News

On Monday evening, I got a call that stopped my world. It was my mom, and she had bad news. She told me that she was just diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I went completely numb and had no idea what to think or how to react. I tried to stay calm for her, since I could tell she had been crying. She told me that she had 3 spots on her thyroid and one on her lymph node, which they had removed during her surgery. They only told her that she had cancer, and that she would need treatment. So we had no idea how bad it was.

I told her I was coming home, and right when I hung up, it hit me. I fell on the floor and started sobbing. Maisy and Pep knew something was wrong and were just frozen, looking at me. I called Doug, who was on his way home from work, and he rushed home and drove me to my parents' house.

We had no idea what to expect. I would alternate between feeling panicked and thinking the worst, to being optimistic, to feeling completely numb. That night, we tried to keep our minds off of it as much as possible, as we didn't want to jump to any conclusions about how severe it could be.

The next day, Mom, Dad, and I went to the appointment where we received great news. There are 4 kinds of thyroid cancer, and she has the best one! It's Stage 1 Papillary Carcenoma. We were worried that because it had spread to her lymph node, it would be metastatic, but apparently thyroid cancer is the only cancer that isn't more severe if it is in the lymph node. She will have treatment in August, when she has healed from her surgery. It is radioactive iodine that will kill all of the thyroid cells left in her body, and she will need to be isolated from people and pets during it (for three days I think) because of the radioactivity.

 During those 17 hours where I didn't know how bad it was (she knew all day Monday but waited to tell me until I was home after work), I was terrified at the thought of losing my mom. She's my best friend. She will be the one who teaches me how to be a good mom, and she's the one who I call for advice about whether or not to buy this comforter I found. (She said to buy it, so I did...good call, Mom!)

We are SO THANKFUL that the prognosis is positive, as there is a 96% survival rate of 20 years from this type of cancer. After receiving the good news, my mom and I had a little celebration yesterday. We ate at Olive Garden (her favorite), got cupcakes, went to a movie, and watched the Bachelorette. I love my mom and don't know what I'd do without her!!