See you later MELANOMA!!!!

Well here is the remains of where Mr. Bad Ugly Melanoma laid! I was surprised at how much the Dr ended up cutting out, but better safe than sorry. When I took the dressing off 24 hours after it was done, I noticed that he hadn't put any sutures in the one end so I put the steri strips there just in case. Ron said well if I knew he was going to do a neck lift I would have wanted it in the front to take the gobbler away and not the back of my neck. The Dr did end up taking another mole off his back and we go back in 10 days to have it all looked at. Then he will go back in 3 months and if all clears then 6 months, then every year for the rest of his life! Thanks for all your prayers and concerns! We have the best family there is!

Mom's 50!

So this was on Sunday Mom turned the big 50! We all gathered at the Mona park (even Mike made it) and had a BBQ, well the kernel cooked the meat aka KFC. Then some batting practice went down! We had so much fun. The pics in the slide show are from this day. I love family so much and the little ones are growing so fast. My little chubbly wubbbly Miller is sitting up and wanting to crawl!

Good and Bad News!

Yesterday we finally found out what has been growing on Ron's neck. After many phone tags with the Doctors office the results say it is (here is the bad news) Melanoma the really bad scary cancer, but (this is the good news) it is at a stage 0. Melanoma comes in different stages from 0-4. Stage 0-1 is 99.9% cured with wide excisions (which means cutting out a chunk of the bad tissue) and closing it with stitches and then testing the tissue to make sure all the surrounding skin is cancer free. Ron will be having this done on Wednesday. He also will be getting checked all over to make sure nothing else looks silly. When the Doctor called me he said that in the 13 years working in this office he has only see one other spot like Ron's being melanoma he thought for sure it was basal cell cancer because it was not black. It just went to prove to us that we can never be to cautious. I think of how fast the spot changed in just two weeks. What if we had not done anything about it? What could have it done in another 2 weeks, scary! Get checked family and friends, better safe than sorry! Thanks for all your prayers and words of concern for us, we don't know what we would do with out all of you!

I was told this weekend that the purpose of having a blog was to keep it updated. So, so sorry I was unaware of this, he he he!

This last weekend Ron and I braved it with Ryan's family and Mom and Harlo and went camping for the long weekend. For the most part we had pretty good weather. This pic ended up being one of my favorites. It is Ron and Nolan around the fire (that is where most of there time was spent.) Ron was not very far that Nolan was finding him asking "what doin Ron? why?" It is so nice to spend time with family. Sometimes you learn new talents one happened to be sewer hands (you know who you are and I hope you are smiling!)

Today Ron and I went through something that I think puts life into perspective. I will start at the first with this story, about a month ago when we were able to see some actual sun Ron was out working in the yard and was sunburned. When he came in that day I had noticed how sunburned he had got his neck. Now from the last 5 years that I have been with Ron he has always had a light colored birthmark looking mark on the back of his neck, but now this same mark after being in the sun appeared to have small blisters around the one side. I just had thought to myself that he had gotten a little to much sun with not enough sunscreen. Well the last couple weeks I have watched this spot grow and get more bumps and more colors. Last night when he got out of the shower I noticed it again and the little nurse that hides a way in the pit of my stomach told me that something was wrong! Ron got a mirror out and looked at it for the first time, and said Holy Crap I had know idea that was even there! Well so with lots of scenarios going on in my head I knew I needed to get him in to be seen. When I went to work this morning I asked around to see who we should see and made some calls and it just so happened that they had a cancellation and he could be seen today rather than the middle of June. So as we sat in the Doctors office I said to him, man I wish I would have taken a pic of it so I could put it on our blog, he didn't find it all that funny! So the Doctor walked in and asked why we were there we told him the history of the mark, he had Ron leave forward so he could see and no kidding these were his exact words "HOLY MOLY!!!, HMMMMM, I think I am going to go and get someone else to look at this." So after a exit and a wait another Doctor comes and in says "WOW, this does not look good!" Mean while Ron and I are relaxed and cool as a cucumber, NOT! They both came to the agreence that it needs to come off and be sent to pathology. So Doctor # 1 says I am going to shave a piece or so and we can see what we are dealing with. So a few needle shots, scalpel, cyro gun and cauttery later Ron's mystery alien is half gone. I asked Doc # 1 what he felt it was. He said well could be a little Basal Cell growth (Mild but easy treated cancer) or could be the big bad guy Melanoma (Bad Cancer) but said he was leaning more to the mild type. We will know by Monday what we are dealing with either way he will go back and have the rest taken out. I will keep you all updated.

It is sad that it takes events in our own and loved ones lives to put our own perspectives back in place. I take so much for granted and need humbling experiences daily. I just want to tell all my loved ones that are reading this is to wear your sunscreen! If any weird moles, discolored skin or anything that is not normal please get it looked at. I think we got lucky on this one because it was so superficial on the skin and not bedding in deep but if we had ignored it who's to say what it could have grown into be. I love you all! Machelle

Our First Blog

Well here it goes, It seems that everyone we know, well almost everyone, is doing a blog page so we decided not to be the only ones looking in from the outside. I guess we will just start off with today's events since those of you that are reading this probably already know the history, if not that can be another posting when we get that hang of this.

Well this morning I (Machelle) went golfing with a group from work to Spanish Oaks Golf course in Spanish Fork. My team actually won with shooting 5 under par, surprising all of us with this being the first time out of the year. My back is telling me so! And I think I only lost 5 balls, broke a nail, got a headache and hit OB twice but not bad for 18 holes.

Ron had the pleasure of helping with an eagle project with one of the scouts in the ward this morning. He went to a local park and placed bark around the trees. Fun for all that was present!

This afternoon we had a surprise visit with Marie, Trevor, Frank and Jenny (our granddaughter). Trevor and Frank had a fierce round of Mario Kart on the Wii while Jenny emptied and loaded the toy drawer. It was fun to have them in our home.

Well I think I'll call this a night and close it here. It is time to get ready for tomorrow, a day to celebrate Mom's!