Update on Carolyn...

Hey family,

I thought I would just update you on the latest with Carolyn. For those who don't know, Carolyn has been suffering for about 2 months with some serious pain in her neck....(very funny Doug. No the pain is not her husband....hmmmm).

It has been tender to the touch for some time. She has had several doctor visits, lab work, and even an ultrasound on her thyroid. The ultrasound she had showed that she had a marble sized mass in her thyroid that needed a biopsy. She has also been suffering the same symptoms of an auto-immune disease. Some of you have heard of fibromyalgia, Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue....all very hard to spell. But she is essentially in constant pain in her muscles, joints, etc. Much like her brother Howard.

Last week she spent most nights sobbing in the middle of the night. It was really hard. So we have been anxious for some help.

Today she saw a specialist-an Endocrinologist. Again, hard to spell, so it must be important. The bottom line is that this awesome doctor is fairly confident she knows what is wrong. She is disgusted with the lab and ultrasound work of our Wasatch County hospital, so she is ordering the entire work done-and she is doing the ultrasound.

Her initial reaction is that she thinks the thyroid has hemmoraged-not sure why, but to our delight she was able to nail the symptomology almost to a "T". She took 10 blood samples today for the lab, and is putting them on an urgent list to see if there are any issues of an urgent nature. She is doing the ultra-sound next week.

More than anything, she has given Carolyn an assurance that she will determine what it is quickly, and get it taken care of. It has really encouraged Carolyn, who was getting rather despondant because of the reponses she was getting from some doctors.

So, we don't really know, but we are confident we will. This doctor is from India, and is really sharp and ultra-confident, which I like.

Sorry for the long post. But, I need to share one final thought. Through about 12 years of my employment of late, I have shared it with a good friend. I hired him before the company left Salt Lake, and he followed us up here. He is my accounting manager. Our kids have grown up together. Thursday, his wife took their 11 year old boy to the hospital because he was complaining of pain all over. Carolyn saw them there while she was having labs done. She called to tell me how aweful their son looked.

The doctor told them he was sending them to Primary Children for more extensive work. They left Friday night. Sunday morning they called us to tell us that their son Andrew, 11 years old, had been diagnosed with cancer of the liver. But they were unable to operate yet because he also had a blood clot and it was the most lethal. They beleive the cancer is extremley aggressive.

Dan and I had a good cry on Sunday. They are trying to answer all of Andrew's questions....mostly about how it feels to die. Our kids are heartbroken about it as well.

Life comes at you fast. Enjoy the journey.

I love you all more than I can say.

Brad