The "C" Word

There has been so much activity with my family over the past two months. I have been slow to post about my Mom. She is doing better and I thought I would give an update.

Mom was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer around Labor Day Weekend when Husband was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer. She has had trouble with her back and neck since a wreck back in January. They did all types of test to discover she has a spur between the 5th and 6th vertebrae. She will probably have surgery for that before the end of the year if all goes well. During all the testing they discovered a mass in her thyroid and did several biopsies. Last Friday they removed all of her thyroid except for a tiny amount that was on the opposite side from where the cancer was. Now I do not have the path reports but we know that of all Cancers this was the one to get. It was found very early and was slow growing so everything about it was "Good."

She will go to an Oncologist in the next two weeks to have her treatment plan written out. We know she will have an iodine-chemotherapy-blast-pill-thingy that will kill the remaining thyroid tissue. She will experiment on medication until they get her "regulated"...

She has been out of work now for over two months. Her spirits are high, but I know she is nervous about the next surgery. She did amazingly well!

I have a funny to tell. After they completed the FOUR hour surgery they sat her up to put a compress on her neck (she was still out). When they did this, her double chin/skin got taped onto the compress. Later she kept complaining that it was hard to swallow and we explained that she had had a breathing tube in and it just made her scratchy. Well, she stayed a second night and the swelling went down once they took her off the IV fluids and I could see THROUGH/UNDER her chin. OMG...OMG.... I realized they had taped her chin skin to the bandage! Fortunately once I realized this and scared her the Dr. walked in. He was embarrassed that his staff had taped her up so badly! It was funny, but boy she sure did appreciate her new "pain" once the tape was off!!! It was not as bad as what she was experiencing before!

Please keep praying for her! Now that sister lives real close to her we all three get to see each other a whole lot! I am so thankful we are close! Husband is doing good. He goes back for a scope test in December and will every three months for a year. They described bladder cancer as a bad weed. It will probably grow back so we will keep checking for it! Thank you so much for all your prayers and cards! I love my friends and family!!!