So. Thought I'd share the reasons why I've been absent lately.
6 weeks after having my baby boy...I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Thankfully, the biopsy came back benign and the diagnosis was changed to an incredibly rare disease called Granulomatous Mastitis.
I believe in a loving Heavenly Father. Sometimes I think when we start to take life for granted He sometimes sends us gentle reminders that He is the one in charge and puts us back on the right path.
I think that's what happened here.
I had recently started a new job because my husband had been laid off for the 2nd time. I left my 4 week old baby home and got back to work.
At my 6 week DR's appointment I showed the DR the lump I had noticed.
You know your DR is worried when they rush you in for an ultrasound.
You know you're in trouble when the ultrasound tech excuses herself to get the DR after looking at the lump.
You know you're in big trouble when the radiologist looks at the screen then at you and says "I'm concerned this is cancer...there's really no other way to say it."
You know there's a possibility you might die when the lump they show you is the size of a golf ball and they're talking about lymph nodes.
I can't even describe the emotions that you have as you go through this.
You immediately quit your brand new job because you can't handle spending any time away from your precious family.
You immediately start compiling a list of things you want to do with your family...memories you want to instill.
You schedule family pictures.
And you start praying. Hard.
Luckily for me...this was Heavenly Father's way to tap me on the shoulder and point me in a different direction.
The biopsy was the day before my birthday.
29 years old.
You don't expect to be waiting for biopsy results when you turn 29. There's a lot of other things you expect to be doing...like un-burying the list of "things to do by 30" to see what you can scratch off...but waiting for results that could tell you if your chance of dying might be incredibly high is not one of them.
My birthday was spent quietly at home with my babies and my husband. And the day afterwards came the wonderful phone call that told me the tumor was benign and it was instead Granulomatous Mastitis.
There was seriously a less than 1% of a 1% chance that was what it was.
There were a lot of unknowns after the diagnosis. There is no set treatment plan for this disease. The most popular treatment is steroids...but that has a very high re-occurance rate. Some women get lumpectomies. A few have elected to get mastectomies to ensure that this painful disease goes away and stays away.
I'll be doing a whole separate post about what my treatment plan has been. This post was mainly to catch everyone up on what has been going on and the reasons behind my absence on the blog.
So. Coming soon is what I have done to work with this disease and how successful it has been...stay tuned.
