I'm fine.

 If you ask me how I'm doing, I'll tell you I'm fine. And I'm not lying. I am fine. Some things are great, and some things could be better, but overall, everything is fine.

A couple weeks ago, Steven flew to Idaho and then helped Hannah drive home at the end of her semester at BYU-Idaho. It has been a joy to have her with us, but tomorrow she is heading off to Portugal for an unspecified amount of time. I can't remember if I've written much about Moroni. Moroni was one of Hannah's district leaders when she was a missionary in Brazil. They really hit it off, and when Hannah returned home from her mission in March 2020, they kept in close touch. He finished his mission a few months later, and they continued to develop a relationship, with Hannah here in the States and him in his hometown of Recife, Brazil. Hannah has travelled to Brazil twice since then to spend time with him. Several months ago he moved to Porto, Portugal to work, and so now Hannah is heading there to be closer to him for a while, to see where this relationship will go. I got a passport just in case Steven and I will be flying to Portugal this summer to attend her wedding, but she also has a return flight for just in case it doesn't work out. While I will miss her, and worry a bit about her moving to the other side of the world, I know that this is an important step for her and I trust that the Lord will watch over her, so it is fine. 

John continues to do well in his service mission. On Mondays he works on the grounds at the Fort Collins temple. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays he works for the Global Service center helping people who report bugs with the gospel library app. On Wednesdays he has been going to the Denver North Mission office to make reports on how effective the ads the mission has been posting on Facebook have been, and do other tasks around the office. He still struggles with some anxiety and depression, but he is keeping busy and using his talents and skills to serve others and he is doing fine.

Josh is working for a guy who does tiling and remodels kitchens and bathrooms. He works most afternoons, and occasionally mornings as well depending on the job. He is taking a class at the community college that meets two evenings a week. He spends his money on his "Magic, the Gathering" card collection.  He and John attend the young adult ward and go to institute every week. He is doing fine.

Peter has been rehearsing for a one-act play, Abra-Cadaver, that will be performed next week. He has one of the lead roles, so this is exciting for him. I think it has also been exhausting for him since he frequently comes home from school and takes a nap. He seems to be enjoying his junior year in high school and all is fine.

About a month ago I started on a new quilt. This one is a "tumbling blocks" pattern with lots of tricky Y seams. I'm not sure I realized when I started that these places where three seams meet would be as tricky as they are, but the project is keeping me busy. I think it's going to look really cool when it is done. Even as I was cutting out pieces, I would lay them out on the table to get an idea of how they would look, and I liked the effect.

Now I am sewing them together, and some days I get frustrated as I pick out crooked seams or notice that my intersections aren't as exact as I would like. Yes, I realize there are easier ways I could have done this, such as cutting some of the diamonds into triangles so I can make long straight seams, but I like the clean look of solid diamonds. I do like the way it is turning out overall and so everything is fine.

For several weeks I was practicing the piano and/or the flute for a half hour to an hour every day. I was getting better and excited about the progress I was making. And then about a week ago I noticed a small lump on the back of my wrist. Dr. Google (Mayo Clinic, WebMD) suggest that it is most likely a ganglion cyst. I am easing up on the piano and flute, and I'm hoping that the cyst will go away on its own. Assuming it is a ganglion cyst, it isn't cancerous. It isn't causing any pain, and besides an occasional dull ache, it doesn't really bother me. Everything is fine.

When I last saw my endocrinologist in December, she increased my dose of levothyroxine slightly because I was feeling so tired all the time. It wasn't long before I had a lot more energy and was feeling a lot better. My doctor also told me to get an ultrasound of my thyroid area and then get some labs done (have my blood drawn and analyzed) in about six weeks. I had the ultrasound in January but I forgot about getting the labs until they reminded me at the end of March so I got those done a couple weeks ago. 

A couple days after the lab was done I got the results back from the endocrinologist. She said:

Your thyroglobulin (protein made by thyroid cells) is still detectable - meaning we can still detect thyroid cells.  Sometimes it is just "normal tissue" that was left at surgery - versus a small amount of thyroid cancer

 

Your ultrasound had some very small lymph nodes/nodules 

 

I would like to discuss your case with Dr. Peller [the ENT who did the surgery] to come up with a plan...

 

In the mean time your TSH is low - ie. You are hyperthryoid - but we want that at that level (ie. <0.1 ) if thyroglobulin is high - so as long as you are not having high amounts of palpitations / heart symptoms - will keep your levothyroxine the same

When I contacted Dr. Peller's office, they had me come in for an appointment, which happened this morning. The nodules either aren't big enough, or aren't located where they can be felt either externally by feeling the outside of my neck and throat, or internally (there is no tightness or anything when I swallow). With the combination of the nodules seen on the ultrasound and the thyroglobulin level being high, he thinks I should get a CT scan, so that will probably happen soon. But meanwhile I have energy. Yes, my heart races on occasion, but it's not enough to bother me. I'm not feeling any pain or discomfort. Everything is just fine.