Today we went to see the surgeon. It was a very emotional and overwhelming time, but it was nice to have my Mom along to help ask questions and take notes while we sat there in shock. The emotion and stress started early as we sat in the waiting room with 4 other women who had all lost most of their hair.

Once we were talking to the doctor, she was taking us through the full biopsy results. The results came back with two different cancerous spots in the breast, and cancer in a lymph node under her arm.

The doctor told us that the cancer was more on the non-aggressive side and seemed very positive at the results.

While this all seemed good to her and she seemed positive on the recovery, everything she was saying just seemed to make it more overwhelming.

She said the plan is to start with 4-6 months of chemotherapy, followed by a surgery to remove the entire breast, followed then by radiation therapy. This was really not what we were hoping for. 4-6 months of chemo just seems like such a long and brutal time, and then to still need to have everything removed.

The good is that the doctor seemed to think that it was a slow growing treatable cancer. This has helped a little bit to quell the spiral of thoughts that pop up within Chelsea that she only has a short time left to live.

The bad is that the treatment is beyond what either of us were hoping for. Looking at the plan, it just seems like it is going to be rough for such a long time and both of us were hoping that they wouldn't have to remove the entire breast and could just take out the cancer to avoid reconstructive surgery.

One thing that I hadn't thought of that sent me into a shock was the doctor saying that we need to see a fertility specialist to figure out what needs to be done so we can make sure we can have a family someday. She said chemo can make it hard to have children, so, they usually take and store embryos to use later on.

This wasn't something I had even considered. While it sounds like we will still be able to have children by storing the embryos now, or maybe still through normal means, it is still scary and something we hadn't concidered.

After getting home, I started putting the paperwork away in a binder they had given us to house all the documents. While doing that, I stopped for a second thinking, "Geez how did we get here. I can't believe this is something I even have to be doing."

Over the next week, Chelsea is going to be getting an MRI, PET Scan, and a bone scan along with seeing a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, integrative medicine doctor, and then following up with the surgeon.

After having a few hours, I feel that with the more information, it has been a little bit easier. I think after next week, when we have all the information, we will be through the hardest part. The chemo and the surgeries will be extremely tough, but I think it will be easier to push through that knowing what we are fighting and doing rather than sitting around doing nothing having no clue how bad it is and having no answers.

Something Chelsea always says is that she can deal with pain as long as she knows what it is. It is the unknown that is scary. I am thinking it will be the same in this case.

I am hoping that last week was the hardest week knowing nothing, then this next week will be the second hardest while we have the scans figuring out if it has spread, and then we can start the process of fixing it. We are definitely a little worried about the results though, and that it may get worse before it gets better.

Thank you so much for continuing to be with us through this. Your support has been more encouraging than you can imagine.

Things to pray for

• Complete healing
• Good news from the scans that the cancer hasn't spread out of the breast
• Peace from God while we get the scans waiting to find out the results
• That Chelsea will have the strength to perform in her dance show in June amidst the chemo
• Just for God to continue being alongside us as we begin the process of everything

Schedule

If you would like to know the schedule of stuff coming up so you can be praying, here is the current list of what is upcoming:

Medical Oncologist - Friday (4/22) 11:45am
MRI - Monday (4/25) 9:30am
PET Scan - TBD but before radiation oncologist
Bone Scan - TBD but before radiation oncologist
Radiation oncologist - Thursday (4/28) 10:45am
Surgeon followup - Thursday (4/28) 1:15pm
Integrative Medicine - TBD