Radio call-in on Mormon missions

Ok, we listen to AM radio.  Every time I listen to talk radio, I am reminded that I am old.  

Anyway, today while we were driving to Walnut Creek there was a lady on the radio that couldn't stop talking about the Romney boys serving Mormon missions instead of serving in the military and if they loved their country they would have served in the military.  Apparently, Ann Romney had been talking about the positive impact her sons' missions had had on their lives.

While no service can be compared to serving in the armed forces, I do feel that anytime we serve, whether serving for the liberty of our country, serving in our professions, humanitarian service, volunteering or serving in our church, we are bettering society and bettering ourselves.  This is a commendable and good thing.  The talk radio hostess was so bold as to state that the only reason mormons serve missions is to grow their church and thus have more money for their church.

That got me.  I thought about the thousands of people serving humanitarian missions.  My sister-in-law being one.  You can disagree with church's trying to proselyte about Christ.  I get that.  That didn't bother me, but what did bother me was her false information.  So I called her and stated while there are a lot of proselyting missionaries, there are many missionaries serving humanitarian missions for our church.  She said there weren't this type of missionary in the Mormon church and there were just proselyting missionaries.  I said I personally know people who were called on humanitarian missions to which she said, "oh you are cutting out, I can't hear you," and hung up the phone on me. I wasn't cutting out but she didn't want to be called out that she didn't do her homework.  

Needless to say, the church is often first to aid in natural disasters.  They help all people and nations regardless of religion because that is emulating Christ.  In 2008, LDS Humanitarian Services provided aid to 3.3 million people in 122 countries.  From 1985 - 2009, $327.6 million in cash and $884.6 million in commodities of aid was given throughout 178 countries.  

I think it is important to recognize the good and get the facts.  So what did I learn?  Do your homework.

Blakey

Wassup?

Oh, you want me to find my own binky?

Postponed Biopsy

I went in for my biopsy today and they were unable to do it.  The doctor was concerned that my inflamatory processes were too high.  She explained this might be a result of my pregnancy with Blake, infection, hot nodule or disease.  They want to make sure that it wasn't a hot nodule that elevated the esr.  She doesn't want to biopsy until she repeats labs in a couple of weeks. She is hoping to see a decrease in my sedimentation rate during my next round of labs.  My hormone level is really low, pretty much non-existent but t-3 and t-4 levels are normal which she said might be a result of the cyst interfering with my thyroid function.

She said my cyst is very large and pushing on my wind pipe and eventually lead to more symptoms.  She was surprised I didn't experience signs of having trouble breathing.  It hurts my ear right now and I can feel where it is pressing but not painful or troublesome to breathe.  She showed it to me on the ultrasound and it is a lot bigger than I thought.   It is a complex cyst, meaning it has solid masses, which she said isn't as good as just being fluid filled.  She said that if it comes back cancerous they will remove both sides of the thyroid to make sure that the diseased side didn't affect the side that appears healthy.  If the biopsy comes back normal, they can try to drain the cyst and hope it remains small. If that doesn't work they can try radiation or removal.  If they remove the one side they actually biopsy it while I am under to see if the other side needs to be removed.

I left feeling informed and educated.  I might not have all this right, but I think I understood.

Not worried about it and so grateful it is in my thryoid and not lymph node.  Hoping the elevated esr is due to a hot nodule or past illness or pre-pregnancy but we shall see.  So that's all for now.  A lot to be grateful for.

Pain in the Neck

I got sick right before going on vacation and of course was sensitive to my aches and pains and noticed a lump in my neck from about a month ago that was still there.  Told Danny, who was upset and told me if I were his patient he would send me off to the Doctors right away. I was going on my trip and promised I would go to the doctors upon arrival home.

Luckily sickness passed within a couple of days.  I was slightly concerned I am so tired and get sick more than I used to.

Went to doctor, who I love, on Friday and ended up spending three hours at the doctors, getting annoying moles removed, tb test, labs and antibiotics there with 4 children.  Luckily I rock at doctors visits with kids and barely survived.  She thought the lump was probably a swollen lymph node, which didn't explain why it wasn't going away and I was so tired all the time, put me on antiobiotics and set up a follow up appt.

Labs came back normal for infection.  The abnormals were non-existent tsh yet normal t4 levels.   Elevated platelets and elevated sedimentation rate.  Didn't seem like an infection and symptoms of being overly tired didn't line up with hyperthyroid. I emailed and asked for an image since I didn't like the abnormal platelet count and esr.  They did a CT Scan today and showed I have a cyst on my thyroid. Super grateful it is my thyroid and not lymph node.

They will biopsy it this week and go from there.  Super grateful for modern medicine.  It is simply incredible what they can do and how easily things can be detected.  Grateful Danny and I have learned to listen to our intuition.  Hoping biopsy comes back normal, but if not, grateful that it is very treatable.  Hoping this will cure my excessive tiredness!  I am glad I am not much of a worrier.

Danny got a surgery date today to cut a nerve that is causing him horrible nerve pain.  He wanted to amputate his leg at Disneyland and was miserable at Katie's wedding so I am praying that surgery gives him some relief.  That could be the best news of the year for us.  Have so much empathy for people with chronic pain.  It is a joy killer, yet Danny has lived so graciously with pain.

Fall Break

Fall break is over and it was soo much fun!  We got to visit Glen and Janine who are serving a mission in Las Vegas.  It was Conference weekend which I love!  It was so nice to sit, talk, catch up, listen to conference and see them as missionaries.

They are working so hard.  They are doing an incredible job and blessing so many lives.

I thought a lot about my mission.  As I reflected on mission life I realized how blessed I was to serve in Barcelona with amazing mission presidents, companions, members and districts. I got to know my first mission president well as I served in the office zone and he was so full of love.  We wanted to be obedient simply because we wanted to love the Lord as he loved the Lord and loved us.

The missionaries came to talk to my kids about serving a mission and that was one of my highlights.  I hope they choose to serve missions someday.  It was one of the greatest blessings of my life.  The mission age changed from 19 to 18 and 21 to 19 for girls which makes me excited for them to have a focus in high school.

Afterwards we went to Disneyland with my parents, sister's family and her in-laws.  It was so wonderful to be together as a family.  It was so wonderful to celebrate with my mom. So grateful her health allowed her to come.  What a blessing.  Something about Disneyland makes you want to go all day every day so I now feel like I need a vacation.  Maybe next time I will slow down a bit.

Now we are home and it feels good to be back into the routine of school.  So grateful my kids like school and learning.  I feel spoiled and incredibly blessed.  Now we just need to get back into the routine of piano. Life is good.  Much to be grateful for!

Las Vegas and dizzyland

Heidi, her dad, and the kids drove the van to Las Vegas to hang with my parents.  I flew to LV the following day and here are some sites we checked out.

Then we left for dizzyland at 6:05 Monday morning.  The kids had a great time.  I started getting into the urban myths about Disneyland and began asking workers for insider information.  Heidi didn't believe any of it.