I'm finally getting around to our beach trip to Lincoln City. I've been dying to go to the beach and have begged Dan every summer to take us. This summer it finally worked out and we went with all my family (except Z and fam). Thanks mom and dad and everyone else for a great time!
This was one of the sunny days.
This was the first day we went out to the beach. It was rainy and cold and the boys loved it! Charlie, Sam, and Luke have never been to the ocean and I don't think they've been to a sandy beach before.
Sam was soaked.
This is one of the only photos I got of Jack. He's here with cousin Jordan.
to get my mind off things. it is pink. i've never made anything pink. who knows who it's for, maybe me, maybe a future baby (maybe mine, maybe someone else's). for now i'm making it and that's all i care about. i love how it's turning out!
I've been trying to capture this for years. It is a real, true, stink eye, even though it looks like he's on the verge of laughing.
The list and what I got done :
paint trim in my room got the ceiling trim done, and some of the door frames. still have 2 window frames and 1 door frame to do.
paint ceiling in my room painted half of it with one coat. still need to paint the rest and do another coat.
remove door, paint, strip hardware, make lock work removed and painted door, stripped hardware, got a key for the original lock, but haven't put the door back up yet.
paint stairs painted 3 of 11 stairs with one coat. painted half the risers with 2 coats and half the risers with 1 coat. Luke stepped onto one of the stairs and got footprints all over the landing (which also needs to be painted.)
paint front door (this has been on my to do list for over 2 years now) painted one coat of black and hated it. painted 2 coats of white. still needs one more coat to completely cover the black.
make apron for Amanda - who won the giveaway last month made it, just waiting for address so I can send to her.
make myself some pj pants didn't even cut out.
watch Jane Eyre kept forgetting about it and instead wasted time watching Jon and Kate plus 8. Unfortunately that's what cancer stress does to a person.
I also had several doctor's appointments, a dental appointment, went school shopping with Dan, and had a fun time with Luke. Didn't do a lick of cleaning.
Also - I always think it would be nice not to have ADD and finish one project before beginning another. But paint takes so long to dry! Why not paint on 4 projects at a time and not finish one of them. Great idea :)
Jack got to go on a 20 minute horse ride through the woods. Dan and I came along too. Sam was there feeding the horses but he did NOT want to ride one.
Cute Luke
I saw the new doctor this morning. He was great. His staff was great. Everyone was nice and helpful and I feel like I have so much more information about everything.
I have a date for surgery. If you'd like to know the date, email Jamie (or me if you don't have her email.) They will remove my right thyroid and its five nodules. They probably will not be able to tell if it is cancerous until the nodules are fully dissected (which I'll find out about a week after the surgery). If they do find out for sure during the surgery that it is cancer they will also remove the left thyroid. If they find out it's cancer after the surgery they will for sure go in and remove the left side in another surgery.
Right now I have the option of deciding if they should remove the entire thyroid in one surgery or if they should just remove the right side now.
Right side only: I may or may not be able to make enough thyroid with only the left side. So I may have to be on thyroid medication and I may not. I will have to get the left side checked yearly and I will probably eventually have to have it removed someday. Maybe 5 years, maybe 15, but it's likely it will also have to be removed eventually.
Total thyroid removal - Will for sure have to take thyroid medication for the rest of my life. The results could come back not cancer after they've removed the entire thing.
I'm not sure what to do yet. I would love it if you could specify your prayers for me to know what is the right decision. We have all been doing well around here emotionally, and I know all your prayers and thoughts are helping us with that.
September 6th we will be fasting that everything will go well with the surgery and that I'll be able to make the right decisions. I'd love it if you'd fast for me that day or be sending good vibes my way.
p.s. I'd love to be able to get back to each of you with thank yous and answers. But unfortulately I don't have the time. I've had so many well wishes and thoughts and comments and visits that I can hardly keep up with my everyday life. Keep those all coming (I really love all the love), but just know that I may not be able to get back to you right away. If you're in my family my sister Jamie is fielding questions for me. If you're in my neighborhood my friend Jane is fielding questions for me. Thank you.
I forgot to tell you all that the best thing about this health issue so far is that everyone's telling me and showing me that they love and care for me. It's a little hard to hear because I always cry, but it is so nice to feel so loved. I have told pretty much everyone I know and everyone has been so thoughtful and concerned. Everyone has offered prayers and thoughts on my behalf and I know those are helping me stay calm and at peace.
Since I've told people I've found an excellent doctor, told my kids (which turned out to be easier than I thought it would be), and felt much more at ease with things, even though I still don't really know what's going on.
So thanks so much to all of you who've said prayers for me, sent emails, made comments, put good vibes into the universe, offered to help, and watched my kids, I really appreciate all the love.
On my last post I think I promised to blog about our fun family reunion, but then things got weird and I didn't do much at all.
After the reunion my mom and dad took the three older boys back to their house in Spokane. It was going to be 10 days with just Luke and Dan. Then Dan had to go out of town. So he was there for the weekend, left for 5 days, there again for the weekend. Can I just say how easy 1 kid is compared to 4? So easy! And then we left to meet the kids and everyone else in my family (except 1 brother and fam) in Lincoln City, Oregon.
I was going to get so much done! We were going to finish the fence (then Dan had to go), I was going to paint the trim and ceiling in my room (which was done very badly when we moved in and is hard to look at when I'm lying in bed), I was going to paint the stairwell, paint the front door, do all kinds of things, but then . . .
I went to the OB for a routine check up. He found a tumor in my thyroid. I ended up spending most of the time worrying and going to the doctor. I had a biopsy and an ultrasound. The biopsy results came back Friday morning (right when Dan was getting back.) This is what the doctor said,
"Biopsy came back highly suspicious, most likely cancer. But don't worry, it has a 98% cure rate."
I tried not to freak out, but it was hard. Cancer is scary. But there are also LOTS of cancer survivors. I spent the rest of the weekend looking up thyroid cancer. There are 4 kinds, 3 of which (99% of the cases) are nearly 100% treatable. They still don't know which kind I have or if I even have it. So as far as I know I am having my thyroid removed and biopsied while I'm in surgery. Then they will know what we're dealing with.
I've felt much better about everything after the break in Oregon, and after doing some research and after having 2 blessings (one from Dan and one from my Dad). I've also changed doctors. I asked all the doctor friends/med students/people who've had this surgery before and they all told me about the same doctor. He only does head and neck cancer surgery. So he's good. And nice. I have an appointment with him tomorrow morning. I believe we will get a surgery scheduled then.
I don't know how many of you even made it this far! But I just wanted everyone to know what's going on. And I want you to know that I think everything's going to be fine. And I may or may not be blogging for the next little while, but it would probably be better to do some projects so I don't sit here worrying and doing nothing.
This is my friend Sara's kids with mine. She was here from Phoenix and we rarely get to see each other. I'm glad we got to hang out!
Sara and I have know each other for 20 years! Pretty crazy.
