I Am Loved..Beginning..

I mentioned in my bio that I am 34 almost 35 and I have been with my husband for half my life. It's true! We dated in HS, I know I know it's a cliche right? I was 16 and he was 18. We have never NOT been in a relationship since Sept 24 1993. This May we will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary and in Sept we will celebrate 19 years of being in each other's lives! This is one of several accomplishment that most I'm proud of! In May 1998 we were married and in Jan 1999 I found out I was pregnant! Very exciting stuff since I wasn't sure how long it would take (heard that it could take a while) luckily it was the first month yea! First part of pregnany sucked, I was VERY sick. The 2nd trimester treated me better and in the middle of the 3rd trimester the shit hit the fan! I was 34wks (6 wks early) when I started to have some blood pressure issues, so I went in to my obgyn and she wanted to send me over to the hospital to be monitored. They determined that I was dilated to a 2 and were considering stopping my contractions for obvious reasons. The did routine blood work once they decided to keep me over night. The morning the doctor came in concerned that my "counts" we're "off" and they wanted to do more blood work. They proceeded to stick me off and on for 2 days! I knew this wasn't good. The problem was that my white blood cell count was low...2.1 (normal range is 4.5-11.0). Counts are often all over the place in pregnancy but this wasn't consistent with pregnancy. Decisions, decisions. They brought in a Hemotologist and he continued with the theme of perplexity. We asked him I the spirit of being DONE with the sticks and pokes, what would demystify my "issue". He quickly came back "Bone Marrow" test. He was against it because of the worry of not getting a good sample due to being pregnant. I asked would it conclusively rule on what my "issue" is and he said yes. Not everyone was a fan of this but at 22 years old and being scared TO DEATH I proceeded. That was a Wed and on Fri evening (be leary of a late dr visit and or phone call) he came in sat down in a room full of worried faces and eager eyes and dropped the most unthinkable bomb...I had Leukemia. I was devistated, I was 22, my baby is 5 wks from being due, and I have cancer. Leukemia, Acute Lymphocydic Leukemia to be exact, is a beat the clock sort of game and I just complicated it with a premature baby. What to do? They did a more detailed sonogram to see what the baby's lungs looked like and they were fully matured! This was a surprise and a much needed blessing. They thought "maybe her date's off" but it wasn't, it just the first of many miracles! A day and half later after 20 hrs of hard labor and the worry of serious blood loss and life threatening infections, I pushed for 45 min and delivered a 7 pound 13 ounce HEALTHY baby boy. He was perfect and beautiful and everything I wanted and I was possibly going to be taken from him before he knew me. See, while most new mothers were just tired and nusersing and preparing to go home and sit the next 6 wks out from work on Maternity leave, I had a bargained to be home with my baby for just 5 days, before I had to leave him for 6 weeks! While at home I was also preparing my home for my mother in law to come and stay to care for my new born so that my husband could go back and forth from Ft Worth to Dallas on a daily basis. This in deed was another blessing. Leaving him that day was one of the hardest things I have had to do (to date). Leukemia treatments are ALL in patient so I didn't get to leave and go home. I was treated for almost a year with intravenous chemo. I didn't have to stay for a year in the hospital, but I was in more than not. I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and my birthday all in the hospital. One of the Chemos that is super important in irradiating Leukemia is called Daunorubicin. REMEMBER THIS DRUG, IT'S IMPORTANT FOR LATER!! It did its job and then some. With this chemo comes a 5% chance of developing Cardiomyopathy (congestive heart failure) and I got it. This was bad news. I was immediatly started on meds and over time it corrected itself (not to 100% but pretty close) so I'll take it :). When my first year was up, I ended it with a Bone Marrow Harvest (fun). For the next 2 years I would continue on with oral chemotherapy and after 3 full years, I was done! I made it to the 5 year mark, I had a 5 year old, I lost all that weight, I had normal hair, and I was "cured". At 5 years they classify Leukemia "cured". I was so blessed and lucky! Four years later I would get pregnant again (was having trouble) after hearing that I probably was going through early menopause (due to chemo). This time a heathy 8lb baby girl via a planned c-section that went beautifully! This was MY time to be a new mom again and go home, be tired, nurse my baby and sit 4 wks out from work...FINALLY..something normal! I healed great and went back to work with no complications. I mentioned that I nursed. I wasn't able to before and it wasn't something I obsessed about, but I feel so blessed that I was able to for 9 months...holy moly! She is 3 1/2 now and is a crazy, happy, healthy little girl! Thank God! My son is 12 1/2 and too is a happy, sometimes neurotic, HEALTHY young man...THANK GOD!! My kids are miracles that my husband have the privilege of raising. We had a REALLY rough start but it's all worked out...right?