By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Holidays are all about those special loved ones and the 2016 Christmas season will forever be a year that Gretchen Guidry is thankful for her family more than ever.
Guidry has lived in Slidell since 1980 and enjoyed celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary with her husband Rodney on Sept. 2 of last year.
But in May of 2016 Gretchen went to the doctor for a normal checkup and mammogram, only to get some troubling news.
“The doctor saw a spot on the ultrasound and said I needed to have surgery right away to remove it,” Gretchen recalled. “I saw the doctor on Monday and he scheduled the surgery as quickly as possible, only four days later on Friday.”
As a woman who had dealt with a handful of surgeries previously in her life—foot surgery, two knee replacements and Cataract surgery—Gretchen trusted her doctors and figured it was for the best when she was told to remove the questionable spot as soon as possible.
But that’s when her loved ones stepped in and helped her reconsider that decision, a change of plans that might easily be considered lifesaving.
“One of my daughters is a registered nurse and so is my niece,” she said. “They didn’t think we had gotten enough information and that the surgery was being rushed too fast. They urged me to hold off and get a second opinion.”
Her niece Michelle Corollo, who is not only an RN but also owns a home health care company, had plenty of experience dealing with people in similar situations. Her daughter, also named Gretchen, was an RN too, and thought a more thorough evaluation was needed.
She was sent to New Orleans for what turned into a five-hour intensive run of tests, a mammogram and more, including a close look at her lymph nodes.
The results not only showed that cancer was also in her lymph nodes, but detected 11 of the 21 nodes with cancerous tumors that needed to be removed. If they weren’t also taken out it could have been a deadly oversight.
“The surgery that was held earlier this month removed over half of the lymph nodes and the cancer in my breast,” Gretchen said. “I thank God for my family looking out for me in that situation and pressing me to get that second opinion.
“Nothing against the doctors who had helped me initially since they were only trying to remove the spot in my breast as soon as we could,” she said. “But if the cancer in the lymph nodes hadn’t been found and removed it would probably have been far worse when we finally realized it.”
Not only did she find that much more cancer was in her body than originally thought, but the physician performing the surgery, Dr. Alfred Colfrey, was able to use a newer technique that put what is known as a radiation seed right in the spot of the cancer. It minimizes side effects and slowly releases radiation before becoming inactive in a few months.
“I feel like I’m a miracle person to have survived this situation,” Gretchen said. “But I don’t know if I would have made it if not for my girls, and them both coming forward to talk to each other about it and then recommending the second opinion.”
Gretchen worked for only a couple of years after high school before meeting Rodney in New Orleans when she was 20 and he was 25. A Navy veteran, Rodney worked 37 years for BellSouth before the 77-year-old retired.
He said he always remembered a cousin whose wife had breast cancer 14 years ago, so when his wife told him the doctor had detected a problem, he wanted to be cautious, but quick, to get things done.
“When the doctor said to do the surgery in four days we thought it was the right decision to get it out as quickly as we could. But if it hadn’t been for Michelle and our daughters I don’t know what might have happened,” Rodney said. “If we hadn’t gotten the second opinion, and found the lymph node problems, it could have been bad.
“We are both thanking God for our two daughters and Michelle,” he added.
Becoming the stay-at-home mom with their two daughters, Gretchen loved living in Slidell where Rodney’s twin brother moved in next door in Cross Gates.
Gretchen was a gospel singer in her 20s and sang all around the New Orleans area although she said that staying home to raise her children was always the “career” she wanted.
“I had thoughts of going for a singing career,” she said. “But my purpose really was always to stay home with the kids. That’s what I have loved in my life and Rodney allowed me to do that. We’ve had a great marriage for 50 years.”
With surgery now four weeks behind her she said she is recovering well although facing six weeks of radiation. Gretchen did go through a period of losing her hair due to the treatments, but she wakes up every day thankful to God that family members were providing the support she needed during a difficult time in her life.
“The Lord blessed us by sending Michelle to help us out, just as he did with my daughters Gretchen and Rachel,” Gretchen said. “As I said, I feel like I’m a miracle. I didn’t even have much nausea and still cook supper for Rodney every day.
“Thank God for your family,” she added.