I just received this free scarf in the mail from Good Wishes Scarves and I LOVE it!! I got to put three different styles that I liked on the request form and they sent me my favorite one! And not only that, they sent me this card with it.
When I opened it up and saw all of the handwritten signatures, I nearly cried. What a beautiful gesture from perfect strangers! Their mission, as per their website, is
to provide free of charge, one beautiful It's a Wrap© or Good Wishes
Scarf to anyone experiencing the thinning or loss of hair as a result of
illness or treatment. Our goal is to in some small way ease their
journey, provide a small bit of comfort and share the power of positive
thinking and good wishes with these individuals on their path to healing
and recovery.
How beautiful is that?! The kids and I are switching our "Therapeutic Thursday" to "Service Saturday", when we will be serving in a nursing home with some people from Covenant Grove Church. However, we still got to have Therapeutic Thursday, on the receiving end this time! (If you are unfamiliar with what I'm referring to when I talk about Therapeutic Thursday, you can find out all about it here.) What a ray of sunshine it was in my day!
Thank you to all of you at Good Wishes Scarves. You have blessed me today.
Today is a rainy, sticky, gloomy day here in Modesto. Gabby and I decided that for Therapeutic Thursday, we would try to take some of that gloom away for a couple people. We went to OSH and purchased two small ornamental pots of daisies, one with yellow flowers and one with purple ones. We then took these pots to Sutter Gould Oncology department, where I get my chemo treatments. I was really, really nervous about this, but I thought if I'm asking others to stretch themselves, I should be willing to stretch myself too, so I went with it. And as Gabby put it so well, "what in the world are you afraid they're going to do, Mom?!"
My plan was to pick out two patients, give them the flowers and leave, but when we got to the waiting area, there were no bald people!! How in the world was I supposed to know who was a patient and who was just waiting for someone if no one was advertising their cancer on their bald heads?! Oh, well. I decided to chance it. There was a woman who looked to be in her seventies sitting reading a book. I approached her and said: "Excuse me. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you are receiving treatment here today." She looked at me with a bit of a confused look on her face and said that yes, she was receiving treatment. I introduced myself and Gabby and told her that I have been receiving treatment there and that when we woke up and saw what a gloomy day it was, we thought it would be especially gloomy to have to do chemo on such a rainy day, so we thought we'd bring some color to undo some of that gloom. The woman was named Mirna, and she and I spoke for quite some time. I found out that she had breast cancer eleven years ago and that it had come back and she was receiving chemo injections in her hips every month. She was a very kind and personable woman and when the nurse called her back, she said thank you, and told us that she would pay it forward.
Then came the hard part. Everyone in the lobby now knew what we were doing and we had one pot left. Who in the world should we give it to? Gabby had originally planned on giving one out herself, but when it came time to choose, she asked me to do it. I noticed an elderly woman watching us and decided to go over to talk to her. She was sitting with a gentleman her age and another woman whom I assume was her daughter. I introduced myself and found out her name was Mary. She was not cheerful or kind like Mirna and to be honest, I'm not sure what she thought of our attempt to brighten her day. She took the flowers, but did not appear interested in any type of conversation. Her daughter, however, teared up when we presented the flowers, and I don't think it was allergies.
I noticed as we walked out of the waiting room that these two gifts had impacted most of the people there. Many were smiling as we left and I realized that even though only two people received flowers, a bit of the gloom had lifted for the rest of us as well.
Not feeling so hot today, so I shouldn't be on here too long, but I didn't want to post an update and request some prayers. I went in on Wednesday and my blood counts were really good. Even my red blood cells were in the black, which they never were ever before chemo, so that's a HUGE answer to prayer.
I had my second dose of Adriamycin and Cytoxin with no problems. We could, however, use your continued prayers. Jason has had a pretty high fever (102) for three days now. James is getting congested, and as an asthmatic, that's not something we take lightly with him. We've started him on his inhalers and he's not acting sick, other than the cough, so we're hoping it will turn out to be nothing. Gabby claims to have a scratchy throat, but she wanted a cough drop, so who knows ;-).
I was so tired from the meds and chemo that I neglected Therapeutic Thursday. Instead I would like to share this beautiful story someone shared with me on the condition I would keep it anonymous. Whether it took place on a Thursday or not, it is EXACTLY the type of stories I'm hoping we will all start duplicating on a regular basis.
I was at Walmart the other day picking up new sheets for [my daughter's] bed.
As I'm standing in the checkout line I realize the woman in front of me
has about 30 items in the speed check out. I started to get frustrated…
Because what is she doing in the speedy checkout line you know? Then I
realize as they're ringing up that the lady is very carefully counting
and watching as the total cost. She gets very close to purchasing
everything and realizes that she doesn't have enough money. I watch as
this mom obviously embarrassed and her 12 or 13-year-old daughter start
putting items back. Starting with a jacket for herself, two T-shirts for
herself, a shirt for her daughter, and a pair of shoes for a little boy
who wasn't there, I'm assuming her son and a pair shoes for her
daughter. I started to get a little upset… And not really thinking about
her but thinking about where I was when it was just [my daughter] and I and how
hard it was to make ends meet. As the checkout lady is ringing me out I
asked her how much the shoes were and both parents were just under $20
together. I purchased them left my wallet with the checkout lady so I
could run and catch them before they left. As I handed the lady that
bag, all I could say was "These are for you." She said "Really? Are you
sure?" I said "Yes" and her. Daughter started crying...just a little.
This story started out with me being frustrated because a lady in front
of me had more than 10 items in the speedy checkout line and ended with
me having five people waiting behind me so I could run out and bless
this family and the checker. She couldn't believe what I was doing. Who
in their right mind would help people like that?
My bad attitude, God's prompting and a little compassion.
Today is the first Thursday since I decided to embark on Therapeutic Thursdays. I came up with an idea last night of what I wanted to do, but when I awoke this morning, I wasn't feeling well. I hoped that I could shake the fatigue and go out after a couple hours, but it didn't happen, so I shelved my original idea for a different week, and went back to the drawing board.
To be honest, I've wrestled way more with this than I needed to over the last twenty-four hours, and I found myself falling into a few traps. The main one was that I started to try to think of someone who "deserved" something special, then realized that defeated the point! I want to spread love to all, not just those who "deserve" it! I also found that the more I thought about what I wanted to do, the more I worried that people would think I was crazy, and I stressed about how I would explain why I was giving away what I was giving if I got "caught".
The act itself was completely uneventful. We had some Regal Cinemas gift cards that were given to us as a Christmas gift, but hadn't used yet. I used a blank card I had, wrote "Please enjoy a movie on us.", and enclosed the gift cards. On the way to pick up the kids, I left it in the stroller on the doorstep of a family who lives down the street from us. They have three young children, kindergarten and under. I've said hi to them many times, but have never officially met them, so they qualify as strangers ;-).
All in all, the first Therapeutic Thursday went off well. Those of you who have joined me on this adventure, please comment below with your stories. I'm hoping that we will all be inspired by what others have done, and may even get some ideas of our own from your adventures.
I mentioned in one of my previous posts that God is using my cancer to heal me of some past hurts. I was pondering this last night when I couldn't sleep and I came up with an idea that I'd like your help with. Let me explain how.
One of the outcomes of the two years leading up to my cancer was that I really began to believe that most people are cruel and heartless and that most of us really don't care about others. My cancer journey has helped me to realize that this is not the case. Many, many people, even perfect strangers, have shown me so much love, and I would like to take this a step further. I'm hoping you will join me.
I'm going to start Therapeutic Thursdays. Every Thursday, no matter how sick, weak, or tired I feel, I plan to intentionally show love to a stranger. The reason I decided to do this toward strangers is that I find it easy to love on the people I like. It can be much harder to do if I don't know if the person "deserves" my love or not. I've also found that some of the moments that have warmed, and healed, my heart the most have been when I've been shown love from someone who didn't even know me.
Sometimes, Therapeutic Thursday may mean paying for the coffee for the people behind me in the Starbucks line. Maybe it will come in the form of flowers and a card on the doorstep of one of my neighbors that I have never met. Perhaps I will pack a picnic lunch, head down to a park, and have lunch with a homeless person. On a cold, rainy day, I may buy an extra cup of coffee and give it to someone, with a hug. (By the way, you would be surprised how many people are receptive to hugs from strangers. It's a free way to put a smile on someone's face, but make sure you ask first, or they might call the cops ;-).) I'm hoping many of you will have your own ideas of what Therapeutic Thursday could look like. The sky is the limit, really. Every Thursday, I will blog about the experience and am hoping that many of you will jump on board and comment about your own experiences. I'd like to show the world that love still abounds and I'd like to inspire us all to make a conscious effort to spread it.
It would mean a lot to me if you would join me on this journey. Do your own deeds of kindness and comment on the Therapeutic Thursday posts with your own stories. If you would like a reminder, comment on this post and I will email or text you (whichever you'd prefer) a reminder every Thursday morning, starting tomorrow. Let's bring some smiles back into this world!
