarf project is helping me to heal mentally and emotionally. Whatever the reason for today's experience, I'm grateful for the step in the right direction.

Pay it Forward Segment

In case you missed it! Last night my story aired. It was a pretty exciting night at my house! My living room was filled with family and friends! It was perfect! We watched my segment TWICE!

Today I feel like I'm living in a dream, MY DREAM!

Thank you to you, my friends and family, for supporting my cause and MY DREAM!

Click on the link below to watch my story, and then go donate to my cause!

 CK Scarves: Pay it Forward

CK Scarves in on the News!

August 12, 2015
 
Today started like any day: wake up, get ready for the day, put makeup on, load the dishwasher, straighten up my bedroom and rush out the door to go to an appointment with my Grandparents. It's while I was hurrying to get to my grandparents appointment that my day became interesting. My cell phone rang while I was driving, but I don't answer calls while driving so when I got where I was going I checked my voicemail. I had missed a call from a neighbor (whom will be anonymous for now...) who was calling to talk to me about my chemo scarf project. I figured she probably knew someone going through cancer and wanted me to mail them a scarf. No problem. I called her back and she said she had been talking to a friend about my project and they told a friend who works at Channel 2 News. This Channel 2 News guy liked my project and asked my friend if she thought I'd let him interview me for the news. She relayed all that to me and said if I was interested they actually would be in my area and wanted to do the interview at 1:30pm TODAY! I explained that I was at a doctor appointment and didn't think I could be home in time, so she called Channel 2 to see if they could do my interview next week. It turns out they really wanted to get my interview done today, so they rearranged their schedules so they could come at 3pm.

This whole time the thoughts running through my head went something like this: 
'Oh my goodness! I am so excited to share this scarf project!' 
'If sharing my project will help find people who need one of my scarves then this is totally worth it!'

'Man I should have worn a better outfit'
 'I wonder how my hair looks?'
'Boy am I glad I changed my fingernail polish!'
'Will I have time to straighten up my house before the  interview?

These are all normal thoughts, right?

After my grandparents appointment and a nice lunch I picked up my boys from their grandma's house and rushed home to get my house 'TV' ready. Channel 2 stopped by right at 3pm. There were 3 men; 2 of them were in just ordinary t-shirts and shorts and the 3rd guy was dressed up real nice and business like. I figured the man dressed nice was the one who would be doing the interview. I was wrong. He just hung off in the corner and listened to my interview. The short version of this story is that my interview is really going to be shared as one of the Pay it Forward segments on Channel 2 News! I had no idea! Even up to the point where the nicely dressed guy opened up the envelope with $500 cash! I had been so caught up in my excitement to share what I was doing through the interview that it didn't even register that it could be that.

My story is going to be aired on August 26th on Channels 2's 10pm news! So, I propose we have a news watching party! Who would like to come to my house and watch the news with me? Never mind that its a school night...
Give me a holler if you think you'd like to come!

My Logo is Born!

My original goal for having my logo done was the end of August. Boy am I glad I had this in the works before my story hit the news! A big thank you to my designer who worked a little harder to get it done a little quicker!

The next step in my process is to get my labels made!

Then? 

It's GO time!!

Logo design and shipping! Oh my!

It's been a while since I've worked on my scarf project. However, this week I've started feeling an urgency to get some details ironed out so this project can get off the ground! Details like finding a graphic designer to design my 'ck scarf' logo and going to the post office to figure out how much it's going to cost to mail chemo scarves to ALL 50 states, Canada and Australia. My husband has a co-worker friend who said she would design my logo for me. She'll come up with 5 different designs and I can use them however I want. The cost? $100. I need to give her some ideas of how I imagine my logo looking, so that's the part I'm working on. Once the logo is done I will get in touch with a label company and get my labels ordered. Still haven't picked a company to do that, but I wonder if it'll be easier for me to choose a company once I know what the design looks like. There are SO many choices for labels! Iron on ones, tag labels you sew on, and tons more options.

Today I had the rare opportunity of being alone. My kids are off in various places. It was kinda nice! I used this time to go to the Post Office and figure out shipping. The post office can be so busy with lots of people waiting in line so I was pleasantly surprised that the post office was not crowded. I was glad to not feel rushed to ask my questions and move on so the next guy in line could have his turn. The post master took his time explaining my options. The best option is to mail my chemo scarves in one of these padded flat rate envelopes. I will pay the SAME price to mail them to every state in the USA! The envelopes come with tracking, insurance up to $50, and a 3-4 day delivery time. To ship 10 chemo scarves in one of these envelopes it will cost me $6.10. To get these envelopes you have to go online and order them (for FREE) from the Postal store. I've already ordered some. They come in a package of 10, so I ordered 6. Sixty envelopes will be enough to mail to all 50 states and Canada and Australia. So, as I just mentioned, I am mailing chemo scarves to Canada AND Australia. Why not? Shipping to Canada in one of these envelopes will cost $21.95. If mailed in one of my own manilla envelopes it'll only cost $10.30. Shipping takes 2-3 weeks to get to Canada, and the tracking may not work. Shipping to Australia in their envelope is $26.50, and using my own envelope $16.00. Shipping to Australia is also 2-3 weeks and if it gets lost on its way there? Too bad, so sad for me. There is no guarantee when shipping to Australia.
The grand total for shipping to Canada, Australia and all 50 states is going to be close to $353.45. Making 520 scarves will take time, so I won't have to incur this big payment all at once, but slowly over time.


There is still one item of business that I am still trying to get scheduled and that is to have one of my husbands video taking friends help me make a YouTube video of how to tie my scarf on a bald persons head. Quite a few of my breast cancer support group ladies that I have given scarves to have asked me how to wear it. Adding a YouTube channel link with my chemo scarf will help many people know how to wear it. I am going to ask one of my friends in my support group who is currently bald to be my model. Who said cancer can't make you famous?!

Doing all this research and finding a designer make me realize that this dream is becoming a reality and one day it will come true! And that makes me think of all the lives this project will bless!

Doing all this research and finding a designer make me realize that this dream is becoming a reality and one day it will come true! And that makes me think of all the lives this project will bless!

Reconstruction Take 2!

My appointment was at 8am. The traffic was light on the roads so were able to be a few extra minutes early. I didn't have to wait very long to be taken back and prepped for surgery. The nurse were so good at getting my IV started.

Dr. J is one cool guy! And he's super good at what he does! I brought about 20 drain bags for him to give to other breast cancer surgery patients. He was impressed. He wanted to know how much they cost, and I loved telling him they were free. I went on to explain about my chemo scarf project and that the left over fabric was used to make the drain bags. At this point he sat down on a chair and wanted to know more about my project. He wants to be involved in what I'm doing. In one of the upcoming months he wants to spotlight me on his website/FB page. I'm supposed to call and talk to his nurse advocate and discuss how their office can help me with getting the fabric/ supplies I need. This was really exciting for me! I love watching how this whole project keeps coming together!

My good friend from my support group stopped by the surgical center to chat with my husband, dad and myself. It was fun having her there. It wasn't that long ago that she had her final surgery. She stayed out in the waiting area with my Dad and husband while I was in surgery. She was by my side when I woke up from surgery. She is pretty amazing. I'm so glad she could be one of my cheerleaders yesterday.

And then there's my husband. What an amazing man he is! He was always at my side supporting me and loving me. I love that our relationship has grown stronger during this whole experience. I am also blessed with a Dad who is kind and compassionate. He has been a great strength to me as well.

So far this surgery has been easier than the first one. Yesterday I slept for most of the day and didn't have much pain. This morning I felt really lousy, and was quite loopy from my pain meds. My vision has been blury, but that's because of the squalamine patch behind my ear. My liposuction spots on my tummy hurt the most. My breast are tender and sore because he had to do some cosmetic fixing, but mostly my breast are completely numb. In just a few short weeks I will not be so sore and will start to feel more normal. And as soon as I'm feeling good I'm going to hit my chemo scarf sewing!

To each one of you, THANK YOU for all the love, service and prayers on my behalf!

T'was the Night before Surgery

The laundry is all folded and put away. The floors are swept and mopped. The living room is nicely vacuumed. The bathrooms are clean!
Tomorrow is Go Time!! Hopefully this time for reals!

I need to be at the Surgical Center at 8am. Surgery will begin sometime around 9am. I imagine I'll be home in the afternoon. My sister-in-law will send out an email with an update when surgery is over.

Wish me luck!