Last Wednesday Shaun's twin sister, Sarah, had her precious son Myles 11 weeks early. Myles was blessed with a strong set of lungs and is doing really well. They hope he will be out of the hospital by Christmas. That's a kind of a crazy thought since he wasn't even expected to be born until January. We are so excited to meet Myles and are very grateful that he and Sarah are both doing great.
Yesterday my stupendous dad went in for surgery to remove a growth on his Thyroid. Before going in they had determined that there was about (I think) a 30% chance that it was cancer. When they got in there they discovered that the tumor was actually a very aggressive (and stuck to everything) cancerous tumor. They ended up removing his entire thyroid. Going into the surgery my dad's greatest fear was having his vocal chords injured. Thankfully, they weren't, and he is doing pretty well today. He is in pain, but I think he's recovering as well as expected. They will do an MRI to make sure that the cancer didn't spread to other organs. He is also going to be given RAI (Radioactive Iodine) therapy. Usually a combination of surgery and RAI wipes out the cancer completely, so the prognosis is very good. I am so thankful that Dad is going to be ok, and that his tie won't bother him anymore. We love you, Dad!
As I was searching for the best description for RAI, I found this site. I think it's kind of cool that my dad will be "Radioactive Man" for a few days. Look out, mom!
Here is Dad practicing one of his great talents; cooking.
I saw a mouse in my house this morning (three times), and I am not happy about it. This isn't really something that is crazy, just something that is making me crazy!
5 comments:
From the site you referred us to: "Radioactive iodine, given in a liquid form, is absorbed and concentrated by the thyroid gland."
Um, how does that work when there IS NO THYROID? Crazy! :)
Scrappy,
Apparently (as I read it) some people use it when they still have some or all of their thyroid left. Some people take it in small doses to treat hyperthyroidism. And if there are any thyroid cancer cells left, they will also absorb the iodine and be killed.
Wow... you have definitely had a crazy couple of weeks. I'm glad to hear that Sarah and her baby are doing alright. Do they know what made her have him so early?
I'm sorry to hear about your dad, but glad that he is doing better. Cancer is so scary.
Thank you for posting Sarah's blog, I didn't know she had one.
yep, that counts as "crazy." Sometimes life just vomits stuff at you faster than you can run away. (sorry... I didn't mean for that to be a gross analogy.) Anyway, your dad is totally in our prayers around here; we love him.
Make sure you wash the sheets next time you go spend the night in the guest room. You never know what radioactive stuff will be there after dad spends a couple of nights sleeping away from mom. I think he drools.:0)
I wonder if I sat in a car with him for over an hour if all of a sudden my headaches would go away....maybe it's worth a try.
Post a Comment