On 08/20/13, only 25 years old, and married 11 days I received the call that forever changed my life.
Breast cancer. My doctor calmly explained that I would need to either have treatment of chemotherapy and radiation, or a mastectomy in order to remove the tumor. She didn't realize I was at work at the time. Once she found out, she immediately faxed over a doctor's note and told me to get home, and to come into her office the following day. I immediately crumbled to the floor and cried under my desk. My supervisor picked me up and led me to a conference room so I could be away from other people. Before I knew it my husband was calling me on my cellphone. I still don't even know how he knew to call me.
Just 11 days before, I was saying I do to my best friend and love of my life. That day I was telling him I had breast cancer.
I opted for the bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. It was determined that I am not a carrier of the cancer gene. On 10/18/13 I had both breasts removed. I went through the process of expanding my skin where my breasts once were and on 02/14/14 had another 2 operations to exchange the expanders for implants. I unfortunately had a hematoma on my right side requiring my doctor to go back in within 24 hours of my first operation.
2 weeks later I found out I was pregnant, and that I had been 2 weeks pregnant at the time of my surgeries. We were worried that the baby was harmed because of the operations, as we had been told I wouldn't be fertile for about 1 year. We were given the go ahead to have the baby and were advised that there wouldn't be any harmful side affects as it was so early into the pregnancy.
10/28/14 I gave birth to my first child, a healthy baby boy.
We were told the first year of marriage is always the hardest. That was an understatement.
San Diego, CA