What the heck just happened?

I'm a blogger!  Wow, I honestly never, EVER thought I would say that! It will get better as time goes by, maybe.  I need to apologize in advance that this is an outlet for me and I want my family and friends to be able to check in on me from time to time. I'm sorry if it gets too sentimental or preachy, it's mine and you can go ahead and log off if you don't like it....:)   So, what the heck just happened? I mean, why and how did I get here?  Let me take it back a little bit.....



2 weeks and 2 days ago while I was in the shower washing my pits I noticed a big lump under my left armpit. I know that sometimes we all find something we don't love on our bodies.  I'm as stubborn as the next guy but this was different, this wasn't right. (not to mention it was affecting my golf game :) I thought, this couldn't be worse timing considering my sister in law, Angie Alvord @angiesarmy-fight.blogspot.com, just found out that she is starting a battle with cancer and the prior couple of days have weighed very heavily on the entire family.  I wasn't thrilled to share this news with my wife, but I needed to.  I told my beautiful wife Brandy and she immediately went into panic mode, which is what I love about her!  We had a visit to the doctor scheduled for Monday.  We  met with the doctor who told us he wouldn't really worry about it and that we could schedule an ultrasound in the next few days..........this wasn't good enough for the wifey.  She demanded we get in to get the ultrasound that day, and he heard the concern in her voice and scheduled it.  We rushed down to Utah Valley Regional and got the ultrasound.  The individual who was on duty was funny, he was cracking jokes, he was trying to make it light.....until he saw it.  I saw his facial expressions completely change as I could tell that this wasn't just a goiter.  He got on the phone with my Doctor who wanted to speak with me and told me we need to see a surgeon ASAP, we HAVE to get that out of there.  We had a meeting with the surgeon on Wednesday, he didn't like what he saw and to "cross your fingers that is isn't melanoma", I had surgery Thursday to remove a racquetball sized mass. The pathologist looked at it and determined it was melanoma (dang it!) and we needed to get more of the mass out.  I had my second surgery this past Friday to remove another fist-sized mass, this is getting  real.  So, like I asked before, what the heck just happened? The past couple weeks has turned our little world upside down! It is amazing how irrelevant and insignificant so many things that we do really are.  I wanted to be with my wife and kids, I wanted to go to the temple, I wanted to pray, I wanted to be strong.  But most importantly, I wanted to know what I was supposed to learn through this and how I could use it to become a better man, Father, husband, brother and friend.  This blog will be my way of going through this personal journey.  I want to help my family see that I am ok, and that I am strong and I will get through this.  I also want cancer to know, that this will be one of the toughest fights to pick, because when I come, I come with the thunder!!!:) Please, check in from time to time, I need prayers, good vibes, success stories and love.  I am more than overwhelmed at the tons and tons of people already in my corner.  I love you all!  So, LET"S DO THIS!!!!!!