EIGHT years after my first surgery...

Has it really been EIGHT years since my first thyroid surgery? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was preparing for half of my thyroid to be removed to hopefully prevent cancer from growing. Little did I know, it was already cancer...papillary carcinoma.

So much has happened in the past 8 years. Nate and I were married on March 30, 2013. Shortly after the wedding, we moved to Maryland while Nate was in graduate school at MICA. I taught at The Ivymount School, which was a DREAM! After 2 years (2015), Nate accepted a visiting professor job at Virginia Tech. It was so beautiful in Blacksburg/Roanoke. (I) LOVED the snow that we got. Nate didn't quite enjoy it as much as I did. :)

While in Virginia, we found out that we were expecting a little girl! Everything went pretty well with the pregnancy. No sickness...gained a lot of weight drinking milkshakes. :) While pregnant, I had an ultrasound of my neck by a endocrinologist (that I hope to never see again.) Being that this was routine at this point, I wasn't worried...but there was "something" near my carotid artery in my neck. The endocrinologist wanted to do a biopsy but was very unsure about doing it while pregnant. I opted not to have the biopsy and wait until I had baby girl. In May (2016), I gave birth to a healthy baby girl name Sadie. She taught us LOTS, especially in the middle of the night. I had the honor of nursing her for 12 months! It wasn't an easy start, but we persevered and made it to my goal age.

Back up a few months from the first birthday...we made yet another move. We prayed long and hard over moving again but our family was in SC and we needed to be "home." When Sadie was 3 months old, we packed up our 3 bedroom apartment and moved to Columbia, SC. I quickly connected with my former endocrinologist (that I LOVED) and shared the x-rays from Virginia. He did a scan right away. GUESS WHAT???? There was NOTHING there...NOTHING. He compared the scan with the "thing" in my neck and in his scan, there was nothing. Only God, y'all!

When Sadie was around 15 months old, we tried for another baby. We quickly got pregnant again with ANOTHER GIRL! I wasn't surprised at all. ;) Our generation seems to be having all of the girls. In March 2018, baby girl, Charlotte, was born; one ounce less than her sister.

Being pregnant and on a synthetic hormone was tough. I started both pregnancies on 112 mcg and ended with 125 mcg. Shortly after giving birth to both, the doctors brought me back down to 112 mcg. I don't know what pregnancy is like having a normal thyroid but the first and third trimesters were tough. I was exhausted! I was technically on high doses before and during, but nothing could keep me awake.

I currently have a 3 year old and a sassy 15 month old running around. My energy levels are up and down. I am trying to drink coffee but my "crashes" feel like a Mack Truck has ran over me. I usually wait 1-2 hours after taking my medicine before drinking coffee but I can't tell a huge difference unless I have a second round of coffee in early afternoon.

The girls and I on June 29... my official cancer free day!

We want to have at least 1 more child. We are trying to wait a little longer the next time around. :) I just can't believe that God blessed me with 2 beautiful little girls (with my personality). I was scared that I wouldn't be able to try for kids after going through RAI treatments. But God proved me wrong...again.

*Updated picture of scar. 

KCG