It's For A Cause, Not My Personal Gain

Despite some craziness that happened today (I won't go into details. It made me very pissed)... Some awesomeness is going to happen soon.

This...

The Pillow asked me if I want to participate with him in a 5K at the end of the month. I was like sure, let me think about it. Since he signed up thru work, he emailed me the information. When I saw what was the cause, I immediately signed up. Some of my coworkers in Trauma have been doing the walk for breast cancer for a couple of years now, and I've always been so impressed with them for doing such a great thing (for their health, I guess) for such an important cause. According to Cancer.org, "In 2011, approximately 39,520 women are expected to die from breast cancer."

Back when I was in the ER, I've been pretty aware with Breast Cancer but it didn't get real to me until I worked in the Interventional Radiology. One of our regular procedures that we do is biopsies and the most common ones we do are Breast Mass/Lump Biopsies. We do these at least 10 times a week. And we will also follow up with the results within 1 month or so (we keep tallies on biopsies and results). As of for the month of July, half of our biopsy list for July was positive of cancer, AND half of that half were Breast Cancer. 

I will never ever forget this young girl that we did an immediate breast biopsy the day that she had a mammogram. She's about mid 20s with 2 kids, one being a newborn. She noticed a lump on one of her breast and went to another hospital to check it out. They were suspicious of that lump. Since she had no insurance, they referred her to my hospital's breast clinic. They did a mammogram that day, and found a very suspicious lump on that breast, and asked us if we can fit her in for that day for a STAT breast biopsy. I was her nurse. She appeared so calm through out the whole thing (I would bawl the shit out of me) and she told me she feels like it is indeed cancer :( A couple of weeks later, I saw her in CT scan getting a scan done, and I asked her how she was doing and I remembered her from her biopsy. She remembered me too. She told me it was positive for cancer, and she was diagnosed with the aggressive one, Ductal Carcinoma and they were planning to do surgery for her (total mastectomy) and chemo and radiation. What made me admire her the most is her attitude. She took every single thing positively. I was in awe. 

Then months down the road, we saw her again on our schedule for a Port-a-cath placement (it's a port that's implanted in the chest for access for chemo/drug infusion). I asked her again how she was doing and such. She said her kids are doing well and she's doing great... Her treatments were progressing. She said she's not taking it hard on herself and instead her mother is taking the whole situation hard :( By that time I noticed her hair was thinning. What didn't thin was her attitude. She had the most positive attitude I've seen in a cancer patient. Then not too long ago, I saw her walking out of Radiation Therapy (it's next to my department) and I noticed her wig. She looked good and healthy. What impressed me was her smile. She even teased my co-worker. Amazing. 

Amazing how something so hard and scary that could happen to a sweet girl, she turned it around into something positive. She said she's surviving for her children. I really admire her bravery. 

If something shitty happens to me, I will try to remember this young lady. Oh and the biblical story of Job. God never lets his people down. Even with the hardest situation, He will be by their side... as long as you're faithful to Him. (Sorry I got all religious all of a sudden. But, No Shame).

So as I rethink my original thought/reason on my purpose to join the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, I dedicate my 5K to that young lady with that Big and Brave Heart. I hope God continues to bless her and her family. 

Hey Young Lady with that Big & Brave Heart, my run's for you.

I'm thinking, if I ever get struck with this disease (I hope not!), I would love to have someone fight along with me to find a cure for it. If the cure can't be found in my living time, hopefully there can find a cure in the future for those who may have Breast Cancer.

For more information about the run, go to this link here. If any of you live around Orange County and got nothing to do on September 23rd 2012, why not join? Or you can even "Sleep In" for the Cause (haha, your registration money will go to that charity).

Now on a happier note (not cancer related)...

HELLZ YEAHHHH I GOT MY TICKET TO NO DOUBT'S LOS ANGELES CONCERT!!!!!

I begged for a friend of mine (Thanks Frisky!) to get me a ticket to this crazy concert today since I was at work when the pre-sale went on. I've been a huge fan of No Doubt since 1995. And to finally witness them in the PIT, that will be huge (for me). I've seen them twice (once when they were touring their last tour before hiatus with Blink 182 and I even flew in to Utah by myself for their Summer 2009 Tour)... but now seeing them that close, man... I'm brainfudge right now. Hahaha...

It's time to replay those awesome No Doubt tunes. My favorite is Don't Speak (duh!!), Just A Girl, Spiderwebs, Total Hate '95, Stricken, By The Way, Simple Kind of Life (!!!), Magic's In the Make Up (this was my song when I'm feeling so emo), Comforting Lie, Rock Steady... Woo... I can not wait.

In another note, I would like to say how much I love my family. Even though we have our ups and downs, fights and make-ups, we KEEP IT REAL. No Fakery. We may not express our love openly (we rarely say I love You haha) but we show it through our actions and solidarity. As my motto for my family, I will say, "Once a Sagala, always a Sagala. We stick thru thick and thin."We don't take bullshit.

Song of the day brought to you by Ms. Taylor Swift.

Quote of the day brought to you by Chris Colfer, Kurt from Glee,

“When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper. They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless.” 

Peace out.