Thyroid-Less

I’m not sure where to begin telling of this long, drawn out medical saga, but I’ll try! Back toward the end of February, I started feeling dizzy more, especially in the car, but even long after I was out. Then it became more often and I was SO tired all the time. At first, I thought I was just stressed & busy and was getting over a cold. Then I got a little virus from Luke and had been extremely dizzy-headed and threw up, but just once. Later that week (March 21st), I was still so tired and dizzy that I finally decided to see my regular doctor. I was a little embarrassed going in, because it was hard to describe my symptoms and I thought it could be anything from my vision changing to my inner ears having fluid to just stress! But my doctor is so good and he did some motion tests and checked my neck around my thyroid and lymph nodes. He felt that my thyroid was enlarged and decided to start there with an ultrasound and an uptake scan. He also did some bloodwork right there in his office, but all my levels came back within the normal range. He decided to put me on some antibiotics and told me to stop taking my other meds I was taking for my face, just in case it was that. So I went up to checkout and schedule my tests and they ask me if I had had any seafood in the last 2 weeks. Well, I hadn’t except for the NIGHT before! So I couldn’t have my tests done for another 2 weeks because of eating seafood, so I was a little discouraged, but figured it wouldn’t show anything anyway!
      So 2 and 1/2 weeks later, on a Tuesday (April 9th), I went in for my ultrasound and uptake scan. The ultrasound tech took a long time and was very thorough, but I didn’t think too much of it. Then I went to another room to take this huge radioactive iodine pill that was in this special “poison control”-like container. I was told not to touch the pill, but to just pour it from the container to my mouth and swallow with a lot of water. Then I had to come back 6 hours later and get pictures taken of my thyroid and my radioactive levels checked. The next morning I had to go back again for the same tests so they could see how my thyroid was functioning over time. When I left, they told me they would have my results to my doctor in the next 2 days and he would give me a call. All the poking and prodding left me a little sore in my neck like they aggravated something, but I was still convinced it was nothing.
      Well, when the doctor’s office called me the next day, I knew something might be wrong. They had gotten just the results of the ultrasound back and had found a large, solid nodule on the left side of my thyroid and were sending me to the surgeon right away. “Surgeon?! Not an endocrinologist or specialist?” Must be more serious than I thought! They didn’t even wait until the results from the uptake scan came back, but would send those on to the surgeon. So they scheduled me with the surgeon for the next Monday to discuss my options, if there were any. It just so happened to be the same surgeon who removed my gallbladder! I wasn’t sure if they were going to schedule a biopsy to see if it was cancerous or just wait, but the surgeon said that because of its size, about 3.6cm, they would need to do surgery regardless of malignancy. I was relieved, in a way, that I wouldn’t have to go thru having a giant needle stuck in my neck, but also wanted to know if it was cancer or not! But the surgeon assured us that even if it was cancerous, the prognoses was often very good and they could usually get it all out with surgery.
       So my surgery was scheduled for the next Tuesday, April 23rd and my parents graciously offered to come up to help with the kids so Chris could be with me.
 Ready to be wheeled to the OR. Notice the “YES” written by my surgeon on the correct side to remove.
       The surgery went well, and they had planned to remove only the left side of the thyroid, but to do pathology on it during surgery to see if there was any cancer. If so, they would go ahead and remove the whole thyroid. Well, the nodule  turned out to be a papillary carcinoma (cancer) so they had to remove the whole thyroid, which meant a bigger incision and a drain for the extra fluid. But the surgeon felt like the cancer was very contained in the thyroid and didn’t see any spread in the lymph nodes or anything, so that was good. I felt pretty bad after surgery and threw up a couple of times, I guess from the anesthesia, although it’s never made me sick before. Then later that day, I was feeling pretty good but had to spend the night in the hospital so they could monitor my drain and my calcium levels. The next day I was a lot more sore and tired, but I was glad to go home. Then the third day, I woke up really sick and threw up every 10 minutes for an hour and a half! Not sure if it was from the pain meds or just still recovering or maybe a virus I caught, but fortunately I was feeling better that afternoon.
       On Friday, we went back to the surgeon to get my stitches removed. It hurt quite a bit, but wasn’t too bad. Then he gave us the rest of our pathology lab results and said there weren’t any additional cancer cells in the other parts of the thyroid. He referred us to a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist for further tests and treatment to make sure there aren’t any more cancer cells left behind.
       I’m SO thankful for all the family and friends that helped us get through this difficult time. And I really appreciate all the hospital visits from friends and all the wonderful meals!! My parents left yesterday and Chris’ sister is coming for a few days to help with the kids when he goes back to work this week.