A New Baby and a Breast Cancer Diagnosis

We received a beautiful testimonial from Anne that we feel honored to share with you today. In the picture below, Anne is getting ready to celebrate the birth of her 3rd son. She looks radiant in her Anita designer hospital gown and you can see the joy and excitement in her face as she anticipates the arrival of another blessing to her family. You would never know by the picture below that Anne had been diagnosed with breast cancer just two weeks prior to this day.

We found out about Anne through friends who wanted to buy her some Annie & Isabel hospital gowns for the birth of her son and for her upcoming breast cancer surgery. Anne was given four Annie & Isabel hospital gowns by different people which we knew was a true testament to the type of person Anne is. We were so touched to read an excerpt from a blog that Anne's husband started in order to keep family and friends updated on her progress. Here is what he wrote:

"As you know, my beautiful wife and best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer on Friday 11/12/10. We were shocked to hear this unfortunate news. After we had time to process the facts, one of the things we quickly realized was how much love and support there was around us. I am at a loss for words. I do not quite know how to thank all of you for your kind thoughts, prayers, messages and gestures. You have truly touched both of our hearts. Anne is an amazing person as many of you know. This fact is evidenced in part by the wonderful friends and family who surround her. Thanks again to all for their continued support and a special thank you to our families for all the love and assistance they have given already."

"To my wife:

You are such a unique and extraordinary individual, mother, wife and friend. To know you is truly to love you. You are the bright light in our family and you make me and the boys happier than I can articulate. I love you to pieces and will always be here for you no matter what comes our way. Stay strong and I know you will prevail."

Prevail she has. Anne had her first surgery to remove the breast cancer only 4 days after giving birth to her son. You can tell she was ready to fight in her sassy "Susan" hospital gown!!

She had a second and final surgery for her breast cancer and sported the "Elizabeth" hospital gown.

Here is what Anne said about wearing her Annie & Isabel hospital gowns:

"I want to sincerely thank you again for your gorgeous gowns. I have to tell you, when I was pregnant with my third son, I was hoping to get one after seeing the beautiful photos that Brenda Bisharat took of glowing mommies. I got my wish and then some. I was gifted two gowns at my baby shower. I felt so special as everyone at the shower admired their beauty. I wore the Anita at the birth of my third son Markos. I can't tell you how much it meant to me to feel so pretty in my designer gown because days later I knew I would be facing my greatest challenge."

"I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 years old, 8 months pregnant, with my son. My doctor induced me at 36 weeks pregnant and four days later I was back in the hospital getting a mastectomy. After my diagnosis, my sister Audrey gave me the Susan gown and I also got the Elizabeth (breast cancer gown) from some dear friends. I wore the Susan gown for my mastectomy because I wanted to feel sassy and put up a good fight! It put a smile on my doctors face and after seeing it he got me a stuffed dog with similar print to carry so I would remember to not lift or use that arm. After that surgery, I found out that the cancer did not spread and I can happily call myself a survivor!"

"Last but not least, I wore the Elizabeth gown in February for my last surgery. I had so many compliments from nurses and doctors. My doctors first response was how nice the gown was but then he was even more impressed when he realized how easy it was to access my bandages. It was so comfortable and I felt "safe" to walk the halls knowing I wasn't going to give anyone a peep show."

In addition to taking care of herself, being a wife and loving on her three boys, Anne started a wonderful blog called "Livin the Green" and, in her words, this blog is about "cleaning out the old self to become a healthier, wiser, greener, and more organic person." If you want to follow along in this journey and change your old ways too then you should follow along!!

Being the Patient...My Personal Experience

As many of your know, I was recently hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia. Thankfully I am now on the mend and back to enjoying family life at home!! As my sister mentioned in a previous post, this whole experience was very surreal for me. I am used to being the nurse that takes care of the patients so it felt strange to be the patient that so needed the nurses and doctors to care for me....almost uncomfortable.

In my ER with my good friend and nurse, Robin

When starting this business, my sister and I really wanted to develop a designer hospital gown that would be stylish, cover the back, and make people feel better. The majority of our gowns are sold to people having babies or to people buying them as shower gifts for expectant mothers. We absolutely love this because we know our gowns make new mothers feel beautiful and special. In fact, the idea for our company started when my sister was in labor with her second little boy. We thought how great it would be to have had a beautiful hospital gown to wear for such a joyous occasion!!!

Since my sister and I are both nurses, however, we also had a passion to design a gown that would brighten the lives of cancer patients, those with chronic illnesses, and anybody having to spend time in the hospital. Inadequate hospital gowns are patients #1 complaint and, by giving some dignity and control back to patients by allowing them to wear their own gown....one that is stylish and doesn't leave them feeling naked....we felt this would help patients feel better. After my recent experience in the hospital, I now know how true this is!!

During my illness, I made two trips to the Emergency Room. The first day I didn't bring my own hospital gown because I figured the doctors and nurses would just tune me up with some pain medication, fluids, antibiotics and I would go home feeling better. This meant that I had to put on THE hospital gown. It was big, ugly and , yes, pretty much everything hung out the back!!! I didn't care about a whole lot at the time because I felt so sick but a couple of thoughts did cross my mind. What had soiled this gown in the past? I wonder who wore this gown before me? Have you ever thought about the history of a hospital gown? That will be a whole other post :-)

I went home that day, but things didn't get better and I returned to the Emergency Room the next day, knowing I probably wouldn't be going home. I promptly called my sister to have her bring the Anita!! I was still miserable, but it felt so good to have a clean, comfortable, beautiful gown that was my own. It was the one thing I could control during a time when everything else seemed out of control for me. Unfortunately, I spent many more days in the hospital, but one of the positive things that I looked forward to each day was that I had my own new fresh gown to wear. I wore the Anita, the Evelyn, the Isabel and the Elizabeth. For me personally, it was even more meaningful, because I also thought about the women that these hospital gowns were named after....women I knew and loved. I felt connected to them and that gave me strength. When I eventually had the energy to get up to walk the halls, I felt so comfortable knowing I was all covered up. I found that I also felt pretty in the gowns! Looking at the pictures now, I realize that maybe I did not look as good as I thought I did :-) The saying "When you look good you feel better" really is true. See for yourself....

ER visit #1 in THE hospital gown

ER visit #2 in the Anita designer hospital gown. Even though in actuality I was doing worse....doesn't it look like I feel better in that beautiful gown???

I am truly excited about the fact that I now know that we are on target in our mission to help people heal through the beauty of our product. Those words are not just our advertising slogan anymore.....the sentiment was a reality working in my life. So I am happy and hopeful that my experience will be repeated for our clients. I know that our designer hospital gowns can bring smiles, strength, and beauty to anybody who has the unpleasant experience of being in the hospital!!

Me with my little love

Thank you to all of my family and friends who provided such tremendous support through this experience.....especially my husband who was the rock in our family during this time!! To my sister, who was my best nurse and advocate and spent many nights in the hospital with me. To my mom who flew home from her trip from Salt Lake to be with me, and also stay with me in the hospital.....it meant so much to have you there. My love and thanks to my dad, who was there for me the entire time, and to my friends who helped me immensely......you know who you are!!!

Me with my sister and awesome nurse, Selena!!

Me with my mom and best friend :-)

I want to also thank all the health care professionals at Sutter Health who took such great care of me!! You were all so amazing. It made me so proud to work for this organization. I am actually anxious to be able to go back to work next month! Given a choice, I would never have chosen this experience because it truly was scary but, I have to say, I learned a lot from being the patient, and I know it is going to make me an even better nurse when I return to work.