More health news

I saw Dr. Davis yesterday and he says I am fine! He doesn't think I need a body scan, but says that if Dr. Miner wants it and I want it, it's reasonable to do. So, once again, I am a cancer survivor. I don't identify myself as such, because I didn't have to go through any treatment, but I count my blessings when I think about it. Maybe the cancer came from growing up about 2 miles from a nuclear plant. Hmmmmm.......it would be interesting to see if others who grew up in that neighborhood have had cancer problems. A friend asked me if I am scared about it. I'm not. I told Dr. Davis that either I am rolling around in denial, or it's not something to be frightened about. He said I should not be scared or worried, because they are finding that about 7% of people who have autopsies have microscopic papillary carcinoma of the the thyroid, but that's not what they died from. That's reassuring. I figure my heart will get me in the end, but not for a long time, I hope.
Speaking of heart problems, here I am, eating an omelet with ham and cheese and drinking a coke for breakfast. What ever happenen to the vegan diet? I have gotten really lax about that, but I heard Charlie Gibson's news report the other day that Americans account for 30% of the heart problems in the WORLD! The people who eat mainly a fresh fruit, fresh vegetable diet are the least likely to have heart problems. Even the tofu eaters don't do as well as the vegans. Tori and I need to have a "come to Jesus" meeting about our diets. She is much better than I am. But after I finish my omelet. LOL

One week later

My neck is healing well. The scar is going to be small, I can tell. The bruising is almost gone, but there is still some swelling. Last week, when I came back to work, I worked almost too much and was pretty tired by the end of the week. Also, I had a little scare on Wednesday. I had worked at IMC on Tuesday and we had a busy day. Then, Wednesday morning, while I was getting ready for work, my neck started hurting, just twinges. But it hadn't done that before, so I was concerned. When I got to work, my "other mothers" all thought it looked swollen and told me to go to the dr. They worked me in at the office but he felt that it wasn't getting infected or more swollen. I didn't think it was more swollen, but was concerned about the pain and was relieved that he didn't think it was getting inflammed or infected. Since then, I have been putting a warm pack on it at night to speed up the absorption of the bruising and it is doing well.
Last Sunday was KC's blessing. It was a beautiful day and we had a picnic outside after the blessing. David did a good job with the blessing. I think it is hard to give a blessing to a baby, because you have so much you want for them in their life, so it's hard to limit what to include in the blessing. Kristin's family came up from So. Utah, or rather Central Utah. That was so nice of them to do that. Both of her grandparents were there, along with her mom, dad, Alyse and an aunt and uncle. And of course her sisters. Jeanie came also, which was so nice. It's wonderful when family gets together at these special times in your life. I just wish Mike had come. I don't think he understands how important it is to be involved in family things.
I get to baby sit KC tonight after work. Yahooo! I really like hanging out with him. He is so cute and is starting to smile at things. Dave and Kris have a cycling class tonight and again on Thursday, so I will be the baby sitter again then. I won't be able to baby sit each Tues and Thurs, but I like to help when I can.
Tomorrow night is the opera! Tori and I are going to see "Madama Butterfly" I love that opera and wish I could have been in it. But maybe next time. Besides, I wouldn't have had the operation on my thyroid if I had been in the opera, so this was best.
I am not sure about the thyroid cancer. I see the surgeon tomorrow and will discuss some options with him. I also see Dr. Miner in Nov. but I want to be scheduled for the body scan by then. It's a little worrisome, but not much.
The weather is changing. I like it when it is windy and cloudy. It reminds me of growing up in Eureka and also it is how I imagine England and Scotland to be, like in Wuthering Heights. I would like to visit there someday. Hope I can. TTFN

Thyroid surgery

Last Tuesday, I fell among cutthroats!  I had the left half of my thyroid removed.  Wahooo!!!  It's all gone!  No more thyroid surgery for me.  It has been hanging over my head for 6 years, since I had the right half of my thyroid removed.  I almost died with post operative complications, so I approached this surgery with a little trepidation.  But I had a wonderful surgeon and he has been so careful with me, based on the complications from last time.  It went as smooth as possible and I didn't even lose my voice, not even for a day!  Again, there was a tiny bit of cancer in the thyroid and we need to decide what to do about that, but no rush.  I am bruised and swollen, but I feel pretty good and have had remarkably little pain.  I just took some photos of myself, so that the bruising is documented.  I usually look pretty good in pictures, but I don't look good in these.  So, I am only posting one of them.  Ignore the wrinkles and bags under my eyes.  But you can see the bruising and the incision.  Dr. Davis removed the old scar, so that I will just have one long one and I hope it is thin.

This year, I planned on having some veins in my legs fixed.  I ended up having knee arthroscopy and thyroid surgery.  I still need the vein work done, but that is scheduled for next January.  I am really ready to have a few years of being really healthy and normal again.  I still have issues with my left hip, but I am so tired of it that I think I will just "will" it away.  Can you do that?  Call it the power of positive thinking or whatever, but I am just not going to let it slow me down anymore.  

I think that I didn't get called for "Madame Butterfly" opera for a reason.  If I had been involved with that opera, I wouldn't have had the thyroid surgery until after the first of the year or maybe not until February.  Because I didn't get called for "Butterfly", I decided to go ahead and have the surgery, in case I lost my voice for awhile.  Opening night is this Saturday and they start rehearsing for the next opera in November.  I hope I get called for that one, because I will be ready to go.  I would have loved to be in another Puccini opera, but it was important to get the thyroid thing done.  I sure hope Susanne will call me.  She is the chorus mistress and the Queen of my opera world. 

Okay, now I am starting to whine.  Enough of that.  Tori had a high school symphony performance tonight and she had a solo.  She sounded so perfect and is really proud of her performance, as she should be.  It was beautiful.  TTFN