Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Bye Bye Boobie Pre-Mastectomy Party


One of the greatest blessing in my life has been the relationship I have with what I lovingly refer to as "The Girlfriends". We have raised our kids together, went through the loss of parents together, watched our children leave the nest one by one together and celebrated numerous milestones of life together. We are close knit, bound together and very protective of our relationship. Our friendship isn't something that just happened over night, it evolved over time with each and every twist and turn that life has thrown our way. As we've gotten older we have begun to realize that it is a unique bond that is not only shared by us, but also by our husbands and children. We are a family. Three weeks ago, one of the girlfriends receive the dreaded news that she had breast cancer. It actually took about a week for it to really sink in that this was happening to her. She took the news with incredible faith and has the best outlook possible. Tomorrow she faces a total mastectomy. A surgery like that is just... well, words can't really describe but monumental will have to do. We felt that something like that just couldn't happen without some sort of recognition so we decided to throw a "Bye Bye Boobie Party". When I first told my husband, he was like, "hmm, you think that is really appropriate"? Actually next to a prayer meeting (we are in constant prayer concerning this already) I couldn't think of anything more appropriate. We've got one of two ways to look at this, one is with dread and the other is a sense of humor. Out of those two options we all agreed humor would serve her much better than doom and gloom, so let the party begin. Last night we partied with a precious boob cake, she wore a boob crown and we told boob jokes.... It was all things boobs. We wore our cancer awareness pink snuggies and toward the end of the evening we ventured outside with boob balloons in hand to let go and say goodbye to her boob. It was one of the sweetest memories I have, the love, the support and the fun had by all. The next few months will not be fun for her or for us. There will be times when she doesn't feel well or feel positive and we are preparing ourselves for that time. The best we can do is just be there for her and love her through this. As our boob balloons floated away into the night sky we all waved and realized the possibility that if this could happen to her, a woman of tremendous faith, it could happen to any of us. It made us aware that hey, we need to get those annual mammos and do regular exams. It also made us even more aware that our relationship is even more important in times like these. When you have to say goodbye, it's nice to have others standing with you to hold your hand, wipe a tear and maybe even crack a joke.. After all what are friends for.






11 comments:

  1. wow, after seeing your pics and reading your post, all I can say is how incredibly wonderful it must be to have the friendships you all share. Not the kind that sooner/later fade b/c your lives change, but the kind that changes your life. I've known Mary was a great woman of faith since I've known her, but she has far exceeded that knowledge in the last few weeks and after reading about the relationships you all share, so have all of you. I truly believe that God sent my family to our church for the amazing people there to minister to us, and they've done that. I never imagined they would minister in such a transforming way and I'm so humbled and grateful to know you all.

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  2. Thanks for the party ideas! I'm going to have a booby shower for my double mastectomy!
    Now how can I register for bras...

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  3. thank you for the smile :) I will let my mother know, she is facing a mastectomy on Feb. 5th...

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  4. Outstanding! My best friend just got the news yesterday that she is also facing a double-mastectomy and I thought 'we need to throw a going away party'. It didn't take long to figure out I'm not the first to have this idea! We've been best friends since birth and she is the creative, imaginitive one, so I'm thankful for this resource for ideas! God bless you for sharing the info!

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  5. My BFF at age 40 was diagnosed with stage 3. She has endured nearly 6 months of chemo and now faces the double mastectomy (cancer was too far spread to do mastectomy first). I spent an entire day trying to find a mastectomy nightie for her to try to help her feel pretty and sexy again, but instead of that all I found were padded grannie bras with drainage holes. I cried for hours that this was the fate of my best friend- at 40 years old- and then I found this blog. Made me laugh and smile. We may not be as old as you, but in another 10-20 years we will be writing the same thing about The Girlfriends.
    Thanks for sharing, looking forward to our boobie party too in 2 months!! (my daughter asked if that was a party where we all walked around without shirts on!)

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  6. You know what Tammy, have as much fun with the party as you possibly can! It's her boobie party and if flaunting them for the last time makes her happy then I say "Take those shirts off!" It's a long difficult battle to watch, but I'm glad we started it together with smiles on our faces and arms around our necks. My friend is doing AMAZING now!!

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  7. I am so glad I found this sight. I am now completing my invitations and menu for a "Final Farewell to the GIRLZ" dinner party. The one idea that I found SO touching was to release the ballons at the end of the dinner. I teared up reading it, but now, I HAVE to find BOOB balloons! You are so right,....as the one getting ready for this, I decided that I have cried and mourned enough,...it's time to laugh and be thankful for doctors who have the knowledge to cure me and all the family and friends who are supporting me. Thanks!

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  9. Beatiful!!! A group of us our throwing our friend who survived breast cancer a new boobie party. Where are the balloons from?
    Sending tons of well thoughts and prayers your way!
    Erica
    Avasm0116@yahoo.com

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  11. You can find the boob balloons at grownfolkparty.com - lots of fun boob party favors too! This is such a wonderful idea!

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