Growing up I dreamed of being a wife and a mom. Frank & I started dating I was 14. We were married I was 18. One dream had come to pass. In 1980 my second dream had come true I was gonna be a mom. Going for my monthly check ups I was feeling fine. I was going into my 5th month and we finally got to hear the heart beat. The doctor saw the lump on my neck which i had found since the month before. I thought the stiff neck was just a crick, pulled muscle nothing bad enough to show the doctor. When he checked it he insisted on doing a biopsey on it. I was excited to hear the baby's heart beat one minute and scared when he said be at the hospital in the morning to have a biopsey on this lump. This was on Friday morning I was to have the biopsey. On Saturday morning my doctor came in with the surgeon to tell my it was cancer, he said I had 3 months to live and had to have an abortion for our baby . He said I would not live to have him anyway so if I would abort the baby they could give my treatments that I needed. After having a miscarriage already about one year before I knew if God wanted this baby he could take it but I knew this is a package deal I was not parting with this baby. I guess you could say I lost it. All I knew was I heard the baby's heartbeat the day before for the first time and I was soo excited. If you are a mom you can relate, It was such an awsome feeling and now I had been given the death sentence of 3 months. wow! I remember thinking what did I do soo wrong for GOD to punish me soo. Later that Saturday afternoon 2 ladies Mrs. Sarah & Mrs. Beverley was in the hospital visiting they came in knowing I had just been given the death sentence of 3 months. I remember them saying can we pray with you? I was willing to do anything it took. They prayed the sinners prayer with me encouraged me to follow my heart knowing I did not want to listen to the doctors.
Frank had gone to work that day as he was delivering fuel to a customer in Pecan Island. Sister Ema Lou Winch was the owner of the store he was delivering at. Frank knowing what I had been told was besides himself she noticed. She questioned him what was bothering him. After explaining to her what I had been told and how no doctor they called to treat me would touch me because I was pregnant with cancer.She and Frank prayed the prayer of agreement that we would find a doctor that would treat me with the baby. By the Tuesday I had an appointment with Dr. Meza a wonderful man who gave us hope and agreeded abortion was not an option. He began running test to stage the cancer which was very difficult to go threw. I remember praying a whole lot every minute, I was very desprite. Probably the test that was the most challanging is when they cut the tops of my feet to find the lympth note to place dye to see where the cancer stopped. The shots between the toes was rough then the top of both feet were stitched and my feet would swell so i popped stitches. All this time the tumor on my neck was growing and growing. They continued to try to stage the cancer I would check in the hospital on Sunday afternoon to start test and usually back home on Wednesday. The tumor had continued to grow looking like a baseball under my skin. It was very hard to drive because I could not turn my head to back up it was really getting big. Finally they diagnosed me with Hodgekins in the 3rd. stage not too good although Dr. Meza said "If you have to have cancer it's a good one to have". How crazy that sounded at the time to me. The baby's heartbeat was very strong & fast he would say he's gonna be a strong boy talk about he was claiming something not even knowing but that did come to pass. The reports from the baby specialist was not soo positive. He said the chances are he won't be normal. We believed for a miracle not knowing the Faith thing that we have with the LORD. Many sleepless nights too scared to sleep. Spent many nights sitting on the toliet, so I would not wake Frank, to pray the rosary. I prayed the way I had been taught. The LORD knew my heart and answered my prayers and many other people that was praying for us. Now I know I can speak to him directly. I Thank him for his Mercy & Grace. He knew my heart was to him and I only knew to pray the way I was raised so I was only accountable for that.
The tumor was getting larger it seemed by the day. The doctor really did not want to give me Chemotherapy while pregnant. When the tumor got soo big that I was sleeping sitting up in a reclyner in order to breath. The next time I saw the doctor he saw the tumor had grown really big. It looked like a softball under the skin on my neck (collar bone) area. By this time I was 7 months pregnant, still very scared but trusted GOD was in control. They started chemo treatments on Friday morning. After being told by Dr. Meza a fast growing tumor usually responds to chemo quickly, I hoped and prayed this would be so for me. It did happen by the Monday the skin on the tumor was looser after just one treatment. That gave me some hope. I took treatments every Friday morning, they gave me small doses which were doing the job but not soo bad for the baby. On May 1st. around midnight I started having labor pain, went to Kaplan Hospital where Dr. Romero examined me and sent me to Lafayette General Hospital where Chris was born by C section @ 7:35 or so on May 2nd. Christopher Rene' Guidry was born normal 10 fingers. 10 toes. 5lb 4oz. He had a little lung problem so he stayed in NICU for 14 days. I would take my treatment then go to the hospital and sit with him. One day while I was there with him the doctor came by checked him and told me he thought it was time I could take him home boy was i excited with that news. Chris would take a bottle every 2 hours around the clock he would wake up. He came home 4lb. 14 oz. so his stomach would only hold a very little at a time. I would sleep when he slept and gladly gave him his bottle as he needed. You see this was my time to thank the LORD for the miracle had given Frank & I. Sometimes we pray for things and when he does it we forget to thank him. This was 1981 now 25 years ago and I praise GOD I am still cancer free and Chris is normal .......
|
