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.

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Quite a pay raise!

Today I received a press alert via email from my alma mater, Oklahoma State. Check out the first two paragraphs below: Following only the sixth nine-win regular season in school history, Oklahoma State University today announced a contract extension for head football coach Mike Gundy, giving him a new seven-year contract worth $15.7 million. The contract was announced following action by the OSU/A&M Board of Regents at its regular meeting in Miami. With the new contract, which is effective Jan. 1, 2009 and runs through December of 2015, Gundy’s average annual compensation will be more than $2.2 million. His current six-year contract paid him $1,053,000 this year. What the heck? That's quite a raise, and he didn't even beat OU, Texas, or Tech! Now, I went to OSU when Mike Gundy was the quarterback there. He was the quarterback during Barry Sanders' Heisman year. He seems like a nice guy and a great coach, but wow... In all fairness, I have to point out that I also read ...

Third time is a charm? Third time stinks.

So....unfortunately it seems my gut (and the thyroglobulin blood test) was right. Ultrasound showed two "metastatic" lymph nodes. Same right side of the neck where I had four cancerous lymph nodes in 2008. Radiologist said we could biopsy them but he showed me...."here is what a normal lymph node looks like. But here is what this one...and this one look like. Not normal....with metastatic characteristics." Third time is a charm? Third time stinks. First diagnosed in 2008, recurrence in 2009, and now a recurrence in 2012. About 30% of thyroid cancer survivor struggle with recurrence, and I am in that 30%. What's next? A procedural biopsy next week. Surgery next month. Those are the facts. I'm still sorting through the emotions of it all so more on that later. Thanks for your prayers and positive thoughts.

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...

Charlcie

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