New to blogging....

Hey everyone....well, I'm new to blogging, but I figured this would be an easier way to keep everyone updated on what's going on in our lives these days. Some day I'll figure out how to post pictures, but for now, words will have to do! :)

So, the story is this....about a month ago I had a lot of pain in my back and left chest area and thought I had pulled a muscle lifting Collin or pulled a rib or something and noticed a lump on the left side of my sternum. It was hard and felt bony, so I just thought it was some cartilage or scar tissue building up from some sort of injury. I mentioned it to Dr. Lee at one on my OB appointments, and he said to see a general surgeon. So I made that appt, went to see Dr. Battista, and he wanted to do a CT scan. This made me nervous because I was pregnant, and because everything I was looking at online about lumps on sternums meant bone cancer of some sort.
So, I had the CT scan last week Wednesday (and about 20 minutes before I was supposed to leave Mike noticed that our sump pump wasn't working and we had water in our entire basement!!!!) and when I got home from the scan , the surgeon was on the phone already telling me that the radiologist thought it looked like lymphoma. I was shocked. So, he wanted to do an open biopsy the following day, so on Thursday Mike and I went to the hospital for what we thought was going to be a 15-30 minute procedure. Well, he couldn't give me general anesthesia because I was pregnant, so I was given propofol (the same drug that killed Michael Jackson :) and was awake during the procedure, which took a little over an hour. He removed a lot of the lump that was on my sternum, but told us that there was a huge mass underneath my sternum still. The pathologist called back while I was still in surgery and said he was almost positive it was Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is the better kind, so that was the best news that we could get other than the lump being benign. So I now have an inch incision on my chest with stitches to come out on Friday. I really had quite a bit of pain for the first few days since there was some muscle connected to the lump, but that is feeling much better these days.
So, we met with Dr. Lee my OB last night and we meet with Dr. Anderson the oncologist tomorrow morning to decide the course of treatment and when to have this baby. I'm 34 weeks along, so Dr. Lee would like to get to 36 weeks before inducing me, but we will have to see what dr. Anderson has to say tomorrow. We also don't know if I will need just radiation or both radiation and chemo at this point. All of these questions will hopefully be answered at tomorrows appointment.
I'm really feeling quite hopeful at this point, but still anxious about whether or not this cancer is anywhere else in my body. I really just want to have this baby and get treatments started so I can be rid of it all. I'm also a little anxious about being tired with a newborn and starting treatment, but those are things in the future that I can't really be worrying about already. I'm confident in all of the doctors that I see and that this is a curable and treatable disease, but it's still scary since it is cancer. I trust that God has a plan in all of this - he blessed us in the fact that I'm this far along in my pregnancy and that Mike is home for the summer....it would be a lot more challenging if it was earlier in the pregnancy and if Mike was still teaching. I'm blessed with a church family that acts as our family here in WI since our family is all out of town, and with wonderful, supportive friends here in WI. (and those that are no longer living in WI) :) Anyways, I am rambling now, so I will post tomorrow after we meet with Dr. Anderson....hopefully we will have a timeline of when things will happen and what my treatment plan will look like. We appreciate all of your support and prayers. Love you all!!!