Surgery countdown

One week to go until surgery (June 5)! I had a great low-key weekend hanging out with new and old neighbors, not going anywhere. Got to show Rowan high-level women's ultimate on TV (college nationals was streaming live on espn.com!). Nate's uncle Rich is here visiting for the week and helping fix up our house. Main project is making the workbench space in the cellar more usable--I can't wait!

Other things going on recently:

• I've been doing some tinkering stuff with Rowan's kindergarten class...low-temp hot glues guns, hand drills, sanding, screwdriving, etc. Mostly I just set them free to make whatever they want out the bits and pieces I bring in, but I'm thinking of doing a more structured project before the end of the year (which is fast approaching!). I'd like to let them use a hammer for something... Any suggestions? I usually have 5 kids at a time, for 30 or 40 minutes.
• I got some Montessori math beads and have been introducing the kids to them. Rowan loves counting by tens, and Lucy's making good progress on ordering 1-9.
• My new favorite song (Rowan learned it at school): The Water Cycle Song. She also came home singing 'Country Roads' -- love it!
• Lucy started drawing faces and bodies...next step: arms and legs.
• I successfully replaced the screen on my iphone after a bad drop on the sidewalk. All taken apart, the phone was in like 25 parts (including the screws)...it was awesome.
• It's Nate's last week at DoJ -- Georgetown, here we come!

Finally some good news

CT scan results are in: no evidence of metastases to the lungs. Hooray! CT scan isn't as conclusive as the scans they'll do with the radioactive iodine, so it's not for sure, but it's definitely nice to finally get some good news.

Nate's birthday is Saturday...his major plan is to distribute the huge pile of mulch in front of our house around and about. Should be fun. :)

Met with the surgeon today

Jenny and I went into Georgetown today to meet with Dr. Lisa Boyle, the head of the surgery department there and also an accomplished thyroid surgeon. We arrived 30 minutes early and (amazingly) got put right through to see the nurse practitioner and Dr. Boyle. Our interactions were friendly and positive. No real new information to report except that we now have a date for surgery scheduled:

*June 5*

Jenny will spend a night in the hospital and probably take a week off work. Still working on the details there. But we're really happy with the timing, both because acting is psychologically easier than waiting and because Jenny should be recovered from surgery by the time summer rolls around. Dr. Boyle says there is a lot of flexibility in the timing of the radioactive iodine treatment so we have increased confidence that this won't disrupt summer vacation plans.

After meeting with Dr. Boyle we strolled through the Georgetown campus and then headed home, where Jenny's cousin-in-law Lindsey was covering for us with the kids. We ate dinner on the patio and chatted as the kids ran around inside and outside the house. Good times.