1-year anniversary of the diagnoses day

It was one year ago today that Meg and I were told of the news that would forever change our lives. On July 19th 2007 Meg got a call from Dr. Luke with the results of her biopsy. It was not good news! The doctor let her know that she had Invasive Ductile Carcinoma. After hearing the news, Meg immediately called me at work and let me know the life changing news and that we were to meet with the doctor later that day to discuss the results and our options. I was devastated but knew I had to be strong. It was an ugly, rainy day and after hearing that news, the day became even uglier. When we meet up before going into the doctors office we just hugged for what seemed to be 5 minutes straight. We eventually regained our composer and went inside the doctor's office. By this time it was 2:30 and the news had spread throughout our families. Everyone was in shock. Once we got called back behind the waiting room door, my heart sank. As we sat in the two chairs facing the examination table and waited on the doctor to come in to talk to us, I couldn’t help but look over at Meg and see the fear in her eyes. I tried to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. Dr. Luke started out his talk by saying, “The results are unexpected and it is indeed cancer, you have Invasive Ductile Carcinoma.” Meg and I had been holding hands and we both simultaneously tightened our grips at the same time. It was at this point that I realized I was not having a bad dream and it was real. He went on to say that he still didn’t believe it was cancerous even after removing part of the tumor during the biopsy and was shocked to see the results. After giving us a few seconds to catch our breath, he went on to tell us that we caught it early and everything was going to be alright but we were going to have to endure some speed bumps in the near future.

It has been exactly one year from that day and my heart sinks every time I think of that conversation with Dr. Luke. He did a good job explaining the options to us and I feel we picked the most logical one. I might not have been the easiest one, but in our minds it was better to go through a lot of suffering now then some suffering now and some suffering later. There is no chance the breast cancer can return and even though it was a tough road, knowing that fact makes only solidifies our decision. The next step in the reconstruction is set for August 15th. This surgery is going to clean up some scar tissue and reduce the visible scars. It is not going to be nearly as bad as the first surgery, but she will have some drains and will need a solid week or two to recover. This is just another one of the speed bumps that Dr. Luke was referring to. Looking back at all of the speed bumps she has had to go over in the last year, this one is minor compared to the first few.

Meg has shown such strength and courage through all of this and I couldn’t be prouder of her. She has had some tough times but all things considering, she has done great! It has been an extremely tough year but the hard part is over. I want to thank all of the people who have prayed for us, called or emailed, wrote letters, cooked meals, and even just sent positive vibrations. We could not have made it through the year without you! Please continue to keep her in your thoughts as she goes through the remaining steps of her reconstruction and please continue to support breast cancer research when possible. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what Meg has had to endure.