He-llll-oooo Outttt therrrrrre =)

Hmmm, looks like I'm at an every 6month blog schedule.  With the amount of time I've been stuck on my tush these past 2 weeks, I really should have been on before.  If anyone remembers, my wee ones, Kyra (Kear-ah) and Spencer are now 6 and 4!  My princess is now in 1st grade!!  When I look back at my first entries here, Spencer was months from being born (like 9 of 'em).  I was thinking back to some of the blogs that I read, and I know that some of those kiddos are now in college, and probably even beyond by now.  How does that happen?!? 

I'm now officially a Physician Assistant!  I work essentially as a pediatrician and definitely love my job.  I can honestly say that I have never made that statement before.  It was worth the headache of school, commuting and stress to get where I am now.  I do have to learn Spanish now....the majority of the patients in the practice I work at are Hispanic.  Thankfully all of our techs and nurses speak Spanish...just takes a little long for us to get through all the questions and answers.  I totally love the newborn baby visits!!!  =)  I get to snuggle and give 'em back to their sleep-deprived parents.  heh heh

Well, my entertainment has arrived (my kiddos)

Hmmm, I have absolutely nothing to say.    But when has that every stopped me?  I have a busy week planned.  I'm heading out to Willow Creek in Illinois (a HUGE church) for a conference on children's ministry.  Pretty cool and I'm excited, but sad that I'm going to be away from the kiddos for the week.  My hubby has been soo busy at work writing a huge 500 some odd page proposal for the gov't to puruse (along with 12 others), that I've barely seen him in the past couple weeks.  Just when he's going to be finished, I'm jetting off to Chicago.  *sigh*

Should be interesting in this house while I'm gone.  Kyra has hair down to her waist...guess she'll be looking a tad scraggly this week as I don't see daddy all of a sudden figuring out the whole barrette/pony tail bit.  I also forsee some interesting outfits picked by the young princess.  I'm shaking my head, but I will put some together as, er, road maps.  uh yeah, that's gonna work.  Spence is always a challenge in the AM.  He'd prefer running around in his underwear, chasing his sister or being chased to actually getting dressed.  I have a popped vein in my forehead as proof.  Then, there's the lunch decision....is Kyra going to bring or buy.  (Kindergarten is all day here.)  Her decisions are usually based on what she thinks her best buddy Noah, a sweet little girl, would do.  Of course Spencer needs a lunch too.  He'd eat ham and cheese forever if possible.  I think a 1/2 pound should last till I get home, I hope.

And, if the in-laws come to "help" while I'm gone...I'm going to have to clean the whole daggone house.  Crap.  It still won't matter.  Eh, atleast I won't be here to hear the complaints.    Plus, there's leaving the reminders to help Kyra with her homework packet for the week.  Gymnastics on thursday...don't forget the outfit, plus the massive quantity of food/drink/entertainment needed for both kiddos.  And, don't forget dinner...I may go easy on the guy and set some meals up for him.  He certainly deserves it for letting me go on this trip at the last minute.  I found out Friday. 

Alrighty, that's about it.  Hope y'all are doing well.

Wow, it has been super long since I was last here.  Lots has happened...but here's a summary if anyone is still out there. 

• I graduated from my physician assistant program, passed my boards and am officially licensed to practice medicine in Maryland. 
• My cancer is gone!  Although I will still have to undergo testing for basically ever, things look great right now.
• My daughter is in kindergarten.  *gasp*  Yeah, the little peanut is a big girl now.
• My son is now 3.5 yrs old...I started writing here when I was preggers with him.  Man how time flies!
• I'm seriously considering taking a position at my church as the Nursery/Preschool Director.  Yes, that would mean all that time and education to becoming a PA would be, er, not used.
• I'm probably happier now than I have been in a very long time.  My husband is a big part of that, along with my kiddos.  Our church is also a huge reason, I finally feel like I'm a part of something bigger than me.  It's a great feeling!

I hope all is well with everyone.  I'm going to try and go and do my 'rounds. 

A semi-recent picture of the fam

Yipes, I hadn't realized it had been soo long since my last post.  Things have certainly been crazy and I think my head has finally stopped spinning.  For atleast the time being, that is.  So, on the 20th of December they took the remaining lobe of my thyroid out and that surgery was sooooooo much better than the first one.  I went to Georgetown the 2nd time and would recommend it without hesitation.  There was thankfully no cancer in that tissue, yeah, so I was all ready to get things going.  I guess it was about 7 weeks after that that I did the radio-iodine treatment.  I was in the hospital for about 1 day, I had to stay overnight 'cause I was too "hot" to be out in public.  heh heh  Seriously, they measured me by geiger counter!! 

The follow-up scan did show "uptake" in my lymph nodes and possibly in the esophagus and stomach.  But, as I found out, nuclear medicine is called UnClear Medicine for a reason, they don't know what that uptake means.  uh, yeah.  I'm supposed to go for follow-up (was supposed to 3 weeks ago and missed that appt thanks to a screw-up with the referral) to determine what we do next.

As you can see, I'm not too freaked about this.  God's been watching out for me and my family...in many ways.  I do thank you all for your kind words and prayers.  They mean a lot to me. 

You know how when you start at this blogging thing, you think that you will always write about certain things in your life.  You develop a style and that's how you think things will stay?  I know when I started this blog in 2001, I was stunned, as was the nation, from the terrorist attacks.  Then I became pregnant with our second child.  So, it was natural that I went from writing about how those acts of terror changed me, to how this second child was going to change me.  Then, it became about how school was changing me.  Well, the latest change was something I never thought I would have to write about.  I've read a number of blogs that focused on the subject and was always empathetic, but always extremely grateful I never had to write about "that".  So, now I will.

Turns out I am in that 20%, and I have thyroid cancer.  There is nothing worse in this world than having to tell your husband, friends and family that you have cancer.  Fortunately for me, thyroid cancer is THE most curable of cancers.  (If you have the type I do, and not Rhenquist, that is.)  So, there it is.  I have cancer, and I'm extremely optomistic that I will be writing a blog in one year that says, "I no longer have cancer." 

I anxiously await that blog, and I will keep you all posted about what is going on with me.  I wrote up a document about thyroid cancer, the type I have, and the treatment that lies ahead.  If anyone would like a copy, let me know and I'll email it to you.

Have a blessed day!