Last Dr appointment of the year

We met with Dr Elkins this afternoon to get the results of my PET scan.  I got very nervous right after we got in the room---Bear said I started acting like I was on drugs!!  Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before she came in.  She started with the polite small talk and asked about Christmas, etc.  I was about to explode. Finally she said, "Well the good news is nothing got worse."  Yes, that is very good news.  However, not much got better either.  A few got better but majority of the lymphnodes stayed the same.  Like the last time, all the reactive nodes are very small.  She did go into more detail this time about "uptake"--the amount of glucose it uptakes during the scan.  It can be anywhere from 1-12.  My highest uptake was in my spleen at 2.8 and she says alot of Lymphoma patients have uptakes between 7-8.  This makes her continue to believe that if it is a lyphoma that it is low grade, slow, or very early.
So what's the plan?  She is sending the scan to my surgeon to determine if any nodes are accessible for a biopsy.  We are hoping for some in my neck, to be the least invasive.  Also they are sending it to the endo to review the 1/4 of thyroid that is remaining.  It appeared to be very inflammed and there is a possibility that it will need to be removed.  Go ahead and ask---why didn't we do that in the first place!?!  Still unsure of that.....  Anyway, if the dr doesn't think that the nodes will be accessible or yield accurate results then the next step will be to remove my spleen and biopsy it.  Yes you can live without your spleen :)  The spleen is part of the lymphatic system and it had the most uptake and is the largest to biopsy, therefore the results will be more accurate.  This will be the last resort.
I think that this is the best report that we could have gotten.  I definitely made it clear to her that I was not in the waiting mood.  I was ready to have some idea of what's going on and proceed.  Hopefully we will hear from the surgeon by the end of the week.

We have had a crazy year and until the last few months, it had been a very good year for the Smith's.  And even after this started, there have been some high points.  I have learned a lot and we have grown as a family and for that I will be grateful.  But we are ready to see what 2013 will bring.  I know there will be some lows but I know there will be many blessings also!  We will be ringing in the New Year by watching the LSU Tigers beat Clemson in the Chic-fil-a Bowl!  GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Parent Watch Day

Yes, I am playing catch up! These are from the earlier part of December and were taken with my phone, so excuse the clarity!

Not sure how many of you remember lasts year's willingness to cooperate with dance--which was ZERO!!  But just as always, my kids will do things when they are good and ready :)

Cohen has enjoyed dance alot this year and has come home to show us some moves that she has learned.  She is with a new group of girls and she is also taking a tumbling class right before dance class starts.  She takes a gymnastics class on Tuesdays at Courthouse (more on that one later!)

She surprised me so much with her willingness to cooperate during the Parent Watch Day.  Usually she is still somewhat shy around an audience but she didn't let it phase her!

This is what she looked like everytime I saw her do anything last year!!!  No worries, it was just a rest break :)

In case you were still wondering....

I had my follow-up PET scan today.  It was scheduled for next week but my sweet dr rearranged everything to have done before year end for insurance purposes.  I think they were a little confused and overwhelmed at the office-- the machine display went out yesterday so many of us were rescheduled for later in the day.  Well they asked if I was there for a CT and PET scan or just PET scan----how the heck should I know!?!  I told them I had one in October and I was just here for the repeat test.  They must have not looked it up and erred on the side of caution because I ended up getting PET scan and CT with contrast (I know I did not receive the dye that sets you on FIRE last time :))  I am sure my insurance will love that decision!

I will see Dr Elkins on Monday to see what the next step is.  I have been thinking long and hard about what the possibilities are and I don't know that my mind will ever be settled unless she biopsies some lymphnodes.  By all means, I would love to hear that they are cancer free but I don't think I can handle, not as many reacted this time or let's watch them a little longer, etc.  I am just ready to know and proceed.

I haven't been posting a lot of what's been going on because things have been really hard for me.  Physically as far as surgery incision, I have healed great---minimal scar!  But physically as far as my body's reaction to no thyroid has thrown me for a major emotional, hormonal, and physical tailspin!  It started about 6 weeks out and I just got to where my internal temperature gauge was out of whack---HOT, cold, FREEZING, sweating, etc.  And this usually all occured between the hours of 8:00pm when I would start shaking until about 10:00am and in between I would have changed PJs twice because I would sweat, go to the linen closet and gotten a blanket because I was cold, etc.  Therefore, I was getting ZERO sleep.  So I thought I was just exhausted.  After a few weeks of that and then my period went crazy, I finally called the endo and needless to say my levels were perfect---even with no med adjustments after surgery.  Last week, I went and saw my OBGYN and was filling her in and she thinks it was my Wellbutrin (I started in July for some TypeA/anxiety stuff I had going on) exacerbating everything.  She didn't think that Welbutrin is a very good "reactive" drug and now my body is reacting to a physical problem.  So she changed that med.  Well since that was last week and the test was today, I refused to take anything "new" until after the test.  I did not want anything to scew the results.  I have been off for 1 week and have definitely felt much better.  I am thinking that I might just stay off both of them and see how I even out.  Especially if we hear good news next week!

I will update Monday after we see the dr and have a new plan mapped out!

By the way, I still have Disney to post and we had a fabulous Christmas that I need to share!

Merry Christmas.....Card :)

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In case you weren't on my Christmas Card list, here is this year's card!!  I truly hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year's!

I got my hands up...

I got my hands up...

Rockin in my truck...

Got the radio on..

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Your singing every song!

I might have a slight, little, tiny, um...well, Ok, I will admit it-- I have had a kinda medium sized crush on Luke Bryan since we saw him almost 2 years ago at a Tim McGraw concert.  He hadn't even made it big and he was known for "Rain makes Corn" song.  However, Bear and I left that concert and decided that he put on a better show than Tim.  We have been fans ever since.  We saw him again in April where he headlined and have tickets to see him again in January. 

Well, it wouldn't be right for me as a parent to withhold such great music talent :)  I am proud to say that Kinson knows every word to "Drunk on you" and sings it with such passion!!  And now my sweet little Coco has learned of Luke.  She will request the "Boom, Boom Song" and her new favorite is "I don't want the night to end."  What can I say?  They have some good taste.....most of the time. If they aren't requesting Luke songs they want to hear "Justin the Beaver" as Cohen calls him.