Testicular Cancer, Schmesticular Schmancer

If you are one of the handful of people who read my blog on a regular basis...ahem, Dad...don't worry this is just a RE-telling of the old story.  Trust me, nothing to report any time soon!   

For everyone else who may have clicked on over from Kelly's Korner Blog, welcome! :)

I normally don't participate in SUYL posts (I really just enjoy reading all the other stories!), but every so often I sort of feel led to do so.  When I saw today's topic about sharing the exciting news of pregnancy, I kinda felt like maybe there is someone out there in the blogosphere who might be in the middle of what Robbie and I went through a few years ago--and would like some encouragement.

My husband Robbie is an avid snowboarder and outdoor retail salesperson, and used to take trips out to Colorado and Utah to "test" new inventory (in the name of fun, ha!).  In January of 2007, he was on a trip much like all the ones he had been on before when he took a super nasty fall down the mountain.  It was a really nasty fall; he tumbled several hundred feet head-over-heels type of fall.  It wasn't even Noon yet, and he decided to hang up the board for the rest of the day while his buddies stayed on the mountain.  During a shower he took later that afternoon, Robbie discovered a lump in his testicle.

For once, I am so thankful that he did not listen to me! :)  He called to tell me about it that night, and I told him that it probably wasn't anything to worry about--and that he most likely herniated something during the nasty fall.  Once he was back in town, he listened to his intuition to see a doctor, and a couple weeks later was diagnosed with Stage 4 Testicular Cancer that had spread to the kidney lymph nodes.

Exactly 3 months from our wedding day, Robbie had radical orchiectomy surgery to remove the entire left testicle and the casing around it.  From the beginning I emphasized that if he wanted to postpone the wedding, it would be more than okay.  But he really wanted a goal and something to focus on during the upcoming chemotherapy cycles. 

Robbie had to endure 12 hour sessions, 5 days a week, for 9 weeks straight.

I can't even begin to describe those 9 weeks.  They were awful and exhausting.
But they were also full of hope and strength, and SO much love.

Fast forward 2 years.  :)

We received a letter in the mail from the lab where Robbie had to freeze a pre-chemo sample, of well, you know.  It was going to be a substantial amount of money to continue storing that sample.  So we talked and prayed about it, and felt that if God wanted us to have children He would make it happen.

Needless to say, we were very surprised and overjoyed to find out that I was pregnant in April of 2009.  It was a lazy Sunday afternoon--the kind when you stay in your jammies and watch movies all day.  I had no inclination whatsoever to take a test.  To this day, I still have no idea why I grabbed one from under the sink at the last moment.

After about 10 minutes of pacing the bathroom and being frozen of emotion and sound, Robbie tapped on the door to see if I was okay.  (Sort of funny to think about now, ha ha!)  Somehow I got my feet to walk my body down the hallway, holding this little stick in my hands.  And then--boom!  Crying, lots of crying.  :)

Robbie and I hugged and cried for like 15 minutes, and were too shocked to think of a creative way to tell our parents, ha!  So we drove over to both houses and shared the news in person.  One of the best days of my life!

Our son Maverick decided to arrive about a week before he was due.

He arrived in the wee early hours of Thanksgiving Day.

Could God have picked a better day?  I don't think so. :)

And, to this day Robbie is free and clear of cancer.  In fact, his oncologist said that it looked like he never even had cancer since all the "dead" cells were gone too.  Praise God!