Cancer

Cancer. The word bounces off of me, like my body is a shield and it refuses to let that word in to have any meaning or place in which to root. Even thinking about the word conjures images of lengthy treatments, sick people, loss of hair, and hopeful eyes of those affected by it. So, why am I thinking about it, then? Well, because as of last night I was told that I have thyroid cancer. But good news!! It's one of the most curable types of cancer, and my doctor says "If you had to pick a cancer this is the one to pick!". Hee hee hee. That part still cracks me up. He's a good man, my doctor. Some of you may be wondering how all this happened. Well, my friends, let me tell you.

A long time ago, in a land far, far away there was a beautiful princess who was plagued with a terrible curse. Alright, I'm just joking. I'll be serious here. :) Back in September I had a terribly awful pain in my right ear that, over the course of a few days, progressed down into my jaw and into my throat. I went to my PCP who ran tests, but couldn't find anything. She told me there was one more test she wanted done, but it was only performed in the emergency room. I went there to have a test to see if I had something called a vertebral artery dissection. They gave me some iodine and performed a CT scan of my head and neck. When it came back, the ER doctor said the test was normal. He said he couldn't find anything wrong, and aside from a small nodule in my thyroid (which I could disregard, he said) everything was fine. I thought nothing of it and went on my way. A couple of months later I had some blood tests done that showed my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels were elevated. I asked what would cause that to happen and the doctor told me a few things, one of which was a nodule. That caught my attention! I remembered the test I had done a few months earlier that found a nodule on my thyroid. 

I gathered all the test results and took them to my doctor to review. From there, my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound on my thyroid to get a better look at what the nodules looked like before doing anything else. I had the ultrasound done on January 10th and was told the results would be in to my doctor in a few days. First thing Monday morning I got a call back from my PCP who said she wanted me to see an endocrinologist because I had several nodules she thought they should check out. I called the endocrinologist and got in to see him on January 24th. It was a great appointment because I was the only patient and I felt like I was getting the royal treatment. The doctor talked to me and told me he was 99% sure that I had Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This is the most common thyroid issue. He told me I would more than likely be on thyroid medicine to regulate the hormones and everything should be fine. Then he said he wanted to look at the nodules, so he had an ultrasound machine there in the office that he used to get a better look at them. He said there was one on the right side of my thyroid and two on the left side that he said he wanted to get biopsy's of since they were all larger than 1cm (and one was over 2cm). He told me it was standard procedure and the chance of them coming back as cancerous was "zero percent". I was confident that they would come back as normal, so I didn't think anything of it. By the way, the biopsy's were taken without anesthesia where they stuck a needle in my thyroid (through my neck) to get a sample of tissue from each nodule. Yeah, it stung a little while they were doing it, but afterward it hurt bad.

Well, the doctor said the results would be back in three days, and that he was going to refer me back over to my PCP to put me on medicine and there was no need to set up any other follow-up visits. I shook his hand and went on my way. Last night, on my way home from work, I got a call from him. Here's how part of the conversation went:

Dr. - "Well, we got your test results back."

me - "Well, that's good."

Dr. - "Well, it's not what I thought it would be."

me - "Well, that's not good."

Dr. - "The samples came back and they were cancerous."

me - "Ok."

Dr. - "You have thyroid cancer. But don't hit the panic button! If you had to pick a cancer, this is the one to pick. It is curable."

Then he gave me information about what happens next. Yes, thyroid cancer has a high success rate. Basically what happens now is they remove my thyroid, but I don't know when that surgery will take place. I should be hearing back from the surgeon within the next few days and we'll go from there. The doctor said, "This really is a blessing in disguise because if you wouldn't have had that CT scan done on your neck a few months ago, there's really no telling when this would have be found." So, I do thank the Lord for severe ear pain which was totally unrelated to this whole "debacle" (dk, the use of that word was just for you!)

Well, this post has turned out to be quite lengthy, and some of you may think that this truly is nothing to worry about, but this is a good outlet for me to get all the thoughts out of my head. As a friend of mine once told me, I tend to stew over things a lot, so writing them down helps to get it out of my mind and helps me to focus on the big picture. Am I nervous that I have been told I have a type of cancer? Absolutely! But I am super positive and quite sure that I will be ok and things will be fine. I'll keep you all posted. Have a good night!