Last year on 8/25/13 I went for my first fine needle biopsy and as I listened to the technicians and doctor talking, I knew that my life was in for a big change. I went home and had a melt down in my back yard. It was bad, it had gotten into my lymph nodes and was everywhere. Three days later I got the call from my primary care doctor who told me I had stage 4 papillary thyroid cancer. It was the good cancer, slow growing and I shouldnt panic. Nevertheless, I got my living and dead wills in order. I went for a CT scan and another biopsy and then surgery.Three tumors in my thyroid and some inoperable cancer in my inner ear, on my voice box and on my carotid artery. More surgery was recommended. I went on vacation with my sister and her boys and my husband We celebrated my moms 70th birthday and then my daughter was engaged after Christmas. So many emotions bombarded me on a daily basis. Some days I would just cry, sad to say goodbye to my band. Sad to say goodbye to my life as I knew it. A dark cloud hung over my head and I could see it in other peoples eyes when they looked at me. Was I going to make it and how bad would it get before I said I was giving up. I had a bilateral neck dissection in January. They removed 82 suspicious spots, and 32 of them were cancerous. Three weeks after surgery I went for radiation but they found more cancer had grown in my neck. It wasnt good, I felt horrible and was wondering if I would live to see my daughters wedding. My right arm was painful and I couldnt use it. Plan for the worst, hope for the best and just keep moving. Thats what I did and I went through the RAI. Yes my teeth may rot out of my head, yes I may end up with breast or bladder cancer from it, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. A day before my daughters wedding I got the call from the doctor. In fact, she and I had just finished getting our nails done for her big day, and the doc said my cancer marker was better than he could have imagined. What a wonderful reason to celebrate. The wedding was beautiful and I had lived long enough to see it. Not only did I make it, I danced my ass off. I didnt feel any pain, and I had energy that night like I hadnt had in months. I paid for it for about a week but it was so worth it. Now Im thinking I might just make it long enough to meet my grandkids, lol. In about 6 weeks I will have a full body scan to confirm the blood tests but it looks like at least for now, Im doing better than I have in about 20 years, as one doc thought I had probably had the cancer for that many years given the magnitude of tumors I had. Thats the good news. the bad news is that Im not looking forward to the winter in Connecticut. I managed to miss a lot of it last year being either in FL or in AZ. Im not as cold as I used to be so maybe it will be tolerable after all. I have had so many people praying for me, keeping me in their thoughts, sending me texts, or messages just to check in to see how Im doing. I will be forever grateful for all the support I have received. I cant imaging going through this alone, and Im really glad I didnt have to.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:39:00 +0000
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