Cancer

For anyone who was wondering, but was too afraid to ask...

 My rock, my husband -Beau- found out he had cancer at the beginning of April. For about the last 11 years he's had a weird cyst, roughly larger than a 50 cent piece, at the bottom of his right bicep. Occasionally he would complain that it hurt a bit and that it was slowly growing. So, early this spring he decided to have it removed to get it out of the way and have it healed for Summer fun. Our family physician and the doctor performing the surgery assured us multiple times that it was nothing but a slow growing cyst. "Nothing to worry about!" they said, "a cebatious cyst!" they assured us. Well, guess what, it turned out to really be? Humanities great friend.... CANCER!

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans to be exact. A slow growing cancer under the skin and when left unchecked- is deadly.

After doing a routine biopsy we got "the call" from the surgeon. We both needed to come in for a consult with an oncologist specialist and Beau would need a much larger area of skin taken out to make sure the entire mass and all it's little punk-ass cell friends that were hanging around were gone, with a round of 6 weeks of radiation therapy.

Below is Beau two hours after surgery. We stayed at his mom's house in Salt Lake while his sister watched the kids for us. His mom and Grandmother came with me to the hospital and stayed with me while he was in surgery which I am eternally grateful for. Here, Nonna is scratching his back because the pain meds made him so itchy. What a life. :)

We were totally shocked to say the least. I immediately got off the phone with Beau and started crying. Gabe (my three year old) came in and asked me if I was on my period. A boy to the core! I told him no, I was just watching a sad movie and that I was fine. I decided to call a friend to unload on so I could keep it together for the family. She was so sweet to comfort me and told me exactly the things I needed to hear to get a grip, mainly, "Janae, you just go ahead and cry and cry, let it all out, it's the only way you're going to get passed this". You know who you are, and I am forever grateful you had the guts to come over and talk to me,even though you knew I was upset over something but didn't know what. Not everyone would have been able to handle that. Lot's of love.

Beau came home a few hours later and immediately sat down to watch "how the universe works" with the kids. He was laughing and making jokes and oddly wired. I made us dinner and he told me he couldn't help me with the dishes because "ohhhh my cancer, babe", he said, with a huge grin on his face.

Over the next few weeks we roller coastered through all the emotions. Making jokes about him dying, depression, over-eating, not eating anything, over activeness, listlessness, horniness,:) the list can go on and on.

Above is 3 day's after surgery and his arm started swelling like a balloon below the dressing and hurting worse than ever.

Eventually he had surgery to have the entire area evacuated of all surrounding skin and tissue on May 18th. The picture below is him getting his bandages off in the Dr. office and all of us getting to see it for the first time, one week after surgery. It has several layers of stitches on the inside that will dissolve and staples and glue on top. They took an 8" by 3" chunk of tissue and a sliver of muscle. Above is Beau wearing his Huntsman cancer institute wrist band I got him from the gift shop,that he loves, and below is Gabe checking out his Daddy's "owie" for the first time.

Gnarly zipper, eh?

At this appointment we found out the margins were clear! No more cancer! and no Radiation! Woooooooo! Way to kick that Cancer's Ass Beau! Here's us celebrating in the parking lot with Dana, Beau's mom.

I just have to say Thanks to everyone who supported us through all of this, especially Dana who went with us to all of the Dr.'s appointments and surgery, opened her's and Mikes home to us and fed us so that we could be closer to the hospital and offered limitless emotional support and love to our entire family. Also, thank you to the rest of Beau's family, namely Nonna and Haley for watching the kids for almost two days straight, and for all the love and good thoughts from everyone. Also to my mom for watching the kids both before and after the surgery so Beau could re-cooperate, Thank you. And to countless friends and neighbors who willingly offered to watch the kids for Dr. appointments, and to give us breaks so that we could be better parents while going through this. You all rallied around us in our time of need and I wish I could buy you all an amusement park in thanks, but all I have is my heartfelt tears and thank you's. Even if all you could do was lend an ear or offer some kind words, we could not have done this without the support of our community, friends and family's combined. 

We love you all. :)

I'll keep you updated with any more news if needed. Beau says his arm aches somethin' fierce and it feels stiff and tight, but is manageable. Also, if you, or anyone you know has a weird skin growth, demand to get it biopsied immediately! Even if they assure you it's nothing to worry over, do it anyway! Our doctors did they best they knew how, but there's no reason a patient can't be their own advocate and lobby for action to be taken in their own best interest, regardless of professional opinion.