Dear Friends, it is with great sadness that I need to write to you. On Friday I was diagnosed with breast cancer. We are in complete shock. I am only 34 years old with no history of any cancer on either side of my family.
Things are happening very quickly. We did tell Chase and Brooks today because we wanted them to hear it from us and not by accident from someone else. We told them that I had something growing inside my body. We did tell them it was breast cancer. We told them that the doctors would be giving me some very very strong medicine over the next several months and that this medicine was called chemotherapy.
We did NOT use the word “sick.” We did NOT tell them that I would possibly lose my hair (we will tell them when that is about to happen). We did NOT tell them that I was going to need surgery after the chemotherapy.
Later in the day today, Chase did ask if I was going to die like a friend of mine recently did. I reassured him that my cancer was different and that it was not my plan to die and that I was going to fight this. We even talked that the tumor is like “storm troopers” and that the chemo is like the “Jedi’s” fighting the cancer and they liked that explanation. At bedtime tonight, Brooks asked if we could pray for me, then he asked to pray for my friend that has died and then for his little friend Alex who has Leukemia. So he does have some sort of understanding of what is going on. He also asked why I wasn’t breastfeeding Palmer anymore so we talked about how she really likes bottles much more.
We are going to need all of your support throughout this battle. You are the ones that spend so much time with them during the day. Please be there for him and be understanding if he is acting up or just not himself. Please be there to give him a hug when he needs it because he will. We are still processing this and just don’t know what to expect.
We will keep you updated on all that is going on. We do not know if the cancer has spread outside of my one breast and lymph nodes. This next week we will be meeting with lots of doctors and hopefully have a plan in place by the end of the week. He will probably have some long days at school on Wednesday and Thursday.
Here is a website that we will be using to keep everyone updated with what is going on.
http://www.caringbridge.org/
Thank you,