I Don't Remember Signing Up For Cancer
by Sherry Karuza Waldrip

YES!, I would like to order "I Don't Remember Signing Up For Cancer" for only $10.00

If you are actually holding this book in your hands, you are witnessing a genuine miracle! The reason being, I am a typical sanguine! Now, before you drop the book and cover your eyes in horror, thinking this is a scandalous confession, allow me to reassure you. In fact, a sanguine (a real official word, in the dictionary and everything) is one of the four personality temperaments. Two of the four are introverts, and the other two are extroverts. They each have both positive and negative traits. I'll offer a brief description:

• The Perfect Melancholy: Analytical, talented, creative, idealistic, and perfectionistic, but also can be negative, moody, critical, and revengeful.
• The Peaceful Phlegmatic: Calm, dependable, practical, patient, quiet and witty, but on the down side, can be pessimistic, fearful, and unmotivated.
• The Powerful Choleric: Decisive, optimistic, confident, organized, and motivational but, on the down side, can be very cruel, domineering, unemotional, proud and inconsiderate.
• The Popular Sanguine: Cheerful, curious, sincere, fun, friendly, compassionate, warm and enthusiastic, but can also be undependable, restless, fearful and undisciplined. (We can sincerely start a project with a bang, but let it fizzle out and die.)

The undisciplined part is why it's a miracle you are holding this actual finished book in your hands. There were times in which I was dealing with writing a difficult or painful section of the book, when someone would call with a more pleasant proposition, and I was outta there in a flash. But prayer and diligence finally won out and, TAAA DAAA, we have a finished book! There are many books written on temperaments and personality types. One of my favorites, Personality Plus, is written by Florence Littauer, a fellow sanguine, who is part choleric (which I'm sure helps with that disgusting "D" word... discipline). I can just imagine, however, the inner struggle between her sanguine and choleric sides: It's a great day to be productive and make important progress on the book, the choleric states firmly. "I know, but there's excitement in the air, and I want to have fun today!," the sanguine counters, picking up the phone to call another fun-loving sanguine. "No!," the choleric orders, "You will sit at the computer and write until your hands fall off!" The sanguine spews "Get a grip! Loosen up, you old party-pooper. People who don't have fun, get ugly and start smelling funny!" "Very amusing," retorts the choleric. "Get busy, and remember, haste makes waste!" What a battle it must have been. We all struggle with priorities, and eventually, even sanguines will finish a project which is important to them.
This book was important to me. I had a burning desire to write it as an encouragement to women who have faced, are facing, or may face one of the most devastating diseases of our time, breast cancer. I felt driven to spread the news about the Free TRAM Flap, a wonderful, innovative, but little known reconstruction. I was also compelled to somehow express that humor can be an essential weapon when fighting illness...any illness. In addition, I wanted to pay tribute to my wonderful family and friends who enfolded me in their loving arms and walked the difficult walk with me. Last, but certainly not least, writing this book is a small way that I might honor the God who is in the business of reconstructing hearts and lives. I can certainly think of topics which would have been more fun to explore as I spread my wings and launch my debut as an author. Nonetheless, it's the topic I got...but for the life of me, "I Don't Remember Signing Up For Cancer!"

Table of Contents

1. The "Cruncher".........................................................................13

2. The "Biopsy Blues"...................................................................19

3. The "C" Word and my Rollercoaster Ride..............................27

4. The "Implant Impact"...............................................................39

5. Reconstruction is Alive and Well and Better than Ever!.........45

6. My Answer, The "Free TRAM Flap"......................................53

7. Choir Practice and Friendship...................................................59

8. It Won't be a Blue Christmas...................................................63

9. Twenty-Two Years, Our Wedding Anniversary......................67

10. The "God is Faithful" Luncheon...........................................75

11. Tears and Fears......................................................................81

12. Pre-Surgery Registration and Jitters....................................85

13. Under the Knife......................................................................95

14. Hospital Habitation and Hullabaloo.....................................101

15. There's No Place Like Home... and Desert Storm..............111

16. Spread the Good News!.........................................................125

17. It's a War Out There!............................................................137

18. Heroes....................................................................................145

19. The Real Good News!...........................................................151

YES!, I would like to order "I Don't Remember Signing Up For Cancer" for only $10.00

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