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Sometime over the Mother's Day weekend, we will pass the 10,000 visitor mark. Now, for a commercial website, that's not saying much. But for a little blog intended to keep family and friends up-to-date on my battle with cancer going out to a list of a little more than a hundred people, it's pretty amazing.

I am not quite sure how to convey my gratitude to those of you who have followed me on my journey of discovery and my struggle to get back to health after surgery except to offer a simple — and very humble — thank you.

Several times, over the past ten months, I've mentioned receiving email and letters from people all around the world. The map you see below is a composite visitor map from the past month or two — I'm not quite sure of the time frame — showing visitors from all over the globe. The darker areas indicate heavier return visits and a geographic concentration of visitors.

Considering that I do no "promotion" of the blog other than sending out an Update Email, I'm astonished at how many visitors the site gets and how widely visitors are spread out.

Composite visitor map

Let me share with you a couple of emails from one person:

From: jennyxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com
Subject: lump in my throat. . . also
I came across your site as I was looking up causes for lumps in the throat. I'm having mine surgically removed tomorrow, so I shall see then if my battle ends or just simply begins.
Jenny

Thanks for responding, Jenny. My prayers are with you. Good luck and God Bless.
Let me know the outcome.
Larry

Subject: the lump in my throat....
Hi,
I was just updating you on the lump found in my throat almost 3 weeks ago. The immediately had me scheduled for surgery. . . performed all kinds of biopsies while I was under and determined it was benign. . . thankfully.
They removed a tumor a little larger than a golfball, called a schwanoma (too pretty a name for a tumor, in my opinion). . . anyhow it was lodged between my aeorta and carotid arteries and clear back to my spine. It would have continued to grow had I ignored it as I wanted to and I would have eventually had a stroke. Our bodies do talk to us if we just listen. I'm glad I chose to listen this time and will from now on. : )
I hope when you get this you are doing well and my prayers and thoughts are with you.

Dear Jenny,
Thank God your tumor was benign. But the surgery to remove it must have been difficult. Are you on the mend?
I ask that because having cancer -- for me -- was the easy part. Having surgery and healing from it has been much more difficult than I thought.
I pray you do well and return to good health soon.
God Bless you and Keep you, Jenny.
Keep me posted about your recovery.
Larry Stevens

Larry,
Nice to hear back from you! Yes, the surgery was pretty extensive, but I have had 5 c-sections (my last baby boy born just 6 months ago) and those to me were worse to recover from!! : ) But then Im a woman and we women are tough cookies and I have babies that wouldn't let me stay down for long! : )
My right side of my face, neck and ear have slowly been "waking" up over the past 2 weeks, they are numb and still a bit puffy as I think they pretty much beat me to a pulp during surgery. The doc thinks that I may have some nerve damage as my right eye is a little lazy now, but I WILL TAKE it any day over what it could have been!!
. . . It was a comfort to find your site and know that I really was not alone in this hardly fair and scary world, yet so wonderful at the same time. . . especially when it comes to such things that are completely out of our control and all we can do is rely on our fellow humans for comfort : )
God Bless,
Jenny

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Thank you all, friends and newly befriended alike, for supporting me over the past ten months. I get so much more from your emails than I could possibly return in kind. As it has since its birth, this site will continue to evolve, just as my journey takes me down this path one step at a time, with each step a new adventure. And I know that I never walk alone.

God Bless you.