My Mom :)

7 months have passed since I last blogged?? WOW!

On January 5th, my mom found a lump in her right breast. She went to the doctor thinking it was just a cyst. They didn't like the size of it and wanted her to get an ultrasound done on it and have it biopsied. On January 21st, she was informed she has breast cancer. That news turned our world upside down. I was scared, not knowing much about breast cancer, that I could lose my mom. I was not, and am still not, prepared for that. My mom, is one of my very best friends. It's been a roller coaster of emotions these past 4-5 months.

After getting the news she has breast cancer, she was informed that she would need to undergo a full mastectomy on the right side (left side came back benign). March 5th was the date of her mastectomy surgery. She pulled through that like a trooper. They also took out 2 lymph nodes that they were concerned about and those came back benign. Yay!

They decided to take some of the tissue they removed during the surgery and test it to find out what her chances were of the cancer coming back in 5 years. If it came back low, they would probably do nothing. If it came back medium, they would put her on a 5 year pill to try and fight the cancer off if it tried to come back. If the test came back high, she would have to undergo chemo.

During the surgery, they went ahead and started reconstruction so she could have an implant put in once she was healed. The docs put a temporary implant and a port in. Each week she would go to the plastic surgeon and they would "pump her up" or add like 50cc's of solution into her port which would then go into the temp implant and start filling her out. Once she got to the size she was comfortable with, they would go in and do another surgery. They would take the port and temp implant out and insert her permanent implant in at the size she was pumped up at. The law states that both breasts have to be the same size, so they were going to put an implant in the left side too to make them both even.

In the middle of her "pumping up" appointments, she went in to see her cancer doc and get the results of the tissue testing. Shocking everyone, the results came back high. She, her docs and most of the family didn't expect that. It came as a huge surprise to her and she viewed it as a disappointment at first. She really didn't want to go through chemo and going through that meant she had to postpone her reconstruction for the time being. She saw that as a set back and that's the last thing she wanted.

My mom is such an upbeat and positive person, so she didn't stay bummed for long. She said and knows that if God brought her to it, he'll bring her through it!! So, she embraced it. She met with her breast cancer supporter and told her what the next step was. Her supporter, D, asked what type of chemo she was going to have to go through.

Come to find out, D had gone through the exact same chemo. She was able to tell my mom what to expect and how to go about handling the stuff that would come her way. D, before starting her chemo, had a head shaving party. She wanted to shave her head so that she was beating the chemo before it could beat her. So she had her friends and family over, they shaved her head and then sat around eating and talking. Once she started her chemo, 3 days later she lost her eyebrows, her eyelashes and all body hair. She was so thankful that she didn't wake up to having clumps of hair all over her pillow. D explained all this to my mom and told her she will in fact lose her hair. She told her she didn't have to go about shaving her head if she didn't want to, but it may be easier to do it that way.

My mom, knowing she didn't want to wake up like that one day and scare her grand kids, once again embraced the idea of shaving her head. She planned her Head Shaving Party. So, on the last Friday in April, we did just that! It was a blast and my mom thoroughly enjoyed herself. She had her kids, grand kids, nieces, great nieces and nephews, sons-in-laws and friends of the family there. She let everyone who wanted a turn take scissors and start cutting clumps of hair off her head. Once it was short enough, I took the electric shaver and shaved the rest of it.

My mom is BEAUTIFUL bald!!! The grand kids all embraced it and her with open arms and she didn't scare a single child! My two year olds will come up to her and say "Meme, you get haircut?" and then they want to rub her head. She's having so much fun buying hats and scarves to wear. What an inspiring woman she is! She is so strong and courageous!!

My cousin's son, Mitchell, who is 12, shaved his head that night with her. We also shaved Teegan's! :)

She starts her chemo on Monday, May 17th. She knows chemo can make her sick. She's gotten most of what she needs to prepare for being sick but we are hoping and praying that part of chemo will leave her be. We pray that God will keep his hand on her and make this process as easy on her as possible. She only has to go through 4 rounds of it but that's an 8 week process.

So, if you're reading this and believe in prayer, please say a quick few minute prayer for her. It would mean so much. :)

The picture I posted is my mom, Mitchell and Teegan after they got their heads shaved! :)