Insides Revealed

After a whirlwind trip to Detroit for the loss of Emily's Uncle Bo, we returned on 7/29, went home, grabbed some lab orders, and I was out the door to get to a 4 o'clock LabCorp appointment for blood draw. This was "the check" to read all Thyroid levels, PTH, TSH, Calcium, Thyroglobulin and more to see if radioactive iodine therapy was going to be prescribed. The good news is, no, I do not have to have radioactive iodine! Wahoo! And really there is no "bad news," just information and next steps. One of the cancer marker tests is for Thyroglobulin (Tg)- the protein synthesized by Thyroid cells. Since I have no Thyroid, I have very few Thyroid cells (since they can't remove everything) and if both my Tg levels and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels are low, that's a good indicator there is no active cancer. As the doctor said, there is no guarantee of anything at anytime and he'll be following me for life basically. So, we keep checking a

Not much has happened and yet, there is a lot going on. Emily is in the final phase of her practicum, another family visit with my Dad here to help with Noah is coming to a close in a couple weeks, and I've had a headache on the left side of my head for the past week. Although it hasn't worsened, it also isn't going away and normal remedies like Tylenol, don't seem to be helping. I'm not symptomatic in any other way in the sense of vision issues along with the headache, but it's still something I need to checkout. The Endocrinologist did get a call last week and said it probably wasn't the Synthroid, so there's that at least... Today was the next phase in repair and a return to normal. My voice has continued to ebb and flow between hoarse, tired, low, and seemingly everything in between. Monday, I was supposed to have my first Speech Therapy appointment, however, as I'm pulling off the highway at the exit to the University Hospital campus, I get a

Independence Day. 243 years old. As we marked yet another year of blasting fireworks, BBQ's, friends, family, days-off, long weekends, bad traffic, and celebration of the separation from the British colonists, I marked a different number. 16. The number of days since my surgery. And count 29 days until my next appointment with my Endocrinologist. At my annual eye exam which was this past Saturday, the 6th, they asked, "Have there been any changes or updates to your medical history?" I found myself sighing a deep breath as I recited my "lines": May 10th I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and had a Total Thyroidectomy June 18th. The person taking the notes asked me the same questions three different ways to clearly transcribe what I had just told him. In that moment, I relived the phone call from the endocrinologist who called me with the results and the sinking feeling I had during the call at the team lunch we were holding at the time. All the appointments si

As I started writing Monday night, I thought I had the energy, one more line of prose to express how tired and exhausted I was feeling, and how my first day back to work felt. Clearly I didn't make it... I've gotten on a schedule of taking my Synthroid at 10:30 PM as that's 2+ hours after eating anything and easier than in the morning where I'm not able to eat for an hour after taking the hormone. Additionally, I have to wait 4+ hours between taking any calcium or calcium-containing foods or supplementation to take my Synthroid. There's a whole "training" for taking Synthroid on their website and quiz - drink plenty of water, same time each day, avoiding certain foods...there are a lot of " rules " with Thyroid hormones. My endocrinologist said evening was fine as many users find that easier. The schedule is taking some getting used to and is helping me avoid eating after 8. I want to get to an earlier schedule and maybe switch to early morni

Today was a "good" day. We fought traffic to get to my 9:30 AM appointment with a new, hopeful endocrinologist that was recommended by the PA of my surgeon as they also see this provider for their own care post-thyroidectomy. After completing typical intake paperwork with medical history, current health status, etc. and providing the receptionist with the latest paperwork from my followup yesterday, we only waited a short while until the nurse brought us back. They took my weight, height, vitals, etc. before the meeting with the doctor. The appointment lasted about 45 mins. The doctor was very knowledgable, detailed, and thorough. Friendly to Emily and Noah, and assuring again of the outcomes of Thyroid cancer. He has a solid background "in the field of thyroid cancer and subclinical thyroid disease, and won a national award for his work in thyroid cancer research." So, my confidence from the referral and his background was high. He discussed everything from t

Post-Operative Followup (POD9) A yellow folder with 3 tabs: 1) "Path 6/18/19" 2) "OP Note 6/18/19" 3) "OV Note 6/21/19" - This is what we left with from my surgeon's office today for my post-operative appointment and a "Literature Review for the Highest Clinical Evidence of Common Topical Products Used to Reduce Post Incisional Scars." He knew I'd want copies of all the reports - he knows me well 😁 The first order of business, reveal the scar. My doc gloved up, and began peeling back the last piece of Steri-Strip remaining over the incision. No pain, just some slight pulling likely on the scabbing that was beneath. For the past 9 days, I had only seen the dark line beneath the white paper curious as to what would be left behind from my 4 hour neck dissection. Having kept it well protected during showering with some water proof bandages and plastic taped over the site the first few days, it was dry and stuck on pretty well. He

More times than not, when we find something that's impacted us or we feel impassioned about, we advocate the heck out of it and shout to the rooftops to bring awareness to others.  Remember the ALS Ice Bucket challenge? We do, cause we did it! So, naturally, you've now found your new world-ambassador for Thyroid and Neck Awareness! Not really, but, really do check-your-neck! "An estimated 15 million of Americans have undiagnosed thyroid problems." That's too many and to think if my care provider at the time had just kept pushing antibiotics for my bronchitis that wouldn't go away and not have ordered the chest CT, or if I hadn't continued to insist on draining and biopsying the recurrent cyst and just dealt with it like so many do in ignoring or diminishing health issues, well, who knows how this could have gone. My symptoms were nothing short of a sore throat, dry coughing, and well, that pesky lump in my throat. Literally, every time I swallowed