"I want to live, I want to give. I've been a miner for a heart of gold." Neil Young

i do want to live! i do feel that i have some more  to give and to do with my life. i have, however, found my heart of gold. my husband and my partner has been so good to me. i just can not thank him enough. i work full time, and when i come home to my "chores" they look overwhelming to me at times.he always pitches in and helps me without my having to ask . i am not sure that  i could have managed small children with this illness. my admiration goes out to all of you who do have the care of small children, and this illness to deal with. not only do we have the surgery,  and the horror of the "C" word to deal with, but we also lose our master gland. the locomotive that pulls our train  down the track so to speak. i am glad for modern medicine, but even the best thyroid supplement can not completely take the place of a normally functioning thyroid gland. it sure helps though. one of my great aunts had her thyroid completely removed and she did not take any thyroid supplement! i am not sure how she made it from day to day.she worked hard outdoors every day, and she lived to be over 100 years old. she always said that when she died, she wanted to fall over in her flower bed. well, she almost did!

my dad had his thyroid removed today.( i think there is a family curse on all of our thyroids or something). he did not have cancer, but his nodules were enormous. he got choked drinking water. he has done very well so far, and his surgery only lasted two hours. ( mine lasted almost 5 hours). they did not have to remove any of his lymph nodes, of course, and he got to keep all of his parathyroids.( his did not choose to go to Paraguay, thank goodness) . i had to work today, but my sister was with him. i called him several times, and my husband and i will be taking care of him all day tomorrow, friday, saturday and monday. i made a pound cake for him this morning, and some custard when i got home from work this evening. i am making him  some potato soup tomorrow before we leave. he is 84 years old, and in very good health, but i still worried about how he would do. i think that he probably did better than i did. ( you can refresh your memory with some of my earlier blogs about my hospital stay- the extra large emesis " bucket", etc. )

i have been very interested in my  fellow thyroid cancer patients personal journeys. i am constantly amazed at the grace and stamina that everyone has had when facing this situation. if i could hope for just one thing for everyone with thyroid cancer, besides a full recovery of course, it would be that everyone has found their heart of gold. someone to love and support them. it makes this journey so much better.