"It's thyroid cancer."

I heard those words from my ENT in early August. He recommended surgery to remove my thyroid and all lymph nodes on one side of my neck. I remember asking for a timeframe. Were we talking months or weeks? He hoped weeks. He hoped we could get it done yet in August.

So that started a flurry of calls to schedule surgery. The initial date was August 28th. At the last minute, that surgery was cancelled due to an emergency at the surgery center (we assumed a COVID case). We were all frustrated at the delay, as many many plans had been made (for childcare, for my husband's work, for meals to be delivered) and were now all affected. But we had no say in the matter. 

It was back to the drawing board to find a new surgery date. The earliest option ended up being 3 weeks later, on September 18th. And this time surgery did happen as planned. I had a complete thyroidectomy and lateral neck dissection... meaning my entire thyroid plus 26 lymph nodes were removed from my central and right-side neck.

During the time leading up to surgery, we had a few friends deliver meals and dozens of people sending cards and messages of support. We filled up a door with all of the cards we'd received! 

Some other friends organized a drive-by parade two days before surgery. Because we were quarantining as a family, we couldn't interact much with these friends, but it was a super sweet moment of support that left nearly all of my family members in tears. They threw bags of candy for the kids, dropped off banners of support, had purple balloons (my favorite color) and many other little goodies to simply show their love for our family as we headed towards surgery.

More on the surgery itself in Part 3. 

But I simply want to emphasize here how a great support network can make all the difference. I truly cannot imagine walking through cancer by myself or without this huge network of prayer warriors and compassionate friends who have stepped up to help us in our time of need. It is truly God's church (His people, filled with His Holy Spirit) doing what they are called to do - to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It has been a marvel to behold. It has been a testimony to others (like neighbors, family members, etc) watching how we walk through this. Of course, it's also been humbling for us, to accept all of the attention and help. It's teaching lessons to us of how to show support and care for others in the future. It's modeling something to our children as they watch us accept help and show gratitude for that support (and pray for those who are helping us, and write thank you notes personally to those who help in practical ways). So many good things are coming out of this aspect of the cancer journey. We praise God for His higher purposes in our suffering!