Cancer You Did Not Win…

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”

-Gail Devers

I wasn’t sure if this day would ever come, the day that my parents would meet their grandchild, but we all know or I should say I know nothing is impossible for God. Guess what? the day did come, the day that my parents would meet their 4th grandchild which is my daughter.

My parents are cancer survivors. My dad is a stomach cancer survivor, thankfully his cancer never came back or I better said hasn’t come back in any way shape or form. In the other hand my mom had suffered more than we would ever thought, she had fought breast cancer twice and recently had been taking chemotherapy due to a bump that my dad discovered in her back that had to be removed.

My mom was extremely sad because she wasn’t able to be here for the birth of my baby. It is hard for my parents to travel nowadays due to their health. My dad is cancer free however he does have Alzheimer’s and if you are familiar with the disease changing environment for most of Alzheimer patients can be dangerous.

Thankfully my mom’s oncologist decided to put the last chemo treatment on hold so she can come to United States with my dad and meet their granddaughter. We were so excited when we received the news (my brother and I) that my parent’s doctors gave the ok for them to travel. Having them meeting my daughter was something that I was dying of but if they were not able to come my goal was to take her to Puerto Rico for Christmas.

What a blessing!!. So many things I would never imagine would happen just happened and all of it was definitely Gods hands working his magic behind close doors.

People don’t understand that things always happen in Gods time, He better than nobody else know what purpose he has for you, each one of us. The only thing that we need to do more is not to lose faith in him. This is the number one reason why my little girl’s middle name is Faith because I never lose Faith and I always believe. He will always be with me when life goes the way I want it to go but also He will be with me when life doesn’t go my way, I just need to trust him.

Cancer have taken a lot of people away from their loved ones. I have to be very honest with you, If you are ill or have some type of disease you have to have the desire to live and along with it you have to have a positive attitude. Many people give up and I am so proud of my parents for not giving up. When they were here I got to see that desire to live I am telling you about, the way they look at life had giving me a different perspective as a healthy woman how you should continue to live your life as positive as possible. They get their days were they are tired, they have no strength to do anything but they get up and get it done. They inspire me so much. My mom had this past week her last chemo and I pray to God is the last one but if is not God desire’s I ask him to give her the strength to continue to be strong and an example to my family and her church community.

We tend to complain a lot and there are so many people who have the right to complain but instead they just thank God everyday for being alive. I am so happy my parents were able to meet my baby girl, I am so thankful for the doctors who out of nowhere gave my parents the ok to travel and I hope they continue to bless all the people that go to their clinic just like they blessed my parents.

If you are reading me I ask you to take a minute to thank God for all you’ve got and continue to ask for all the goals and dreams to come true but be open to receive what God has for you because He knows better than you and make sure to be thankful either way. This is exactly why I am very thankful, in the last 10 months I have been blessed, absolutely blessed just because I had FAITH!

“I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep the right attitude, if you’re grateful, you’ll see God open up new doors.”

– Joel Osteen

God Bless,

Janitza Rivera

 

 

 

 

I was looking for the Perfect Dress and I Found the Perfect People

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In 2016 I decided to compete for a beauty pageant in California thanks to a friend of mine who nominated it me. I have never done one of those before, growing up my mom put me in modeling school which I loved very much. I always liked to be in the runway, learn about fashion, learn how to carry myself in public and learn about business etiquette. Since I enjoyed all of that I took dancing classes and participated in different talent shows and plays. I missed doing all of that, it was my passion growing up. When the opportunity about being in a beauty pageant araised I was thrilled, it was a good new adventure for me. The pageant I was going to compete for was Women of Achievement and I was representing my second home, the state of Virginia. This particular pageant is not all about beauty, is about a venue for single and married women of all ages to attend networking events, an Annual Leadership Luncheon and National Pageant awards.

There were many things to get ready for but the first thing I wanted to have out of the way was the prefect dress. I didn’t know of many places to go to buy a new night gown for the pageant, so the first thing I did was to google for places were I could go to in my town. The first place I went to had very nice dresses. As soon as I walked in I felt like I was in heaven, dresses everywhere. Since I didn’t know where to start I asked one of the ladies that worked there to help me with different type of dresses and she told me to go to the back of the store and find what I was looking for. First at all I didn’t know what size I would wear on a night gown, it would’ve been nice if someone could’ve guided me but that didn’t happen. I was with my brother and my fiancee, I wanted them to help me pick a good dress for me. I picked few dresses hoping I had the right sizes and proceeded to go to the fitting room. Once I had the first dress on I came out of the fitting room and called my fiance and my brother and the lady almost lost her mind because men were not supposed to be that close to the fitting room. I didn’t know the rules and also I didn’t like the way she said it to them. Hey, I didn’t see no signs or anything so how are we supposed to follow the rules? I think she could have used a different tone of voice to convey the message. My fiancee and brother left the store and decided to wait outside. I changed into my outfit and decided to leave. Their customer service to me really sucked.

Next day I decided to go to another boutique, this time I just took my brother. My fiancee didn’t want to go to another bad experience so he decided to stay. I wished he would had gone because this customer service was much better. The owner as well as her employees gave the best customer service anyone could ask for, from there on I became very good friend with her and her employees. I found the dresses I was looking for, I even found accessories as well as shoes. I was very happy with this boutique. Since I became a very good friend with them the owner even asked me to work with them when there was someone who wanted to be off or whenever they needed me as a bridal consultant. It was a great experience, I learned a lot about wedding dresses and pageant dresses. I was also invited to participate in bridal shows and the owner even helped me with some coaching for my pageant.

I would have never imagined that from one bad experience I was going to be taken to an extraordinary experience where I would make friends for life and learn something different from the field that I am in. The following year I participated again at the same pageant and everything I needed for it I bought there. The owner of the boutique gained a customer for life. This is exactly what happens when you give extraordinary customer service.

If you work with the public always give extraordinary costumer service. Remember that you either represent your own company or someone else’s and customers deserve to be treated good. Put yourself in a customers shoes. Would you like to be treated bad, unkindly, without respect? I really don’t think so… When you go somewhere you do not get good costumer service, your client or potential client will go somewhere else and you don’t know what kind of sale or friend for life you are losing. I’m glad I went through that bad experience because thanks to that experience I learned a lesson and I met wonderful people with a wonderful heart. I do not settle for less and you should not either. I always expect the best of the best and you should to.

Here I leave you with few tips about costumer service:

  • “Don’t try to tell the customer what he wants. …
  • “Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” …
  • “Always hear your customers…
  • “Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. …
  • “Always ask open ended questions.” …
  • “Ease your customers‘ pain.”

“I think it’s important to always keep professional and surround yourself with good people, work hard, and be nice to everyone”.

-Caroline Winberg

God Bless,

Janitza

Trip to Haiti

Last October I had the opportunity to go to Haiti to do some volunteer work. I work for  a dental office in a small town in Bridgewater Va. Dr. McIntyre, (dentist and owner) his wife Becky, (office manager ad hygienist) Erica Monroe (hygienist) and Rossana Bufford(Dr Mac’s former assistant) made it possible to work out of three dental chairs and we got LOTS of dentistry done.  We spent the week in Haiti at the Helping Haitian Angels orphanage. We saw tons of people in the dental clinic and were able to do cleanings, fillings, sealants and extractions.

The children that actually live at the orphanage now have their dental health under control. The hopeless teeth have been extracted, the bad cavities have been filled, everyone has had a cleaning, and most of them have preventative sealants on their molars to prevent cavities. The children at the orphanage actually have good home care as their “mamas” make sure they brush twice a day, and they have a very low sugar diet with few treats.  The biggest dental problems occurred in teeth prior to coming to Kay Anj, and there was never a way to fix the teeth prior to the dental clinic Smiles for Life established.

Let me tell you how impressed I was once I got to the orphanage. A bunch of kids came running to us and they all welcomed us like they knew each one of us. I can’t remember how many of them came and kissed me and hugged me. I got very emotional and I started crying but I didn’t allow the kids to see me. How is it possible that kids like that who didn’t know me could show so much love for strangers? It was an emotion I have never experienced in my whole entire life. The gratitude of these children is beyond words. Dr. McIntyre had a boy who came to the clinic about the age of 17 that had broken off his two front teeth. After his teeth were cleaned he expressed a desire to have the upper front teeth repaired. Obviously they are in a very visible spot and about one-third of the tooth was broken off. Dr. McIntyre worked on him for about an hour and a half, building up the teeth with composites, and when he got all done he looked at his new smile and gave him a hug. He then went out to the van and kept looking at himself in the rearview mirror of the van that had brought him in from the large city. We had worked on approximately 17 children that day, so he and the other boys that came were at the clinic all day long until all of them were seen. As they were getting ready to depart he along with many of the others came forward and give us hugs and thanked us for our work. He wanted to call Becky ‘mommy Mac’ and thanked both her and Dr. McIntyre repeatedly. Dr. McIntyre felt that he have changed this boy’s life because people will judge him on who he really is and not as one having big holes in his front teeth.

Have you ever been judge for your physical appearance? Do you know how bad it feels when people judge you for what you look like?

When I was in elementary school I had classmates, of course boys, that would make fun of my teeth. My brother had his teeth appearance worst than mine so my mom focused on his teeth and he was able to have braces at an early age. In the meantime sometimes I suffered internally due to mean boys in school. I would never forget how horrible the feeling was but I was thankful that I had other good things going for me and I tried very hard to not let that break me, but I am not going to lie to you I had my days. I also knew at some point in my life I would be able to take care of my smile, the one which I dearly love, I didn’t know when but I knew someday I would.

When Dr. McIntyre and Becky started to go to Haiti I had a desired to go and help as many people as I could with the knowledge I had. I had the opportunity to learn from Erica Monroe how to place sealants. I wanted to learn whatever it was available for me to learn because I wanted to see a smile on these kids faces. I didn’t want them to feel the pain that I once felt.

This entire experience changed my life forever. Going on my trip to Haiti opened my heart much bigger than I ever thought it would be opened. The kids at the orphanage were so loving and affectionate, and I wasn’t expecting that from the get go. For some of them to run up to me, not even knowing who I was, and love on me was something that I’m unable to explain. Being able to give so much love, attention, understanding, and deliver so much dentistry to them was a very rewarding experience. I do miss them!.

I am so grateful to be part of a team that created a dental clinic in Haiti and donate their time doing volunteer work. The clinic at the Kay Anj Village has improved dramatically.

I would encourage you to take some time and help people who need your help. You will feel so much better for having what you have and so much grateful for spending your own time and love those who do not have enough. My life has changed since I do volunteer work. I love helping people, I love-making people smile and I love helping people improve their lives.

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”
~Elizabeth Andrew

God Bless!

Be Prepared to Not Be Prepared

Have you ever prepared yourself to take a test, may be to go camping, buy a car, go to a work interview, etc…? I believe all of us have done it at least once in our lives. I know a lot of people prepare themselves for everything they are doing on a daily basis. I can give you an example. I prepare my work clothes every Sunday for the following work week. I choose my clothing, jewelry, shoes, and I even get my nails done. I just like to have that out-of-the-way, so I don’t have to get up early and struggle trying to figure out what I am going to wear or what needs to be iron. My life is ten times easier since I have been doing this.

Another thing I do is prepare in my fridge what I am going to eat during the week. I use zip lock bags and all of my meats are ready to go with whatever is going to accompany them. Since I go to the gym, I work full-time and I have other things going on I like to be prepared for everything you can think of. Now the big question is, have you ever be prepared to not be prepared?

I have had many things in my life where I have prepared myself and things did not go as planned. However the key is to not stop being prepare for your things but to know how to deal with the things that come your way at that very moment. I believe that is the hardest part and I will tell you why. Your emotions, anger, tiredness, careless mind-set can get the best of you and block your brain and make you make the wrong decision.

I was as prepared as I could be during my pregnancy. When I say prepare I mean I was ready or I should say I was getting ready every day for the past 8 months to get what I needed for my baby. The room had to be ready, painted, had to have a crib, dresser, changing table, etc… I had to be prepared for the arrival of my bundle of joy but to be honest with you I was not thinking to be prepared after having the baby. Let me be more specific. I took all the classes I could think of to be prepared. I took a birth class, I took breast-feeding class, I went to a fitness class, I read the book what to expect when you are expecting, I asked questions to family members and friends who had my best interest at heart if I had any questions, in reality I just tried to be as prepared as I could be for this amazing surprise coming my way.

On May 23, 2018 I went to the hospital because I was feeling a lot of pressure, I wasn’t sure if I was having contractions or not. I was checked and everything was perfect. It was false alarm, I was just having pressure. All I can tell you is that it felt like the baby wanted to come out. I was mentally getting ready just because my plan was to have my baby naturally and from that moment I had four more weeks to go.

On May 25, 2018 I went to my 36 weeks OBGYN-baby check. I was going to have an ultrasound to see the position of the baby. The ultrasound showed everything great. The baby weight was approximately 6 pounds. After getting the ultrasound I was to see the doctor and when my blood pressure was taken was very high 176/98. My doctor did not like that. He was concerned. I was sent to the hospital. Here is where I was prepared to not be prepared. Since my blood pressure was high an ultrasound was ordered. The technician took one for 30 minutes. Towards the end of the ultrasound I saw a face in the technician that I didn’t like and to be honest it scared me a little bit but I didn’t say anything. I even remembered asking her a question and she didn’t answer, she was too much into the ultrasound. Few minutes later after she was done the doctor came and talked to us. He said he didn’t think I was able to deliver the baby naturally, he was very certain if I try in the middle of it he would have to do a C-section. He also said he could induce me and it would take 24 to 36 hours to have the baby and he gave me all the pros and cons and told me to think about what I wanted to do and he will be ready in 5 minutes for my answer. For 8 months I was anxious and ready t have this baby through regular labor and all the sudden my baby wasn’t moving enough for me to have her naturally. Emotions got me, I had to think fast and I had to make a very important decision. I had to do the best for my baby and I decided to have her through a cesarean. At that very moment the doctor told us to be ready that I was having the baby. I was not prepared with clothes, my suitcase was at the house, my fiancé was not ready with his clothes either, they were at the house as well. The car seat was not installed in the vehicle, in so many ways I was not prepared for the things I was already prepared for.

In conclusion think about how to handle things that don’t go your way, always think about the people who is going to affect the most, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for others. It can be family members, friends, coworkers and even strangers. If you are a person who likes to be prepared for everything like me know that things can’t always go perfect but it is possible to get it done in some other way. If you are a person who don’t like to be prepared just because you don’t know how to here I will give you 5 tips:

  • Acquire knowledge
  • Have a go-to person
  • Practice Self-care
  • Focus on the light
  • Prepare Finances

These tips above have always help me in life.

Knowledge is everything, always have a go-to person that you can trust and count on, I have more than one but in that moment I had my fiancé and my brother. Even though it was my choice to decide how to proceed with my baby I did count on them and their support. Always practice self-care, take good care of yourself, physically and emotionally. Focus on the light, there is always something good at the end of the tunnel waiting for you and prepare finances, you never know when you are going to need money in hard times.

“Life is a song – sing it.

Life is a game – play it.

Life is a challenge – meet it.

Life is a dream – realize it.

Life is a sacrifice – offer it.

Life is love – enjoy it”.

-Sai Baba

God Bless,

Janitza Rivera
 

 

Making Decisions

On November 3, 2017 my OBGYN gave me the wonderful news that I was expecting. Little by little I will walk you through my wonderful journey in this blog. I was so excited about the news that I didn’t know what to do. I have been very physically active, going to the gym up to 5 time a week, being fit is very important to me, so I wasn’t going to let this pregnancy prevent me from doing so unless the doctor tell me otherwise. My first decision was to stay as healthy as possible so I continue to go to the gym as normal.

As the months went on I was very impressed with my progress, boy!, I didn’t get sick, no headaches, no nausea, no vomiting, no pain in fact nothing really, So I was ecstatic and may be I was lucky, who knows. I was always afraid of being pregnant and getting sick specially when is a pregnancy that is not plan. You have commitments, you have to work and continue to make a living and much more. Everyday I would give thanks to God for allowing me to be ok and be able to function at work and for allowing to do my daily activities without any problem. I will tell myself Janitza you have made very good decisions as far as eating healthy as possible and also staying in good shape.

When you are pregnant there are a lot of things that comes to your mind specially when you are 40 years old and consider a high risk pregnancy. I was very diligent in following my doctors orders. Throughout the years  I have been a very fast decision maker. I am a person that knows what I want, how I want it and whether the decisions I make are going to be beneficial to me. During my pregnancy I started making one decision after another, sometimes they came very natural to me and sometimes where decisions that I had to think about for a minute or two. I remember my first decision was to put school on hold for a bit because I knew I would have my plate full and I couldn’t allow myself to be overwhelmed more than what I already was. Another decision made was to not find out the gender of the baby. Let me tell you about that decision I made!!. It was a quick decision to me because I always said to myself If I ever get pregnant I would like to not know the gender of my baby and that decision needed to be respected but it was very hard for so many people like my family members. I know we all live in a world where women want to know, they want to be prepared, they want to be organized and me not being that way didn’t mean I didn’t have all of those characteristics, it was just the fact I wanted it that way, I wanted it to be a surprise. I was lucky enough that my fiancé wanted it that way as well. We were thrilled about the decision we both made but some other people weren’t. Have you ever had to make a decision about something and didn’t make it because of thinking what would others think? Think about it, I think a lot of us do it because we always want to please others. Why? Why do you have to please others before pleasing yourself? Could you take a moment to think about this and tell yourself why do I do this all the time? It is time to be BRAVE, make yourself happy with the decisions you make on a daily basis. I always tell people ” you do not live in my shoes” and that is the honest truth.

In conclusion I didn’t let anyone know the gender of my baby until I had her. I had so many people questioning why I wanted it to be that way and I had so many people who were so happy for me not finding out and doing it the old school way. I was so delighted for keeping my wishes alive and never let anyone crush them. I was so radiant when I was told in the surgery room that I had a girl.

Next time you have to make a decision make sure you let yourself know I am making this decision because is the best decision for me and I should do what my heart tells me to do not what others want me to do.

“Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent and committed decision”

-Tony Robins