a handful of dates will forever be etched into my mind, today is one of those dates.
april 7th, 2008 is the day trish's biopsy results came back.
april 7th, 2008 is the day in which the anxiety from the biopsy became a reality.
april 7th, 2008 is the day trish was diagnosed with breast cancer.
for me, it was a day that began at the SF Giants Opening Day game and ended with an emotional night of wondering how the hell my 32 year old pregnant wife could have cancer. shock, disbelief, anger, helplessness... it was all there.
today, out of pure coincidence, we are heading to the stanford cancer center for trish's 9 week ROUTINE checkup with dr. carlson. afterwards trish and her mom will head upstairs to the infusion treatment area for her tri-weekly dose of herceptin.
this past year brought many sleepless nights full of sadness and angst, but ultimately happiness revealed itself. Happiness when i was able to read these words, the post-surgery biopsy report, to trish on November 21, 2008:
No residual carcinoma is seen in the right mastectomy specimen. No tumor is seen in eighteen total lymph nodes (0/18)
cancer free.both of us know how fortunate we are to have the caring friends, family and strangers who helped us get through this past year. the groceries, the dinners, the cards, the emails, the blog notes, the flowers, the healing touch, the walks, the rides, the babysitting, the hugs, the tears, the thoughts, the mojo and prayers allowed us to focus on what mattered most, trisha.... and it worked.
thank you again.
when trish was newly diagnosed, she quickly learned how helpful it was to talk with cancer veterans, women who previously ventured down the same path. it helped trish, IT HELPED US, better understand the road ahead. its a time of many questions, not enough answers, difficult choices, worry and sacrifices.
trish knows the importance of having someone who can relate on the same level, and now she is paying this forward. lately she has been given the opportunity to talk with others who themselves are recently diagnosed. trish has always seemed to play "counselor" to friends and family, but i think she may have found her specialty.
life has been good.
trish continues to do tremendously well and today's checkup is just that, a checkup. the herceptin will go smoothly (but groggy) as it always does. caden is 2 years, 7 months old now, seems to grow and inch a day and wakes up each morning with new words in his vocabulary (most real, some we aren't quite sure of). he knows his abc's, is doing well counting and learning his numbers and he is beginning to use his potty chair.
recently, caden saw a wedding picture of trish with her longer hair, and without skipping a beat he pointed and said "momma". as trish's hair continues to grow back, even caden knows things are closer to getting back to normal.
myself, i will be accompanying my beautiful wife to dr. carlson's at 9am, and then i am hopping the train in palo alto to head up to the SF Giants Opening Day game... this year knowing trish is 100% cancer free.
:)
thanks for checking in.. and thanks again for the generous support over the past 366 days.
tahoe, march 2009
MLB (major league baseball) and the susan g. komen foundation have teamed up to promote breast cancer awareness.
