" You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, You're out of the night. Step into the sun, Step into the light. Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place On the Face of the Earth or the sky."

" You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, You're out of the night. Step into the sun, Step into the light. Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place On the Face of the Earth or the sky. Hold onto your breath, Hold onto your heart, Hold onto your hope. March up to the gate and bid it open. "   Optimistic Voices Wizard of Oz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nudp1vbaEYE&feature=related

Dear Lord, what did I expect these wonderful people to do for me ???   No one can wave a magic wand and make it all go away.   I wonder if anyone was more excited to arrive at a Cancer Institute around 11:00 in the morning than I was yesterday ???

  arriving at Roswell Park Cancer Institute with my signature Blessing Basket

As soon as I walked into the front doors I was astounded by the similarity I felt to being in the Charlotte, North Carolina Airport, my favorite place for travel trip layovers.   You know, the sunny atrium room with all the really cool, white rocking chairs all lined up near the food court with the good Mexican Enchiladas and the piano bar.  

Well this place has a piano in the lobby too. The young man behind the piano must have played non stop for hours; Claire de lune, fur Elise and Somewhere in Time to mention a few.

There is really kewl art work everywhere, in fact, I found one in a hallway by Dianne Baker a local artist I know and am Linked in with in Buffalo. The furniture in the lobby are really comfortable arts and craft Mission style seating. Everyone from the greeters at the front Information desk, the lovely lady who begins the process of registration as new patient, to the lady who takes insurance and contact information is super nice. Everyone was dressed in really nice, bright, autumnal hues and wears a bright welcoming smile.

I filled out five pages of family history facts, listed all of the vitamins supplements that have been added over the years to my regiment of daily heath habits.  Instead of waiting in a confined space, I chose instead to wait out in the open hall/ balcony where we could enjoy more serene art photos of plants, candles and outdoor scenes.  The nearly two hours in the hall flew by as I occupied my time; people watching, smiling, doing modified Quigong exercises so I did not frighten anyone and reading a magazine about botanical gardens.  

After blood pressure check, body fat/ to weight measure, height and more questions about my vitamins I was back out in the big balcony area for more people watching.  Since I was not very hungry in the morning and had not finished my breakfast it was around 1:00 when I started to get hungry and thirsty for water. No sooner had I mentioned needing a drink of water when two lovely ladies appeared around the pole with a cart full of goodies.  " May I purchase a water from you? " I inquired. 
No this is water is for free they said with a smile.  I passed on the candy as I drank the much coveted water down in a flash.



inside the patients examination room at last ;~)





 After awhile a nice, young intern comes in to hear my story.  She has seen my films and read my reports but she wants to hear my story before she beings to examine my breasts. 

 Then the waiting goes on for about another hour before the doctor arrives apologizing for the delay.
 " No problem I tell everyone, I am just so excited and thankful to be here ;~)"  They seemed surprised and the intern says something to the effect that not many people thank them for being there. 

YES !!!  I have an Attitude of Gratitude for Roswell Park, for the doctors and staff, for the people who donated money to make this wonderful institutions available to me at such a time as this, for the people who had cancer before me and were part of research groups that allowed us to benefit from present day technology. 

YES, I have an Attitude of Gratitude for all of this and more because having a sprinkling of cancer cells is allowing me to grow and meet people I never could have before. 

So the BIG NEWS is  " RELAX Carol, you are not going to die from DCIS Breast Cancer."

  In fact, the cancer has been caught at such an early stage that now I have options to choose what treatment I want to select.  I have been breaking this experience down into baby steps. 

Next step is genetic testing to see if I did inherit breast cancer from my mother.  Driving my papers back to Roswell Park today to expedite the process.

Please come back to visit my blog again as I share my adventures in Breast Cancer in hopes that I will ease the fears and burdens for somebody else through sharing my experiences.