Southern Survivor

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

7 years

It doesn't seem like it has already been 7 years today (1-16) since I had surgery and was diagnosed with the most unfriendliest thing ever....cancer! It has no respecter of persons! I am so thankful that God helped me have the strength to fight my battle and overcome the awful disease. I had the best doctors and nurses take care of me during my hospital stay. I am so thankful for my family and friends that supported, encouraged, prayed, called, and visited me during my illness.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Catch up on Life

It has been several months since I have blogged, so I will do my best and try to catch up on what has happened between then and now. First, I would like to thank those who have prayed and are continuing to pray for me and my mom as we are continuing to recover from the wreck we were involved in on August 5.

August 5 @ 2:20pm: Me and my mom, Barbara was on our way home from church. We had guests visiting from Alabama and had lunch with them after church. In Seneca, SC, the traffic light intersection of Old Clemson Hwy and Rochester Hwy (Hwy 130). Mom was making a left turn onto Hwy 130 from Old Clemson Hwy. We receive the green light and begin excelling to proceed in a left turn. The car traveling from Seneca on Hwy 130 ran his red light and hit us in the driver’s door (T-bone). The state trooper said the man was driving approximately 40-45 mph. He had looked down to answer his phone and when he looked back up, it was too late. He didn’t have time to brake. When our car came to a complete stop from being hit, we did a complete 180 and could have driven right back down Old Clemson Hwy. I was in the passenger seat. My head hit the front windshield. I blacked out for a few seconds when I came to I was between the two front seats laying half way in the back floor board. I sat up into my seat; mom realized that my head was bleeding. I was hurting on the left side of my head above my eye, my right knee, my right thumb and the right side of my lower back/hip area. Mom was hurting in her neck and back; she was wearing her seat belt and I was not. Witnesses quickly came to our car to check on us as we waited for EMS to arrive. The man that hit us didn’t seem to be hurt; or his two boys that were with him. Mom had to be cut out of the driver side due to the impact being in her door. We were transported together by ambulance to the local hospital. We were soon examined by ER nurses and doctors. I had x-rays on my thumb, knee, and back. I also had a CT scan on my head to check for bleeding on the brain. The results were good; no broken bones or bleeding. Mom had x-rays on her back and neck. She also received results for no broken bones. Couple weeks later, I began having problems with my right knee and left elbow and extreme pain. I was referred to an Orthopedic for my left elbow and right knee. MRI was done on both. The results were good for my elbow and it has gotten better since then. My knee results showed that there wasn’t any ligament or cartilage damage. I have been told that no surgery is needed; nothing can be done to fix it. I’ve had an ultrasound done on my knee to check for blood clot and go back December 20 for those results. We’re trying to rule out where the pain is coming from. I and my mom is both under chiropractor care for our backs and she is also being treated for whiplash. A knot has come up on mom’s left breast and she is seeing a surgeon to see if surgery is needed or not. The knot is from the seat belt. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We have come a long way, but still have a ways to go. Pray that the doctor will be able to find out where the pain in my right knee is coming from and how I can be treated and my knee will properly heal.

my head hit the windshield

back driver side axle broke from the force of impact

October 12-13: Family Vacation in Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg with my mom, Grandpa, and mom’s sister & her family. It was nice to get away for a couple days from home and work and spend time with family that I don’t get to see often. We had dinner Friday night at the Applewood Restaurant which was incredibly delicious! On Saturday, we visited Harrisburg Covered Bridge, Circle G Ranch. We stopped in Gatlinburg on the way home. Brittany (my cousin) and I rode the Sky lift to top of the mountain; it was a beautiful view looking over Gatlinburg. As we were riding up, we saw a bear cub.

Harrisburg Covered Bridge

Brittany, Grandpa, and Me

Circle G Ranch

pot belly pig

baby zebra

antelope and deer

ostrich and antelope

big daddy buck

mountain goat

baby donkey

river in Gatlinburg

Me and Brittany on Sky Lift

bear cub on side of mountain at SkyLift

top of mountain in Gatlinburg

November 16: One year ago my precious grandmother entered Heaven at 11:48am. She was surrounded by her family who loved her dearly. She and my grandpa would have celebrated their golden 50^th anniversary on December 23. She would have turned 73 on November 29. She was a godly woman. When she was in good health, she enjoyed keeping children, gardening, canning vegetables, attending camp-meeting and other church services among lots of other things. She left behind a wonderful, loving, faithful husband, 4 wonderful children, 7 fabulous grandchildren, 1 sister, 3 brothers, and lots of nieces and nephews. She now has a great grand-daughter as of August 14, 2012. I wish she could see her but I know that she is watching from heaven. I miss her every day!

Clemson T. Ed Garrison Arena – IPRA World Championship Rodeo

T. Ed Garrison Arena IPRA Rodeo

calf roping

bareback bonco riding

intermission

girl's barrel racing

team roping

bullriding

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Summer

I haven't blogged in several weeks so while I have some down time I thought I would catch up a little. The summer has been busy with youth camp and camp-meetings all over. Toccoa Youth Camp was great as well as camp-meeting that followed a few weeks later. I was able to attend Virginia camp-meeting in Dry Fork; which I hadn't been to since I moved to Georgia. The school which I attended and graduated from Community Lighthouse Academy in Liberty, SC had a camp-meeting the end of July. Lots that kept me busy and wasn't able to become bored. Also, during all that I had school. How I juggled it all is beyond me except with God's help. Hartwell had a pre-4th the end of June and it was fun. They had couple of venders including Bruster's Ice cream, watermelon, along with an orchestra band; around 9pm they shot some fireworks that were just beautiful. I mean what fireworks aren't? In mid July, a local TV station in Greenville FOX Carolina came to downtown Clemson on Friday morning for 5-9am for a tour they were doing called, Celebrate the Carolinas. Relay For Life Pendleton-Clemson sent up a booth with free bagels and coffee sponsored by a local bagel shop located in Clemson, Hudson Bagel. I was privileged to go downtown along with lots of other folks and help represent RFL and being a survivor. For my mom's birthday on July 21, me, her, and my grandpa took a ride in the mountains for the day. It was nice besides the fact that it rained some of the trip. I have included some pictures taken through my adventurous summer.

Pre-4th