S.O.S. for Andrea

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

And the Winner is...

Okay, it wasn't a contest. But if it HAD been, my Aunt Kaye would have won by a mile. She sent me dozens of photos of herself, her family and her friends. She must have the most extensive scarf collection ever (makes me wonder how many shoes she must have!!). Thanks for your love and support, Aunt Kaye. You are AWESOME!!

The One That Got Away

Looks like I missed yet another photo!

"Andrea, you’re an awesome woman and incredible sister-in-law and I count you as one of my greatest blessings! I pray for you to heal quickly! Love, Danya"

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Primary Support

This bunch of beautiful young ladies is from the church primary where Andrea served as President up until shortly before her cancer diagnosis. Even though Andrea isn't in the Primary anymore, they wanted to show their support. They all love her very much.

End of Isolation

Andrea's radioactive iodine treatment ended yesterday and she was able to end her time in isolation. Her kids were able to come home last night (of course, that means it's back to changing diapers, fixing meals, running errands, etc. etc)! I don't know what the next steps in her treatment are, but we'll keep you up to date.

Your continued love, support and prayers are greatly appreciated, not only by Andrea, but by our entire family. Here are some more pictures I received recently:

Andrea's daughter Skylar and niece, Erika

Friend Teresa Liu and colleague Ann Pawluszka (from Detroit, MI). They are standing in front of Potbelly's in DC, one of Teresa's favorite sandwich shops.

"Andrea, you are STRONG, AMAZING, COURAGEOUS and FAITH-FILLED. You will come off conqueror and triumph over this! Love you, A!"

Monday, March 28, 2011

a huge, gigantic, THANK YOU!!!

In December, I had surgery to remove the right side of my thyroid that contained a 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm tumor. The ENT who removed it, did a great job, but I, being the super-sensitive-skinned girl that I am, developed an allergic reaction to the Neosporin used on the incision.

YUCK! NASTY! SCARY!!

Even though I had this fun little addition to my look, I still had kids and family to care for, and things to do! So I started wearing scarves to save fellow citizens the shock and horror of my neck. (Edward Cullen did NOT do this! Ha! That was for you, Suzanne.)

Just as things started to heal up, I found out that the tumor removed was indeed, Follicular variant of Papillary Carcinoma, more commonly known as Thyroid Cancer. I needed to have the left side of the thyroid removed in order to prepare for treatment for the cancer. Suzanne, my sister living in Louisiana, sent me this beautiful scarf to aide in round two!

During the second surgery, I needed a drain put in my neck. It was back to wearing scarves, baby!!

Before all of this happened, I had never worn a scarf. I am, by nature, a warm-woman and scarves don't mix with my already-way-too hot body. That said, friends and family gave me scarves, and I LOVED them. I wore them every Sunday to church, around town, and anytime someone might spot my fun little neck and drain scars.

Although this picture isn't the best quality, you can tell that the drain mark is pretty red, and quite distracting (in person anyway). The scarves were great to hide all of that. Plus, it didn't hurt that scarves were also the popular thing this winter. For once, I was in on a fashion trend!

Today, my scar is looking much, much better. It's still noticable, but barely. That won't stop me from wearing my scarves though. I love them!

Last Thursday, I went to the hospital, where I was administered Iodine-131, which is a radioactive drug to kill thyroid cancer.

The following picture shows the medication inside a big lead container. That container weighed 40 lbs.! You can see the heavy lid sitting behind the bottle. The purpose of the big container is to protect the delivery man from being exposed. The tech administering the stuff to me was wearing gloves. I love how the bottle has a nice, bright, fluorescent TOXIC sign, and then a straw for me to drink. Should I have been worried?

You can't tell, but the straw is actually coming out of a much smaller glass vile inside that middle ring. It probably had less than a tablespoon of liquid iodine mixture in it. I drank it up, and then they refilled the contained with water 3x, which I drank to ensure all the radioactive iodine was taken in. Tasted just like luke-warm water. Afterwards, I got back in the car and drove myself home. When I got there, my kids were gone and I began my 4 day isolation.

Within a few minutes, I got a text from my sister telling me to check out a new blog she had started. I found this S-O-S blog and honestly burst into tears. Tears, and tears and more tears. It was the nicest thing ever! I was so surprised to see pictures of extended family members, old friends from high school, graduate school friends, neighbors, and all my loved ones showing their support by wearing scarves. I have been reading it all weekend and LOVE IT!

I cannot personally thank each of you enough for sending in pictures. I feel like the luckiest girl alive, with the best support team in the world. THANK YOU!

To my sweet sister, Suzanne: Thank you for putting this together. I know it has taken tons of time and coordination. You have always been my cheerleader and support and I always know I can turn to you for support--even from miles away. I love you! Thank you!

Much love,

Andrea