On July 31, 2008 I was walking through a lovely garden with the ladies in my garden club.  My cell phone has one of those chiming rings that sounds like angels are summoning me to answer the darn phone.  My oldest daughter was calling... there was no heartbeat found by the ultrasound technician.  She had lost her second child and was crying... I cried too.

Later that afternoon I came home to a beeping, flashing phone that was warning me there was a message.  This time it was not the usual credit card ads or political party fund solicitations.  The message was, "We need to take more pictures of an area on your breast... please call us for a repeat mammogram."  July 31 was a very bad day.

It was a tough year for me and my daughters.  The oldest had a D&C, then had to work with her doctors to get her thyroid medication worked out before trying to get pregnant again.  The youngest daughter was living 3000 miles away and her marriage turned abusive.  As a Mom you hurt for your kids and want to fix things, but instead my job was to survive a double mastectomy, 6 months of chemo and genetic tests.  Horrendous year... fast forward...

July 31, 2009.  My youngest is moved back to my state and her divorce was final on July 31.  She even has a wonderful new man in her life who loves and appreciates her and treats her like a lady.  She is still reeling from the changes of these last few months.  Daughter #1 is 4 months pregnant and feeling good.  And me?  I'm cancer free!  Whoopee!!!  Faith, prayers and time are healing the wounds.

Daughter #1 took the genetic test in April.  She is ecstatic that she did not inherit BRCA1.  Daughter #2 is having the test done on Aug 24, 2009.  I'd appreciate all your thoughts and prayers for her.  She has suffered and endured so much already... let's pray that she doesn't have to worry about a gene mutation too.

Melanie