I can't believe it's been 10 months since I last blogged.
I last left off with back pain, wedding planning, a honeymoon to be and more.
Well - little did I know that throwing my back out was a life saver. When I had an MRI, they found a mass on my kidney. I chalked it up to nothing. I was 38 and I was positive I didn't have cancer.
I put it off almost 2 months and finally went in for an ultra sound. I was then called immediately to follow up with a CT Scan.
I was then also called immediately to go see a surgeon. I was in Stage II Kidney Cancer. I had a large mass called Renal Cell Carcinoma. I was almost to Stage III and very close to it spreading. I was diagnosed 10 days before I was to get married.
It was a whirlwind. My husband (fiance at the time), my mom and my grandmother all went with me to see a Urologist. He was shocked at my age when he met me. He told me to go and get married, have an amazing honeymoon and try and keep my mind off of things.
Easier said than done.....
But I did it.
I had a dream wedding on the beach with a nautical twist. All of our friends and family were there and noone knew at the time I had cancer. I didn't want to make it a sad event.
It really put my vows in perspective however... In Sickness and In Health.
I am happy to report I had a major surgery on May 14th, 2013 and had a partial nephrectomy. I am currently cancer free after a very tough recovery. I have scans every 3 months and will have them for 3 years to make sure nothing broke off and spread.
I don't live in those terms however, I live in the now and happy to be here phase of my life.
Here is a small photo recap of my wedding. I felt beautiful that day as I married my best friend. We took off on an amazing trip to Italy for our honeymoon. I will follow up with that recap, more fun photos and my lapband world in the next few blogs. I am hoping to come back to this blog world because I need accountability & miss catching up with you all.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that some of you are still around. I will start exploring my blogs I used to follow to see who is still here!!
Much Love - XO
