The greatest health challenge Katie had was diagnosing her Hashimotos Disease that involves the thyroid. She was tired all the time and fatigued after a long weekend of competition with the band/color guard. She had numerous blood tests, sonograms, xrays, and even a very painful biopsy procedure on her throat. The biopsy was the most difficult, as they did not use any pain relief while poking her throat with a needle into nodules in her thyroid for sample tissue. I cried as I held her hand, tight, while she was lying on the table enduring. She was very brave. Tears flooded her eyes and ran down the sides of her face.
Finally, the diagnosis was made and Katie is now on thyroid medicine, probably for the rest of her life. She still gets tired. However, Katie pushes through and reaches the next step in front of her.
In April, Katie traveled to Long Beach for a choir festival. I was able to go as a chaperone and had a great time with the group. I especially enjoyed some time with Katie. She and I like to ride the rides, especially the Thunder Mountain ride! There was a end of year concert for choirs, and also they sang at a Memorial Day ceremony.
The Saratoga High 2010 graduation was really nice. Perfect weather, not too long, and happy! I was proud to watch Katie walk across the platform and receive her congratulations! Katie is a beautiful girl and she is a wonderful daughter. After the grad ceremony, the parents provided an all night Grad Night Party for the kids. I helped a bit with decorations, then I worked at the party from 8:30pm-2:00am. She had a good time!
Katie will be off to attend University of Utah in the fall. She has an undecided major now, but would like to pursue art.
