Anyone who knows me knows that I am a worrier. I worry about everything. Especially when it comes to my health. I always think there is something wrong with me and I over react when I find something that maybe doesn’t seem right. So you can imagine how freaked out I was when I found a small bump on my breast after giving myself an examination. I immediately called my mom and we set up an appointment right away. Luckily, it was nothing serious. It was what they call a fibroadenmo, which is completely benign. The doctor recommended I have it removed because it can cause some pain, especially later on in life. Being the worrier that I am, I agreed with the doctor and my parents let me go through with the surgery.

The last time I had surgery, I was six weeks old. So I had a pretty hard time mentally preparing myself for surgery. First of all, I have an irrational fear of needles. So the IV was pretty much the main thing I was scared about. Second, I don’t like uncertainty. I was scared of what would happen during recovery. Would I recover smoothly? Was I going to get nauseous on the anesthia? Was I going to be okay? Even though all these things were going on in my head, I had the best support system right by my side.

My brother’s girlfriend shares my fear of needles and told me to sing a song in my head to take my mind off of it and to take some deep breathes (Which certainly helped, especially when I was singing Taylor Swift). My mom sent out a group message to my extended family and I read their messages of encouragement and prayers before I went into surgery. I was blown away by all the love and support I was receiving. I really do have an amazing family.

My friends responded with such empathy and support. I felt so comforted knowing that I had them on my side. One of my best friends actually took off work as soon as I told her and spent the night with me the day before the surgery and went to the hospital with me for the surgery. She sat in the waiting rom with my parents before the surgery and after the surgery, sat with me before the surgery, and was there to greet me after I woke up! I did not expect any of my friends to drop what they were doing because I understand completely that they have jobs and scheduled things of their own. I was so lucky to have someone like her there with me. That’s just the kind of heart she has. I was not asking anyone to do that for me, but she did. All the support and prayers I received from my friends was amazing and I could not have asked for a better group of friends. I love you guys.

My mom and dad took off work to be there the whole time with me and took care of me and calmed me down when I was overreacting. I remembered what my mom always tells me when I am going through a hard time, “Give it all to God. All your troubles. All your worries. Put them on the cross”. When I did that, I knew I was going to be okay.

The point of this article is not to make anyone feel sorry for me, or make people feel bad if they weren’t there with me the day of the surgery, or if they didn’t know about it (it was an uncomfortable thing for me to talk about so I didn’t tell a lot of people), or make it seem like I went through something so traumatic. That’s not what I’m getting at because I know there are people out there going through so much more than I am. I am writing this article because when I decided to have the surgery, I saw how much people really cared. I saw all my loved ones giving me so much support and so many prayers. I realized the type of people that have been put in my life by God and how blessed I am. It could have been way worse than it was.

So I guess what I’m getting at is thank you. Whether you were physically there with me during the surgery, or there in spirit praying/thinking about me, thank you. I truly see God in everyone I love, and I hope they can say the same about me.