Here is the last of the family photos. Again, I was real happy with how they turned out. If anyone in Albuquerque needs a good (and inexpensive) photographer, check out Leah's website at www.DPbyLeah.com. She got a ton of shots off in about 40 minutes and gave us the CD so we can print what we want.
We got family pictures taken last week. Here are some individual shots... Family shots to follow...
Tad . . . . 35 yrs old
Derek turned 6 last week. He's still crazy into dinosaurs and wanted to have a dinosaur party. I saw this cake at Walmart and had to get it. I was going to attempt to make one like this, but with the prices of already made cakes, you really can't beat it once you figure in buying all the supplies and decorations to make it yourself. 
We went to the BYU vs UNM football game this afternoon. For the most part the weather was ok, but near the end of the 3rd quarter, it got really cold and windy with a few drops of rain.
So I've had a wierd looking mole for the past year on my neck. It was brown, but two-colors of brown and non-symetrical. My family doc told me last year that I should have a dermatologist take it out since it is on my neck. Well, we all know how long it takes to get into a dermatologist. We moved, were busy and finally got one scheduled for Sept. He didn't have time to do anything then, so I had to go back in Oct. Finally had it cut out and had an incision on my neck that was about an inch long. He says, my office will call you with the results in a week, blah, blah, blah. Have a good day.
A few days later I get home and there's a message from the doctor asking me to call his cell phone. Hmm, that's kind of wierd. So I call him and he asks me to come in the next day to discuss the results of my biopsy. OK, so as nurse, I know there's only 1 reason a doctor wont give results over the phone (especially since Tad got his "normal" results over the phone the previous week) and thats because its bad news.
So the next day I went in and found out that I have melanoma on my neck. It's not as thin as he would like it to be. It's borderline thickness stage 1B. So I would had to go in for more testing.
I had another exam on all my moles and nothing else looked suspicious to him, but now I'll have to go in every 3 to 4 months for the next few years.
I had a consultation with an oncologist yesterday. NEVER thought that I would have to see an oncologist. He did an exam and found one mole that he wants to remove. He also informed me that the inch long incision on my neck is soon going to get much bigger... about 1cm on each side and may require a skin flap. At the time he does that, he will also take out the nearest lymph node (sentinal node) and test it for melanoma. He is optimistic that that will be as far as we will have to go, as I only have a 10-15% chance that it has spread past the initial site based on its thickness at the time. But we will have to wait until December to have that surgery, so until then I won't know much.
This is what I get to listen to everyday in the van, even if I am listening to the radio. This is from last month we were on our way to Derek's soccer game and they were singing, so I turned on the camera. Don't tell Tad that I was driving with 1 hand....
We had Derek play soccer this fall and next spring. Here is a video from some of his practices and a game from early in the season.
