The Fight Of Her Life

When you're diagnosed with cancer, you immediately must get into "fight" mode. Your doctor and health care experts will help you devise the battle plan. For me, it was simple. First it was surgery, followed by chemotherapy and then radiation. Over the next few weeks, I'll highlight some of the reasons I chose this course of action.

As soon as I was diagnosed, I just wanted the cancer GONE! I was ready to get into the operating room and get the tumor OUT. My doctor scheduled my surgery within a few weeks of my diagnosis.  It was the first part of December and I wanted to be finished so I wouldn't miss out on the holiday fun. The surgery went great. I chose to have a partial mastectomy - a reduction and lift. The reconstructive surgeon was able to come right in after the tumor was removed and shape the remaining tissue. It was beautiful. The lymph nodes were clear and the tumor small. However, we would have to wait to see if the doctor had gotten clear margins. When a cancer is removed, doctors must also take out some of the surrounding good tissue to make sure the cancer hasn't spread. It would be a few days before we found out if everything was clear. The results came back and the doctor said they wanted to go back in to "shave" a little more tissue in hopes of getting the clear margins. So a week later, I was back in the O.R. undergoing the exact same surgery as I had before. My doctor told me if the margins did not come back clear this time, I would have to have a complete mastectomy. I didn't like to hear that but remained confident that it would all go well. The second time around, she got what she needed and I was relieved!

I healed beautifully and enjoyed Christmas that year more thankful than ever before! That was four years ago.  There's not a day goes by, I don't thank God for healing and health!