I was able to meet with my surgeon today. I really liked him. He was very friendly and seemed very knowledgeable. While thyroid surgeries are not his specialty (he is a general surgeon) this is the area he prefers to work on and during his residency most of his surgeries were thyroid related. After looking at the biopsy report he said that it is suspicious of cancer but doesn't actually confirm cancer. This is not what my endocrinologist said but I'll take it. If there is a chance I don't have cancer...great! Now obviously if the biopsy is suspicious of it then there is a good chance it is cancer so here is our new game plan. Our surgeon will remove the half of the thyroid with the nodule in it. This is called a partial lobectomy. He will have a pathologist present during the surgery who will test that part of the thyroid right then and there. If he says it is cancer then the surgeon will remove the rest of the thyroid. Even if he says he is 95% sure that it is cancer we will remove the rest. If he can't tell and isn't sure we will stop surgery at that point and wait for results from a pathology lab to come back. If it comes back clear then we are done but if it comes back cancerous we would have to go back for another surgery to remove the rest of the thyroid.
As of right now we have a firm surgery date of March 18th but there is a possibility that it will be this coming Tuesday. We are waiting to hear from the surgeon's office on if another patient received cardiac clearance or not for their surgery. We will find out Monday what the definite day is.
As for my CT scan results my lymph nodes all look fine. He did say there was a very tiny spot on my lungs but it was so tiny that if the CT report hadn't pointed it out he wouldn't have seen it. He reassured me it could be something as simple as scar tissue from bronchitis or pneumonia I had in the past. He did recommend I have it followed though to see if it grows. That will come after my thyroid stuff is taken care of. One thing at a time please.
Another interesting thing is he said the lump on my neck wasn't actually on my thyroid but just above it. So during surgery he will be checking that out and if it is something concerning that will come out as well for testing. It could be something very simple as some thyroid cartliage though. My parathyroid levels are elevated as well so I may have some of those removed if they look suspicious as well. Parathyroid glands control the calcium in your body. If they are damaged then it can cause some major issues. The good news is my calcium levels are normal so this makes the surgeon think that the parathyroid glands may be just fine.
So all in all it was a good appointment. I'm so glad there is a chance that I am cancer free but at the same time I am back in the waiting game not knowing what is wrong. I am a little nervous and freaked out about having the surgery but there isn't much I can do about that. It has to be done so that is what we will do. Also I am feeling so much better today than I did yesterday. I do believe the rest of the iodine has filtered out of my system. I'm really tired because we were up all night with Tyler but other than that I'm much better.
My prayer now is that this is not cancer at all...that there is no cancer anywhere in my body...but rather something that is much easier and simpler to take care of. Also praying for my nerves as we wait for the surgery date and the results of the pathology on my thyroid. Praying for wisdom for my surgeon and for God to guide his hands.
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