Cancer...yuck!

For those of you who don't know.  I just found out that I have cancer and will be getting a second surgery on Tuesday.  I am just going to copy and paste an email I wrote to my family that explains what is going on.  It will be easier than retyping the whole ordeal.

To catch you up, I had surgery on August 15th to remove the left side of my thyroid due to nodules that were bothering me.  They had been biopsied prior to surgery and the biopsy came back negative for cancer. I found out about my nodules while pregnant with Kendi, but the doctors recommended that I wait until she was born to have the surgery since my biopsy was negative for cancer.  The left side of my thyroid apparently does not have cancer, but the right side of my thyroid (which has looked normal on ultrasounds this whole time) is presumably the culprit.

Here is the email I just sent my family.

Hello everyone, 

I figured an e-mail would be an easier method to relay information about my cancer and what I found out today so that everyone gets the same info and is on the same page. 

I went to see Dr. Rothman (my ENT/Surgeon) this afternoon for my pre-op appointment.  My surgery is Tuesday at 12:30pm.  I have to be at the hospital at 10:30am that morning. 

When talking to me about the cancer, he let me know that the type of cancer I have is Papillary Thyroid Cancer which is the most common thyroid cancer and my prognosis is that this type of cancer is 95% curable (YAY!).  When doing my surgery he noticed a lymph and decided to remove it even though he thought it looked normal, but he just decided to take it out during the surgery "by chance" even though it didn't look suspicious or cancerous to him.  (Jereld & I don't believe this was chance at all.  Heavenly Father has helped us through this whole thing and we feel very blessed.) The portion of my thyroid that was removed did not show any traces of cancer according to the oncologist that biopsied it.  The lymph node is the only location that they found cancer cells and they were metastatic thyroid cancer cells meaning that the cancer came from somewhere in my thyroid.  Thus, they need to remove the other half of my thyroid as the first step of treatment.

Here is a link that explains more about the type of cancer I have and the treatment/prognosis if you are interested.

http://columbiathyroidcenter.org/staging.html

Because they did not find any cancer in the portion of my thyroid that has been removed, and also because ultrasounds show that the right half of my thyroid appears to be normal, the doctor said that he wanted to prepare me for the possibility that they may never find the source of the cancer.  He said that it's possible that the cancer may be small enough that it is microscopic or something or it's possible that it was somehow overlooked in the left half of my thyroid.  But, because of the cells they found, they are sure it exists somewhere in my thyroid. The doctor again said that it's just by chance that they found my cancer. Jereld & I would call it a miracle and blessing.   

After my surgery, I will have to follow up with my endocrinologist (Dr. Wadwekar) within 1 month.  My endocrinologist will then be responsible for the remainder of my treatment.  Dr. Rothman explained that my treatment would most likely entail getting a full body scan as well as being treated with Radioactive Iodine. I have included a couple links that explain the treatment if you're interested.  But the highlights are that the thyroid cells absorb iodine so they use radioactive iodine to kill all wayward thyroid cells that may have metastasized to other locations in my body; I won't be allowed to be around anyone for around 8 days or so depending on the half life of the radiation; I could lose my sense of taste and have tear duct problems at least short term; Anything I touch will be radioactive and can't be touched by anyone else...etc.  Also, I won't be allowed to have another baby until I get the green light from my doctor which will be anywhere from 6 to 12 months after treatment.   

Short Synopsis: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/thyroidcancer/overviewguide/thyroid-cancer-overview-treating-radioactive-iodine  

Longer more detailed explanation: http://www.thyca.org/pap-fol/rai/   

The time that I spend alone during the treatment will probably be the most miserable time as I won't be able to have contact with anyone except by phone really.  It will be the hardest not to be able to be around Jereld or my kids.  I could see Jereld briefly but cannot touch or kiss him and have to be at least 3 but most likely 6 feet away from him at all times. The kids cannot even come in contact with me at all. 

I asked the doctor if he would be using the incision that I already have from the surgery I just had or if he would be making a new incision.  He said he will use the incision I already have.  He will reopen it. He said my recovery should be similar to the recovery I had this time if not faster.  YAY! This recovery was not bad at all for surgery, in my opinion.

I did ask if this whole ordeal puts me at higher risk for other cancers (i.e. breast cancer, etc.).  Dr. Rothman said, "Absolutely not!"  He said it does not affect my chances of developing other cancers in the least. 

I do want to let all of you know that even though this whole process has been hard, Jereld & I have both felt like we have received so many blessings throughout this whole ordeal.  We do not believe in "coincidence" or "chance." From the very start of this whole thing we have felt that there have been many tender mercies and many people who have helped us and been a great blessing to us! Even though it is a tough situation, I feel very peaceful.  I have had many "doubting" moments in the last couple days, but the majority of the time I feel like everything will be just fine.  

Thank you all for your prayers and concern and help.  It makes it easier when you know you have people cheering for you and concerned about you! 

Love, 

Al