"Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair."

That was said by Edmund Burke a British Statesman and Philosopher who lived from 1729 - 1797. Look him up on Google, he said a lot of other good stuff such as, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing."

Two of my favorite movies are Pollyanna and the Wizard of Oz; they each have a message for me. Pollyanna was determined to only see the positive; she is one of my role models (ok, I know she is not a real person). Dorothy had to learn the lesson that everything she ever really wanted was always there. For a few days last week I forgot the lessons I have learned from Pollyanna and Dorothy.

After feeling scared and sorry for myself for a couple of days, I realized that I could choose to not receive the results of the CAT and Bone Scans. Instead, I could ask my doctor to only tell me when and where to report to and what time I needed stop eating. Whew...I do have some choices (aka CONTROL)!

And then some good things started happening.....

I met Donna through e-mail. Jim, a business associate, told Donna about me and passed on my e-mail address. Donna has recently finished chemo and radiation for breast cancer. Not only was Donna understanding and supportive, she also answered some questions I had about dealing with chemo. Donna is waiting for test results that will tell her she is a one-year survivor.

Next I heard about Denise, a friend of my friend Coleen. Denise is a five year survivor of breast cancer and she also had fourteen lymph nodes involved. Yahoo...someone with as many lymph nodes involved as I have has made it to five years!

And then I read an article in the Bakersfield Californian yesterday about the HER2 Sisterhood; a group of about fourteen women receiving treatment at the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center. Each of these women are HER2 positive and at some point have taken Herceptin; the drug that specifically targets the HER2 protein. Each of these women have a story to tell, but the story that jumped out at me was Germaine's. The article stated that Germaine was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and a year later the cancer had spread to her liver. She has been on Herceptin for ten years. Did you get what jumped out at me....she has lived for ten years! Randy and I were very encouraged by the success of Herceptin for Germaine!

Let me wrap this up by bringing it back to Pollyanna and Dorothy. Their lesson for me is, why waste today by worrying about something bad that may or may not happen tomorrow when I really have what I want today - to be with my family.

Our Lord said it better than I, Pollyanna, or Dorothy; "Which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?" Luke 12:25

I have today and I will try to remember what the writer of Psalms 118 wrote, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." vs. 24