Random thoughts....

Today I had lunch at a restaurant with one of by bosses and the person that is going to be over marketing for both offices. We ate at a hamburger joint located in part of what used to be the 40 Watt! As soon as I walked in, I was like, "HEY THIS WAS PART OF THE 40 WATT!!" I looked at my doctor and said," I mean, not that I ever went to the 40 Watt...." See, my coworker (and dear, dear friend) Sherrie and I have a running joke. We tell our bosses that we are always, ALL about work. We just work, work, work... and we never smile, we are always serious and we can not laugh. We want them to realize what good employees we are. Which they know isn't in any way true because we get along marvelously! We talk and laugh all the time together! We laugh so hard that we cry sometimes! Its great! Now that being said, we do work! We work hard. We care about our practice a lot! We don't ever want to see our practice fail or else we would have to find jobs at who knows where, with who knows who?! And both of us have worked for Jack the Rippers first cousins. I know I have worked for two of them already in the past. I don't ever want to go back.
I know you might think I'm joking when I say that at former jobs, I have actually been chastised for smiling. I can clearly remember sitting in shift briefing and having a Sgt or a Lt. say,"Heide! What are you smiling about? Is there something you need to share?" For goodness sakes, I really just liked my job...but maybe a little less after that incident. It was ridiculous. I smile a lot! That's why I have crow's feet at my eyes and deep parenthesis at the sides of my mouth. Believe it or not, I do try to be positive most of the time. I tend to fall on the side with the realists but I like to try to cling to optimism. My faith causes me to believe that life does get better than this!
I know Ive mentioned Sherrie before in my blogs. But I have never told Sherrie's story. Sherrie is such an awesome person and she come from an incredible family. I LOVE Sherrie. And I say that with the real love to back that up. She is a great friend to me. And I know that God has placed her in my life for a good reason! And to tell you the truth, I gratefully appreciate his generosity with her.
Back when I went to VI the very first time for my interview, I met Sherrie, our "Office Coordinator." When I saw her I said, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" No, I didn't mean that to sound like a cheesy pick up line....But she looked so familiar to me. I racked my brain backward and forward. Her face, her voice and her name...I KNEW at some point in my life. But the crazy thing was that she lived in Atlanta and moved to Jackson Co. about 4 years ago. I knew that wasn't how I knew her. She didn't get her hair done at my mom's salon (that's always a good jumping off point). So I started to file her under the "Ive probably seen you in Walmart" folder in my mind. Then we got to talking about one of our bosses moles (but that's another story). She mentioned that she had had skin cancer. SO THAT WAS IT! As it turns out, I remembered her from the cancer treatment center! Suddenly I was able to picture her clearly in my mind sitting in one particular chair. I remember that there was confusion over her name and how to pronounce it properly (this is another story). I remember that when I met her, I thought about how young she was and about her having 2 children. I thought that it could have been me sitting there instead of her. Any one of us could be one step away from sitting in one of those chemo chairs.
Anyway, that just amazed me! That whole day was really something. I was offered my job that very day. From then on, Sherrie and I were great friends. She and I have so much in common. BUT there is so much I don't have in common with her, and those things make her even more special to me!
Sherrie not only had skin cancer about 2 years ago....
A little over 7 years ago, Sherrie was about 31 years old. She had had a bout of pneumonia that wouldn't go away. She had a couple of chest xrays but no one had shown any concern. One day one of her doctors (she didn't see the PA or another practice doc) happened to look at her xray. He noticed that something didn't look quite right. He had Sherrie go for either a CT or an MRI. She got a call back that shocked her beyond all belief...she had lung cancer. And YES, she was a smoker. She told me that when she got the news...she immediately went out and smoked a cigarette. "I was stressed so I smoked a cigarette!" Who could argue with that? A diagnosis of that kind at 31?
Sherrie ended up quitting smoking when she had surgery to remove the lower two lobes of her right lung. She did not have any chemotherapy or radiation. And some time after that (I'm not sure when) she developed Thyroid cancer. She had to have her entire thyroid removed and had to have treatment. She also had to take medication to regulate her thyroid hormones.
About 2 years ago, Sherrie found a 3.5cm spot on her leg. The dermatologist ended up cutting a large plug out of her leg. As it turned our, she ended up having to have a core out of her leg and lymph nodes removed. She had melanoma. For one year, Sherrie had to receive Interferon via IV and then give herself shots of the chemo at home. One of the major side effects of Interferon
is depression. Some people have such a hard time with it that they can develop a major depressive disorder that involves psychotic episodes and hallucinations. Its not a fun trip.
Let me back up a minute and add this about Sherrie...
After having had her lung removed, Sherrie had her first child Emily (7). Then she had a son named Connor (he is 5). So through all of this, she still had a busy family to raise. I don't know how she managed to do it all.
Sherrie asked me one day if I ever look at my life (and how good it is) and still feel kind of depressed. You know....nice husband, nice kids, nice house, running cars, excellent job.....and yet still feel down. I had to admit to her that YES I do! I tried to remind her that she has been through an awful lot. A lot more than most of us. I don't think its being ungrateful to feel depressed! GOODNESS! But we as mothers tend to see other moms make it look so easy! Some of us think that if we aren't being a parent like so and so that we cant possibly be good moms....that's just not true!
After I had Lyndi, I had several people tell me to cut myself some slack..."don't be soooo hard on yourself Marci! You just had a baby!! You are going to be tired......" Well, I felt like the worlds worst parent. I felt like I couldn't keep up. I had Lila, a newborn and a new job, no house of my own and Pete had been in Milledgeville away from us (trying to sell our house there while we were in Athens already). Oh it was a tough time. And every now and then I still have tough times (just read some of my previous posts!!!)
But I told Sherrie that God knows whats in our hearts even if its not reflected in our moods. I just have such a hard time feeling down with Sherrie around. Ive come in and been in a rotten mood due to kids or stress or a kidney stone....and she has been there for me every time! She has been a shoulder for me to cry on...nevermind that it was hormone exacerbated....that's no one else's concern!
I truly believe with all my heart that God has placed us together for some great reason. Maybe its so both of us can lean on each other when we need it. Or we can hand one another a tissue when we tell a really touching story or get to laughing too hard! I'm telling you, I love her! She is so perfectly imperfect that I love being around her. She seems to accept me and all of my oddities without even a blink! She even thinks I am funny! Now that's just crazy! A person has to have a really dorky sense of humor to get where I'm coming from! And she is so very funny! She shares with me all of her great family stories and makes me laugh until my side hurts over the crazy practical jokes they have played on each other! She comes from a family of 4 girls!
Today Sherrie went to have some follow up tests done. They did a CT of her thorax and an MRI of her brain. I pray with all of my heart that those tests show that there is not the first cancer cell in her body. She has been cancer free for 7 years. So I ask that anyone that reads my blog, to please pray for Sherrie. Please pray for friend that I love so dearly, that makes me laugh and cry. That brings me candy corn and daisies because I had a bit of a hard week one time. And she gave me a card that ponders the terms, "butt naked or buck naked?"
Please pray for her Sherrie's family: her husband Lee, daughter Emily and son Connor. Pray that this world will have my seriously funny friend around for many more decades to come!
God bless!