Working Out

In the last 3 years, I've grown very fond of working out. It's a little bit addictive, very hard to sometimes work into an already busy day, but very much a way to relieve some school stress!! I thought I was tough enough to do the Tulsa Run (which by the way is tomorrow). I began training right after my 40th birthday in June. I ran my heart out. But something very strange happened to me on my 17th wedding anniversary on August 2. It was a Saturday and unfortunately Kevin had to work all day long. My nephews were here from Illinois and it was stinking HOT!! So, being the awesome aunt and mom that I am, I loaded up all 6 kids and took them to a water park all day long!!! Man, we had loads of fun. But the fun kind of came to stand-still when I got home and received the mail. I had a mammogram done in July right after we got back from our vacation. And at that very moment when I opened up the envelope from the hospital I began crying like I had never cried before. The letter read that there was an abnormality and I needed to have further testing done. Of course I get this on a Saturday...no way of talking to a doctor til Monday. I was scared. In the midst of all of this, I crumbled. I thought I was a strong person. In some ways those feelings of being invincible came crashing in. I called the doctor's office first thing Monday morning...only to find out my doctor was on a 2 week vacation. However, there was someone availabe for me to talk to and assured me that whatever the abnormality was, it certainly didn't appear to be anything worth worrying about. That should have made me feel better, but I was still scared. So, at the end of that week, I went back to the hospital and I'm telling you...I got the boob smashing of a lifetime. I let them squeeze down hard until it was as flat as a pancake. And guess what?? It ended up being nothing. That "nothing" was something for me. I lost 4 pounds in 6 days....got about a few hours of sleep for a week's time....and spent much time in God's word looking for an answer, a Word from Him. He held me close to Him while I was being re-examined and that felt so good!! I guess it helped me to put some things in perspective that were kind of out of whack. The working out and running addiction that I had taken on so seriously suddenly didn't seem like a huge deal anymore. I kind of stopped the working out thing. I got back into it last month and it feels good again....If you are in your 30's, please get your first mammogram now!! Don't wait til you are 40. And take it from me....if you happen to get a nasty gram about the results....I learned through that whole process that apparently it happens quite a bit. But get the follow-up done quickly and being very diligent about those routine exams.