Round Three

To start off, today- February 4- is World Cancer Day. So take a minute and think about those fighting the fight and what you can/want to do. I'm spending today, really EVERY day, being thankful for everything that I have! A loving, supportive family, great friends, the opportunity to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have the gospel in my life, and for doctors and how hard they work to help others! There is so, so much more! I could go on for hours, but I'll spare you the reading. :)

Let me take you back to March 2012. I had just had surgery and was slowly getting back to school, and continuing the rest of my senior year. And I LOVED senior year! It was really, really fun! I went on some road trips and had some crazy times. If you want to hear one of those stories, talk to me!

May & Summer-

• Graduated high school
• Graduated Seminary
• Grad Night at Disneyland
• Worked again at DQ
• Hung out a lot during the summer- including hot dogging!
• Started my first semester of college
• Went to Disneyland again for Fall Break
• Spent lots of time with my family!

July- we had a CT scan that showed something, but the doctors thought it might be some scar tissue still healing. In November, a scan again showed that there was a difference, so once again- my cancer was back.

Nov/Dec- It was great how everything worked together. The doctors planned for a surgery and we were able to work it in with my finals schedule at college. The surgery was the day after my last final. We joked that we were celebrating finishing my first semester by spending a week up at Salt Lake- kind of a hollow victory. And PS- I GOT MY PATRIARCHAL BLESSING!!!! I highly recommend it to those who haven't gotten it yet.

Dec. 13, 2012- I underwent a 13 and 1/2 hour surgery. In this surgery, cancer infected bone was taken out from my jaw and was replaced with my fibula (the smaller bone by your shin and calf). What?! I didn't even know they could do that. They also replaced half of the floor of my mouth. They took all the layers of skin from where they took my fibula and the top layer of some on my thigh to replace the spot on my leg.

Dec 13- Dec 22- This time was spent in the hospital recovering. I had a lot of visitors and a lot of friends. I made it quite a long way in that time. It was really hard to walk starting off. I even came home with a walker.

Dec 25- CHRISTMAS AT HOME!!!!! :)

Dec 26- Dec 30- Back in the hospital. We went up to get my stitches out, which they did, but I also had an infection and I was hospitalized and put on some antibiotics. I also had my first allergic reaction. Dang.. so fun. But I'm alright. :) Came home in time for New Years.

Jan 8, 2013- Second surgery- all the cancer was not removed from the first surgery so they took more bone out and filled it in with a spacer (will replace with bone in future- had to make sure they got clear margins this time). Pathology reports showed 10 days later that all the cancer from my jaw bone has been removed!

Currently- I'm doing great now! Slowly getting better and better each day. Because they replaced part of my jaw, they had to remove teeth- I do have all of my upper teeth but only 4 lower teeth on my left side. I have to be careful that I don't eat anything too crunchy because it hurts, and I have to stick my finger in my mouth to make sure I don't get any food stuck on the numb side. For those of you have eaten with me, sorry, but truly, I'm kinda not sorry. :]

March 8 (about a month) is when we will meet again with the doctors to discuss future surgeries- reconstruction, and in about a year, dental implants.

Time for a BIG THANK YOU!!!!! If I wrote down everyone that sent me a text, came to visit, or has helped me in some way, you could be reading for a while. So thank you to everyone who has done something. I particularly want to mention Justin Brunson. Every time I've been up in Salt Lake at the hospital, he's come to visit. Every time. In fact, one day when he was visiting, he said to my parents, "So I can come back later tonight and stay with Erik if you guys want to go to dinner!"

:0 Justin. You're a stud.

So go out of your way this week and do a service for someone. It will make their day. And it will make yours a lot better, too. Ladies and gentlemen, keep running.