The scare of my life...

My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—2 Samuel 22:3

Please read this and then pass this on to every woman in your life...

On a very personal note...
I can honestly say that I've had my share of frightening moments in my life, but nothing came close to the last four days. Without going into too much detail...
Last week I became concerned about some suspicious symptoms associated with my breast. After dismissing them for a few days, fear got the best of me. On Friday, I called the lactation consultant at St. Vincent's hoping that she would explain it all away since I am still breastfeeding Addie. Instead, she told me to immediately contact my doctor and insist that I be seen that afternoon or Saturday morning (she reiterated this three more times before I got off the phone with her). I immediately called my doctor and they were unable to work me in (effective today, I have a new doctor). I knew why the lactation consultant was so adamant about me seeing a doctor immediately, so on Saturday I called my aunt. Once again, I was really hoping that she would tell me not to worry, but she told me that instead of waiting, she was scheduling a mammogram and ultrasound for me first thing Monday morning. The symptoms that I were describing to her were indicative of cancer. I was terrified. Thankfully, I got in for both tests this morning (not at St. Vincent's).
It was late this afternoon that I received the results back...I have swollen lymph nodes most likely due to some kind of breast infection, but otherwise, I'm OK! As far as explaining some of the other symptoms...who knows! My body and hormones are just completely out of whack! I'm following up with my new doctor in the morning. There is one thing I need for everybody to get out of this story:

When I first told Chris, he immediately said "but you're only thirty, Jenn". I asked him to pray with me. Following our prayers, a feeling came over me. I instantly thought that I wasn't THE ONE who would be affected by this, that I was going through this so that I could tell my story in order to help someone else. Give or take a few, there are approximately five hundred people who look at this blog every week. If you haven't scheduled your yearly mammogram, do it NOW. If you're concerned about something "suspicious", go have it checked out NOW. It doesn't matter if you are sixty or "only thirty". I believe in my heart that this message will save a life. Please pass this story on...

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