Tag: cancer in lymph nodes

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Cancer Family & Friends Health Me Mothering

After Thyroid Cancer Surgery

It has been 12 days since my thyroid and lymph node cancer surgery, and the recovery has been slow.  Thanks to my friend, Amy, who has posted a few updates, most of you know the basic details, and I am really exhausted tonight to write a lot. 

The best news by far was the cancer had not spread into my lymph nodes as much as my surgeon, Dr. S., had thought.  During the surgery he had sent for some of the pathology reports, and none of the lymph nodes on the right side of my neck were showing cancer.

This basically saved the right side of my neck from having to be dissected.  The left side of my neck had more cancer in the lymph nodes and he did have to do the dissection, but he was able to save more nerves than he had thought as well.  I have complete feeling on the right side of my neck, but as Dr. S., warned me prior to surgery, my left side of my neck from my earlobe to my collarbone is numb. 

I was recovering really well in the hospital, but after I got out of ICU, I ran into some problems with my medications, that  am still trying to bounce back from. 

I saw Dr. S., on Friday for him to take out some stitches and he had my full pathology report.  He removed 66 lymph nodes and my thyroid.  My thyroid was positive for cancer but out of those lymph nodes, only 7 had cancer.  It seems almost like  a miracle, and I am so happy at that good news.  

Dr. S., credited my nurse practitioner with early detection for my case not being as critical as originally thought.  As you can imagine, I am going to write a lot more about this in the future.  But start now at your annual exams having your health care provider check for any abnormalities in your thyroid and get it checked as soon as you can.

I am fighting through some pain in my shoulders, and I had the boys for a few days, before their dad has them for some vacation time.  My family and friends have been nothing less than wonderful, and I am so lucky to have so many people that have taken such excellent care of me.  I will never be able to repay them- but their loving gifts of time and help are precious to me. 

Now a lot of it is up to me.  I am going to start walking more every day (per doctor’s orders) and try to eat more, even though I do not feel like it.  I am going to rest more and and not push myself like I usually do.

Dr. S., told me sometimes a drain has to stay in for up to two weeks to catch the fluid, but I had the last of my four drains out the night before  I left the hospital.  He also said I was somewhat of a medical miracle in that my calcium levels barely dropped at all, once my thyroid was out.  It is very common for the calcium to take huge drops.  If the calcium drops too low, you can go into cardiac arrest.  Dr. S., said he had never had a patient whose calcium hardly dropped at all like mine did. 

This has been a very hard, painful cancer, and surgery to cope with, but as I hope to document, the recovery is coming along well, and I feel very optimistic.  This will be a life-long issue for me from this point.  My life will never be quite the same, but I have been cancer free now for 12 days,  there is no more cancer in my body, so this is a new start for my family, friends, and I.  

The picture below is a picture of me on June 12th, just after my surgery.  I am sharing it to show that thyroid cancer is still cancer- it shouldn’t be ignored.  It is a big deal. 

The next pictures  I share on my blog of me post-surgery will be much better.  Cancer can be beaten, but insist your provider checks your thyroid at your exams, and hopefully you will never have to have a picture of yourself like I do after a thyroidectomy.     

I will continue to keep you all updated, and once again thanks for the prayers and well wishes. I am not a huge “God” person, but I know He has looked out for me, and has taken care of me through this experience.  All the prayers, healing energy, and positive thoughts, have helped-and I thank you again for all of these you have sent to me.  

 I read before my surgery that cancer is a word-not a sentence, and it was all of you who helped me remember that.  I love you all. 

surgery-june-12-09  Thyroidectomy & lymph node surgery removal June 12, 2009

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Cancer Health Me

What I Found Out About Thyroid Cancer Surgery

Thank you all for the e-mails and comments youyou have sent me.  Many of my readers asked me to keep them updated, so here is what I found out today from my surgeon. 

The surgery is the worst case scenario. The two lymph nodes that are of major concern, are right below my ears. This means the surgeon is going to have to make a U shaped incision that runs under my ear, to my neck to the other ear. He will then have to work his way up- he said lymph nodes are like a ladder- one layer had to be removed before he can get to the next layer. He said he is going to have to dissect my neck. He said there are 80 nodes in this area, and he is going to try to get them all out, as he works his way up to get the ones with the known cancer. Every one they can get out, reduces the chance of a reoccurrence. He said lymph nodes should be under 1 cm. The two that are of concern are measuring 2.7 cm., and 3.5 cm. He said they could do a biopsy to make sure they are cancerous, but he said in his best professional opinion, he has never seen a case where the nodes are enlarged like this, and it wasn’t cancer.

I would think more seriously about a biopsy, but my thyroglobulin in my blood should be at 0, and it is at 37. He said he was very surprised it was this high. He said that all but confirms the enlarged nodes are cancer, and it is now showing up in my blood work. Dr. said it is more than likely that cancer is in my other lymph nodes in my body. But until they grow large enough, they are hard to detect. Six weeks after the surgery, I will have the radioactive iodine therapy that will kill off any cancer cells in any other lymph nodes. This is an effective treatment- it is a one time thing, I don’t lose hair or get sick. It does not look like I will need chemotherapy.

Because there is so much tissue, nerves, fat, and other vital parts in the neck, they have to work very slowly and meticulously in order to preserve as much of these as possible. It is a possibility I will lose my voice-for good- he said about 4% of people do. The vocal cords are right behind the thyroid and there are lymph nodes there.

Dr. said this is a brutal surgery. They have to cut away so much tissue and nerves to get to the lymph nodes, it is complex, slow, and there are other risks involved.

One thing he told me I am going to have to sacrifice is nerve endings in my neck. After the surgery, I will be numb from my earlobes to my collarbone- permanently. He said there is no way around this. Because I will be numb, I won’t feel the pain in my neck, but he said because all those nerves and tissues are connected, I will feel the pain in my shoulders.

He said the pain in my shoulders will be excruciating. He said he could not stress this enough for me, so I can be prepared. I am going to be in rehab for my shoulders 48 hours after the surgery. The surgery is going to be at least 10 hours. I will be in the hospital for up to 7 days. The recovery time after this is about 2 weeks.

I asked Dr. if I was going to die, and he said no. I told him I have my two boys, and he said I will be around for a long time for them. Learning all this was very shocking, and I started crying. Dr. gave me a hug and told me he knows how hard this is. His wife had thyroid cancer 2 years ago and he operated on her. He said their family went through the same thing, but my chances for a full recovery are very good.

I feel confident with the doctor- he is the leading surgeon for these types of cases in Northern Colorado. He’s been in practice for 16 years. He is on top of the current research and alternatives, because of his wife having the same thing. I feel he understands the emotional aspect of this for me as well. I told him I trusted him with this- to do what he needs to do, to make sure I am around for my boys. I am thinking about obtaining a second opinion, just to make sure I am covering all my options (thanks Mel).

This is shaping up to be one of the hardest things I have faced. I feel I have the information and the facts now to face it head-on. If you believe in a higher spiritual force, like God 🙂 please pray for me. If not, please send me positive and healing thoughts. I will need them.

I thank all of you- my friends (even if I have never met you in real life- 🙂  ) and family for all the support and love you have shown me. I feel it, and it is what will get me through this.

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Cancer Health Me

Cancer Information- The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Today I have an appointment with my surgeon, Dr. S., to find out all the details I can on my upcoming thyroid cancer, and lymph nodes removal surgery. 

I have basically been a basket case of emotions, since finding out the cancer is in my lymph nodes in my neck last week.  I had a few good days, and then a few bad days. I am finding I am not so sad, but angry.  I am so furious I have this, and so angry- for whatever reason- it was not caught sooner.  Then I have complete moments of panic- where I feel like I can’t breathe.  Of course there are tears- many of them from frustration, fear, and sadness.

I realized last night that a lot of these emotions are because, I hardly have any information about this cancer and surgery.  The day I found out I had thyroid cancer, I immediately started reading about it on the Internet, and found that I couldn’t.  I literally got sick to my stomach at the first few sentences I read. 

The words “Survival Rate” might as well have been lit up like a neon casino sign in Vegas.  Survival rate means some people don’t survive this.  It means people die from what I have.  I couldn’t  go there mentally.   I knew I couldn’t handle sifting through the bad, ugly, and scary statistics to find the good ones.  I mentally checked out on finding out more about my cancer. 

My family and friends have been giving me bits of information on the cancer, here and there.  My dad actually wasn’t surprised to find out the cancer was in my lymph nodes.  He told me he didn’t want to worry me until I knew, but in his research he came across information that said about 50% of thyroid cancer patients, do end up having the cancer in their lymph nodes.  He told me the “Survival Rate” was still very high- at about 97%. 

I didn’t hear 97% though- I heard 3% die.  I wasn’t supposed to be that one person out of ten, with an abnormality that had cancer.  But I am.  I am having a hard time not thinking that I could be in that 3% that doesn’t survive.  Unlikely-yes, but still- the chance is there, no matter how small. 

I am at the crossroads where I had to make a decision.  Do I keep my head buried in the sand, so  I don’t have to think- don’t have to worry- don’t have to feel- don’t have to deal?  Honestly, that is what I want to do.  I want to climb into bed, and shut out everything for two weeks, and wake up cancer free.   Or do I face this head-on, finding out the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all- no matter how bad and ugly I find it to be?  

I can go into Dr. S’s office and sit there.  I can listen to what he has to say, nod my head in the appropriate places, shake his hand, thank him for his time, and leave.  I will leave more informed than I was, and won’t have to listen to his answers to the bad and the ugly.

One of my best friends, Amy (Crunchy Domestic Goddess), uses a phrase I like a lot- ‘knowledge is power.’   For me, I know  I need to have those bad and ugly questions in the back of my mind that I barely let myself think about, answered.  I need to feel empowered about my cancer and surgery, and the only way I am going to feel that way is to get all my questions answered- no matter how good, how bad, or how ugly the answers may be. 

I have sat for hours.  The first time really, since April 18th-the day I found out I have thyroid cancer, and let myself acknowledge those questions that have been trying to surface in my mind, that I have been shutting out.  And now, they are on paper.  My darkest fears, and my biggest hopes.  Writing out the words to form these questions, and having them stare back at me in my own handwriting just made this extremely real for me.  My questions, my fears, and my hopes, are real.  My cancer is real. 

So today I am going into Dr. S.’s office and I will sit there.  I will listen to what he has to say.  I will nod my head in the appropriate places.  But before I shake his hand and thank him, I will ask him my questions- all of them- the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I will write down his answers.  I will ask more questions if they arise.  I will have the knowledge I need to be empowered.  I will deal with the bad and the ugly through the help of my family and friends.

I am hoping, by learning, and accepting the bad and the ugly information about my cancer, I will be able to start to understand what I am facing.  When I have acknowledged and dealt with the bad and ugly, the only thing left will be the good.  That is the place where I want my journey with cancer to conclude, and today is my first step in making sure that is where it will end-with the good.

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Cancer Family & Friends Health Me

My Cancer Has Spread

On Wednesday I had an ultrasound my surgeon had requested before the surgery to remove my thyroid for cancer.  I didn’t know ahead of time why he wanted this ultrasound, but found out it was to determine if the cancer in my thyroid had spread into my lymph nodes.

I was really upset leaving the ultrasound, and scared.  I didn’t want to have to think about another issue with my thyroid cancer.  I was told I would have the results in a few days.

Yesterday my surgeon, Dr. S., called me and told me the ultrasound showed the cancer had moved to my lymph nodes.  He said I have two lymph nodes that are measuring over 3 cm., and anytime they measure over 1.5 cm., it is a major cause of concern.

Dr. S. told me those nodes will have to be removed during my surgery and they will have to examine my other lymph nodes in surgery to determine if any other ones need to be removed as well.  He told me the surgery is complex and will be a minimum of 9 hours now.  Previously, the surgery time was about 2 hours-just to remove the thyroid.  Dr. S. said I will now be in the hospital for 4-5 days, and have a longer recovery time.

I was completely in shock as I was listening to Dr. S. tell me all of this.  My heart was racing and I was having trouble breathing. He recommended I make an appointment and he would fill me in on all the details and the process.  Dr. S. told me I still had the papillary cancer, and it was still in the very early stages.  He said he was glad I had gotten the ultrasound, because now he had the complete picture of what my health situation is, and he knows before hand, the direction the surgery needs to go in.

I hung up, and sat shocked and numb- staring at my wall. I stared to cry and utter a lot of four letter words under my breath.  Ryan and Cole were home, and I didn’t want to have them overhear me calling anyone to tell them. I was too upset anyway to talk.

Since then, I have let my family, friends, and Facebook friends know and the support has been overwhelming.  My sister and friends have told me this is bad news, but I am not going to die.  When it is all said and done, it is a complication, but I am going to be fine.

A day later, I am still in shock somewhat- just trying to absorb the situation.  I am going to make that appointment with Dr. S., to get the rest of the facts and ask questions.  I don’t believe I will need to have chemotherapy, but will more than likely have to undergo radioactive iodine therapy.

My family is already making plans to get me the help I need after the surgery, and I know I can count on my friends to help too.  I am very grateful for all the support and love I have.

So where do I go from here? I am not sure.  I am trying to keep a positive attitude and trying not to freak out.  I am trying to remember to take deep breaths and keep everything in perspective.

If anyone has been through this, the removal of lymph nodes, please let me know what your experience was.  It helps me to hear what others have gone through.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  I need all the positive energy that can come my way.  🙂