The Weekend Before Christmas

What a great weekend we had! Christian finally landed on Friday night after four delays and about eight hours in the Indianapolis airport. We are glad that he is here....great to see him! He's here until the 27th.

On Saturday we went to Chris/Morgan's basketball game, which was their first win of the season. After a quick Chinese buffet lunch, we then realized that we had to evaluate ski gear for five people. After checking our own ski box, begging, borrowing, and a trip to the local sporting goods store, we figured out snow pants, coats, gloves, etc. for five people without breaking the bank four days before Christmas. This was good!

The next issue was who was going, who was not. Between our two vehicles, we have 12 seats, and both of us planned to drive. As a result, we let the kids invite friends. Morgan invited one friend then the rest were Christian and Kenzie's friends. They were all great kids, and we had an amazing time! Liberty was good...not crowded at all, and I was surprised by this. It was really only about 1.5 hours from here in Pennsylvania.

Back to reality today...the girls have school today and tomorrow. There's AGAIN a stack of boxes at the front door to wrap. Post-skiing returns to friends we borrowed gear from. But looking forward to a good week, including hoping to get that biopsy scheduled.

Comments

More about batting a thousand...

Ah, I didn't really explain the "batting a thousand" reference in relationship to me when posting on the blog last night. Was still in a bit of a fog from the news I received from the ultrasound. A bit of history... Batting a thousand: 1. June 2008: ultrasound reveals suspicious nodules that should be biopsied. 2. July 2008: after biopsy confirms papillary carcinoma, neck ultrasound to look at lymph nodes finds suspicious lymph nodes. Post-surgery found out about the four positive lymph nodes, two of which were the size of small plums. 3. December 2008: Ultrasound post total thyroidectomy and neck dissection, small nodules found in the thyroid bed along with a suspicious lymph node. So in summary, every ultrasound I have had of my thyroid and neck this year has revealed something suspicious. Thus, I am batting 1,000 with the ultrasounds in 2008. Feeling rather bleh and crappy about it all today. It's Christmas...why do I have to deal with cancer again? Ugh.

On my soapbox about "the best cancer to have"

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know I was on my soapbox this morning after reading yet another article about the dreaded subject of how thyroid cancer is "the best cancer to have." Think about that...the best cancer? Why would someone say that? In an attempt to make you feel better about having thyroid cancer, some health care profesionals try to convince those of us who have or have had thyroid cancer that it is "the best cancer to have" because it has a high survival rate. An aside here, that high survival rate applies to papillary carcinoma, one of the three types of thyroid cancer out there. Survival rates are lower for medullary carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma, the other two types of thyroid cancer. Back on topic...OK, so tell us that papillary carcinoma has a high survival rate. Truly, that is good news. But because of this "best cancer to have" statement, and the fact that I was told my thyroidectomy would most likely be just an easy, ove...

After a year, I'm still waiting....and waiting

Here I am back again at my blog talking about thyroid cancer again. I had my yearly appointment last week with Dr. Wartofsky. It was an interesting one. He had two students in the exam room with us. I didn't mind. He's one of the best thyroid cancer doctors in the world (I'm not kidding) so please, spread your knowledge to any who will listen. He could have easily said, gesturing to me, "This is exhibit A, a papillary carcinoma patient who has had multiple recurrences." I actually think he did that before I came in the room. I started the appointment with honesty: "Hey, I am really nervous because I have not gone a year between appointments since my recurrence." He understood. The students nodded. I showed the students my scars along with their accompanying stories. I have two scars: one large one about five inches long centered on my neck, lower half, and the other about three inches long on the upper right side of my neck. The longer one ...

Charlcie

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