11 days ago I had surgery to remove my thyroid gland and the cancer that was attached to it. I learned at my follow-up appointment that out of the 1.6cm nodule 1.2 cm was cancer. I feel so blessed to have had it found so early. The next step in my treatment is to be on a low IODINE diet for the next few weeks as I prepare for the Radioactive Iodine Tablet and full body scan. The purpose of this is to light up any other cancer cells that may be in any other parts of my body. At this point I do not know if there is any other cancer in my body.
I am not alone in this struggle though. There have been many people who have come up to me and have said that they have known someone who had the same thing happen to them. It is comforting to know that I am not alone in going through this trial. We are given trials that are meant to lift us up and bring us closer to God. I watched a program on BYU- channel that was about a lady names Kim. She had such a positive attitude through her trials that makes her who she is. She is challenged in her height due to a physical trial since birth, but it did not stop her from blessing everyone around her. She was always positive in her outlook on life. I hope that I can be that type of person through the things that I go through.
Over the last 12 years I have struggled with health issues and many times I know I have complained way too much. There are trials that others have that are much harder than the ones that I have been given. During this trial I have had the chance to learn about a prophet of God that I feel I can relate to in a small way. President Spencer W Kimball had throat cancer and had a surgery where most of his vocal cords had to be taken out. This surgery left him with a raspy voice and he overcame the trial by putting his trust in the Lord.
Elder Boyd K Packer said of him in 1974- "In 1957 throat problems developed, to be diagnosed as cancer of the throat and vocal cords. This, perhaps, was to be his Gethsemane. He went East for the operation. Elder Harold B. Lee was there. As he was prepared for surgery he agonized over the ominous possiblities, telling the Lord that he did not see how he could live without a voice, for his voice to preach and to speak was his ministry....There was a long period of recuperation and preparation. The voice was all but gone, but a new one took its place. A guiet, persuasive, mellow voice, an acquired voice, an appealing voice, a voice that is loved by the Latter-day Saints." "He went back home for his maiden speech. He went back to the valley. Anyone close to him knows it is not a valley, it is the valley. There, in a conference of the St. Joseph Stake, accompanied by his beloved associate from Arizona, Elder Delbert L. Stapely, he stood at the pulpit. 'I have come back here,' he said, 'to be among my own people. In this valley I presided as stake president.' Perhaps he thought that should he fail, here he would be among those who loved him most and would understand. There was a great outpouring of love. The tension of this dramatic moment was broken when he continued, 'I must tell you what has happened to me. I went away to the East, and while there I fell among cutthroats. ...' After that it didn't matter what he said. Elder Kimball was back!" (March 1974 Ensign, "No Ordinary Man" by Elder Boyd K Packer)
I only had a small amount of cancer that only had my thyoid gland removed. It did affect my voice to a small extent that it gets tired easily, and I can't sing. I still have my vocal cords but I too fell among cutthroats... :)
The scar will get better and I will receive all of my treatments to make sure there is no more cancer. Out of all the people that I look up outside of my family and Jesus Christ, I look up to Spencer W Kimball because he went forth after that surgery and lived a full life. He went forth doing the Lord's will and being positive. That is what I look to do.
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