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Teresa
One morning last Dec. 2002 I was getting dressed and felt a large lump
under my right arm. I was a little concerned but not too worried. I
asked a couple of friends and family what the lump might be. Most
everyone said it was probably just a swollen lymph node.
I got online
and started reading about lymph nodes, and most of the info said lymph
nodes would swell if you had a cold or infection. Well I had not been
sick. It said if it was from infection it should go away in about two
weeks. Well I waited a couple of days then I called my ob/gyn.
I
couldn't get an appointment until January so I made the appointment.
Then it snowed, and my appointment was cancelled. I had to wait another
week, so it had been almost a month now, and the lump was still there
and getting larger. So I finally got in to see the doctor, and I thought
I only had a lump under my arm. Well I had a 2mm tumor in my right
breast, very close to my nipple so I never felt it.
So I was sent the
next day for a diagnostic mammogram and ultra sound. Then I was sent to
a surgeon for a core biospy and a fine needle aspiration, and they knew
immediately that it was cancer. I had infiltrating ductal carcinoma
with lymphatic invasion.
I started on chemo, took my first treatment, and I got a call from my
ob/gyn doctor who said that I needed to have my colon checked because
I had blood in my BM studies. So I went back to my surgeon. She
checked me, and I had alot of blood in my stool. So she ordered a
colonoscopy test of my colon. So I had this done, and they found a huge
mass in my colon. So now I have colon cancer.
I take one more
treatment of chemo, then I have to have surgery. The mass in the colon
has to come out. So on April 9th 2003 I had a radical mastectomy of my
right breast, 14 lymph nodes under my right arm, and 12 inches of my
colon removed and 33 lymph nodes. It was a difficult surgery. The meds
made me sick. My blood count was really low so I had to have a
transfusion. My staples in my stomach became infected. I stayed in the
hospital 7 days.
I had many people praying for me and thru the grace of God they got
all the cancer, and my body was and is cancer free.
I had to take 4 more chemo treatments. I took three and declined the
last one. The chemo made me so sick, and I felt like God had healed my
body, and I didn't need any more poison in my body.
Today my right arm is still numb, I have a huge scar on my chest and
on my stomach, but I am alive!!!!
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