My Mom

My sweet Mom has been through a lot this year. She has had a small brown spot on her face under her eye for a few years that she thought was a "sun spot." She has been to the doctor and they would laser it trying to lighten it and it just wasn't changing. She had made an appointment with her dermatologist in hopes that she
could help her to lighten it somehow. When she arrived at her appointment to her surprise the doctor told her that she wasn't sure

that it was a sunspot and was actually concerned it could be skin cancer. She took a biopsy of it that day and told her that they would contact her with the results. After a few stressful days we got the news that it was Melanoma. The doctor talked with my mom extensively about Melanoma and the steps that would be ahead of her. She told her that melanoma was the worst type of skin cancer that you can get and that this was the "type of skin cancer that killed people." From here my

Mom was sent to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I went with her to her first appointment where the doctor talked about doing a larger excision of the melanoma. He discussed the different stages of Melanoma and that by taking a larger biopsy they can test the depth of the cancer. Depending on the depth deciphers the treatment. That day they

removed a large amount of tissue from her face and sent it for testing. We heard back a couple days later that they needed to go in again and remove a little more tissue in order to make sure that there were no residual cancer cells. She wasn't excited to have to go through that procedure again, but we did get the good news that the stage of her Melanoma was in the safe zone to not need testing on her lymph nodes. That was the biggest relief of all! Once it is in the lymph nodes it can spread like wildfire and that

thought scared me to death. My Dad was able to take my Mom in for the second surgery. At the end of it all she was left with a huge hole in her face that extended from under her eyelid down to her lip level. The doctor loosely stitched the hole together and they placed a heavy bandage on her face. The next day a Doctor had added her into the end of his day to do the reconstruction on her face. She didn't go into surgery until around 7 pm that evening and didn't get

home until around midnight. The doctor is one of a few in the world who can perform the procedure that he did. He was able to save my Mom's face and not use a skin graft. He went down into her neck to harvest an artery to put in her cheek so that she would be able to get blood supply and color, he also rewired nerves and muscles so that she could still blink and smile. I can't believe that blessing that it was to have her put into his hands

without us having done any research or time to even grasp what was going on. Although the last 7 months have been so difficult my Mom is truly looking better and better every single time I see her. With makeup you can't even see the scar and she is as beautiful as ever. We had a scare this last month....My Mom had noticed a lymph node in her neck that had grown over the last couple months. At her follow up with her dermatologist she showed her the lump in which the Doctor became very concerned and set her up another appointment at Huntsman. This following week was one in which I was so scared, worried, anxious, and trying to not panic. As badly as I wanted

to hold it together and not let every scary thought come into my mind I failed. We finally were able to get our appointment and get everything checked out. All of the nurses, PA's, doctors and staff were completely amazing. Having examining my Mom and running tests we were able to find out that it was a completely normal lymph node with no cancer. Words can't express my gratitude for this! I know that Heavenly Father is in charge and that it is because of him that my Mom is healthy and still on earth with us. I feel so blessed that the doctors have been able to be guided and catch the Melanoma early enough. My love for my Mom cannot be put into words! She is truly my best friend, my example, strength, and all I hope to be in a Mother someday. I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father and for the strength and love he is able to give us every single day!

Fall is in the air!

We went up to Huntsville a couple weekends ago to scout for deer for Zach's upcoming deer

hunt. The weather has been beautiful and the leaves have been changing. We parked at the bottom of the mountain and hiked clear to the very top of Ben Lomond. Let me tell you....we were both dying! The entire hike is straight up hill with no flats. It was

the perfect workout! It was about a two and a half mile hike one way. Once we got to the top we parked ourselves on the ridge and Zach was able to glass and find several awesome deer. We had such a peaceful night and ended up hiking out in the dark with our head lamps. The next week my hubby packed in with his Dad and killed an awesome buck. Love this guy!