The Journey - Part 3

I would say that 1995-1998 were "The Happy Years." If ignorance to the world's problems is bliss . . . we were happy as clams!

We had a lot of fun starting our grown up jobs - Mike as a fork lift guy - me as a 4th grade teacher. We bought our first house and spent all of our free time painting, tearing down walls and building new ones, putting in carpet, siding, roofing. And since we were DINKs (double income no kids) we could actually afford to buy furniture that wasn't made up of cinder blocks. It was a blast! We even added to our family my first year of teaching by getting a black lab puppy. She was abandoned on the playground where I taught . . . we fell in love with the little 8lb ball of fur and ended up keeping her.

We spent our days working, our nights going for walks. Life was good. We were in a rhythm.

Then one day, about three years in to our marriage we got the surprise of our lives. We were pregnant! I laugh at it now . . . but we actually WEREN'T trying. It was, dare I say, an "accident." We weren't expecting it . . . but we had been married for three years, and if God felt it was time for us to be parents, we were ready to accept the challenge.

We were thrilled! And since both of us stink at keeping secrets, we decided to tell our parents when we were about 8 weeks pregnant.

The night I told my mom, I started spotting . . .

The next morning we went to the emergency room, and found out that we had lost the baby.

The day after that was Father's Day.

Thus we began what would become our greatest challenge of our marriage - INFERTILITY.

Even though the pregnancy was unplanned, we were absolutely devastated when it ended the way it did. About two months later, after many tears, we decided that we were indeed ready to start a family. The loss of that little one sealed the deal. We were meant to be parents, and we didn't want to wait any longer.

So we tried . . . and tried . . . and tried. Believe me people - we were doing the work! But to no avail! Each month brought with it hope followed by disappointment. Finally after a year, we decided to seek out a fertility specialist. A friend of mine from high school was dealing with her own infertility issues and highly recommended Dr. William Dodds. He was local. He was the best in the state (and arguably the nation). And, most importantly, he was a Christian.

We went through test after test to determine what was wrong. But other than "hostile mucus" (I know, gross!) they couldn't come up with any problems. We tried Clomid - but I got so many cysts I could never even have a procedure done. We tried several rounds of IUI (intrauterine insemination), but, again experienced month after month of hope followed by disappointment. Finally, Dr. Dodds decided in the fall of 2000, that I should have surgery to explore the possibility of endometriosis. He determined from the laparoscopy surgery that I had level 3 endometriosis (out of 4). Thankfully he was able to clear it all out, and gave us good hope for conception.

Then it really hit the fan. The day after my surgery, we found out that Mike had CANCER. Honestly, wasn't infertility enough? Now cancer? We had just received hope to conceive a child . . . and now CANCER? And to add insult to injury, the cancer was in Mike's upper thigh. This meant that his fertility could be compromised if he needed radiation or chemo . . .

When it rains, it pours.