When Life Gives You Lemons

I've been MIA for a while because of the most recent "lemon" we've been handed.  The lemon came in the form of a lump in my neck; quite literally the size of a lemon.

On April 20th I was packing for a weekend trip to the Mall of America for my sister's bachelorette weekend.  I was trying on a necklace with one of my outfits and it was tight.  Thinking it was strange, I kind of rubbed the front of my neck and noticed a pretty size able lump.  I immediately called and made an appointment to see my family practice Doctor.  The appointment was scheduled for 2 days later, on Friday.  At the appointment I described some of the symptoms I had been having which were leading me to believe I may have something going on within my thyroid.  When we came to the lump, my doctor took quick action which really got me worried.  They drew blood and scheduled an ultrasound in Green Bay for about an hour later.  They also made me an appointment later in the afternoon for a biopsy.  It was a complete whirlwind.

Thyroid levels all came back "normal," but the biopsy came back "suspicious" on 4/26.  In the initial appointment with the Dr who performed the biopsy he told us that, from the ultrasound, the size, vascularity, and calcium deposits were all red flags for the lump being cancerous but that it was about a 60/40 chance that it was.  The dreaded 'C' word, not even 8 months after losing my mom to lung cancer.  I was terrified and was having some major anxiety about it all.  The next couple weeks were spent trying to get into an endocrinologist.  It was problem after problem through all this and the dr I had been referred to was feuding with our insurance so was no longer in network.  The ENT doc decided we'd proceed with surgery for full thyroid removal.  Surgery was scheduled for 5/13 and they found me another endocrinologist who I would see 5/18.

Last Friday I had my thyroid removed along with the lemon sized lump on it.  The surgery took about 1 1/2 hours and went well.  One lymph node was also removed during surgery.  One of my parathyroid glands (which are not removed and are needed to control calcium levels) had grown around the lump and was damaged so the surgeon was able to implant it in my neck muscle in hopes that it will regenerate with the muscle as it's new blood supply.  Pretty amazing.  I spent one night in the hospital and came home just before noon on Saturday. My calcium levels were low so I was sent home with calcium supplements.  My neck was very stiff and sore for a few days but mostly I was just completely exhausted.  It's so much more than just being tired.

 I received a call from the surgeon's office around noon yesterday saying that the pathology confirmed cancer in the lump that was removed and the 1 lymph node that was taken.  I also saw the endocrinologist yesterday afternoon.  The endocrinologist went into more detail and told us she thought, from the pathology report, that the entire lump was not cancer, there was a smaller tumor. She also told us that all the cancer cells were thyroid cells which is good.  That means it originated in the thyroid and if it spread, those will be thyroid cells as well which will be destroyed with the radioactive iodine treatment.

She put me on the thyroid hormone pills which I started this morning.  On 6/5 I will start a low iodine diet for about 2 1/2 weeks (yuck! Very limited!).  I will then have a small dose of the iodine and a full body scan to see any remaining thyroid tissue/cancer cells.  The radioactive treatment will follow this and we're looking at the last full week of June for that.  I will need to be away from the kids for a week which will be the hardest part of all of this.  I will have another body scan about a year later and also an ultrasound.  I will be checked every 6 months-1 year. It all feels so surreal.  

I've been told, "if you're going to get cancer, this is the one you want to get". The fact is, it's still cancer and it's still too soon and too fresh after losing my mom.  We're going camping the next couple weekends and hope to escape reality a bit.  I would happily take any prayers and/or positive vibes you could send my way.