Cancer Update...

Well, it's official! Scott officially becomes a human X-ray on October 22, 2007. There are pros and cons to this timing. He will be finished with his 10 day wife (because prego) and kid isolation by the evening of Halloween...so that he can spend the evening with his kids. He was hoping for this. He goes off of his Thyroid medicine on Oct. 5. For a little over 2 weeks, the thyroid slowly drains from his body. We are told that by the time he is ready for the radioiodine pill and has no thyroid in his system, he'll feel VERY tired. Every body reacts differently to such low thyroid levels so we aren't sure how he will be...we do know that in early September his thyroid levels were bizarrly low and he was functioning quite well, so that's somewhat of a clue, maybe. So the not good parts of his radioiodine pill timing is that Oct. 21 is our wards Primary Program and the first year Ryan will be involved. So hopefully he won't be too much of a vegetable! There are a few potential side effects of taking the radioiodine pill...not many. They have found that one is salivary glad discomfort and no taste for a few weeks...but if you suck on lemon candy 3 hours after taking the radioiodine pill that these potential side effects are weakened or non existent. It is incredible how much doctors know about Thyroid cancer and how to treat/cure it.

It is literally amazing how easy of a process this "Cancer" has been...realize I'm the wife of and not the patient...meaning it wasn't me recovering from a 10 hour surgery with compressed nerves from anesthesia. However, it has not been what many other cancer patients have endured. Many people ask me about what we've been though over the summer. We are so blessed. I can't even begin to explain how lucky we've been. We know people with other diseases or cancers that have endured much much more or even lost their battle. A few weeks ago Scott's car battery died on the way to an appointment and he was really stressed. After getting his car jumped we were talking on his way to said appointment. We switched gears from being stressed and wondering why me - now? to being grateful for his health and the fact that his cancer was thyroid and not something worse. I say all this because I read the experience of someone today who hasn't had our experience with Cancer. Our cancer and her cancer almost shouldn't have the same label. This is why we were afraid to use the cancer word in the beginning. There are a few blogs I check that are from people I don't know - but who are so creative and I love seeing their projects. They are linked on my page toward the bottom in, "Why didn't I think of that?" Anyhow, today one of them linked to a page she said was a friend of a friend. It is the cancer story of a 31 year old mother and her 4 year old daughter in Utah(I am 30 and have a 4 year old son). If you are interested to see what cancer is for some people, read this. I warn you, I literally wept. Get a tissue.

We are blessed. I am thankful for my husband and boys and our health! Are there even enough or the right words to explain my gratitude or her sorrow? Knowing she is from Utah, I'm assuming she is LDS and has been taught of her divine potential and knows how much her Heavenly Father loves her, she needs that knowledge. Life is fragile and I hope we make the most of it everyday!