A lot can happen in 9 years

August 2006.  We were living in Clarion, IA.  We hadn't lived there long and didn't know a whole lot of people, but the boys were spending the summer enjoying the pool and making friends.  I had just finished up a 3 month temporary job and was getting ready for the school to start for the boys.  It was hot and dry and man o man is it flat up in those parts of Iowa.

Then, I found a lump in my breast.  You know how you "know" something even though you don't really know?  I knew.

I made an appointment with a doctor in town.  I had no idea what to expect.  Clarion is a little bit of a town, about 3000 people, but the hospital was new and the people there were extraordinarily friendly.

I saw the doctor, who was/is an absolutely amazingly wonderful doctor (and who helped to get me through an awful lot of health issues in a relatively short period of time!).  After her exam, I was scheduled for a mammogram the following day.

I went in for my mammogram early on a Tuesday.  It was meet the teacher night at school for the boys.  School started the following day.  The boys were with a sitter and planned on spending as much time as possible swimming on their last day of summer vacation.

I had my mammogram.  Followed directly by an ultrasound.  Which was followed by a conversation with the radiologist, as I sat on the exam bed with the technician beside me rubbing my back.  The radiologist sat in front of me and told me that he was 99.9% sure that I had cancer, that they would have to prove to him that it wasn't.

After our conversation, the radiologist walked down the hall and talked to the surgeon, who agreed to see  me right then and there.  The surgeon wasted no time and was willing to do surgery as soon as the next day.  But school was starting the next day and it was just the boys and I in town right then.  We put surgery off until Friday.

As soon as we had the surgery scheduled, the surgeon got ahold of the original doctor that I saw, then he walked me over to her office so that I could have my pre op physical.  When I was finished with the physical, I went back to talk to the surgeon some more.  And when we were finished, the surgeon walked me out to my car, because he was concerned about me driving home alone.  (I had maybe 6 or 7 blocks to drive.)

I found out that I had cancer while living in a tiny little town on the flatlands of Iowa.  A town with an award winning hospital, complete with a surgeon, an oncologist who came to town, and almost everything that I needed to complete cancer treatments right there.  I didn't have to wait to find out results of anything.  The doctors went over and above, communicated directly and honestly, and got me into treatment in a speed that amazes me to this day.

5 days after surgery I got the pathology report that it was indeed cancer.  6 days after surgery I saw the oncologist for the first time.  14 days after the original surgery, I had a 2nd surgery to remove more tissue, lymph nodes and insert a port for chemo.  Less than a month after my mammogram I was receiving chemo.

I received 2 different, harsh, brutal regimes of chemo.  I lost my hair, I looked like death warmed over (I was once asked if I was Jonah's grandma), the boys probably lived on frozen dinners and cereal (I don't really remember), but I survived!  We all survived.

I had part of my thyroid removed 2 weeks after my last chemo treatment.  ( Fortunately, those nodules were not cancerous)  Then I went for 7 weeks of radiation.  I did have to drive 45 minutes one way, 5 days a week, for one minute of radiation.  I was pretty darn tired by then.  I do remember that.

But, I survived.  They had found cancer in one lymph node in my chest wall.  You will never convince me that the fast actions of the doctors in that small town hospital helped to save my life.  The mass that they took out of my breast was the size of a good sized orange.  One day it was just there.  I would have noticed that.  It was a fast growing cancer.

Had I had to wait to get a mammogram, or an ultrasound, had I had to schedule an appointment with a surgeon and wait to get to see him, had I had to wait to get a pre-op physical, I might not be here now.  Had I had to wait to get into an oncologist or wait on the 2nd surgery or wait on any number of things that just seemed to fall into place for me, I might not be here today.

But, I did not have to wait.  I was treated and taken care of and cured.  9 years later, here I am.

Why is 9 years important?  Because, with the birth of grandchild #3 this past week, it made me think of all that I might have missed in the past 9 years had not those doctors gone above and beyond to take care of me.  Think of the things that you might have missed over the past 9 years.  Here are just some of the things that I might have missed:

Eric and Candice getting married
Amber and Dustin getting married
Amy and Christopher getting married
Jordan graduating from high school.
Amy graduation from college
Amber being CNA of the year
Jonah being Jonah
Grandchildren  #'s 1, 2, & 3 all being born.
I would have missed showchoir and band and choir and plays and musicals and speech events.
I would have missed seeing Eric get baptized
I would have missed wine on the patio with my mom
I would have missed Omaha with Peg on our 5 year survival anniversary (Thats a whole 'nother story)
I would have missed sunsets and holidays and "firsts" of all kinds
I would have missed Colorado and Oregon and clam chowder cook offs and oysters for breakfast.
I would have missed seeing family and friends
I would have missed that crazy golfcart ride, with my giggling brother, through the Oregon woods
I would have missed dancing
I would have missed life.


I would have missed out on getting pretty darn healthy, for the first time in way too many years. After losing now more than 110 lbs (Yes, you read that right), I am able to really play with my grandkids.  I can move mattresses.  I can do things that I haven't been able to do since before cancer.  Since before I had cancer, then thyroid surgery, then gall bladder surgery, then a hysterectomy, then, well you get the picture.  Too many health issues in too short of a time.  But, I survived.  And finally, finally now, 9 years later I am truly starting to feel healthy again.  As my oncologist told me 2 days ago, I am now a "boring" patient!  Do you know how wonderful it feels to be qualified as "boring" in the big, bad world of cancer???!!!!  It feels fabulous!!!  I feel fabulous!

A lot did happen to me in 9 years.  Thank God.  If nothing had happened to me in 9 years, it would have been because I wasn't here.   But God put me in the perfect place at the time that I needed to be in a perfect place the most in my life.  I survived.  And I cannot wait to see what the future holds in store for me!  Bring it on!