One of many opportunities to grow

Thanks for visiting my blog! Before I jump into anything I want to send out a very special thanks to my sister in law and good friend, Alissa, for setting up this blog for me! I am so grateful for all of her help and advice so far in this process. She is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement!

Also, I want to thank everyone who has jumped without hesitation to our sides during this "bump in the road" with care packages, cards, goodies, words of encouragement, hugs, prayers, and the list goes on and on. I keep saying that this is really going to be as easy as it can possibly be because of the tremendous support that we are getting from family, friends, church, and our community.

So I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma on October 5th. I actually had to look up the date because in the chaos I totally forgot or just didn't take note, for those of you who know me well I am sure you aren't surprised ;-)  Of course we were caught off guard, but my wonderful husband Nate said when I broke the news "Well we are just going to do what we need to do to get through this." He has been such a rock through all of this, which is no surprise! You can read more about my diagnosis, in the "My Diagnosis" section of the blog.

My surgery (bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction) is scheduled on November 18th. I will only be there overnight and then I come home. I have a no lifting restriction for 6 weeks so friends and family and going to help take care of the kids.

Following surgery I will have chemo (they will know specifics after surgery when there is a detailed pathology to determine the course of treatment). It will be IV chemo probably every 2 weeks for 4-6 months and then a drug called Herceptin every 3 weeks for a year. I will lose my hair during the IV part of chemo and have some of the other symptoms such as fatigue and nausea, but I am hopeful that I won't feel sick at all because many survivors tell me that they didn't feel sick.

There are many other things that help you get through. Also I have read that diet and exercise are key in making treatment successful, so I have been working on that as well. I have been doing mostly pilates, wii fit, and I will try to get outside as much as possible! Also, I am putting all my trust in the Lord, I believe that He is my divine physician working through the doctors, treatments, and giving my all the peace and strength to get through this. Reading scripture, inspirational quotes, and prayer are keeping my mindset positive and uplifted.

This is what I will be using to keep everybody updated so please sign up for email updates to stay in the loop! Also, thanks so much to everyone who has offered to help with meals, etc.  Our church is going to set up a calendar for people to go to if they want to do a meal. We so appreciate the help and although it is hard to accept it, I am told to just do it! Thanks again to everyone for supporting us through this!