Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Pathology report II
Monday, November 26, 2007
Kick-off to Christmas
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving in Kindergarten
I am thankful (in no particular order)
1. The four most beautiful, sweet, well behaved children ever.
2. My husband of almost 10 years who gets better every year.
3. Having more than one place to share Thanksgiving day with family.
4. That BJay was able to fix our busted water line and we didn't have to call a plumber...except for Donovaughn at 8pm last night. Thanks D!
5. For the blessing of living near a lot of our family.
6. For the blessing of having my children grow up near most of their cousins, both sets of grandparents, one set of great grandparents, 6 aunts, and 5 uncles.
7. For really good health insurance!!!!!
8. That BJay's employers are paying for our great insurance.
9. For two nights of dinner brought in. Thanks Paige and Cyndi!
10. For Black Friday sales...and sisters to shop with!
11. That my body is able to heal so easily.
12. That the bill for my surgery wasn't as astronomical as I was expecting it to be!
13. For awesome friends both near and far!
14. That my mom gave me the sewing machine she won when I was 12 that she's secretly wished she kept.
15. That cooking a turkey is optional for me.
16. For people who don't even know me who have prayed for me.
17. That we bought this house we're fixing up even though I have done nothing but complain about it.
18. That I get to stay home with my awesome children.
19. For only having made 1 trip to the ER in almost 6 years of being a parent. *knock on wood*
20. For the extra joy that having children during the Holidays.
21. That I can put up the Christmas tree in our new house soon.
22. That my mom has just about finished knitting stockings for all of my children that match the one I had as a kid.
23. That my husband doesn't care so much that dinner is almost never on the table for him when he comes home as long as breakfast is there when he wakes up.
24. That my pediatrican told me I should eat as much as I want since I'm breastfeeding a 13 pound baby.
25. For the blessing of living at a time where amazing support and advice can come from support groups on the internet!
26. For my son's Kindergarden teachers who want him to improve and succeed.
27. For all the things I've learned from TLC's "What not to wear" that I'm not doing.
28. For the "thankful turkey" on my fridge that lists the blessings my children are thankful for.
29. For the blessing of being able to share what we have, not matter how much we have.
30. That I've made it to 30 and learned that my true sucesses and most treasured blessings are not what I thought they would be when I was 20.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Second time is twice the fun
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Fun night
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Pathology report
So we got the pathology report back. It wasn’t what I was hoping, but about what I was expecting. There were two tumors and two different types of thyroid cancers. Both are highly treatable, highly survivable cancers. The smaller tumor was papillary, which is the most common, most curable type of thyroid cancer. The larger tumor was follicular, which is also very curable but less common. The treatment is to go back and have a second surgery to remove the rest of my thyroid. Then kill anything that remains with radioactive iodine. So the good news is that after these measures, there is usually no reoccurance of cancer after 10 years. And that means that most likely there will be no chemotherapy involved. But I will likely have to stop breastfeeding Hannah. I go back for the second surgery a week from tomorrow.
BJay and I are trying to laugh this off as much as possible. I keep saying that I now get to play the cancer card whenever I don’t want to do something. And BJay is joking about not needing Christmas lights this year because I’ll be radioactive. Luckily for us, the children don’t have the word “cancer” in their vocabulary yet. So the word doesn’t scare them as much as is does other people. I don’t want anyone to freak out though, because the prognosis for me is really good. I’ll get to say I’m a cancer survivor without having to “earn” it the way most people do.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Ta-Da!
Here I am right before surgery with a "yes" on the part of my thyroid that was going to be removed.
Here is a picture Hila took of me the day after showing the bandage.
And here is what the scar is going to look like. It doesn't actually look so bad in this picture.
So tomorrow we go back for the lab results. I'm feeling back to normal except for a little bit less range of motion when I turn my head. The kids are doing great too. Hannah is officially spoiled. But they are only babies for a little while.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Surgery went well
The surgery went well. We went in at 6am, got into surgery at 7:30, (right on time) the surgery was done by 9:00am (just as planned) and I came around at about 10:00am. I spent a little longer in recovery because of a heart palpitation that they ordered an ekg for, but they released me around 1pm. I haven’t felt the need to fill the pain medication perscription, ibuprofin seems to do the job just fine, and I’ve been spending the day lazing around in bed. We go back next Thursday to find out the lab results, but I’m still pretty optimistic. Cancer or no cancer I feel really good about the eventual conclusion of this little chapter in my life.
So all is well, I think I’ll be feeling fine by Sunday when we bless baby Hannah. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow of the “yes” they wrote in the area my surgery was supposed to be. I actually thought of doing that myself but I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I’m glad its their policy. The bandage stays on for 2 days and then I’ll get to see what kind of scar I’ll end up with. Yes!
Friday, November 2, 2007
It's good to have friends...
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Halloween!
Mema showing Gabe a picture of himself on her digital camera.
Chicken Pants!!!
Hila decided NOT to wear her princess costume at the last minute. After she insisted that we wash the princess dress earlier today. She decided she wanted to be super Hello Kitty instead. An awesome Mexican wrestling mask that my mother-in-law bought at a flee market in CA.
Asher in his Clone trooper costume...not storm trooper!
Our little pumkin in her carseat!
Here are the kids playing a game at the ward trunk-or-treat party.
Hila took this one of Hannah getting a snack in her pumkin outfit after the festivities.
This is another self portrait of Hila in the car on the way home.
Hila got this one of Gabe pulling off his sock in the car. Something about the car makes Gabe want to take his socks and shoes off every time!