Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas! Some of you will have found this post as followers of my blog and others will have found this post from our Christmas card. I thought I would do a Christmas letter through my blog to be more green, save paper and updated some of you on what has been going on with us. Some of you may know I have a blog and others might just have found out. 2013 has been one of the most eventful years for us. 

One week before Christmas 2012 Art and I became grandparents to little Kaleb. He has been one of the bright spots in our lives. We watch Kaleb every other Saturday while his parents work. We have a blast with him and have enjoyed watching him grow. It is pretty normal for him to be dressed up in some type of outfit or mask while Mimi snaps 100 pictures. 

January brought some unexpected news. We found out I had a rare form of thyroid cancer Medullary Thyroid Cancer. I was scheduled for a surgery to remove my thyroid which was so large it was pressing on my wind pipe. Unfortunately there is no cure for MTC. The best is for a clear surgery to remove all lymph nods, thyroid and any other cancer in the body. Blood tests will be done every 3 months, CT scans will be done if the blood tests show the cancer is growing and I will be under a doctor care possibly for the rest of my life. I keep my blog updated on what is going on currently with my cancer normally after each test. 

You read the more on my journey below:

overview of surgery

cancer update

8 months after surgery

Just Another Day Fighting Cancer

In April Art and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. We went on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate in August. It was one of the most amazing vacations we have been on. I highly recommend going to Alaska. We really needed a vacation, a time to relax, sleep, enjoy ourselves and just disconnect from the world. It was all of those things. We didn't have cell service for 6 days. I couldn't work even if I had wanted too.  Do not wait to go to Alaska until you are old. =) There is sooooo much to see and do that you need to go possibly every 5 years. 

Amber and Marcus got married on May 18. We all went to Tahoe for their wedding. It was the perfect day to join 2 families together. 

The summer we spent a lot of time with our grandson, finishing a couple house projects, Alaska, and I spent lots of time resting. It is amazing how one surgery can throw your body into such exhaustion. In October I had another health issue with the start of possibly MS. I am one of the lucky 1400 people in 2013 to have Transverse Myelitis. My mom was gracious enough to come to California for 3 weeks to take care of me. I honestly don't know what I would have done without my mom coming to take care of me this year. I am so grateful she is able to help me.

The next couple weeks will be very exciting around here. Kaleb is starting to walk, we will celebrate his first birthday and enjoy watching him open Christmas presents this year. 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!!