and then, everything changed

This is my first blog post. Ever. I am really not sure about this, but I hope this allows our family and friends a chance to be part of our journey. I will assure you I am not a good writer and my computer skills are lacking, but I will do my best. I want to tell you about all of the latest events, but first I want to fill you in on our little life.

Braden and I celebrated our 5 year wedding annivesary in October 2012 with an anniversary trip back to Riviera Maya, Mexico. It is hard to believe five years have already flown by. I am still working as a registered nurse at the Via Christi Cancer Institute and although my job can be rather hectic, I do love taking care of cancer patients. Braden is an account executive with Journal Broadcast Group and although he never imagined himself in that position but rather building homes and selling real estate, he has found that he truly enjoys it and I think he is pretty darn good at it! He plans to stay put. The biggest change in our lives happened in 2010 when we welcomed Brynn Ellen into our world. She just turned three years old and we feel so blessed that God chose us to be her mommy and daddy. We thank God for our happy and healthy little girl!

Our lives have certainly taken quite a turn in the past couple of weeks. Some of you know our story and some don't so I will share it again here. Braden noticed a mole on his back before Christmas that he had never noticed before. We knew something was different about this mole and thankfully headed straight to the dermatologist who told us they were sure it was melanoma in the very early stages. Well...yes it was melanoma, but unfortunatly not in the earliest stages as we had hoped. Because it was larger than they thought, they decided to check Braden's lymph nodes in the rare case that it could have spread. (6% chance to be exact.) On January 22nd Braden had five lymph nodes removed from his left underarm and on January 25th we received the call that changed everything. The melanoma had indeed been found in one node. There are really no words to describe the feeling. Complete shock. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions. Walking into the cancer center for the first time was tough as we started to process what the next few years of our lives will be like.

So here we are. Ready to face the road ahead. Today was the dreaded PET scan to make sure that it has not spread anywhere else in his body. Next up is surgery next week to remove more lymph nodes under Braden's left arm and insert a port-a-cath in his chest so he can receive his treatments. Given that the PET scan and remaining lymph nodes are negative, we are very hopeful that Braden's prognosis is good because we have caught it early. We feel blessed in so many ways and will continue to thank God for allowing the mole to be discovered and our wonderful Dr.'s who were insistent on checking Braden's lymph nodes. Although plenty of tears have been shed we truly feel God's comfort and peace. We have quickly learned that his ways are not our ways, but even in the most difficult moments he always shows us he is there. Braden is my inspiration. He is a true testament to faith in God. He is ready to take on this battle...and win! Thank you all for the continued prayers!!