Update on my pregnancy and cancer diagnosis

Update**** 11/12/19

I’m on the middle of getting chemo right now, it’s not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Somehow I was expecting my body to feel weird or in pain while getting the treatment and I don’t feel anything abnormal. They’ve had my port attached to the iv all morning. I’ve had 2 pre treatment meds(can’t remember the names), benedryl which put me to sleep, and a steroid. After the ivs are all done they will give me the neulasta patch and I get to go home! While I was here I spoke with a social worker who helped give me information about some resources and info about getting a free wig. Everyone here has been so nice. They did say chemo would be the hardest part but once it’s completed things should start getting easier, as of now my last treatment should be for February 25,2020!!

A few weeks ago I posted about how I was diagnosed with breast cancer during my pregnancy. On 10/28 I went to the hospital to be induced so I could start my treatment sooner. When I got there I was not dilated at all, so they had me on cytotec, cervadil, pitocin, and gave me a few membrane sweeps, and broke my water all over the course of 4 days😖😭. On 10/31 the contractions got pretty bad, to the point I was blacking out on and off, I don’t remember much from that night except I kept paging the nurses who finally convinced me to get an epidural, which helped. I couldn’t move my legs but I felt a ton of pressure in my butt. Finally after almost 10 hours of labor my little man decided to come on 11/1 at 4:50am. I had a second degree tear and could definitely feel when I was being stitched up. I always planned to breastfeed my baby, but because of the cancer I was told not to. My nurse knew I wanted to, so she showed me how to get him to latch onto my breast without the cancer. He took to it immediately and I broke down and cried the whole time he nursed, because I knew that’d be the only time I could feed him. After he was done eating, I was able to get up and walk around on my own, besides the stitches I felt great. Later that day my baby was taken to the nursery to be put under lights for jaundice. Around 3am on 11/2 another nurse and pediatrician came into my room to tell me my son was being taken to the nicu because his bilirubin level was rising. On 11/3 I was scheduled to be discharged, but was told I could stay as long as I wanted since my son was in the nicu, and that they would find a nesting room for me in case I wanted to spend the night. Since there was no definitive answer as to when he would be discharged, I decided to go home and see if I could sleep more comfortably in my own bed, plus at this point I’ve been in the hospital for 6 days!! When we left the hospital my boyfriend wanted to get me something nice to eat, while we were out I was trying so hard to hold back tears 😭 I just wanted my baby. On 11/5 I was scheduled to have my port put in, ct scan, and a bone scan which all took around 7 hours to complete. The only positive part of this day was that my son was able to be discharged from the nicu, they knew I would be having procedures done and said we could come the next day if we wanted but there was no way I was going to spend another night away from my baby so we went and got him as soon as we could. 11/8 I needed to have a biopsy redone on a lymph node in my armpit, since I already had this done I knew what to expect but this time the recovery wasn’t as quick and easy as last time and my arm is still achy today. Since then it’s been harder for me to hold my son, my port is on the left side and it hurts if he bumps into it now and now my right arm is sore. Yesterday my parents and nephew came over and brought me and my boyfriend dinner. They offered to keep my son overnight so i could rest my chest and arm which I was reluctant to do but I let them take him for the night. I didn’t expect this journey to be easy at all, but I just feel like it’s never ending. My days are running together, I’ve been forgetting a lot of things, I have no appetite and if I eat food doesn’t taste right anymore, I’m so stressed, I cry multiple times everyday but I’m trying so hard to keep it together for my son. This Tuesday I will be starting chemo and that really scares me since I don’t know how my body will react to it until it happens, but between my boyfriend and my parents we will make it work. My mom already told her job what’s going on and she will be able to take off when I get my treatments to watch my son, my boyfriend will also be able to adjust his work schedule to take me to and from appointments. I’m not looking forward to Tuesday at all but the sooner I start the sooner this will be over.

My baby boy Owen born 11/1/19 at 7lb 8oz