Another week of normal (as if the Saugens are ever normal... ha!)

Just some fun photos to start this post

 Johnny turned 4 last weekend and we celebrated with the Krenz boys and some Lego Ninjago moves :) 

Forest (orange shorts) has such a great coach and team this year!  So happy to see this after he sat out the season with his broken arm last year.

Been having a lot of thoughts and "feeling all the feels" these last few weeks.

I have been receiving a lot of questions on whether I have/will go to Seattle for a second opinion on my treatment plan.  Which while I recognize is what a lot of folks do, wasn't something I really thought I needed, or needed.  We had decided after our first two meetings with the surgeon that we were comfortable in Wenatchee.  After discussion with Steve a few weeks ago, we still had a few questions regarding axillary dissection of the lymph nodes which we weren't sure that we'd gotten on the information we needed (mostly because I am terrified of lymphedema...) and we thought we might go to UW medical after all.  However, after a week of doing research on our own, talking to other BC survivors and patients, and then having another frank discussion with my surgeon in Wenatchee, I have definitively decided to proceed as we had already decided.  I really do like this surgeon.  I really like staying close to home.  And I feel like based on my particular set of circumstances, the surgery planned is really the best option.  People all over the breast cancer support groups I'm finding always say to one another "go with your gut", so I am!  And it feels pretty good.  I mean as good as you can when you are approaching surgery and a year of life lived differently :)

I had to pull over on the side of the highway to write down the list of allowable foods to eat the Friday before the PET scan.  John shared his toy packaging with me to write on.

I had a PET scan yesterday.  Thanks to my momma for crocheting in the waiting room while I fed my body radioactive sugar and got pictures taken of it :)  And thanks to Steve for making the day a fun one for the boys, taking in a movie at the theater (special treat because we rarely go) and then taking them nerf gun shopping for me at Hooked on Toys.  (We had decided that I needed to stock up my new Perteet office in Wenatchee for a proper stress relieving break, so I let the boys pick out what was needed.)  Hopefully I'll receive the news Monday or Tuesday that all is clear in the other areas of my body!  While the MRI didn't show anything else concerning, apparently I have very dense tissue so this was just another check.

My momma and I headed into Radiology for the PET scan.

Settling in and pulling out her crafts...

Monday morning I'll meet Kendra and Kirsten (sisters) in Seattle to visit with the plastic surgeon who will tentatively perform my reconstruction, if/when I have it.  There are SO MANY options and SO MANY outcomes, it's mostly just a meeting to see how comfortable I am with him and whether he can appropriately answer my questions going forward.  Because I have a lot of them.  And as an added bonus, I get to have lunch with the sisters on capitol hill - I am looking forward to that!

In the last few weeks I have been overcome with gratitude for the wide circle of friends our lives.  We've been blessed with hugs, dinners, meal-train setup, kid help rotation, Schocolate (mmm), words of affirmation, prayer, texts/emails/phone calls/messages, and sincere and hilarious cards in the mail.  I can literally physically feel my gratitude sometimes - it sits the same place that anxiety sometimes does, except it's a welcome feeling, and one that makes me weepy.   I'm so thankful for all our people.

Thanks Michelle!

Thanks Stay family!

Here's to another week of getting things done and with God's grace, a successful surgery on Friday.

Jenn