Cancer Updates and Bake Sale Story

A lot has happened since my last post, so here's a few of the things I'd like to document. 

First of all, my wonderful cousins and family put together a bake sale for my breast cancer/fertility fund last Wednesday (4th of July). We were somewhat anxious to see if it was going to be a success or not, because we had no idea how many people were going to show up, but we just had to have faith that it was going to work out. The night before we looked up the weather because we heard it was going to be a rainy day. The weather report was absolutely amazing and just another one of God's tender mercies. The sale was from 8:00-10:00am. The hourly report was: 7:00am - chance of showers, 8:00am - clear, 9:00am - clear, 10:00am - chance of showers. I was so touched when I saw this. Things like this truly show me that God IS watching over me and that he IS in control, I just need to have the faith to let go of the steering wheel, and let him take full control. 

So 7:00am rolled around and Kaydence and I got ready and headed outside to start helping. I was in awe at how many people were already here helping wherever they were needed. Then I walk into my Mom's house to see what I could help her with, and right in the front room, there's Sister Johnson putting together a handmade quilt for me. It really touched my heart and made me feel so cared for. Then 8:00am rolled around and people started flocking into our neighborhood like crazy. It was so nice to see everyone. I was able to talk to old friends and family I haven't seen in a long time. It was the most overwhelming, yet exhilarating and refreshing experiences I've ever had.  I am still amazed at how many people came to support. Even people I didn't know were coming out to support this cause. I have never been so humbled in my life and I know that this is an experience I can never forget. I tried my best to thank each and every person that came out, but I know I've missed a ton of people. If you are reading this, thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming to support. Words can never express how grateful and humbled I am by all the generous and caring people that supported me. I'd also like to make a public thank you to ALL my family, cousins, and friends that spent endless hours of preparing and baking for this fundraiser. It wouldn't have been such a success without each and every one of you. I am happy to report that we received enough money to cover a lot of the fertility costs and it is such a relief. I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders and I am finally able to focus on one thing, my health and recovery. 

After most of the guests left, my supportive family and I stayed outside cleaning up and talking. Right at that moment, it started raining/sprinkling. I KNOW for a fact that God was in control that day and that he knew exactly what I needed. It was so refreshing to have that light sprinkle after the Bake Sale. That was a really good day. I will post pictures in an upcoming post, including photos from the fun photobooth, so keep an eye out.

Since then, we've gone to a few other doctor appointments. We met with the fertility doctor and it looks like we will be harvesting my eggs in the next week or so. Everything is working out perfectly so far with that and I am so grateful. That is another burden that I feel has been lifted off my shoulders because I thought I was going to end up not being able to do it since normally they have to inject you with hormones, which in my case may cause my cancer to spread. But I was blessed to be able to go a different route that doesn't use hormones, so I feel go grateful for this. 

We also met with our 2nd opinion doctor last week, Dr. Byrum at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center. I was very impressed by this facility and the doctor and I felt 100% that I need to go there. First of all, they have almost everything there in the facility, instead of sending me to all different clinics for different tests, it's all there. As a result, we can get in for appointments so much faster than my first doctor, so it may speed up the waiting process a little bit. Also, Dr. Byrum only works with breast cancer patients, as opposed to all different kinds of cancer, so that makes me feel like I'm in good hands since it's her specialty. She also mentioned they have panels where they discuss very rare cases, which she said my case will be in the panel since it's so rare, and all the doctors present my information and discuss it on a panel, so it's a group of very educated doctors working for me. I feel very good about this decision and I am happy to say that my insurance will cover this facility, so that's another one of God's tender mercies. 

We've been waiting to hear back about the mutated gene test, BRACC 1 and 2, which if positive would mean I may have to remove both ovaries and both breasts because most women with this gene will develop both cancers sometime in their life. I am happy to say the test came back negative, although the specific test they did is 99% accurate. They said there's another test they can do that will test the last 1%, but it's not covered by insurance, so it's kind of up in the air right now. I talked to the gene counselor about this last Friday and she said there's another gene test they may want to test me for. It's not common like the BRACC gene, but when it's common in women with breast cancer under 30, so she thinks this test is more important than the 1% BRACC test, so she's contacting my insurance to see if this test is covered. If it comes back positive, it's not as serious as the BRACC gene (removing both ovaries and breasts), but it only effects the breasts, so that's good to hear. It's going to be another waiting game, but I came to realize that this whole experience is going to be a waiting game, I just need to learn to have patience and try to enjoy the ride as much as possible and throughout this entire experience, focus on the small tender mercies that my loving Heavenly Father is providing me.  

Also since my last post, my insurance finally agreed to cover the $3000 PET scan (after 3 appeals). I got the PET scan last week and since my old doctor was the one that ordered it (before I met with Dr. Byrum), so she was the one that contacted me about it. She reported that she had great news that it came back negative. I questioned her what exactly that meant, that there's no cancer anywhere else in my body?, and she said yes. I didn't think about it before we hung up and I realized that it was unclear if it was in the lymph nodes or not. That was Friday and so I haven't been able to reach her since. So I'm left kind of hanging and not sure what it meant, but I'm hoping and praying that that's what she meant. I will find out on Monday. I had my biopsy on Thursday that will confirm for sure if it's spread the the lymph nodes or not. 

Thanks again for each and everyone's love and support and especially all those that supported and helped at the Bake Sale Fundraiser. I have never felt so much love in my life. I think there was more people there than at my wedding reception! It was truly one of the best days of my life and Tanner and I are truly grateful for so many wonderful people in our lives. We love you all. 

PS I decided I'm going to try to do a weekly update, but if not a 2 week update, so stay tuned.