thyroglobulin – A Mama's Blog

I received the results to my full body scan on Wednesday- and it is very positive. My doctor said the scan was clear- the only place cancer cells were still showing up at, were in my neck. But she said this was expected because surgery alone can’t remove every cancer cell. She said the radioactive iodine will continue to work over the next few weeks, and I will have another blood draw in about a month to measure my thyroglobulin level.

The thyroglobulin level measures cancerous thyroid tissue in the body. For someone who doesn’t have thyroid cancer, that level will be at zero. Before my surgery my level was at 38! My surgeon said that was very high, and he said it was unusual for the level to be that high. That translated into I had a lot of cancerous thyroid tissue. Yesterday the doctor told me what my level is now, just taking the surgery into account, and it is down to 4! She said it was rare that the thyroglobulin level drops that much just from the surgery. She said the surgeon did a remarkable and thorough surgery.

So in a month, when I have the level tested again, it will be after the radioactive iodine has had a chance to work so the thyroglobulin level should be even lower. My doctor said everything else looked great- there was no traces of any cancer elsewhere in my body.

For now, I can take a deep breath and relax a bit. I am pretty much cancer free, and have an excellent prognosis of remaining cancer free. It seems a bit surreal, but I’ll take it. I still have to have my thyroid replacement hormone dosage tested in a few weeks, and twice a year check-ups to make sure the cancer hasn’t returned. My shoulder is still recovering from the surgery, but I am through the worst part of it, and am so happy the prognosis is so positive. I couldn’t have asked for better news.

Thanks once more for all the support, prayers, kind comments and e-mails, well-wishes, and love. I wouldn’t have made it this far without them. Again, thank you to all my family and friends, who put their lives on hold to help me during these last few months. I am looking forward to getting my life back to normal, and celebrating with all my family and friends in the coming months.

One of these celebrations will be very special. I never thought by sharing my experience on my blog, it would lead another mom to me who underwent thyroid cancer surgery the same day as I did, who had the same recovery time, who underwent radioactive iodine treatment at the same time, who lives about an hour away from me, and who has also been given a clean bill of health. This is my cancer-fighting partner in crime, and we are finally going to be meeting each other soon, and celebrating that we helped each other beat cancer.

This weekend the boys and I are going camping with my family- grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The last time we were all together was when I was in the hospital during my surgery. It will be great to put that chapter behind us, and and start a new one- cancer free.

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.