Elma's Story

I am sharing this story on behalf of my wife who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. My wife was diagnosed with stage I/II breast cancer in April of this year at the age of 37 after finding a very small lump in her breast. She was told that it was nothing to worry about but persisted in having it further evaluated and much to everyones surprise it was invasive ductal carcinoma. She had a very difficult time deciding what treatment options to choose but was told that she was a good candidate for a partial mastectomy due to the lump being just 1cm and having enough tissue available to make this a good cosmetic option. She had surgery in May and because of her young age she was advised to have chemotherapy rather than just taking temoxiphin. She is currently undergoing four cycles chemo. and will the have six weeks of radiation therapy followed by five years of temoxiphin. We still have a ways to go in this battle and it has been very difficult. We have two sons ages six and ten and they have taken all of this pretty hard. My wife worked part time before she became sick and is not currently working. I am the sole provider for our family but I have had to use much of my time off to take her to her doctor/hospital visits. We have health insurance but it has high deductables and out of pocket expenses and we have built up quite a few expenses. We seem to fall in the area of middle class when it comes to receiving any sort of assistance and we haven't been eligible for much. This has put a lot of stress on our home and not to mention our marriage. If there is anything positive to say about this is that her doctors have been great. We are very thankful that she pursued further testing when she did. We have also had alot of support from our family and friends. We have not had to cook a meal in several weeks thanks to them. We are taking things one day at a time and doing everything we can to ensure that our boys grow up with their mommy around. I'm sure that once my wife is feeling stronger she would be happy to share all of the details and she can probably do a much better job of it than I.