June 2008, 28 years old and 2 months into my pregnancy my husband Jarom and I were watching a TV program about breast cancer. We were interested in the program at the time because my older sister Tasha (34 years old) was undergoing treatments for breast cancer. As I showed my husband how a self examination was performed, he noticed a hard lump in my right breast. I ignored the lump for about a month until I asked my OB to examine my breast. She too was surprised and thought it may have been beguine due to the pregnancy and had me run further tests to rule out a tumor.
After meeting with a surgeon and having done a biopsy I received a call on August 1, 2008 that the doctor needed to see me right away.
She sat me in the same room where I received the biopsy and said "Luseane, we biopsied your sample and unfortunately it is cancer". My first reaction was Wow; okay what do I need to do to take care of it? After hearing my options and felt what was best for my baby and myself, I immediately made decisions without discussing it with my husband or family and had scheduled to have a lumpectomy early Monday morning on August 4, 2008.
Before I could begin with chemo I had to run a series of test to monitor my baby which I also had to see a specialist to check my heart, blood test, etc. The plan was for me to be admitted to receive A/C infusion type chemotherapy for 72 hrs. once every 3 weeks 4 times.
After treatments were done on Nov 15, I continued to see my OB and neonatal specialist to monitor my baby's growth and or any side effects from receiving chemo. All went well after treatment that at a regular prenatal checkup at 37 weeks on December 29, I was told I was contracting, 4cm and later gave birth to a healthy baby girl that evening. She will be turning 6 and I'm still cancer free! #blessed
Kahuku #RR4L, HI
