Snips and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails, and an extra thymus gland, that's what Carter is made of...

Its been 10 since Carter's surgery and he is doing incredibly well! We saw Dr. Birken 5 days after Carter's surgery and he was quite impressed on how well Carter was doing and how different he looked! Dr. Birken confirmed again (after I asked again for the millionth time) that it was a benign mass that was removed. He said that it was actually healthy thymus gland tissue, which basically means Carter was born with 2 thymus glands. Dr. Birken has contacted several people in the medical field to see what could have caused this and if it has ever been reported. As of now he has spoken to Genealogy and Infectious Disease and both have never heard of such a thing. We will be going back in a month for a check up and to see if anything has come back as to why, or how this happened. It just so crazy to think that we went from one extreme to the other. We were told he had a rare, highly aggressive cancer to healthy thymus gland tissue. We are so fortunate how things have turned out and now we have all the time in the world to enjoy watching him grow. Carter will still have to go in for testing in the future just as a precaution. We can't believe how different Carter is! He has always been a happy-go-lucky boy with a laid back personality but since the surgery he's full of life! Despite all the obstacles he has faced and is currently facing (he's cutting his first tooth and ripped the surgical tape off his incision) he is loving life and has this amazing sparkle in his eyes that wasn't there before. This boy is going to have the biggest 1st birthday this side of the Mason-Dixon line I tell you!