Testimony Tuesday...

I saw this on another blog ( sorry I don't remember which one!) and thought it was so neat, so I'm going to start hosting it also. I am going to share mine (or part of it) today.

I was diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer when I was pregnant with our fourth child. I was only 25. We had no history of breast cancer in my family. I found the lump right before I found out I was pregnant. Once I realized I was pregnant I just assumed the lump was from the pregnancy. This was the only pregnancy that my ob/gyn did not do a breast exam! I did not tell him or anybody else about the lump until I was 16 weeks pregnant, by this time I could no longer ignore the growth that was happening, my tumor was my entire right breast or about the size of a softball. When I finally told my ob his exact words were, " If it's cancer, it's too late, it will have spread everywhere by now." He sent me to a surgeon who performed a needle biopsy.

I knew I think deep down from the time I found the lump that it was cancer so I was already prepared for the diagnosis, my family wasn't. I remember my husband telling me on the way to find out that he knew it wasn't cancer because God told him. I thought, "interesting because God told me it WAS cancer!"

Right before we went to the surgeon we stopped to get gas, as my husband was pumping my cellphone rang. It was my Ob/gyn " How are you doing? I can't believe this, don't worry the baby will be fine. You can do chemo" Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out what the heck he was talking about...finally I realize that HE knows I have cancer and thought that I knew I had cancer! I hadn't yet been told but I didn't want to make him feel bad so I played along. My husband got back into the van and asked who it was and I had to tell him that I had cancer. This was a double blow because HIS mom had just battled breast cancer two years before!

I wasn't able to have an accurate staging of my cancer because of being pregnant, however based on size alone it was a late stage 3 or early 4. I was also HER2 +++ which if you know about breast cancer you know you don't want this kind, it's very aggressive which is why my tumor grew so fast. I underwent four rounds of adromyicin/ cytoxin ( AC) while pregnant. We also had to have Kaitlyn two months early so I could undergo more chemotherapy.

Kaitlyn only stayed in the NICU for nine days. Today she is a healthy three year old.

I had chemo until 2/14/06 and double mastectomy and also had herceptin until June of 06 when it was discovered I had chemo induced cardiomyopathy. I have been cancer free since then. Praise God!

I was told after all was said and done by two oncologists that they did not think I was going to make it. If you ever want to know if God answers prayers just look at me. I'm living proof!

How about you? What's your story?