Thursday, January 18, 2018

5 Years!!!!

It is really hard to believe that it has been 5 years since surgery and this whole cancer thing started! I feel so good about hitting the 5 year mark! No, I am not in remission. No, I am not cancer free. My cancer numbers are higher than they were after surgery. My tumors legions haven't really grown much in 5 years. They are still there! They haven't gone away. 

I have tried I feel almost everything I can to make those legions go away, but nothing seems to make them want to leave. However! I am thankful they have stayed stable! When you have cancer stable is always a refreshing thing to hear. I am very faithful about getting my blood work done every 3 months. I have done this for 5 years now. It's just part of my new normal. One of my doctors suggested we could move to getting blood work every 6 months. Nope! I like to see the trends. It might not mean much now, but down the road this information could be very helpful. She is a fabulous doctor and listens to me. 

In 5 years I have learned so much! I have learned so much about thyroid cancers and thyroid issues. Recently my mom had to go to the doctors about thyroid issues. I was able to go in there understand what the doctors were talking about and ask a lot of questions for all of us to understand exactly what was going on. Five years ago all of that would have gone over my head. 

I have always felt that my cancer diagnosis helped bring me G. We struggled for so long to have a baby. It was about a year after surgery that I was able to get pregnant with him. It also wasn't at my healthiest time either. I took the chance of getting pregnant with him. Some of my doctors at the time didn't agree with it. I am thankful I didn't listen to them. If I had I might not have him. It seems that MTC affects women and infertility really bad. My numbers were very low a year after surgery. I am thankful I took that chance and that I get to celebrate with him every year. We will eat paleo cookies today in honor of 5 years of life after cancer. 

I take G to the majority of my doctor appointments. At times I wonder if this is good or not. I want him to realize this is normal for our family. One day he will hear that one of his friends parents has cancer and he might think well doesn't everyone have a parent with cancer? He also isn't afraid of going to the doctor. He is brave when he has to get blood drawn. He comes with me most of the time to get mine done every 3 months. He isn't a fan of shots! He doesn't see me get shots lol.  He sees me get ultrasounds, checked by the doctors, trying to be as healthy as I possibly can be and this is his normal. G had to get an ultrasound of his heart recently. He has born with 2 super small holes in his heart. Something that the doctors or us haven't been concerned about, but it's monitored every 3-5 years. He didn't flinch when he had to get checked or the ultrasound. I told the doctor he sees me go through a lot, so he thinks this is normal. 

You may not agree with how I parent my child when it comes to cancer. For us this works. For me it's important he is comfortable with all this. I don't want him to worry about things that none of us have control over. 

In 5 years I have seen some friends with MTC go quickly. It's always heartbreaking when you lose someone. There is something that hits you in your core. Then you have to remind yourself your MTC journey is different than theirs. MTC affects every single person differently. 

Five years out I am probably at my healthiest I have been in my adult life even with 2 major illnesses. I work really hard to eat healthy and do the best self care I possibly can do! My pray since G was born is that God would give me 30 years with him. I will happily take way more than 30 years. 

Today we celebrate life! 

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