Time to share my story

[Justakid]

Guess it's about time to share my story.

I was watching Fear Factor (couples edition) in January and was complaining to my husband that I had a pain in the side of my breast. We both checked and could not find anything. Me being paranoid and easily excited, called the OBGYN. She checked me and said it was polycystic activity. Told me to keep an eye on it for a month and let her know if it continued.

Well in March I had come home from work, went upstairs to get in my PJ's before working on files that I had brought home (I'm a mortgage underwriter - as you all know rates have been good for years and we are working crazy hours), my cat was at the top of the stairs when I was going back down. Turned around on the 2nd step and was playing with the cat, we had fun for a few minutes. I stood up, turned around and fell down all 16 stairs.

Scared the heck out of me, I immediatly jumped up (don't do that after a fall), then I thought to myself, you idiot, you don't jumo up after a fall. I walked in the kitchen and called my husband to ask when he would be home. By the time he got home I was fine, just sore.

Couple weeks later, I started thinking about the pain in my breast that had not gone away. Called my PCP and went to see him. Told him about the breast and falling down the stairs, after he examined me he said to get an x-ray to make sure that I had not broken a rib..........here we go.....

The xray showed something (could be pneumonia), better get a CAT Scan to be sure. Had the Scan, was laying on the table at the end of the scan and the technician was taking out the IV, he says "oh yeah, I forgot to ask you......do you smoke or have you been exposed to asbestos?" I told him I smoked and he said OK. Looking back now.......I know that in the back of my head I was telling myself that something was wrong, outwardly I blew it off.

Waited and waited and waited, couldn't take it anymore. Got up on a Tuesday and decided to stay home from work and I would call the get the results. For some reason I was hysterical about it. I called my Mother and told her to come over because I was hysterical. My husband had just got back from taking the kids to school and I called the doctor, talked to the nurse and told her I had to have the results that I couldn't take it anymore. They called back and told me that the doctor wanted to see me. I lost it, my mother and husband kept telling me that it was nothing. I called my friend and said now would be the time to start praying for me, he's not calling me in to look at my beautiful face. I was mad, thought about putting my fist through a window, thought about knocking the fridge over, was really trying to figure out how to destroy the house. My mom kept saying, it's nothing. She went into the bathroom to fix her lipstick and when she came out she had been crying. My mother ran a medical lab in a hospital in MD when I was a child.

The three of us went in (we all have known my doc for many years, he knows how protective and pushy my mother is, he knows how quiet my husband is, and knows that I joke when I'm stressed). Here we were waiting, I kept trying to make light of the situation, my mother wouldn,t look me in the eyes and my husband looked like he would throw up!

Dr. V came in and said that a 1.3cm lesion had been found. Actually there were other lesions, but they ruled them out, he was concerned about the 1.3cm one. I could only sit there and look at him and start to hyperventilate. We left with an Ativan perscription, an appt with a Thorasic Surgeon the next week, and a dx of Stage 1 LC. Told me how luck I was that the lesion was even found, I was young and healthy so lets be positive.

Saw the surgeon and he said there were 5 things we could do, one of them was surgery. I told him I wanted no testing done, go in and get it out.....NOW! He agreed and a couple days later I was on the table!

We were gonna take the "lesion" out and run tests while I was in the OR, if it came back positive, he would take the lobe. Oh I forgot....when we first met the surgeon he kept talking about LC and my mother speaks up and says, how do you know it's LC? Needless to say she and the surgeon got into a fight, I sat there crying saying STOP. They stopped.

During the wedge removal the pathologist did not think it was lung cancer, he felt that the cancer had come from somewhere else and gone to the lung. He and the surgeon argued, Dr. B closed me up and sent me home. This was a Tuesday, on Friday I went for a followup and he told us it was LC. Everyone was happy because the alternative would have been much worse. Tuesday came and back in for surgery again!

I was so positive when I thought it was Stage 1, were gonna cut this out and do chemo and everything will be fine! Yeah right! During surgery 17 nodes were taken, 3 were positive. I remember Dr. B telling me about the nodes and I said "I'm not sure how I feel about that". When he said Stage 3A, my positive attitude went out the window.

Two surgeries in two weeks, all my doctors kept telling me I was young and healthy..........I had hair halfway down my back, I went and had it cut very short in anticipation of chemo. I have an 8yr old son, I thought a gradual hair change would be better.

Met the Oncologist, he made me, my husband and mother feel like we should go pick out a coffin...got rid of him!

After all this......we still don't know what is causing the pain in my o

My bio is listed below, what is not mentioned are the numerous yeast infections in my throat, third degree radiation burns, lung collapse, esophagus swelling shut, allergic reactions to steriods and benadryl, veins collapsing. If there is a reaction or side affect to any drug or treatment procedure......I'm gonna get it!

One thing that really made me mad through this whole thing was that I was going to have a breast reduction when I was dx, had made the appt with the surgeon. I was gonna look 18 again! Now I have scars everywhere and still look like a birthed 20 children.......go figure! Don't get me wrong....I'm glad that I'm alive, but I so wanted to look 20 again in my mid section!

It has been a long trip and a rough roller coaster ride.......but, everyone here has helped me to get through this. Don't know what I would have done without ya'll. All the late nights when I couldn't sleep, all the late nights up crying from the pain and feeling sorry myself.....I came here and you all helped me! Thank you. I hate that I have to be here but Thank God that this website exsists! Thanks Rick and Katie and everyone else, I truly appreciate all that you do!

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