Check Your Neck!

Hey friends!

I've been largely neglecting my blog lately. There are lots of reasons for that, but mainly my life is full to the brim with stuff. Mostly good stuff, but some bad too. Which brings me to the title of this post.

Thyroid cancer. Did you know September was thyroid cancer awareness month? I did, and I should have written this then, but it struck real close to home and I didn't get around to it. My oldest daughter, who has made a few appearances on this blog *wink* actually had thyroid cancer surgery that same month. She also is engaged to be married next month. See? mostly good, but we've had to take the bad along with it.

Lots of people have asked me, how did you know she had it? The answer is simple. Other than a lump on the front of her neck, there were no symptoms. No screwy blood levels, no low thyroid, no high thyroid. She didn't feel sick at all. In fact, she ran a marathon last spring! Thanks to a doctor who checked Nicole's neck during a routine physical, felt the lump and sent her for an ultrasound, the cancer was caught and her thyroid removed. Treatment is far from over at this point--getting Nicole's synthetic thyroid hormones regulated correctly is proving to be a long, up and down process--but she is doing as well as anyone could expect. If you look closely in the pic above, you can see her scar, which she has decided that she is proud of. I'm proud of her!

The kicker? Thyroid cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the U.S. It's also the #1 cancer in young women under 25. I had no idea on either count, until it struck home.

So peeps. Please Check Your Neck! If you ever feel a lump get it looked at right away. And yes, thyroid cancer may be the "best" cancer to have, but it's still cancer!

See www.checkyourneck.com for more on thyroid cancer awareness.