He knows my days

I found out that I had thyroid cancer in May, 2002. It is really amazing that we found it before it got worse or spread. My neck never hurt at all. I had gone to an ENT (ears, nose and throat) doctor to get my hearing checked because I have mid-range hearing loss in my left ear. During the exam, he felt my neck and found a large lump in my thyroid. Long story short, it turned out to be papillary thyroid cancer. Did it scare me? Absolutely. I don’t think anyone wants to hear the “c” word; especially in the same sentence with their own name.

I remember it seemed surreal at the moment. It was like time stood still after the doctor said it. After a few moments, I asked the usual questions. What do we do now? What’s my prognosis? Will I survive this? The last one was really tough. At the time, my kids were very young. Hannah had just turned four years old and Spencer was seven months old. I remember asking God to please let me live long enough to see my kids grow up.

Fortunately for me, thyroid cancer is one of the most easily treatable forms of cancer. They basically just go in and remove your thyroid gland and then you take synthetic thyroid hormone for the rest of your life. It does not typically metastasize.

One thing that helped me a lot during this time was believing that God knows my days. The Bible says that he knows every hair on our heads and that He knows when we lay down and when we get up. He knows everything about us – including how long we will be on this planet. I don’t believe I will die one minute before my time, cancer or not. I had to hold on tight to that in 2002.