Uncertainty

As followers of this blog, you know that this space is mostly about our children. There are moments when I write about other topics, but overall, this blog is primarily about our children and our journey as their parents. Today, I am going to digress a bit.

As part of our journey to conceive, it was discovered that my thyroid was extremely out-of-whack. Poor gland, it had three strikes against it. It suffered from hyperactivity, Hashimoto’s Disease (an auto-immune disorder), and had multiple nodules. After several months of visiting various specialists and experiencing several biopsies, one biopsy came back suspicious. So I was presented with the option to repeat the biopsy in six months or remove my entire gland so it could be evaluated further. Not wanting to mess with the possibility of the “C” word, I chose the most aggressive option and had it removed towards the end of 2005. After three, yes, three different pathologists at three different medical institutions reviewed my slides, it was determined that I had thyroid cancer and I was referred to yet other specialist for treatment with radioactive iodine. (Thank you, Mayo Clinic!)

The nice thing about thyroid cancer, if it is even appropriate to use “nice” and “cancer” in the same sentence is most cases can be treated with a thyroidectomy (check) and a dose of radioactive iodine (double-check). The not-so nice thing is the patient must be off all thyroid hormone replacements for several weeks and follow a strict low-iodine diet prior to RAI. Well, I followed those orders to a T and in January of 2006, I was hospitalized under quarantine and given a high powered dose of radioactive iodine which would kill any remaining thyroid cells or cancerous thyroid cells post-surgery. I’m sure when I turned off the light at night, I glowed. Anyhow, the treatment was successful and life returned to normal. But as all cancer survivors soon learn, you must have follow-up testing to watch for signs of a reoccurrence.

To make a long story short, my annual follow-up testing this year has revealed some enlarged lymph nodes in my neck and an elevated Thyroglobulin level. My rational self assures me that those nodes are enlarged because I happen to be fighting a pretty stubborn cold during all of this follow-up testing and the elevated “t” level is due to the level of sensitivity of the lab testing my blood sample. However, my irrational self keeps rearing her ugly head periodically and wonders if “IT” has returned, or even worse, “IT” has transformed into something else. So until March 9 (or a few days after when my biopsy results are in), my rational self will be battling with my irrational self. If you don’t mind, please send up a few prayers that my rational self wins. It would be greatly appreciated!