CANCER FREE

I'm so behind on blogging and will probably end up skipping posting about lots of our random family happenings but, I can't skip mentioning a couple of things related to Nathan's thyroid cancer.

Nathan got me lots of great presents for Christmas this year but one was by far the best. It was this beautiful bracelet that he secretly ordered for me that is made with the Swarovski crystals in the colors for thyroid cancer (teal, blue and pink). I wore the yellow livestrong rubber bracelet for a while but once I started working at a law firm and having to look professional, I didn't think it matched so well. This bracelet is just perfect and oh so pretty! This cell phone picture doesn't do it justice. The last week of 2010 came with a bit of stress. Nathan had three different days of testing done to find out if he would require more radiation or not. He had to be off of his thyroid medication for three weeks prior to the testing in order to get clear results. He was really low on energy that entire time and worrying every day that he would have to go through radiation again. I kept reminding him to think positively and try to stay up beat instead of dreading it. I truly BELIEVED that the first round of radiation got all of the cancer because the doctor mentioned that the first round was almost more of a precaution since there weren't a large amount of cancer cells floating around his neck...Just enough to make it necessary though.

The day of his testing he insisted that I stay at work since the hospital was nearly 45 minutes from my office. I thought about it a lot and finally decided to go but, I didn't tell Nathan. I couldn't remember where to park at the hospital and ended up having to call Nathan and ask where he was. He said he'd just gotten out of his car. I asked him to wait there and tell me where to go. He just about flipped out on the phone and when I got out of the car he broke down a little bit and hugged me so tightly. It was such a sweet, heartfelt moment. Even though all I did was sit in a tiny waiting room by myself, it meant so much to him that I came. It took me a week of short lunches to make up the time I was gone but, seeing Nathan's face when I pulled up was more than worth it!The waiting room for his full body scan was very small and private but yet still had a tv playing soap operas that I couldn't help getting sucked into and wanting to know what was gonna happen next. You can miss months of epidsodes and still pretty much figure out what's going on. Stupid soap operas.

It's hard to see but that sign says NUCLEAR MED ROOM. Uhhhh those really aren't the most comforting words to see. But the machines that are in there are meant to save lives regardless of how scary they may seem.

I stared at this cart of drawers a lot (during commercials, of course) and was really annoyed by the fact that they had the name of the colored drawers on each drawer. I mean, why do they need to have purple written on the purple drawer? Oh wait...I've had this picture for months and didn't realize it until just now as I'm writing this that it's probably for people like my dad who are color blind. My bad. Nathan wasn't supposed to get the results until the following Monday but, they were so clear and obvious that it didn't take long to read them and, the doctor ended up called him within 30 minutes. So luckily, we didn't have to start the new year without knowing. The doctor said there were no more signs of cancer and that he was well on his way to being cancer free. CANCER FREE!!!

Only 3 month check ups to test his cell count that determines the dosage of his daily thyroid medication. He will also have to do the 3 day testing including the full body scan once a year for the next few years to make sure the cancer hasn't returned.

I'm so proud of how strong Nathan has been through it all. I know that there have been many times that he's tried to hide how tired or ill he's felt because he didn't want it come across as being weak but, really, he's been so strong and such an amazing example...And the kids and I are so very proud of him for it! Love this guy!