September 27, 2008

Dear friends and family,

I wanted to send an email to thank all of you for your prayers the last couple of weeks. Believe me when I say - the energy was felt!!! I have joked to David several times that this is the best thing that has happened to my marriage (yikes - of course that is not true........but I could have asked him for the world and he would have handed it to me on a silver platter!!!)

Let me tell you what your prayers did for us.....after the spot compression and sonogram showed signs of a mass we had to schedule a biopsy - it was to be at 10am last Wednesday.....so we walked in at 9:55 (yes - that is because at our LAST appointment we waited 2 hours to see the doctor - so....why come early????) The receptionist told me they were checking to see if they could still do the biopsy....since my appt had been at 9:30. Okay - so, my first inclination is to jump across the desk and ring her neck. But then my conscience got the better of me (if possible) and I realized...she is just the messenger - so I now need to find the idiot who wrote the time down wrong and ring their neck......Okay.....

SO they GOT ME IN!!!! Would you believe we were walking OUT of the hospital at 10:25 am - is that crazy, or what? No, folks that is answered prayer..........and they scheduled us to go in next Tuesday to get the results...and said they would call us if they came back early. Well, guess what????? They called us Thursday to say the results were back - I told David some pathologist was laughing his or her butt off at my "milk glands." SO, David and I decided not to tell anyone we were going over Friday to get the results.....for obvious reasons.

So, I need to thank you for that - fast results, a fantastic biopsy, and a great doctor - I really like her!!!! What I did not particularly care for, was the results. "Not very good news" were her exact words. I have invasive breast cancer. Stage II, we believe - but we won't know for sure until we do surgery and they examine the lymph nodes to see if the cancer has spread.

Please know that I am okay - I still believe I will be fine - you know, this is just a bump in the road - at the end of the day I will be fine on the other side - I just don't know if God will reach down and heal me immediately, or if I will have to go through some other stuff - but I WILL be fine. Besides, Karen tells me she always get what she wants -and she wants me to be well!! So I am thinking I got this licked....

And do I need to mention the other answers to your prayers - there are too many, but I have a couple of more. My brother-in-law is a doctor and he is going to our next appt with us - not to mention doing some research for me on the internet. And, my cousin Angi lives in Chicago and her neighbor's dad is the head of gynecological oncology at Northwestern University...AND, her hubby Charlie works for a pharmeceutical company that owns a subsidiary that deals in a lot of oncology medication (Ang - do you think Charlie can get me some free stuff!!! YIPPEE!!!!) The list goes on and on - but it starts with you - my friends and family who love me and have made me feel so blessed. I am without words (yeah - I say that after writing a dissertation in this email!!!!)

I just want to say thank you and ask that you pray for my family. One thing I have learned very quickly is that cancer is not something that effects just me - my husband's heart is breaking. He is so strong, and so scared - please pray for him. Also, pray for Austin. He is such a strong young man - and I do not know what I would do without him. While I welcome your prayers, I want you to know - without a doubt - I am not scared. I know I will be fine. I guess I need help to not feel so guilty about the pain I am causing others - that is not a good feeling...........

Thank you for being who you are - for being in my life - and for making this a better place for me. Please know, without a doubt that I love you and I appreciate you. Now - go hug someone and let them know you love them.

I promise to keep you updated.......thanks, again........God Bless You.