Well, tomorrow is the big day. I'm not going to lie -- I'm really scared. Having the gallbladder out is one thing, but this one has so many more risks: damage to the parathyroid glands and vocal chords... and I'm terrified of waking up with the trach-tube in. Doubt it'll happen, but it's still a fear.
We should know by Friday (hopefully) what the pathology comes back as -- either benign or malignant. If benign, I'm home free. If malignant, they'll keep me off of Synthroid (synthetic thyroid hormone) for several weeks preparing for the radioactive iodine treatment. Let's all hope that's not the case. I guess being off of Synthroid without a thyroid gland is pretty much hell. Extreme fatigue, depression, hair loss, weight gain. That stuff worries me more than the actual surgery does.
Since Joe and I have our nifty new iPhones (big smile), it'll be easier for him to keep everyone up to date as to what's going on. After phone calls, he'll post onto Facebook for those of you who are on there, then he'll send texts to some. I've given him authorship to this blog, too, so he may put something up here as well. If not, I'll post how I'm feeling as soon as I can get my hands on a laptop. Oh yeah, I'm also worried about computer withdrawls! ;)
Wish us luck and love, and we'll be in touch soon. Take care everyone.
30 June 2009
18 June 2009
The Surgery
Okay, surgery is scheduled for 9:30am on 1 July, a Wednesday. The surgeon, Dr. Agee, is the same guy who took out both my and Joe's gallbladders, and is very familiar with this surgery. The appointment with him last over an hour, and he went way into graphic depth about the surgery, so we have a very vivid idea of what's going to happen. I will spare all of you that picture! Needless to say, I will be out of work for at least two weeks, and in the hospital for up to four days right after the surgery.
Good news is, he said that even though the initial pathology report stated follicular cancer, and suspicion of papillary carcinoma, that doesn't mean I have necessarily have cancer. Apparently the FNA (fine needle aspiration) biopsy can often have false positives. He actually said it's close to 80% chance of being a false positive. Unfortunately, the only way to prove it one way or another is to biopsy the actual tissue. And since I have nodules and suspicions on both sides of the thyroid, then it just makes sense to remove the entire gland and test it all at once. Otherwise, I would have had to go through two surgeries. If I am in that 80%, then I don't have cancer, and they put me on Synthroid for the rest of my life and I'm good to go. If, however, I do have C, then it's a long, drawn-out, exhausting process to find any possible remaining tissue that's infected, and radiating them with iodine. I won't go into that horrible process unless we have to.
So that's it. Now I wait a couple of weeks, and hope I'm in the majority. Will post more as we know it. Take care everyone!
Good news is, he said that even though the initial pathology report stated follicular cancer, and suspicion of papillary carcinoma, that doesn't mean I have necessarily have cancer. Apparently the FNA (fine needle aspiration) biopsy can often have false positives. He actually said it's close to 80% chance of being a false positive. Unfortunately, the only way to prove it one way or another is to biopsy the actual tissue. And since I have nodules and suspicions on both sides of the thyroid, then it just makes sense to remove the entire gland and test it all at once. Otherwise, I would have had to go through two surgeries. If I am in that 80%, then I don't have cancer, and they put me on Synthroid for the rest of my life and I'm good to go. If, however, I do have C, then it's a long, drawn-out, exhausting process to find any possible remaining tissue that's infected, and radiating them with iodine. I won't go into that horrible process unless we have to.
So that's it. Now I wait a couple of weeks, and hope I'm in the majority. Will post more as we know it. Take care everyone!
15 June 2009
The Diagnosis
No, it's not a typo. I know most people are familiar with the term "the butterfly effect", connected to chaos theory, and although that does apply, I felt that I've been more affected by my thyroid. Affect defines as:
So there you go. This little butterfly-shaped gland has literally become a pain in the neck and altered the way I look at things. I've had an enlarged thyroid for several years, and my TSH tests just kept coming back normal. I had an ultrasound five years ago that confirmed a multi-nodular thyroid, but again, blood tests were normal. It was only until a few weeks ago when I went to my primary care nurse practitioner about allergies, that she decided to take another look. She seemed to think that my left nodule had grown in size recently. So off again to radiology for another ultrasound that confirmed the nodules had grown.
Next step was a needle aspiration biopsy. Not fun, let me tell you! I'm a bit claustrophobic anyway and laying there with an 8" needle stuck in my throat while a doctor fishes around for cell samples is not my idea of a fun time. I bruised badly and it's taken over a week for the pain to subside. Needless to say, the pathology report came back confirmed that I had a follicular neoplasm in the left lobe, and suspicious for papillary carcinoma in the right lobe and central thyroid. Basically what that means is it's necessary to remove my entire thyroid, and the sooner the better.
That's all we know at this point. We have an appointment on Wedneday, 17 June with a surgeon (the same guy who took out both my and Joe's gallbladder last year). I'll post more after we know when the surgery will be. Right now we're concentrating on eating lots of antioxidants, meditation, and qigong (pronounced chi-kung), which is an ancient Chinese form of moving meditation that has been documented to actually help cure cancer. I'm doing more research, but for now, everything is helpful.
| Definition: | influence, affect emotionally |
| Synonyms: | act on, alter, change, disturb, impinge, impress, induce, influence, inspire, interest, involve, modify, move, overcome, perturb, prevail, regard, relate, stir, sway, touch, transform, upset |
So there you go. This little butterfly-shaped gland has literally become a pain in the neck and altered the way I look at things. I've had an enlarged thyroid for several years, and my TSH tests just kept coming back normal. I had an ultrasound five years ago that confirmed a multi-nodular thyroid, but again, blood tests were normal. It was only until a few weeks ago when I went to my primary care nurse practitioner about allergies, that she decided to take another look. She seemed to think that my left nodule had grown in size recently. So off again to radiology for another ultrasound that confirmed the nodules had grown.
Next step was a needle aspiration biopsy. Not fun, let me tell you! I'm a bit claustrophobic anyway and laying there with an 8" needle stuck in my throat while a doctor fishes around for cell samples is not my idea of a fun time. I bruised badly and it's taken over a week for the pain to subside. Needless to say, the pathology report came back confirmed that I had a follicular neoplasm in the left lobe, and suspicious for papillary carcinoma in the right lobe and central thyroid. Basically what that means is it's necessary to remove my entire thyroid, and the sooner the better.
That's all we know at this point. We have an appointment on Wedneday, 17 June with a surgeon (the same guy who took out both my and Joe's gallbladder last year). I'll post more after we know when the surgery will be. Right now we're concentrating on eating lots of antioxidants, meditation, and qigong (pronounced chi-kung), which is an ancient Chinese form of moving meditation that has been documented to actually help cure cancer. I'm doing more research, but for now, everything is helpful.
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