Good morning everyone!   Please don’t be afraid to comment on my ramblings about breast cancer etc…..as I rewatched the video yesterday I laughed and said to Barbie…it is a “wonder we are all aren’t confused after listening to that!!!”  At least it makes for some laughing.   I know we are all going a little stir crazy being home so much and I was trying to think about what to write today and I decided to take a left turn and just tell you about something that happened to me when I was going thru chemo.

I started chemo the beginning of December 2008….as much as I thought I had planned to have things done for Christmas in case I wasn’t feeling good…. a few things escaped me.  My good friend (and road trip buddy) Deon checked in with me to see if I needed any help to finish my Christmas shopping…..yes, I needed a couple more things…I wanted to go to Cocoa Village to get some infused olive oil for my son in law Manny because he loves to cook…I had to have it.  So Deon came and picked me up….off we went….we stopped at Murdocks for lunch (after she told them we needed a table by ourselves so no one got germs on me!!  (good friend !)….then slowly we walked to the other end of Cocoa Village to the olive oil store…..why didn’t we drive down there?  Hmmmm good question…we still laugh and wonder what we were thinking.   We got to the store…I waited on the bench outside while she went in and got our stuff….

So, did I mention that I was also recovering from a bilateral mastectomy and couldn’t carry that huge shopping bag?   Deon came out with two bags….now we are sitting there laughing because we (actually she) have to haul those bags all the way back to the car…..which Deon did….we rested at almost every park bench!!!   We finally got back to the car and then home….I was exhausted but my heart felt happy because I had a great friend who didn’t mind going to bat for me, keeping the potential germs away and carrying all of my stuff home.  So while the whole breast cancer thing is something we would all rather do without, it also brings love and kindness and a new way of sharing those things with your family and friends.

I wanted to help breast cancer patients….how?  I wasn’t sure but I knew there were lots of things that I could have done to make my life easier going thru cancer if only someone had been there to tell me..I was so overwhelmened I could barely think for myself at that time ……so now I had a direction.   I just needed to find a plan to follow altho without realizing…I already had a plan to help….I knew first hand what parts needed to be addressed to make this a bit easier to deal with.

There was an organization in Oregon…Breast Friends and they were helping women….one friend at a time…yep, that was what I was thinking….so for the next several years we became known as Breast Friends of Florida….with a plan of helping women all over Florida….pretty ambitious.  It became clear that taking care of Brevard was a full time job so we decided to change our name to Driven by Heart and become our own entity…..doing just that….taking care of Brevard.   We added programs, changed a few things around but the one thing we have always wanted to do was to make sure no woman has to go thru breast cancer alone!

More tomorrow……..  Have a good nite….stay home, be safe and stay healthy!!!

Did you ever wonder how Driven by Heart came to be?  Let me share…..September 19, 2008 I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Sure wasn’t expecting that…had my mammos every year like clockwork and no breast cancer in my family…..I admit I went along blindly thru my testing etc.  The only person I knew that had had breast cancer lived in upstate NY.  I had no idea…..I had surgery November 20 with a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction.  I had seen an oncologist so my team was assembled….surgery first and then chemo.    I could not find any support groups locally and wasn’t even sure how to find someone who had already been thru this….and I was a little numb from thinking about it.   I read on line about women with breast cancer…they talked about ER, PR and such things I had no idea about….but I would learn as I went along.  I had a friend I volunteered with at the hospital and he researched everything (and I mean everything!!!) so I had questions to ask each time I went for a treatment… Surgery went fine…..fills went fine….chemo was tough…no one knew about Claritin for the Neulasta shot side effects…that was tough…..so fast forward to being done (11 years on March 31)  and I had decided I wanted to volunteer and help gals going thru this because I started out knowing nothing and I was sure I wasn’t the only one.  I wanted to help…… more tomorrow.

Hi Everyone!  We have a plan to reach our patients during this time when we are supposed to be socially distanced etc.  If you need to talk to us, just Facetime or Skype.   If you are new and need items for surgery etc, we can show you what we have and how it works and then we will deliver that package to your house without any actual contact…..that way no one has to do this breast cancer stuff alone!  If you have any additional suggestions or thoughts, please feel free to share.  We will do this on Mondays and Wednesdays as long as we can.

Be safe and stay healthy!!

Air hugs to all!

Good morning!  SInce we are all pretty much at home I thought now was a good time to get into the habit of blogging fairly regularly!…..so here we go….a curious thing….I believe there are many things that hang around for years after you are finished with chemo….probably not noted by Docs…probably because we stopped mentioning all of these things not too long after finishing chemo…..but….two days ago I tried yet another new deoderant….all natural etc…it seems for me personally they all quit working after a couple of days..so I rotate several..every so often one of them leaves me with big red tender areas under my arm…..pretty frustrating.   I know every ingredient doesn’t work for everyone but pre Chemo I never had any issues with deoderant….now it has been 11 years (in 11 days) that I have been done with Chemo.  Just one of the issues that hangs around….how about you all?   Anything to report that you didn’t have before?

Hi everyone….this is how we are going to handle our situation with Covid-19…..we will follow the CDC guidelines…with that being said to ensure continuity for our breast cancer community, we are doing the following: all support group meetings, including Over 50, Under 50, Metastatic and Wednesday Coffee and Conversation and the Speakers Series are cancelled thru the rest of March and all of April.

We will be available Mondays and Wednesdays for Facetime or Skype. If you are a new patient and need supplies, we can use Facetiming or Skyping to chat and also to explain the items we have for you and then we can deliver those items to you avoiding contact altogether keeping everyone safe.

Hi Everyone….following CDC guidelines, we have rescheduled our 11th annual “Joy of Life” luncheon for Friday June 26 at the Rialto Hilton.  I hope you can still join us!

In addition, we have suspended support groups thru the end of March and will reevaluate April at the beginning of the month.

Thank you all for your support….and remember we are still available by phone or email.

Sherry

Hi Everyone,

The office will be open this week Monday and Wednesday from 9 am to 2pm…..one very important change….please call for an appointment….we want to help everyone but we need to do it individually for all of our safety and allow us to sanitize in between each visit.

Please call 321-474-6900 to make an appointment….as always we are available on Tuesday and Thursday by appointment.

Remember…wash your hands, wash your hands……. and be sensible and safe!!!

Good Morning!!

We are working on our Speaker Series…the first Wednesday of every month….who do you want to hear from?   What subjects?   We want to make this fun and interesting and…something you want to hear about….please weigh in with your thoughts and comments……we are waiting to hear from you!

Sherry

Hi, Everyone…this week the office will be open Monday and Wednesday from 9 to 2 and Tuesday and Thursday by appt…call 321-474-6900 to schedule.

Wednesday, March 4 (can you believe it is March already??), Betsy Markle will be speaking at 6pm about Nutrition. Please RSVP at eventrsvp@drivenbyheart.org or call the office 321-474-6900.

Don’t forget to make your reservation for our 11th annual “Joy of Life” luncheon on Friday March 27 at the Rialto Hilton.  Please RSVP at Luncheon@drivenbyheart.org or call 321-474-6900.

We have a ton of bras just waiting for you, so please stop by and get what you need.   We work really hard for all of these things for our breast cancer gals and it makes us very happy when you all use them.

Almost every month we have a speaker….sometimes we have a full house, sometimes not…..let us know what you want to talk about, what concerns yo,u and what you need to know more about.  We have many resources, and we just need some feedback from you to see if we are doing what you would like…or are we missing the mark completely?   Breast cancer is a unique situation and every single woman needs to ask questions at different times in her journey….your feedback is a huge help to us…so please reach out, email, call….just let us know.  We want to help you:)

We had a great chat with Melissa Studebaker ARNP a couple of weeks ago when we talked about sexual dysfunction and some other issues that come along with breast cancer treatment….she is a huge source of information and we are lucky to have her….let us know if you have questions and concerns.

Have a great week…..I will be back with more thoughts and ideas.

Sherry