What A Difference A Year Makes!

Never has that been a more true statement than in my life. I have not written a blog post here for just over a year. My Mum was re-addmitted to hospital just after my last post and we were back to weeks of visits and stress. That was the first of several admissions over the year and although she is back home now she is so much frailer and every little health problem seems to turn into a health crisis. It's been heartbreaking to see my poor old dad struggling on.

I managed through all of this with lots of health problems I tried to ignore until in July, when I was putting sun tan lotion on, I felt a large lump in my neck. I went to see my GP the next day and it all started. Months of scans, X Rays, biopsies in between hiding it all from my Mum and Dad.  I didn't want to worry them even though I was constantly being told it was highly unlikely to be cancer. I was finally admitted to hospital for an operation in October only for it to be cancelled as I was waiting to be taken down due to such abnormal blood results. In November I was back in and had half of my thyroid gland, a parathyroid gland and a lymph node removed. To be honest the operation was no were near as bad as I thought it would be and within a few weeks had recovered from the surgery but still these aching symptoms remained.

On the 3rd of January I finally received the diagnosis I have Follicular Thyroid Cancer. It was a shock and I have been told I will need more surgery and treatment. "If I had to have a cancer" my consultant said "I would choose this one." I felt like saying "Well you can have it mate! I don't want it." But I can't, so it's a case of getting on with it. I know so many of my old friends in blog land have been through so much in similar circumstances so I have decided to record my progress and if I can help one person with a similar diagnosis it will have been worth it. It will be a pleasure catching up with old friends. I wish I had returned sooner I have a feeling it would have helped me on dark days.

I changed my profile photo as although I am still a nostalgic person I feel at the moment it is about looking forward not back. The photo was taken at last year's visit to the Smallholders fair in July. Just a few days before I felt the lump. I'm hoping this July Tom and I will be back there and will take a new photo, scars and all! Here we were looking so happy.

It's not all doom and gloom though, we never lose our sense of humours no matter what! I have a lovely new Granddaughter called Scarlett to write about and have made more contact with my 13 year old Granddaughter from my eldest son's previous relationship and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. As a family we still laugh at everything and I have made "It is what it is" our family motto I think I shall get it translated into Latin and put it on a plaque!