Ms. Bouchard's Breast Cancer Fight

We are behind Ms. Bouchard 100% as she begins her journey. Please support our dear friend and collegue on her journey to recovery. Please read her narrative and make a thoughtful donation.  She is in the fight for her life and she needs your support.

My journey into becoming a cancer patient started after sustaining a hard fall and my neck getting whiplash.  After the swelling went down, my mom found a small lump on the right side of my throat. On April 12, 2002, five days after turning 36, I was told I had thyroid cancer.  I was also told that if there was a best cancer to have, that was it.  I went through surgery and Isotope radiation and had to stay away from my 4 year old son for 3 weeks due to the high dosage.  I listened to the doctors and went on with my life. I had a small scar, but again I was lucky because it was the best cancer to have. 

In October of 2004, I started feeling tired, the upper right side of my jaw hurt and I was having trouble swallowing again. I went back to the endocrinologist and he told me not to worry, that nothing was wrong. He told me it was common for a cancer survivor to be afraid. I asked for an ultrasound of my neck and he said no.  By the Fall, the discomfort was getting worse. I went back and he again touched the area and said nothing was wrong. As I left, I heard that he was going to be out of town the next week.  So, I called the next week, came in, met with his physician assistant and told him my issue. He had no problem signing the order and off I went to my ultrasound.  Two days later, the doctor called to tell me that I needed to go back to my oncologist because the ultrasound showed that the cancer was back. I thanked him for not listening to me and never saw him again. During this time, I had already found another doctor. When I met him, instead of shaking my hand, he reached for my neck and immediately noticed that something was wrong.  One day before Thanksgiving 2004, I was told I had cancer again.  So much for having the best type of cancer.  December 22, 2004, I was given the second chance of living again and my journey as a cancer patient continued.  This time, the scar came from the front where the thyroid had been all the way to the bottom of my right ear lobe. The nerves were cut and my family later told me that they thought I had a stroke because the right side of my face and eyes drooped. Eating was very difficult, I could not feel the right side of my face and my eye was closed. I had insurance, but not the money to pay for physical therapy.  The oncology department at The Baylor Irving Hospital were my support group and they told me about Web M.D. So, I would get on it at night after putting my little boy to bed and watch facial exercises. I also had a TENS unit which gave electric nerve stimulation, so I would put it on the right side of my face. I did this for 5 months and little by little, I started getting feeling back to my face.

After my diagnoses, I had my blood drawn every three months. Then, later every 6 months I had blood work.  In December 2006, it came back questionable, so I started going to M.D. Anderson in Houston. I was watched closely and in the Summer of 2011, I was told I had reached the 5 year mark of survival. 

Through all of these storms, I promised God that I would finish school and get my teaching degree.  When I first got sick in 2002, I had not even finished my Associates Degree. As we all know, life happens and I had to stop school.  But I had made a promise to God and so in January 2004, I went back to school.  Then, I was diagnosed with my second cancer in December 2004.  I did not quit! I did the radiation pills, scans, shots and made it through another storm.  I graduated with honors in May 2006 from Tarrant County College.  I received my B.A. from Dallas Baptist in 2007 and my Masters in August 2009. I did all of this as a single/divorced mother of a small child.

I have done myself breast exams since I was 36 and I truly feel that every woman should. During a normal shower, I felt something on my right breast and knowing that I had dense breast tissue from a prior mammogram, I did not think much about it.  By October 2015, I was starting to feel more of a lump and went to my gynecologist and was given the order to have my breast checked.  The morning of November 12, 2015, will be etched in my memory forever.  I went from the mammogram to an ultrasound to having the biopsy done.  I will never forget the sound of the click of the needle going into my right breast and finding out that morning that I had breast cancer. I sat that same day with the surgeon and oncology nurse explaining to me what I had and how aggressive it was. I also sat there knowing that again my life would be turned upside down, but this time the outcome could be deadly.  I no longer had the best cancer.

I went home and had to tell my son who looks at me for all of life’s answers. I have been his mother and father since his dad left us when he was four months old.  He knew I had gone to the doctor but did not know for what.  I told him and the same boy who at four had asked what kind of band-aid I would have on my neck in 2002, was now looking into his mother’s eyes, wiser of what cancer is, and can do to someone.  His next words were, “Mom are you going to die?” I replied, “not that I know of, but this is different from anything else I have ever known”.     

I became a kindergarten teacher because that was the age that I really have always wanted to teach. I love their innocence and how much they look up to their teachers. I love seeing how much they learn at such a young age and I wanted to be the one to make a difference in their young lives.  Many people think of that age as a hard and difficult time, but any kindergarten teacher that really loves her job welcomes it all. 

Today I ask for all who are starting this journey with me to please make it possible for me to receive the treatments that I will need.  My doctors have already told me that it is very aggressive and that I am in for the fight of my life.  I have health insurance, but the bills are already coming in.  I will have a double mastectomy on December 11, 2015, and start chemo in January 2016.  I am using the last 8 days of my sick leave for the surgery and some recovery time. When school starts again on January 4, I will only have 1 day left of sick leave.  I ask for your help in funding my care and for all that is to come for the next year.  The chemo will be strong and I will have no sick days.  So any days I miss after that will be without pay.   Please allow me to be able to look into my son’s eyes and for him to know that his mom is still here for him. 

Thank You.

Sylvia