Taylor Baldwin

What can I say, the nightmare every parent hopes never becomes a reality came in the form of a Thyroid Cancer diagnosis this week. Over the summer, Tayor came to live in Kansas City, Mo with Chris and I. Blue Springs mandates more vaccines than Vegas does, so we took her in for a well visit. Since Sydney was recently diagnosed with a Thyroid disease, I figured it couldn't hurt to just do a random blood test to make sure everything was as it should be. I am so very thankful we did this or we may not have known until she started showing signs of a bigger problem. 


When the labs came back with the same thyroid disorder that Sydney has, the doctor felt that an ultrasound was the next step, so we did it. That came back with 2 nodules, followed up with a biopsy and confirmation of Thyroid cancer. The long and short of it is, it is cancer, it's treatable with a good outcome, but a long road. We had a follow up ultrasound to check the lymph nodes. We know for sure it is in one, but how bad and what stage will remain a mystery until she has surgery on Sept 13th. Once they're in there, they can more accurately explain what our path is going to look like. All we can do now is sit and wait. 


Tay's handling it like a champ. She's scared and having trouble concentrating. As much as I'd like to keep her life as normal as I can and focused on school until the surgery, she's still a 17 year old scared girl who just got a bunch of scary handed her way. All I can ask is that everyone try to keep that in mind if you do have the opportunity to speak with her. We'd all like to say that things could be handled different or better, but the bottom line is that none of us have ever been in her shoes. The great thing about hindsight being 20/20 is that we've learned lessons and hopefully changed the things we could've done better. This is the beginning of her journey and its one heck of a introduction into adulthood. Be patient with her, she's scared. Pray, that's all I can ask. She's got a great medical team, so I'm trying hard not to panic and just be strong for her. I can see the Lord working in her life everyday. 


I love each and every one of our friends and family, but I just don't have the time I'd like to have to speak to each person individually and still be present for the upheaval in Taylor's life. I've directed key people to update this site in the hopes that each and every person gets the same information. In the week since her diagnosis, I've talked to so many people and can't keep strait who knows what, so I'll just make it uniform for everyone. I'll do my best to make sure everyone stays in the loop.  Also, Taylor is THE BATMAN!!