March 18

DiepCJourney ~ One Year Anniversary

I can’t believe that I am celebrating the One Year Anniversary of DiepCJourney!  Here is my very first blog post from a year ago.

‘Twas a wonderful St. Paddy’s day evening with my artist, Meagan, and her family and friends. It couldn’t have been a more memorable night sharing a pint of Guinness and celebrating the launch of my website. I taught two of Meagan’s three daughters so seeing the “wee little ones” last evening was even more of a bonus for this teacher/educator.

The days leading up to the launch were hectic, exhilarating, head banging and joyful all occurring at random days and at different times. My biggest concern was opening the blog with so little content. Then I went back a year in time to the day I started back to earn my M.Ed. after being away from academia for over three decades.  I had been the teacher and now I was the student.

Some of my classes were on-line and others were in-class. I wanted a combination of both and chose my classes carefully to match my learning style.  One of my first classes was a research class that I purposefully chose to be in classroom vs. on-line. I’m going to try really hard not to use expletive deleted vocabulary in my blogs but that research class was a “holy #*@&*” kind of moment for me. My head was spinning after the first class. My instructor was a short but mighty elder professor of German decent.  She began her  educational training in Germany and had an imposing accent that held your attention. She had an impressive list of accomplishments and I think she realized that I was intimidated not only by her but by the content and expectations of the class. I caught her studying my fearful face and she would discreetly pass a grin my way as if to say, “You’re going to make it.” As it turned out, she became a cherished friend to us all in that class. On the last night of instruction we all went out and celebrated enjoying libations and lots of casual and fun chat basking in the completion of our presentations that evening not to mention finals and the coursework.

Reflecting back on that first night of class I remember the expression reflected by my fellow classmates. We all had the “deer in the headlights look” leaving class that night. They were all educators like me, but unlike me, most of them took this class as they were completing requirements, not just beginning their coursework. We walked out of the classroom at the end of our first night, eyes rolling in the back of our heads saying, “This is going to be one of the hardest classes ever and I just hope I get through it.”

Failure is Not an Option

I came very close to failing the midterm. I was devastated. But that motivated me even more to dig in my heels, swallow my educators pride and humbly start asking if not begging my professor for help and guidance. It’s almost as if she set me up to do that as part of the learning process of the class. It worked. I started devouring research articles and tearing them apart as best a neophyte could.  It became a bit addicting and it was both heady and empowering to me. I ended up acing the class. Boo yah because I set a goal of maintain a 4.0 in grad school and it was almost derailed four weeks into my coursework.  I aced the class but credit my motivational professor and collaborative classmates for my “A”.

Onward and upward! Little did I know how much that class and others I took would serve their purpose well beyond the months following my second diagnosis.  It was during the end of my first semester of attaining my M.Ed. that I received my second breast cancer diagnosis.

What that class did was truly helped guide me in researching DIEP flap breast reconstruction surgery and in finding the best possible micro-surgeon to perform the procedure.  I found the best!

Blog Content at Ground Zero

I return to my comment regarding my concerns about opening my blog with so little content. I had zero content when I started back to attain my M.Ed. There is always that “ground zero” where we all have to start. So it is with this blog post. I am still very much at ground zero. Send me your responses while viewing the webpage over a cup of tea or coffee. With your input, questions and concerns we will watch together as the content grows. You are as much a part of this webpage as I am. So to that end I will nourish my passion for advocating for breast reconstruction options, educating, writing and researching (in no particular order) and promise to cultivate the webpage to serve and help you. Stick around, share your thoughts and I promise to do the same.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.     ~ Henry Ford

 

Disclaimer

References made to my surgical group, surgeon and healthcare team are made because they are aligned with my values and met my criterion after I did research of their practices and success rates. Any other healthcare provider that displays the same skill, compassion education and outreach to patients will be given consideration and recognition on this website.  The information contained on this website is not a substitute for or should be construed as medical advice. Please consult a licensed physician for medical advice.