In December 1992 I went for my regular physical. I had never had a mammogram and my Dr. felt it was time I had one.

The mammogram showed a calcification about the size of a pencil dot deep in my right breast. My Dr. felt I should have a biopsy and sent me to a surgeon. The surgeon he sent me to told me what he would do if I were his wife. He sounded like he was controlling and would not give his wife a choice. It was my body and not his. I opted to do nothing. It was probably nothing anyway. I would have another mammogram in 1993. I think this is called the denial stage.

In May I went down the aisle at church and asked our pastor to anoint me with oil and have the elders to come forward and pray for God to heal me so the next mammogram would come back clear. Bro. Ray anointed me with oil and he and the deacons laid hands on me and prayed for God to heal me so the mammogram would come back clear.

The following week I went for another mammogram and it came back with the same results. The calcification was still the size of a pencil dot. I found a good surgeon and he set me up for a biopsy. I had a fibroid tumor in my left breast and my Dr. decided to remove it even though they are never cancerous (to prevent a problem later in life). He removed the calcification and it was cancer.

I felt like that was all that was needed but my Drs. wanted to do a mastectomy & remove my lymph glands under my right arm or have 6 weeks of radiation treatments just to make sure the cancer would not come back. In my heart I knew I did not need the other treatments but Al agreed with my Drs. They were all worried about me and I did not want that.

Now I was wrestling with which procedure I would go through. My surgeon sent me to an Oncologist. He explained that if they removed my breast, the cancer could not come back in that breast. He also explained that the only way to know if the cancer had spread or not was to remove the glands under my right arm and test them.

My other choice was to have radiation treatment on my right breast. If I opted for this procedure, the radiation treatment would probably burn my right lung and I would still have to have the glands removed to see if the cancer had spread.

After biopsying the glands under my arm, if the cancer had spread, I would have to have a mastectomy and Chemotherapy instead of radiation therapy.

He was emphatic that we do one of the procedures and I would be very foolish to not do something.

Now I had to decide what to do. I included Al in the decision making process. He wanted me to have the radiation treatment. I thought that would be stretching the pain out and wanted to have the mastectomy to just get it over with. Al wanted to save the breast. I finally said, "You know honey, God’s word said you are the head of the house and I am supposed to obey my husband. I’m going to bed. You pray about it and let me know what you want me to do in the morning. I will do whatever you want me to do."

The next morning Al told me that while he was praying about what I should do, God told him he was being selfish and I should have the mastectomy. We made an appointment with the surgeon.

The Wednesday before my surgery I went to the prayer meeting at our church. I told everyone what I had decided to do and asked them to pray that God would take away the pain so I would not have to be drugged and could stay alert. They prayed for that and that God would control the surgeon’s hands and keep me safe as well.

The following Monday morning Al and I went to the Hospital. They took us up and put me in a private room. I knew that wasn’t right and Al went down to check because our insurance would only pay for a semi-private room. The office told him that my Surgeon had insisted that they allow me to smoke so they had to put me in a private room but they were only charging our insurance company for a semi-private room.

The room had windows that opened and when I smoked, I sat next to an open window so the smoke would go outside. I did not want to offend anyone when they came to see me.

Early Monday morning in May 1993 I had a mastectomy and they removed the glands under my right arm. I was told that I would have a problem lifting my arm after the surgery.

I woke up in post op. I watched as the interns and nurses worked on a lady next to me who was losing too much blood. When they finally finished, the intern backed up to my bed and I said, "I’m really thirsty. Can I have some ice to suck on?"

The intern almost jumped out of his skin. He responded, "You’re awake! You’re awake! You’re not supposed to be awake for another hour. Why are your awake?" I told him what I had asked my church to pray for me. He acknowledged that had to be why.

He added, "the Dr. has just gone to tell your husband that everything went fine, there was no more cancer and I would be asleep for another hour or two. I will find the Dr. and see if you can have some ice." I asked him to see if they could remove the IV also and he said he would ask.

The Dr. had them remove the IV and catheter and give me some ice. They took me upstairs and the nurses on that floor were going nuts because they were not ready for me. They did not expect me for another two hours.

I had been in my room for about an hour when the head nurse came in to give me a Demerol hypo. I told her I did not need it because I did not hurt and was not going to hurt because of what my church had prayed for me. She gave me the shot anyway.

Fifteen minutes later she saw me wandering around in the hall looking for milk and something to eat. I was really hungry. She could not believe the shot had not knocked me out (for a couple of hours). I told her that since I did not need it God had turned it to water so I could stay alert. She decided that had to be the answer because I should be knocked out cold or at the very least too groggy to walk.

About 5 PM Dr. Santoscoy came in and told me I needed to walk my fingers up the wall so I could get the use of my arm back. I said, "Why? So I can do this!" And reached over my head and touched my left ear. He decided I did not need that exercise.

After the Dr. left I went in and removed the bandage enough to see what it looked like. It did not look bad but it did not look the same. I cried. God only allowed me to feel sorry for myself for about 5 minutes. I had my Bible with me and he spoke to me in his word (Is 42:8-12 I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, ... And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them." ....).  I was again filled with joy.

I had grown tired of saying "It's not me - it's Jesus in me."  I will not neglect giving God the glory again.  There is no way to describe how wonderful it feels for God to glorify Himself in you.  He is so good.

The pain never came. I was in the hospital for 4 days. Everyone commented on how they could tell that God was with me. I found that when God Glorifies Himself through you, you are extremely joyful in spite of the circumstances.

Wednesday AM my Dr. came in and said, "It’s obvious that God is with you." He then explained that he had an elderly man he had to do yet another surgery on (he had already done 10 surgeries on him in as many years). He said the man was over 90 years old and he knew he was going to die during the surgery. He asked me to pray for him (Dr. Santoscoy) because he knew he was going to be really upset when the man died. I told him I would and called my church to have him put on the Wednesday night prayer list.

Evidently my church prayed the man would be healed and not die. Not only did the man not die; he was healthier than he had been in over 20 years. My Dr. was totally flabbergasted.

The whole time I was in the hospital Wichita had one storm after the other. The whole city was flooded in places. On Thursday the sun came out and my Dr. released me to go home. My nurse came in and said, "That figures – God loves you so much he gave you a beautiful day to go home." She helped me get things ready to leave.

My friends & neighbors (tenants) took over and would not allow me to do anything. They overprotected me. If I started to do anything that might hurt me, they fussed at me and did it for me.

My surgeon put a tube in my chest and under my arm to keep my arm and chest drained of fluid after the mastectomy because I no longer have the glands that do that for me. It was supposed to stay in for about 6 weeks. Dr. Santoscoy removed mine after two weeks because it was causing muscle spasms.

I never had a problem. If my arm started to swell, I would hold it over my head and let it drain. If I was walking around outside with my arm up so it would drain, my friends and neighbors would join me and hold their arm up. Someone would say, "OK, today we are all Pentecostal." God is so good.

I never had to take anything for pain. Not even an aspirin.

It was determined that I had invasive cancer. The cancer was so small that they could not test it to see if it was estrogen receptive. They took me off Premarin for a year. I have no ovaries to make estrogen. They gave me Tomoxifin to kill estrogen. I felt like someone put me on a spit and was cooking me over a hot fire.

I went to see my oncologist and told him my problem. He said they should have never put me on Tomoxifin and took me off it.

I was still too hot and too dry to enjoy living. My family Dr. and I decided that since the cancer did not grow during the 6 months between the mammograms, it was not estrogen receptive because I was on the largest estrogen patch. He put me back on Premarin. Life was much better (cooler) again. The temperature in our home went from 65 deg. To 72 deg. overnight.

Premarin does not cause cancer (unless you have a uterus); but if you have an estrogen receptive cancer it will feed on the estrogen and make the cancer grow really fast.

Isa 42:8-12 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.

Psa 51:12-13 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.