Laura had an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner to receive education on the next set of treatments. There would be six sessions of chemotherapy. These treatments should end sometime in October or early November.Laura has a long-standing relationship/friendship with this Nurse Practitioner. She was someone Laura trusted. Laura had a list of questions she wanted to ask. Her first and most important one was… “Is chemo the only option?” Her answer was yes. She did tell her these chemo treatments should be easier for her to tolerate. It shouldn’t make her feel so sick. Laura asked another question… “Is all the cancer gone?” The Nurse Practitioner never really gave her…

“I look funny and kind of weird.” Laura described how she looked. I asked her if she was okay that first time. I knew it had to be hard. I’m sure she was nervous. Who wouldn’t be? I think it would be a scary thing to do. In my mind I figured Laura would be able to handle it. She is strong. Things that bother others, wouldn’t bother her. To be honest… We never talked about it. She never brought it up. I didn’t either. I don’t know why. Laura seemed okay having the mastectomy. It was the other stuff she couldn’t handle. It doesn’t matter to her how she…

 It was nice to be home.     Wearing David’s shirts became quite the norm and quite humorous, as they were huge on Laura.  She chose to wear them since they were the only shirts big enough to cover the contraption of bandages and drain tubes.  Laura had a double mastectomy, so she had drain tubes on both sides.  David’s shirts were comfortable, they were easy to get on since they buttoned down the front.  To Laura, wearing David’s shirts made her feel safe.    Adjusting to the challenges of the drain tubes was probably the hardest of all.  Laura said there was so much drainage and finding a new way…

  Monday, May 11th, 2015   Surgery Day. Laura had to be at the hospital by 6 A.M.  So I wanted to be sure to catch her before she left. This was my 5:00 text…   ‘Well I have thought all night on what I want to say to you this morning.  I always have something to say on those big days.  The only thing that kept coming to my mind was this…  ‘You have had everything you have ever needed all along.  You have had Faith.  You have had Hope and you have Love’.  There have been so many people supporting you and cheering you on.  Laura was the one…

  Wednesday, April 15, 2015.  LAST CHEMO DAY!! Counts were up where they should be, and chemo was a go!  Laura was FINALLY going to be able to put chemotherapy behind her.    Laura was so excited for this day.  She sent out a text the night before, asking everyone to wear their shirts.  Laura didn’t need to ask any of us, the girls at work had already planned to.  Recently we had some shirts made.  Grey in color with pink lettering.  Words printed across the front… ‘Hope, Faith, Love’ and of course… ‘Team Stagg’ in bold letters across the bottom.  Laura’s family and friends all had them.  Wearing them…

  It was Easter weekend.  Laura was planning for the big holiday meal.  Rachel had been dating Austin for a few months now, and their relationship was becoming more serious.  The two met while Rachel was visiting a friend in Iowa.  Austin seems like such a great guy and a perfect match for Rachel.  This weekend was going to be the first time Austin would bring his parents into town to meet Laura and the family.  Austin, his brother Adam, and parents, Tina & Phil, were all making the three-hour drive.  They were going to make a weekend getaway out of their trip since they didn’t know much about our…

  The day had come.  It was time to welcome into this world, a new Grandbaby!  Not a single ache or pain was going to ruin this level of excitement.  On March 24th, 2015, a sweet healthy baby girl was born. Her name is Elizabeth.    Cancer took a backseat to all the joy and happiness this new baby brought.  At least it tried to.  Laura had a fever that day, this time 101.3.  She didn’t want to tell anyone.  There was no way she was going to let cancer get in the way.  She was going to hold and love on this new baby no matter how bad she…

Wednesday, February 18th, the first of the last four chemo treatments of the second cycle.  This type of chemotherapy required Laura to take 5 pills before bed, and then awake again at 2 A.M. to take 5 more.  Oh boy!  That sounds like fun.    Early that next morning Laura arrived at the cancer center.  They checked her weight, then gave her a dose of Benadryl.  I’m guessing the Benadryl must be something new, this is the first time I have heard her mention it.  After Laura was prepped, it was her time with the Doctor.  He informed her that the lymph node was shrinking.  Finally, some good news!  This…

I really had no intentions on putting this next part in the book. But our friend Luisa, insisted that it had to be in here.    One evening, my family and I went out to dinner to celebrate my daughter, Brandi’s, birthday.  I sent Laura a text earlier that day before we left.  I have reached the point in my conversations with Laura where all my texts start off the same way.  ‘How are you feeling?’  It has been a few weeks now into Laura’s treatments and frankly she wasn’t feeling that good at all.     The restaurant was busy, so we had a short wait.  Brandi and I sat…

  Ready to get this done and over with!  Laura’s words of encouragement to herself.   Even though deep in her heart Laura did not want to go through this again, she knew she had to.  She also knew she had to be strong for the girls.  Laura climbed up into that driver’s seat and made a conscious decision that SHE was in control of this ride.  SHE was in control of cancer. With a new, cute, short haircut and the words embedded in her heart- ‘I can do this’, she walked through that cancer center door.  9:30 A.M. Monday, December 22nd, 2014 was a day that once again changed…