gifts you received

Options
rm22111
rm22111 Member Posts: 54
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I was reading some of the ideas of gifts that you have given or received after being dx with cancer. I would love to hear what gifts you gave or received. I am in the process of starting a support group at my church and would like to know. I received several lap blankets that had been made for me and then had been prayer over for me. These are great to take with me to keep warm during my various treatments.

rm22111

Comments

  • fauxma
    fauxma Member Posts: 3,577 Member
    #2
    Options
    I used to collect fairies
    I used to collect fairies and when I had uterine cancer in 2000 a dear friend gave me a darling little fairy with a funny little face holding a sign that said HOPE. I loved it. A few years later a friend was diagnosed with uterine cancer and I passed my HOPE fairy on to her. When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer not long before me I went to visit her and on a table in her apartment there was HOPE. I asked where she came from and it turns out my friend gave it to a friend of hers with cancer and she gave it to my sister. I found it so touching that it was my HOPE that was given to her. I hope that someday when my sister feels more hopeful (she has not dealt well with this) she will pass HOPE to someone else. Right now I think HOPE is exactly where she needs to be. This gift was truly my favorite gift.
    Stef
  • sea60
    sea60 Member Posts: 2,613
    #3
    Options
    What a beautiful gift!
    Just to know that people prayed over something you cover yourself with...nice! The American Cancer Society over here in my city gave me a small neck pillow sewn by volunteers.

    I recieved several "Willow" angels. I've given inspirational books.

    I really love the blanket idea.

    Blessings,

    Sylvia
  • faith_trust_and_a_little_bit_of_chemotherapy
    faith_trust_and_a_little_bit_of_chemotherapy Member Posts: 319 Member
    #4
    Options
    fauxma said:

    I used to collect fairies
    I used to collect fairies and when I had uterine cancer in 2000 a dear friend gave me a darling little fairy with a funny little face holding a sign that said HOPE. I loved it. A few years later a friend was diagnosed with uterine cancer and I passed my HOPE fairy on to her. When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer not long before me I went to visit her and on a table in her apartment there was HOPE. I asked where she came from and it turns out my friend gave it to a friend of hers with cancer and she gave it to my sister. I found it so touching that it was my HOPE that was given to her. I hope that someday when my sister feels more hopeful (she has not dealt well with this) she will pass HOPE to someone else. Right now I think HOPE is exactly where she needs to be. This gift was truly my favorite gift.
    Stef

    Part of living is...
    A very dear and old friend told my daughter that she should encourage me to watch "Come Live with Me" if I were having any low moments. I'd never heard of it before and the movie was not available to rent, but I could watch it via YouTube in 9 minute increments. I did. It was wonderful, but it was soon pulled from that site...copyright something or other.

    Jimmy Stewart and Hedy Lamarr were upstaged by an older actress making her film debut at the age of 78 towards the end of the film with lines like this,

    "Part of living is meeting tragedy and rising above it. A woman doesn't amount to anything unless she can do it. It takes a long while to learn that that's true."

    The movie made such an impression, I checked on the actress' biography, Adeline De Walt Reynolds had her own share of tragedy. It seems she'd lost her husband in 1905, survived the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and raised 4 children with no money. She had successes too, going on to graduate from the University of California in 1932 with a bachelors degree.

    This gift albeit rather intangible reminded me of who I am, where I have come from, and that life can always be worse.
  • missrenee
    missrenee Member Posts: 2,136 Member
    #5
    Options
    sea60 said:

    What a beautiful gift!
    Just to know that people prayed over something you cover yourself with...nice! The American Cancer Society over here in my city gave me a small neck pillow sewn by volunteers.

    I recieved several "Willow" angels. I've given inspirational books.

    I really love the blanket idea.

    Blessings,

    Sylvia

    I received many wonderful gifts but two that stand out
    are--I received a soft, cuddly bear from one of my chemo angels to sleep with and to put between me and my seatbelt when I was sore from treatment. I named him Cubby.

    The other thing that was so meaningful to me--I received a card every single week, without fail for at least 8 months from my ex-husband's wife. We all live here in Phoenix and have a good relationship. Just the thought of her thinking of me each and every week was just so darn wonderful.

    Hugs, Renee
  • RE
    RE Member Posts: 4,591 Member
    #6
    Options
    Gifts
    After my first lumpectomy my Mom who had had two masectomies gave me a small pillow about twelve inches by 8 inches to place gently under my arm to absorb any bumps and to cushion the friction between arm and armpit. It was a small very cushy soft pillow and it helped ease my pain as well as remind of the love that went into the giving of it. I have sense given similar pillow to others who have had lumpectomies and masectomies.

    I also received chemo clean days from friends who scheduled days to drop by and do a bit of house cleaning. A few friends gave us gift certificate to eat out (or go get it and take it home) on days I was too ill to cook well others made meals and brought them over. Some of the most memorable gifts were little letters I received letting me know I was in peoples thoughts and prayers, just knowing I was thought of and prayed for was quite comforting. Also the gift of time, when someone would just come sit with me when I was home alone and get me what I may need when I was too sick to get it myself. It was nice, these dear people would sit with me while I slept then visit with me when I woke up again.

    Okay those are a few of the things that come to mind. The support group sounds great, a good idea.


    *´¨)
    ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ RE
  • AMomNETN
    AMomNETN Member Posts: 242
    #7
    Options
    The Best
    RM,

    The best things I got were a small pillow ( I had 2 because of the bilateral) to put between me and the seatbelt after the mastecomy and s small like apron with 2 pickets for my drains. This was wonderful because the drains stayed in place and was very comfortable.

    Janie
  • cahjah75
    cahjah75 Member Posts: 2,631
    #8
    Options
    The Cancer Center
    affiliated with the hospital where I had my bilateral mastectomy at gave me a large tote filled with notebook, pen, smock, reading material, cookbook written by a bc patient with recipes collected from her friends, and 2 handmade pillows to ease the discomfort from seatbelts. My mom gave me a paperback summer read, my sister gave me pink gerber daisies and my mother-in-law gave me a plant. A good friend brought a casserole over so we just had to put it in the oven. All thoughtful and needed.
    Char
  • Marsha Mulvey
    Marsha Mulvey Member Posts: 597 Member
    #9
    Options
    cahjah75 said:

    The Cancer Center
    affiliated with the hospital where I had my bilateral mastectomy at gave me a large tote filled with notebook, pen, smock, reading material, cookbook written by a bc patient with recipes collected from her friends, and 2 handmade pillows to ease the discomfort from seatbelts. My mom gave me a paperback summer read, my sister gave me pink gerber daisies and my mother-in-law gave me a plant. A good friend brought a casserole over so we just had to put it in the oven. All thoughtful and needed.
    Char

    thoughtful people
    People are so thoughtful! I received many cards, from tear-jerkers to very funny. Also, a couple of older friends knitted hats, caps, and a prayer shawl. I was also given a sun catcher and small windchime. Though much appreciated, just knowing they were thinking of me was gift enough. MM
  • Miss Murphy
    Miss Murphy Member Posts: 302
    #10
    Options
    Marsha Mulvey said:

    thoughtful people
    People are so thoughtful! I received many cards, from tear-jerkers to very funny. Also, a couple of older friends knitted hats, caps, and a prayer shawl. I was also given a sun catcher and small windchime. Though much appreciated, just knowing they were thinking of me was gift enough. MM

    Friends
    I love all the gift ideas mentioned. I did love all the gifts I got and they ran from casseroles to flowers to body lotions to a pink bead bracelet but I was also touched by the cards especially those with a personal note. Also many had me put on the prayer lists at their churches and had their friends do the same. I do think the most meaningful was a small pillow made from a cancer survivor whose mother is a friend of mine. Just knowing that she was still fighting the fight and took the time to make something for someone she really didn't know was very touching. And I still have and treasure the pillow. It really made me feel special knowing that many cared and there are so many ways to let someone know.

    Sally
  • iowasignterp
    iowasignterp Member Posts: 55
    #11
    Options
    gifts that I have recieved
    I was pretty bold in asking for what I wanted. In the first days after my mastectomy, I asked all of my friends to send me funny cards. It was pretty easy to feel sad or sorry for myself but a little hard to find something to laugh or smile about in those first few days. It was awesome to have a great laugh to share with my kids almost everyday. They covered my whole mantel and television set. It really brightened my days.

    I did recieve a lap blanket from a church group which I appreciated.

    What I really had a lot of fun with though, was the hat and scarf party that we set up. I had a friend do the details. I gave friends websites such headcovers.com and tlc.com and other scarf places to order but also suggested that they could shop at any local department store to find any hat or full sized bandana to get for me. I told everyone up front that at the end, I would donate my headgear to the local American Cancer Society. So it was a charitable event that I would get to enjoy the benefits temporarily first. It was so awesome to have almost 15 different types of headgear to wear. I thought of each friend as I wore them, too. after a year, I donated two tubs of headgear to the ACS office and they were thrilled, too! We really had a fun time and i got to model all of the options!!

    I did recieve cute stuffed animals and a few nice mugs but the hats and scarves were the best.
  • roseyposey333
    roseyposey333 Member Posts: 68
    #12
    Options
    angel, blanket and a yoga class
    Of course all the cards were wonderful but my favorite gifts were an angel with arms stretched up and says HOPE on the bottom, a gift from my hubby right after my diagnosis.
    My childhood friend who went through breast cancer gave me her time and a pink blanket that I use for my naps, it is so soft and comforting. She helped me through my beginning stresses big time.
    Then a friend gave me a gift certificate for a private yoga session. It was heavenly and the yoga instructor was very gentle and it meant so much to me.

    There are many other non material gifts that touched my heart too, like a kind word from a nurse, a hug from a friend, my son helping around the house more and asking if I need anything.

    The biggest gifts were the prayers that kept coming and I believe helped me get through every step of my journey.

    BTW, a gift that I am getting next week is a free house cleaning, there is a service that provides free cleaning for cancer patients. My social worker hooked me up with them.
  • teresa41
    teresa41 Member Posts: 471
    #13
    Options
    roseyposey333 said:

    angel, blanket and a yoga class
    Of course all the cards were wonderful but my favorite gifts were an angel with arms stretched up and says HOPE on the bottom, a gift from my hubby right after my diagnosis.
    My childhood friend who went through breast cancer gave me her time and a pink blanket that I use for my naps, it is so soft and comforting. She helped me through my beginning stresses big time.
    Then a friend gave me a gift certificate for a private yoga session. It was heavenly and the yoga instructor was very gentle and it meant so much to me.

    There are many other non material gifts that touched my heart too, like a kind word from a nurse, a hug from a friend, my son helping around the house more and asking if I need anything.

    The biggest gifts were the prayers that kept coming and I believe helped me get through every step of my journey.

    BTW, a gift that I am getting next week is a free house cleaning, there is a service that provides free cleaning for cancer patients. My social worker hooked me up with them.

    gift card
    my chemo nurses gave me a gift card to get my hair done for one hundred dollars after i finished chemo last september. i plan on using it soon since my hair is growing out.
  • KayNYC
    KayNYC Member Posts: 495 Member
    #14
    Options
    favorite gifts
    I received the usual gifts of flowers and plants that were lovely however I most enjoyed the AMC movie gift cards and the Angel sculptures that I received. I especially enjoyed a lovely handmade tote bag (with prayer requests to be sent in) with a journal. I often used the tote bag to bring my bottled water and journal for writing during those waits in doctor offices and before radiation treatments.
    K
  • Boppy_of_6
    Boppy_of_6 Member Posts: 1,138
    #15
    Options
    teresa41 said:

    gift card
    my chemo nurses gave me a gift card to get my hair done for one hundred dollars after i finished chemo last september. i plan on using it soon since my hair is growing out.

    Great gifts
    There have been some great gifts mentioned here. Prayer was the greatest gift I recieved, from my church family, family and friends. I have loved the cards and meals that were sent to me. I think two of the best gifts I recieved were from my kids and grandkids and one from a dear friend. I was given 2 crape myrtle trees. I was so excited to get them, my son in law planted them in the front yard for me so I can see them everyday.They represent new life to me. God Bless
    (((Hugs))) Janice
  • smalldoggroomer
    smalldoggroomer Member Posts: 1,184
    #16
    Options
    You guys all got nice
    You guys all got nice things.. You know what I got a Hat, and a bird house made out of wine bottle corks ha ha ha. I do like it though. Lots of cards and best wishes and love. That is the best. Take care all Kay

Discussion Boards