Lois' Story

I am 44 years old, married with two daughters ages 8 and 10. I was diagnosed with Stage 3a Breast Cancer last September, 2007. I had just seen my OB-Gyn in July of 2007 and was given a clean bill of health. Exactly 2 months later I scratched under my right arm while lying in bed and felt a lump the size of a golf ball. My husband & I had been married for 17 years and were having some serious marital problems, so I did not tell him when I discovered the lump.

On Monday, Sept.17th I scheduled an appointment with my OB for the next day. I then scheduled a mammogram for Thursday, Sept.20th. The nurse practitioner who saw me in the OB's office thought it was inflammatory disease and not to worry. When I went in for the mammogram, an ultrasound was also scheduled. After two sets of mammogram films and the ultrasound, I was immediately sent across the street to a highly regarded breast surgeon. The surgeon did a Fine Needle Aspiration on the lump under my arm and he also found the lump in my breast. His exact words were "I'm very concerned about that" - indicating the lump under my arm.

I was immediately scheduled for a breast MRI that night. I was then scheduled for biopsies for the following Monday, Sept.24th. I finally told my husband on Sept.23rd. I spent the entire day having both types of breast biopsies, which included at least 12 samples. After the biopsies, I saw the surgeon again and scheduled the necessary bone scans, CT's and the surgery. I was able to get everything scheduled in one week and I had my surgery the following Monday, Oct.1st. I underwent a modified radical mastectomy with removal of 19 lymph nodes, 8 of which were positive.

I was scheduled to start chemo on November 8th. On November 6th I underwent a second surgery to insert a Power Port. I am highly allergic to Tegaderm and told the surgeon this. The surgeon turned it around thinking I was allergic to the adhesive, but it caused severe localized allergic reaction in which the port could not be accessed for my first chemo session.

I was scheduled to receive 4 doses of A/C, and four doses of Taxol. My hair fell out as predicted two weeks later. I was working 30 hours a week and I continued to work throughout my treatments. I drove myself to and from every chemo treatment and I finished chemo on February 28th, 2008. I started radiation treatments on March 17th, 2008. I was about half-way through when the radiation burns set in. I had to take about 2 weeks off before I could continue the remaining treatments. I finally finished my radiation treatments on May 15th, 2008.

My life is dramatically different since this whole journey began. The one major change that I see is in my two daughters. We have always had a very loving relationship, but now it seems that we are much closer. I tried to keep my sense of humor throughout the treatments. One of the first things my younger daughter asked me was whether my hair would fall out. I told her it probably would but when it did she could draw on my bald head. True to my word, on a Friday night in January I let her draw pictures on my head. She drew a black cloud with a smiley face inside it and labeled it "Chemo Monster". We took pictures and she made it into a book.

The most challenging aspect of this journey has been watching my daughters deal with their sadness and fear. Both of them just wanted to hold me at night when tucking them into bed. I could tell them that I was going to be all right until I was blue in the face, but I could tell that deep down they were still very scared. The most important lesson that I learned was that we need to keep moving forward in our lives and to take nothing for granted. We as humans tend to get so caught up in the daily grind of just living that we forget what's really important. We also tend to forget to be grateful for everything we have and all those wonderful people who touch our lives.

If I were a national spokesperson for surviving breast cancer, my message to all would be not to lose hope and to ask for help. I truly believe that there are angels here on earth and they all showed up when my family needed them most. God does not let us go through this alone, we just need to swallow our pride and let his grace shine through others.