An update on Vance

Well, we have had an eventful holiday break.  It has been filled with ups and downs, but we have never felt so blessed.  Here’s the story…

Vance has had a lump on his throat for quit a while and he went in to get it checked about two weeks ago.  We really thought it was nothing and were really shocked when the doctor expressed a lot of concern and said that he needs to have it removed immediately.  He said that there is only a 20% chance that it is cancerous but told Vance that he should get it removed anyway because the more it grows the more it will start to bother him.  Well, the word CANCER kind of freaked us out so we scheduled the surgery for as soon as possible.  After they removed the growth they said that it was bigger than they thought and showed some signs of cancer.  We had to wait an agonizing 24 hours to get the results back that would tell us for sure. 

It was the day before Christmas Eve that we found out that Vance has Thyroid Cancer. At first we were really freaked out.  But the more we learned about Thyroid Cancer the more our minds were put at ease.  It is a highly curable cancer and Vance would not have to go through Chemo-Therapy.  We scheduled the surgery for Vance to have the rest of his thyroid removed the next week.  Once the thyroid is removed, Vance will have a treatment called Radioactive Oblation.  It is basically a treatment that kills all the thyroid cells in Vance’s body.  This treatment is a precautionary measure, in case the cancer has spread to other parts of his body. 

Vance’s went in for his second surgery right before New Years and we should hear back in a few days if the cancer spread to his lymphnodes.

 

This was Vance right before his second surgery.  You can see the cut in his throat from the surgery exactly one week before.  It wasn’t much recovery time before he had to go under the knife a second time.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of him in the goofy cap they put on him as they wheeled him away.

This was right after surgery.  It was a little scary seeing him like that.  The surgery went well and his recovery has been pretty normal.  It has been a little more painful than the first surgery and he has been really tired but that is to be expected.  Once he fully recovers from the surgery he will have the Radioactive Oblation treatment.   After that, he should be okay.  He is thyroid free and hopefully cancer free!

It has been an emotional few weeks but we really feel so blessed.  We have really come to realize how precious and fragile this life is.