My hospital is > than yours

My recent weekly visits to Sherman Hospital in Elgin have me convinced of one thing.

My hospital is > than yours...

State of the art and only a few years old, Sherman Hospital stands majestically along Randall Road conveniently across from the medical offices that contain most of my specialists.

It uses geothermal technology to help reduce energy costs and that same lake has offered me a peaceful place to meditate during my recent "liptick and heels" visits to the place I have now nicknamed "Spa Sherman"..

See with a nickname like that when I take a day off of work for treatment or tests,  put on my lipstick and heels and head out I can say I am going to the "spa".

I will always be grateful for patient and caring nurses and thorough doctors. I will always know that Sherman has given me the best local breast cancer care I could have ever asked for. I also rest at ease knowing that it is extremely clean and a place to get healthy.

But these recent visits have also shown me that it can be a place of tranquility, beauty, continuous life and not just of tests, treatments, anxiety, and uncertainty.

A walk around the nature filled place of happiness that sits directly behind Sherman offers a place where you can get away and gather your thoughts. A place of peace where life is abound.

Beautiful flowers line the lake, various wildlife play happily in its waters and on its shores. Resting benches in memorioum remind us that when we leave this Earth we are not forgotten if we have lived our live with purpose.

I am grateful for this getaway place to make my visits to Sherman a peaceful endeavour. And as a frrequent visitor to "Spa Sherman"  I am quite certain that my hospital is > than yours.

When you're waiting...

When you're waiting for test results and insurance approval for more tests and you have stage IV breast cancer what do you do with your time.

Well....when your life is lived in lipstick and heels...YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE!

A full day of work thanks to changes in the Affordable Care Act and last minute changes by the Treasury Department had me hopping in my patriot heels today.

Happy 4th of July!!!

It's time to celebrate freedom and LIFE!

When you have a rough day and your lipstick gets smeared

Fighting like a girl in lipstick in heels is tougher than heavy weight boxing.

Especially on those day when you have to face a bone scan and business all in one day. Not like I have had one of those days or anything.

That's a day when your lipstick might get a bit smeared...and your going to break a heel.

Here's my advice for those days when you are Fighting Like A Girl in Lipstick and Heels....and the day makes you feel like a heavy weight boxer...

If you throw the book at me....a day at the oncologist office.

Week two of the every Tuesday circus coming to town tests has come and gone.

Of course I went to my oncologist in lipstick and heels....would you expect anything less.

The drive to your oncologist is worse than any other I can even imagine. I drive a black Mustang convertible and it is a warm day in June....not even top down with my favorite tunes jamming is this drive pleasurable in anyway.

EVEN in Lipstick and Heels..blonde hair blowing behind me....Raybans on.....I cannot make a drive to an oncologist cool in anyway.

The walk to the elevator seems like eternity...and the chatty drug reps in the elevator who tell me I look pretty and they love my scarf....well I'm sure they had no idea that I was fighting like a girl....but they appreciated the lipstick and heels...and I guess the scarf too.

Two and a half hours later...my oncologist wants to throw the book at me.  MORE tests!!!!

Really?! Well your blood pressure is high too...ummmm?

NO REALLY?! Wouldn't yours be?

Well and your CA125 levels are elevated.  We just need to be sure. So we need another CT scan.

Are you kidding me...besides the ones already scheduled?

MY CA what?! The whole time I am thinking I need to Google that later.

Well when you're fighting like a girl....in lipstick and heels you should know if you throw the book at me....I will just read it, write a review on it, share the book to help others, and then write my own book!!!

That's how you fight cancer in lipstick and heels...always heels!

So go ahead Doc...throw the book at me!

Shy believe it or not

I am shy believe it or not.....

I don't always say what's on my mind...though I think it.

Yep I'm shy....

At my Mom's second marriage I hid under her polyester gray skirt...those are the wedding photos. I was five.

Called on in class....I usually knew the answer but said nothing. So shy... I said nothing.

Forced to get my driver's license in 1987 on my actually birthday...I think I was sick to my stomach.

Also on my 16th birthday, my Mom said you need to get a job. Drive the car....the one I just bought with my babysitting money and interview for the job. I did. On my 16th birthday, I got the job. I was so horrified I cried.

The first time I had to put gas in my car....my hands shook not because I had to pump gas but because I had  to talk to and pay the attendant...yep...I was that shy.

In high school everyone thought I was so aloof, a snob, stuck up.....nope...horribly shy.

Shyness reached well into my adulthood.....affecting me almost everyday.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2004....I realized that my shyness would actually hurt me. I had to ask tough questions and get tough answers. I had to have thicker skin and question authority. I had to make tough choices and accept the criticism of those who didn't understand my choices. These were so far out of my comfort zone it made me sick to stomach to think about. It kept me up at night.

By this time I had moved somewhat out of my box but a cancer diagnosis pushes you so far out of the box and then crushes it so you are left looking around with exposed to the world. You have two choices you can run and hide or you can fight.

I choose to fight...to "Fight like a girl, in lipstick and heels" and while I am often criticized for my coping methods....they are MY coping methods. Until you walk a day in my heels, criticizing me and my fight seems a little unfair. Even my doctor says I do it my way. "MY WAY" certainly isn't right for everyone and may be unconventional but it works for me. It allows me to overcome the shyness and insecurities that have plagued me since childhood and allows to be stay alive.

There will always be haters in your life. Those who disagree with your decisions, those who don't like your honesty and rawness, those who think you do things for the wrong reasons. When I lost the comfort of my box I also learned to slowly let go of those who don't have your best interests at heart. They are the negative nellies of the world who would suck out the last breathe of your life if possible.

Loosing the negativity gave me strength beyond my lipstick and heels. It gave me courage. Accepting that people might not like me or understand me gave me the freedom to be me.....the real me. Not the woman who hid in the box.

So believe it or not...I'm still shy. I just lost the box that covered it up well. I still feel insecurities and vulnerability even when I have on my lipstick and heels. The difference now is I am strong enough to admit those insecurities and vulnerabilities and to not let control my life or my fight for my life. I have to strength and courage to let myself be comfortable in my own skin...whether other people like me or not.

So even though everyone might not agree....I think I will continue to "Fight like a girl, in lipstick and heels...always heels">

How did I get through the day...well duh...my lipstick and heels...

Triple Negative Stage IV breast cancer and you're called to the hospital for tests......multiple three week, clear every Tuesday for tests...kind of tests...Throw the book, circus is coming to town kind of tests.....Ain't no body got time for that.

Really...I am quite certain I have kicked this ass more than once.

Hello...do you know who I am? .......Crickets...apparently not. Ugh!

Have you ever been summoned to the principals office?  I was a really good kid. I feared that walk to the principal's office.

Now I have been summoned.

Stupid Cancer...well I believe on Facebook I said Dumb....Stupid...F...ing cancer but my Dad had passed away the very same day. So...any leeway?

NO

Ummm...my daughter is turning Sweet 16...reprieve?

NO!

Ummmm? My business and philanthropic missions are really booming right now...so it can wait...right?!

NO!!!!

So I have time in October?

NO!!!!!!!

Stupid Cancer.

So I put away the thongs and put on my big girl panties....wait...wait...wait...what if I don't wear underwear?! Crap now what do I do?

What I always do...lipstick and heels...always lipstick and heels.

Every damn time that ambulance pulled into my driveway I said no...wait...shoes...always heels.  They never let me put on the lipstick but since the bus isn't here I am in control.

So now walking into the hospital on a bright early (much to her dismay) Tuesday morning my beautiful daughter and confidante says...Mom..."Really you wore Mac lipstick and heels to your hospital visit?"

"I'm bumming hard"

"Well you're not fighting for life...lipstick and heels...always lipstick and heels"

"Reallly"

"REALLY"

My sweet daughter held my hand all day...even with awkward hospital dressings.....but wouldn't let me take selfies :-(

In the end...there were HIGH FIVES all around. It's odd when having a 5cm cyst causing pain good news...but hell we will take "surgical aspiration" over chemo any day.

Stupid cancer...why are the tumor markers on the move?

Next week...CAT Scan and in July the dreaded PET Scan.

STUPID CANCER...I don't have time for this.

Ingo Family holiday weekend in lipstick and SOX gear?

With a set back in my health just a week prior and big stuff on the job I was a little nervous and anxious about the holiday weekend.

That could also have been because I was awaiting the arrival of my baby brother from Florida for a much needed visit too.

Scrambles of house cleaning and preparation lead up to the big day only to be let down when United Airlines couldn't seem to deliver my Memorial Day weekend gift on time.

Tenacity runs in the family...my brother wasn't going to let some airline delays get in the way of getting back to Illinois for some holiday fun.  He took a two hour taxi to Tampa so that he could catch the next available plane to Houston to change planes onto to Chicago....that's determination!

Frustrated, I put on my heels and headed to the office to pass the time and get some work done.  You know me...idle time is time wasted.

It was 6 hours later when I circled O'Hare International airport waiting impatiently for Frank to get his baggage out of baggage claim.

Whoot! Whoot!

The Ingo Family weekend was about to begin and I was feeling happy to be alive!

First stop Portillo's of course....a Chicago favorite! Hotdogs, beef sandwiches, and CHEESY FRIES. Life is good!

Saturday was supposed to be a thrilling day at Great America but you see in Chicago...Mother Nature is a bit bi-polar so when we woke the temperature was 44 degrees. So much for thrill rides at Great America.

No worries though...the Ingos are go with the flow kind of folks and we also are VERY competitive!

So a little cosmic bowling and laser tag was in order followed by some buffalo wings and beers at the nearest watering hole where we could sit all night and watch the Chicago Blackhawks in the playoffs.

This fight like a girl of course won every game of bowling....what cancer?

When you get late night munchies....you order DEEP DISH CHICAGO PIZZA!

Day 2 brought lipstick and SOX Gear?! Now that's love.  This die hard North side Cubs fan downed White Sox gear because that's what the people I love wanted and headed to the South side.I even accessorized my Sox gear with pearls of course and lipstick...red lipstick! Would you expect anything else from this fight like a girl? My best accessory I think was the permanent smile I had ALL weekend!

What no heels?! Yep this fight like a girl....gave up the heels just for this day. 

A beautiful weather day and a ton of family fun kept us laughing and having fun no matter what team was playing.

White Sox win, a tour of Chinatown, and cruising in the Mustang top down...that's Ingo Family fun!

The weekend was a whirl wind of family, fun, and food. I didn't eat like I was fighting like a girl that's for sure.  But when your brother only comes to Chi-town once every year or so you can be a little naughty.

What an awesome Memorial Day weekend to be alive!

Tuesday is for getting back to fighting like a girl in lipstick and heels...always heels!