It IS October, after all.

Last week at work, I found myself hunting for a contact at a particular hospital. I needed to find an I.T. contact to work with for a change being made in our system to correct a problem this hospital was having interfacing with ours. We just needed to do some tests. The woman I had been working with the week before (the lab manager) was out of town. She mentioned the name of this other gal who turned out to be the honest to goodness I.T. person I needed.

I will call her Sandy. When I reached Sandy the first day she sounded like one of those 'tell me what you need and I'll get 'er done' kind of people, she understood what I was looking for and went ahead and produced it for me. I thanked her and hoped I wouldn't need to track her down again, she was very very busy.

A day later though, I got an email asking for something else from Sandy so I called her again. This time I got her voicemail saying she was working from home that day. I didn't want to push her, I mean, who knows why she was working from home that day? So I left her a message explaining what I was looking for and asking her to call me back when she could.

Late in the day I got a call and it was Sandy. She apologized to me, called me Angel, said she was so sorry it took her so long to get back to me but .. *sigh* .. she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had had a bad night the night before because of her chemo. And she was apologizing to ME! Such a sweetheart of a lady. She once again produced what I needed and I thanked her profusely, hoping she would start to feel better soon. Lame. Lame I tell ya!

This lady was not a regular client I talk to all the time. I only talked to her for the first time last week. And I really don't need to talk to her again, at least until something else comes up - and any one of a number of people other than me may handle that issue. So I may never talk to her again. But I want to call her again. I want to ask her if she uses the internet, if she has come across the many "families" of breast cancer survivors, fighters, and their loved ones all over the internet. People who put themselves out there to tell their stories to help others who may end up in that place.

I don't know her. But, I think I'm going to call her back anyway. Please - I know you have links I can give to her, resources for information and for strength and camaraderie and commiseration. Please share them with me, so I can share them with her.

Thanks!

Lexie's Bracelet

Last week I was reading Bev's Jewelry blog when she showed the steps she uses to make "Lexie's Bracelets". Lexie is a young girl who has been fighting brain cancer since she was only a few months old. She has a CaringBridge site where you can read about her, she is now 10 years old and continues the fight.

But back to Bev - she makes jewelry (Lexie's Jewelry) which she gives a portion of the proceeds of - to cancer research (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA). I thought it was a terrific thing she does, and since Lexie has recently had some measurable growth of her tumor, it would be a good time to buy me some jewels! Isn't it pretty? Made with 5 colors of Swarovski pearls and Bali silver daisy spacers, it's so simple and subtle, easily worn with almost anything! Looks good even on MY chubby wrist!












I just couldn't figure out which picture I liked best! Thanks Bev! It's beautiful!

We can all make a difference

I actually got some work done on my quilt this week, I am very proud. Doing it reminded me how enjoyable it is to sit down at a sewing machine and accomplish something. It also reminded me how much of a struggle it is to wrestle a quilt in 10 different directions with all that fabric in the way! Of course I am working on the sewing machine I received as an 8th grade graduation present in *cough cough* – 1973. Oh that was painful to say. I imagine by now they have machines that do the wrestling for you!

Luckily though, I am healthy and strong enough to continue to wrestle the old fashioned way and I am extremely grateful for those blessings. I may have gotten through my recent breast biopsy with wonderful results, but next time my answers could be different. I read a story last week about a 21 year old girl who was recently diagnosed with stage III breast cancer, and a type that is a very aggressive form of the disease. At 21 she is heading for a double mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy.

Jen, over at Get in The Car! is featuring my Etsy shop as part of her Philanthropy Thursday series, where you can read how 10% of anything purchased for the rest of the month of October will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. Jen is showing us how all of us can make a difference!