Went and had my blood drawn this morning. The girl that did it is a thyroid cancer survivor of 10 years. I met her last time I was at the lab. I told her the situation with my doctor's office putting me off and she told me to come back in 2 hours and she would have my results ready for me. She is my new favorite person. :) I go back and pick up my results which were only partially ready but had the number I needed thankfully. My doctor wanted my TSH level above 30 to do the radioactive iodine without my injections. Guess what...it was 123.74! While it is not good for it to be that high it certainly felt good to get some validation that I am not crazy and there is a reason I feel so bad all of a sudden. Normal TSH levels are supposed to be between .34 & 5.60. Some doctors even want it under 2 for it to be considered normal. I don't even want to think about how bad it is going to be next week or until I can get on my thyroid medication. Just imagine if I had waited 4 weeks to do my iodine treatment! The other test that was ready was my Free T4 levels. It was at less than .25 and normal is between .61 & 1.12.
I called the doctor's office with my results and told them they could call to get the report faxed to them because me telling them was obviously not good enough. I could hear the nurse in the background as the receptionist to repeat the number. Then I heard her say "it's how high!?" Yea lady...this is why you listen to your patients when they call and say they are feeling horrible. However, all that being said I never did get a phone call from my doctor today. The levels are really way high and way low when you look at the T4 and can cause some potentially dangerous complications for me but I have a feeling my doctor didn't even see the results. The receptionist was not to friendly when I called back at 4:30 today to check on the progress and she said the doctor hadn't signed off on them yet so they couldn't tell me anything. Whatever. They will be hearing from me in the morning for sure. Now don't freak out about the complications because I know what to look for and will immediately call for help if I need it. :)
I'm feeling okay today. Better than yesterday by far thankfully. My energy was horrible this morning but came back some this afternoon and evening. I only had one bout of pain today and that was short lived an in my shoulder instead of hip today. I've had some dizzy spells but not as many. My lack of focus had one bad time but came back fairly quickly thankfully. As I'm typing this I can feel the energy leaving my body though so I have a feeling an early bedtime for me will be in order. I had some friends over this evening to help clean which was wonderful. They did a great job and the kids all got to play together and have a fun evening. I started my low iodine diet today. After a rough morning with it (I didn't have anything in the house I could eat) I was able to go to the store and get some things I needed. I even made homemade peanut butter today. It is delicious! I may never buy jarred peanut butter again! :)
Oh get this...after having my blood drawn and going through all the runaround with my doctor's office about the injections which I don't even need now, CVS calls and tells me they need me to authorize delivery of the injections to my doctor's office for tomorrow or the next day. I just started laughing when I talked to the woman. She also informed me that it will be 100% covered by my insurance as we have met our deductible and out of pocket expense maximum for the year. What in the world was the hold up then...I'm guessing it had to do with my doctor's office. Whatever...at least it is all straightened out now.
Okay...I am seriously out of energy all of a sudden so I am going to have to stop this post for now. All in all I am happy that my levels show that I am indeed not crazy and this stuff is not in my head and we are not blowing things out of proportion. Now if I can just get my doctor to call me back so we can get my radioactive iodine scheduled all would be well.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Symptoms ramping up...time to put the pressure on the doc
This morning I woke to no energy at all to start my day off. I've had intervals (very short) throughout the day of some energy but for the most part the entire day was a no energy day. By mid morning I started experiencing hip joint pain and weakness along with dizzy spells. Not good. I cannot care for the kids all day in this condition when Brian has to go on a trip. At one point I just laid in bed and cried (yes, I had a pity party) because I couldn't force myself out of bed. So instead of waiting for the doctor's office to call us, which probably would have taken until 2-3 weeks from now, Brian called them. Have I ever said how much I love my man?! He is my knight in shining armor.
This process was supposed to take 3-4 weeks total but was now looking like it would be a 6-8 week journey instead. Brian called this morning and still hadn't gotten a call back by this afternoon other than the office manager giving him the runaround this morning. He called again and got a hold of one of the nurses. He told her my symptoms and she said if I was in that rough of shape I needed to be seen. Duh...they can't do anything for me unless they start my treatment! He finally got my doctor on the phone. He explained that this Friday will be 3 weeks since surgery and we were told everything would be done within 4 weeks. The hold up apparently is that they are waiting on insurance approval to get my Thyrogen injections ordered. They haven't even placed the order yet! So now the plan has changed due to my symptoms. I go for blood work tomorrow morning. If my TSH levels are above 30 we will skip the Thyrogen injections altogether. I start my low iodine diet tomorrow. Now banking on my levels being above 30 (with my symptoms and the fact that 4 days after surgery they were 13-14 seems to be the case) we will either get my radioactive iodine by the end of next week or at the beginning of the following week. If my levels aren't at 30 or higher then I have to wait longer.
I'm thinking that even though my symptoms are worse that I will delay it until after May 6th and hopefully until May 10th. May 6th is a Mother's Day program at Eric's school that I refuse to miss and May 9th is Mother's Day. It would stink to not be with my boys then because I could be radioactive. So May 10th is a better day for me even though it means I have to endure the side effects a little longer. If you all could be praying for this that would be wonderful!
Other than all that junk, today was a fun day. My Uncle Winky & Aunt Martha came up to visit us today and took us out to lunch. Thankfully I had one of the short bouts of energy during their visit and was able to have a great time. The boys loved seeing them and didn't want them to leave. :) I can't wait to get all this treatment stuff behind me so I can get on some medication to feel better and go see my family. We miss all of you guys down in Avon Park! Right now with my energy levels so low I just can't drive or make long trips even with Brian with me. Hopefully that will be over soon though.
I was thinking today that I'm not going to know what to do when I get on medication. I'll actually have energy. I haven't had normal levels of energy in about 3 years now, possibly longer. We think that is how long I've had the thyroid cancer....3-4 years! It is a miracle that Tyler is even here when I really sit down and think about it. I discovered the lump while pregnant with him. Miscarriages are a symptom of hypothyroidism. Who knows...I could have had it longer based on my miscarriage (Jan 2005) before having Eric (Jan 2006) and then having so many issues in the first trimester with Eric. The cancer acts like normal thyroid in blood tests so my levels all appeared normal for so long when they really weren't. So anyway, with medication who knows what I will be able to accomplish....more energy, better moods, fit into my skinny pants! :)
So even if it was a bad day in regards to my symptoms I'm glad I was able to visit with family and finally see some progress from the doctor's office. We will seriously be considering switching doctors once this is past us. He is a great doctor but unless he is going to get staff that cares or tries to act like they care I can't stay there. This is another huge prayer request we have.
Thanks everyone for all the love and support! And as I told a friend today...if it ever appears I'm whining or complaining feel free to tell me to shut my mouth! I don't mind telling people what I'm going through but I refuse to be a negative Nellie about it all because God is good all the time no matter what our circumstances. I will find my joy in Him who loves me and supplies all my needs and is ever faithful and beside me at all times. Love you all!
This process was supposed to take 3-4 weeks total but was now looking like it would be a 6-8 week journey instead. Brian called this morning and still hadn't gotten a call back by this afternoon other than the office manager giving him the runaround this morning. He called again and got a hold of one of the nurses. He told her my symptoms and she said if I was in that rough of shape I needed to be seen. Duh...they can't do anything for me unless they start my treatment! He finally got my doctor on the phone. He explained that this Friday will be 3 weeks since surgery and we were told everything would be done within 4 weeks. The hold up apparently is that they are waiting on insurance approval to get my Thyrogen injections ordered. They haven't even placed the order yet! So now the plan has changed due to my symptoms. I go for blood work tomorrow morning. If my TSH levels are above 30 we will skip the Thyrogen injections altogether. I start my low iodine diet tomorrow. Now banking on my levels being above 30 (with my symptoms and the fact that 4 days after surgery they were 13-14 seems to be the case) we will either get my radioactive iodine by the end of next week or at the beginning of the following week. If my levels aren't at 30 or higher then I have to wait longer.
I'm thinking that even though my symptoms are worse that I will delay it until after May 6th and hopefully until May 10th. May 6th is a Mother's Day program at Eric's school that I refuse to miss and May 9th is Mother's Day. It would stink to not be with my boys then because I could be radioactive. So May 10th is a better day for me even though it means I have to endure the side effects a little longer. If you all could be praying for this that would be wonderful!
Other than all that junk, today was a fun day. My Uncle Winky & Aunt Martha came up to visit us today and took us out to lunch. Thankfully I had one of the short bouts of energy during their visit and was able to have a great time. The boys loved seeing them and didn't want them to leave. :) I can't wait to get all this treatment stuff behind me so I can get on some medication to feel better and go see my family. We miss all of you guys down in Avon Park! Right now with my energy levels so low I just can't drive or make long trips even with Brian with me. Hopefully that will be over soon though.
I was thinking today that I'm not going to know what to do when I get on medication. I'll actually have energy. I haven't had normal levels of energy in about 3 years now, possibly longer. We think that is how long I've had the thyroid cancer....3-4 years! It is a miracle that Tyler is even here when I really sit down and think about it. I discovered the lump while pregnant with him. Miscarriages are a symptom of hypothyroidism. Who knows...I could have had it longer based on my miscarriage (Jan 2005) before having Eric (Jan 2006) and then having so many issues in the first trimester with Eric. The cancer acts like normal thyroid in blood tests so my levels all appeared normal for so long when they really weren't. So anyway, with medication who knows what I will be able to accomplish....more energy, better moods, fit into my skinny pants! :)
So even if it was a bad day in regards to my symptoms I'm glad I was able to visit with family and finally see some progress from the doctor's office. We will seriously be considering switching doctors once this is past us. He is a great doctor but unless he is going to get staff that cares or tries to act like they care I can't stay there. This is another huge prayer request we have.
Thanks everyone for all the love and support! And as I told a friend today...if it ever appears I'm whining or complaining feel free to tell me to shut my mouth! I don't mind telling people what I'm going through but I refuse to be a negative Nellie about it all because God is good all the time no matter what our circumstances. I will find my joy in Him who loves me and supplies all my needs and is ever faithful and beside me at all times. Love you all!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Still waiting....
Ugh...I am so frustrated. My endocrinologist's office said they would call me on Monday and let me know when I needed to start my diet. Well when Wednesday came around and I didn't hear anything I called and left a message for them. I got a message back saying they would call me when the medicine for my injections come in and then I'll start my diet. So now I have no idea how long it will be before I start the diet and get my dose of radioactive iodine. It wouldn't be a big deal except I cannot start on thyroid medication until I have this done. The symptoms of hypothyroid are not fun to deal with and I would rather not have to deal with them for an extended period of time if I don't have to. Now this is where God hits me over the head with how minor this is in comparison to what a lot of people I know are dealing with. As I'm typing this I am listening to David Crowder Band's song called You Are My Joy....I got it God...okay! :)
I've had quite a few people ask me what the lack of a thyroid does to you. There is a whole list of symptoms of hypothyroid (low thyroid levels or in my case none at all) but these are the ones I am dealing with. If you want a complete listing of them just google hypothyroid symptoms. The main one is being tired all the time. I wake up feeling like I haven't slept more than 4 hours. Then throughout the day there is the inevitable energy crashes. This is when my lack of energy is very pronounced. I get a very heavy feeling in my limbs of pure exhaustion and can hardly keep my eyes open. This lasts anywhere from half an hour up to 2 hours or so. Not good when I'm home alone with the kids but we make do with tv time when these happen. Today was a good day and I only had one of those crashes right around 6pm that lasted about 2 hours. Another one that is really frustrating to me is weight gain. I've worked my tush off to lose 15 lbs this year and this week managed to put 1/3 of it back on...yes I gained 5 lbs in a week! No I was not binging on junk food either. I dread getting up in the morning because I never know if I will be the same weight, weigh less or the dreaded weighing more and not fitting into my clothes. Along with this comes depression. This is another symptom I'm experiencing of being hypo. It isn't bad but I have my good times and some bad ones as well. I knew this could happen though and that has helped me get through them better than I would have normally. Other symptoms that I've experienced but haven't been to bad so far is dry skin and loss of hair. Thankfully I have a very thick head of hair because there are days where my tub looks like you shaved my head. Okay....so I had to come back on here because I forgot to add 2 more things I am dealing with. One is cold intolerance. The minute the air turns down from 78 to 76 in our house I'm looking for something warm to put on. And the funniest thing of all that I forgot to add originally to this post is.....forgetfulness! LOL! Yes, absentmindedness or mental fogginess is a symptom...go figure! Haha!
Okay enough of the bad stuff. The good stuff is that I have a wonderful group of people around me that have been incredibly helpful! We've had meals provided for us by those near and far and they are being continued for the next week or so. Friends and family that are far away have sent gift cards for restaurants and supermarkets which have been great as well! We've had people come clean our house and others offer to help clean and those that are paying to have a professional come clean as well. This is a HUGE burden lifted off of us! When I have energy I want to spend that time with Brian and the kids and not on household chores. I also don't want Brian spending his time on that if he doesn't have to. I would rather him be able to relax and enjoy time with the kids when he is home instead of picking up the slack in the household area. We had one friend that came over everyday last week after work when Brian was gone to help me in the evenings (my worst part of the day) and get the kids in bed for me. I could keep listing the kinds of help that we've had it's so amazing. I will one day catch up with all the thank you notes I promise! Just know if you are one of those people that I so appreciate it! All the cards, flowers and prayers are awesome as well. They are such great pick me up throughout the day!
Oh yeah...quite a few of my family members and friends were wondering about my incision site. I'll have to upload some pictures but it really looks great. All the steri strips are off now and over time I have a feeling there is going to be very little scarring. It is nice to have the steri strips off because it cuts down on the amount of staring I get when I go out. :) I had a few people brave enough to ask me what happened which I actually appreciated. I would much rather them ask than stare and wonder. I can only imagine what was going through their heads....did she get into a knife fight with her husband...they look so happy together...can't be! LOL! :) My favorite was by a pastor at our church. Since I hadn't heard any good comments from people I asked a couple of people at the church office for some....one said that my husband must be a real cut throat. :) I liked it and may use it when a stranger asks me what happened. I can just imagine the looks I'll get. Haha! Just so you don't think this pastor was insensitive...I used to work for our church and know all of the pastors pretty well. We are blessed to go to a great church with great staff that are laid back and personable...you know...they are real people! :)
Okay...I need to get some sleep tonight. Poor Tyler has been dealing with strep throat and not sleeping. I believe we are past it now so I'm going to take advantage of what I hope will be a good night's sleep. :)
Nighty night!
I've had quite a few people ask me what the lack of a thyroid does to you. There is a whole list of symptoms of hypothyroid (low thyroid levels or in my case none at all) but these are the ones I am dealing with. If you want a complete listing of them just google hypothyroid symptoms. The main one is being tired all the time. I wake up feeling like I haven't slept more than 4 hours. Then throughout the day there is the inevitable energy crashes. This is when my lack of energy is very pronounced. I get a very heavy feeling in my limbs of pure exhaustion and can hardly keep my eyes open. This lasts anywhere from half an hour up to 2 hours or so. Not good when I'm home alone with the kids but we make do with tv time when these happen. Today was a good day and I only had one of those crashes right around 6pm that lasted about 2 hours. Another one that is really frustrating to me is weight gain. I've worked my tush off to lose 15 lbs this year and this week managed to put 1/3 of it back on...yes I gained 5 lbs in a week! No I was not binging on junk food either. I dread getting up in the morning because I never know if I will be the same weight, weigh less or the dreaded weighing more and not fitting into my clothes. Along with this comes depression. This is another symptom I'm experiencing of being hypo. It isn't bad but I have my good times and some bad ones as well. I knew this could happen though and that has helped me get through them better than I would have normally. Other symptoms that I've experienced but haven't been to bad so far is dry skin and loss of hair. Thankfully I have a very thick head of hair because there are days where my tub looks like you shaved my head. Okay....so I had to come back on here because I forgot to add 2 more things I am dealing with. One is cold intolerance. The minute the air turns down from 78 to 76 in our house I'm looking for something warm to put on. And the funniest thing of all that I forgot to add originally to this post is.....forgetfulness! LOL! Yes, absentmindedness or mental fogginess is a symptom...go figure! Haha!
Okay enough of the bad stuff. The good stuff is that I have a wonderful group of people around me that have been incredibly helpful! We've had meals provided for us by those near and far and they are being continued for the next week or so. Friends and family that are far away have sent gift cards for restaurants and supermarkets which have been great as well! We've had people come clean our house and others offer to help clean and those that are paying to have a professional come clean as well. This is a HUGE burden lifted off of us! When I have energy I want to spend that time with Brian and the kids and not on household chores. I also don't want Brian spending his time on that if he doesn't have to. I would rather him be able to relax and enjoy time with the kids when he is home instead of picking up the slack in the household area. We had one friend that came over everyday last week after work when Brian was gone to help me in the evenings (my worst part of the day) and get the kids in bed for me. I could keep listing the kinds of help that we've had it's so amazing. I will one day catch up with all the thank you notes I promise! Just know if you are one of those people that I so appreciate it! All the cards, flowers and prayers are awesome as well. They are such great pick me up throughout the day!
Oh yeah...quite a few of my family members and friends were wondering about my incision site. I'll have to upload some pictures but it really looks great. All the steri strips are off now and over time I have a feeling there is going to be very little scarring. It is nice to have the steri strips off because it cuts down on the amount of staring I get when I go out. :) I had a few people brave enough to ask me what happened which I actually appreciated. I would much rather them ask than stare and wonder. I can only imagine what was going through their heads....did she get into a knife fight with her husband...they look so happy together...can't be! LOL! :) My favorite was by a pastor at our church. Since I hadn't heard any good comments from people I asked a couple of people at the church office for some....one said that my husband must be a real cut throat. :) I liked it and may use it when a stranger asks me what happened. I can just imagine the looks I'll get. Haha! Just so you don't think this pastor was insensitive...I used to work for our church and know all of the pastors pretty well. We are blessed to go to a great church with great staff that are laid back and personable...you know...they are real people! :)
Okay...I need to get some sleep tonight. Poor Tyler has been dealing with strep throat and not sleeping. I believe we are past it now so I'm going to take advantage of what I hope will be a good night's sleep. :)
Nighty night!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Good news and treatment plan
All right, the last two days have been very busy but loaded with information and good news. :) I will warn you now...this is a LONG post.
First off I visited my pulmonologist (lung specialist) on Tuesday. He was concerned about my thyroid cancer being related to the spot on my lung and has referred me to an oncologist (cancer specialist). I saw the oncologist today and loved her. I wish she could be my primary doctor I liked her so much. The good news is she thinks that spot on my lung has absolutely nothing to do with my thyroid or any other type of cancer. She said if you lined up 100 healthy people and did a CT scan of them that 60 of the scans would come out looking like mine. She said the spot is 3mm or smaller which is very very very tiny. She recommended we do a repeat scan in 6 months just to ease our minds. She said to definitely not do a PT scan because it wouldn't be accurate. Apparently the spot has to be about 1cm before the scan would be helpful. She said I do not need to see her again and has given that case back to the pulmonologist. I'm pretty sure he will do another scan in 3 months just to ease his mind which is fine with me.
Yesterday I went to my surgeon. He had the pathology lab reports back on the left side of my thyroid and my lymph nodes...they are BENIGN!! Yay!!! More good news is my calcium levels were good. There was some parathyroid tissue on the sample sent to pathology so at least one was damaged but since my calcium is good then that means I have enough healthy ones to function properly. So it looks like the cancer was just contained in that one nodule that was on the isthmus and right thyroid gland. Other than that I am to start putting Neosporin on my incision and when I go back in a month he will then let me put on a scar healing product. The stitches should go away on their own and the steri strips will come off as well. He said that if they were bothering and still not off in 2 weeks just to take them off. Guess I shall have to part with my "necklace" sooner or later. :) What I am looking forward to is not sleeping propped up. I should be able to do that in a day or so. I know my neck and back will thank me when I can sleep normally.
After my surgeon appointment I went to the endocrinologist (thyroid specialist). He was not happy that they took the thyroid out in 2 surgeries instead of the one that he recommended but whatever. I'm not upset about it. Who knows what kind of complications from vocal chord nerves and parathyroid glands that could have happened. God allows things for a reason and I'll follow His lead any day. :) On to treatment. Not sure the exact dates (we'll find out on Monday) but it should happen over the next 3-4 weeks. I will be on a low iodine diet for 10-14 days to help starve my body of iodine. Thyroid tissue loves iodine and it is the only tissue in the body that uses it to work. When I get the iodine 2 weeks later we want it to readily suck it up. :) Towards the end of the diet I will be given 2 shots of a drug called Thyrogen over 2 days time. The drug helps stimulate my brain in trying to produce thyroid hormones making it even hungrier for the iodine. On the third day I will be given a pill of radioactive iodine. Any remaining thyroid tissue will be starving for it and gobble it up for lack of a better term. It will then die due to the iodine being radioactive. After that I am technically a thyroid cancer survivor. Yay! :) This is where I constantly hear the song "I'm a survivor" by Destiny's Child played over and over again in my head. LOL...yes I'm weird...so what! :)
Here is where the tricky part comes in. My endo thinks that I should just go home after being given the radioactive iodine and not be kept in the hospital even though I have 2 small children. The oncologist we saw today said if it were her she would be away from the kids for 2-3 days. We are going to be calling the radiology place that will be administering the iodine and find out what dosage it will be if they can tell us at this point. They may not be able to tell us until I start my Thyrogen injections. Once we get that info we will make a decision but I do believe we are leaning towards me not being near the kids if possible just to be on the safe side. Please be praying for wisdom regarding this. Brian has a ton of hotel points saved up so I may stay at a hotel here in town and have a mini vacation and just make sure I stay away from kids and pregnant women. I would actually look forward to that. I would miss my kids but it would be a true break for sure. :)
After all of that is done I will then start on thyroid medication. We are not sure what type yet. We have 2 different options. A synthetic drug called Synthroid that is a T4 hormone or a natural med usually known as Armour which is a T4 & T3 hormone. I've heard good and bad about both. I have friends on Synthyroid that are fine and doing great and have no problems and I have friends that switched from Synthyroid because they were not doing well on it to Armour and now they are doing great. I also know people on Synthyroid that weren't doing well but their doctors gave them a T3 drug to take with the Synthroid and that seemed to help. It seems to be a person by person case on what works good and what doesn't. We would just ask for prayers regarding making this decision. I usually lean towards anything natural but I am not against traditional medications either. I would just like to get the facts on both drugs so we can make an unbiased decision. Now knowing that Armour is made up of pig thyroid is a little gross to me but if we choose that one I'll just make sure I try not to snort to much when something funny is said. LOL! I know...corny...sorry couldn't help it. :) This part seems to be like motherhood where you stress about every little decision you make because you think it reflects on you as a person and someone may think you are off your rocker if you do something different than them. Argh!!! LOL! After all this is finally figured out I will have regular checkups with my endo to get the medicine dosage correct and to keep an eye out to make sure the cancer does not come back. There is a 30% recurrence rate to thyroid cancer. We are praying I never have a repeat of it but if I do it will be another dose of radioactive iodine I believe.
Anyway...decision aside I am so glad to have the worst of this behind me. I am not looking forward to the injections but I do believe 2 surgeries in 3 days is way more painful than 2 injections in 2 days. I think I may be up to the task. :)
Everyone is asking me how I feel. EXHAUSTED, EXHAUSTED, EXHAUSTED. My body has realized there is no thyroid there any longer. I am also starting to not tolerate cold well or things that would usually not be cold to me (like 77 degrees in our house) has me buried under covers...well that and wanting to go to bed at 7pm as well. LOL! Oh yeah...I am also forgetful and absentminded. Please do not be offended if I ask you things several time. Today I went to pick up Eric from school and left the garage door up and the door leading to our house unlocked. Fabulous...I never do things like that. I also left the kids milk on the counter that I was going to take to our friends house when she watched them today but of course the cups remained on the counter and never made it to the car. I also left my wallet in the car in plain view of anyone that wanted it. These may not seem like big things but for them all to happen in the course of 1 hour had me highly frustrated. Surgery wise I am feeling really good. I have regained a lot of mobility in my neck. It still kind of hurts a little to cough, laugh or talk a lot but for the most part I am back to normal regarding that. I just have another week of no lifting to really worry about. I cannot wait to get back into the gym. Now having no energy may keep me away from it as frequently as I was going before but I would like to get back a couple of days a week. So far this year I've lost 15 lbs....10lbs of which came off after my thyroid cancer diagnosis (the first one). Nothing like stress to take the weight off right? :) Now I'm just hoping to maintain this weight as a side effect of hypothyroid is weight gain or the ability not to lose weight until I get on my medicine. After that then I hope to get the last 5-10 lbs off.
The cool thing is we are having meals being provided every other day for us and next week while Brian is away in training we have some friends that have offered to come stay the night with me a few nights. I am going to take them up on that one to as I really crash about 5pm...not good when the kids bedtime is 7:30pm. Other people have offered to come over after work and help me out as well which is awesome. I still can't get over the fact that so many people are helping us in so many ways. I just love being a part of God's family. :)
Alright...I know this was a long one. Next post I will try and be good and keep it short. Just a lot of information to get out there tonight.
First off I visited my pulmonologist (lung specialist) on Tuesday. He was concerned about my thyroid cancer being related to the spot on my lung and has referred me to an oncologist (cancer specialist). I saw the oncologist today and loved her. I wish she could be my primary doctor I liked her so much. The good news is she thinks that spot on my lung has absolutely nothing to do with my thyroid or any other type of cancer. She said if you lined up 100 healthy people and did a CT scan of them that 60 of the scans would come out looking like mine. She said the spot is 3mm or smaller which is very very very tiny. She recommended we do a repeat scan in 6 months just to ease our minds. She said to definitely not do a PT scan because it wouldn't be accurate. Apparently the spot has to be about 1cm before the scan would be helpful. She said I do not need to see her again and has given that case back to the pulmonologist. I'm pretty sure he will do another scan in 3 months just to ease his mind which is fine with me.
Yesterday I went to my surgeon. He had the pathology lab reports back on the left side of my thyroid and my lymph nodes...they are BENIGN!! Yay!!! More good news is my calcium levels were good. There was some parathyroid tissue on the sample sent to pathology so at least one was damaged but since my calcium is good then that means I have enough healthy ones to function properly. So it looks like the cancer was just contained in that one nodule that was on the isthmus and right thyroid gland. Other than that I am to start putting Neosporin on my incision and when I go back in a month he will then let me put on a scar healing product. The stitches should go away on their own and the steri strips will come off as well. He said that if they were bothering and still not off in 2 weeks just to take them off. Guess I shall have to part with my "necklace" sooner or later. :) What I am looking forward to is not sleeping propped up. I should be able to do that in a day or so. I know my neck and back will thank me when I can sleep normally.
After my surgeon appointment I went to the endocrinologist (thyroid specialist). He was not happy that they took the thyroid out in 2 surgeries instead of the one that he recommended but whatever. I'm not upset about it. Who knows what kind of complications from vocal chord nerves and parathyroid glands that could have happened. God allows things for a reason and I'll follow His lead any day. :) On to treatment. Not sure the exact dates (we'll find out on Monday) but it should happen over the next 3-4 weeks. I will be on a low iodine diet for 10-14 days to help starve my body of iodine. Thyroid tissue loves iodine and it is the only tissue in the body that uses it to work. When I get the iodine 2 weeks later we want it to readily suck it up. :) Towards the end of the diet I will be given 2 shots of a drug called Thyrogen over 2 days time. The drug helps stimulate my brain in trying to produce thyroid hormones making it even hungrier for the iodine. On the third day I will be given a pill of radioactive iodine. Any remaining thyroid tissue will be starving for it and gobble it up for lack of a better term. It will then die due to the iodine being radioactive. After that I am technically a thyroid cancer survivor. Yay! :) This is where I constantly hear the song "I'm a survivor" by Destiny's Child played over and over again in my head. LOL...yes I'm weird...so what! :)
Here is where the tricky part comes in. My endo thinks that I should just go home after being given the radioactive iodine and not be kept in the hospital even though I have 2 small children. The oncologist we saw today said if it were her she would be away from the kids for 2-3 days. We are going to be calling the radiology place that will be administering the iodine and find out what dosage it will be if they can tell us at this point. They may not be able to tell us until I start my Thyrogen injections. Once we get that info we will make a decision but I do believe we are leaning towards me not being near the kids if possible just to be on the safe side. Please be praying for wisdom regarding this. Brian has a ton of hotel points saved up so I may stay at a hotel here in town and have a mini vacation and just make sure I stay away from kids and pregnant women. I would actually look forward to that. I would miss my kids but it would be a true break for sure. :)
After all of that is done I will then start on thyroid medication. We are not sure what type yet. We have 2 different options. A synthetic drug called Synthroid that is a T4 hormone or a natural med usually known as Armour which is a T4 & T3 hormone. I've heard good and bad about both. I have friends on Synthyroid that are fine and doing great and have no problems and I have friends that switched from Synthyroid because they were not doing well on it to Armour and now they are doing great. I also know people on Synthyroid that weren't doing well but their doctors gave them a T3 drug to take with the Synthroid and that seemed to help. It seems to be a person by person case on what works good and what doesn't. We would just ask for prayers regarding making this decision. I usually lean towards anything natural but I am not against traditional medications either. I would just like to get the facts on both drugs so we can make an unbiased decision. Now knowing that Armour is made up of pig thyroid is a little gross to me but if we choose that one I'll just make sure I try not to snort to much when something funny is said. LOL! I know...corny...sorry couldn't help it. :) This part seems to be like motherhood where you stress about every little decision you make because you think it reflects on you as a person and someone may think you are off your rocker if you do something different than them. Argh!!! LOL! After all this is finally figured out I will have regular checkups with my endo to get the medicine dosage correct and to keep an eye out to make sure the cancer does not come back. There is a 30% recurrence rate to thyroid cancer. We are praying I never have a repeat of it but if I do it will be another dose of radioactive iodine I believe.
Anyway...decision aside I am so glad to have the worst of this behind me. I am not looking forward to the injections but I do believe 2 surgeries in 3 days is way more painful than 2 injections in 2 days. I think I may be up to the task. :)
Everyone is asking me how I feel. EXHAUSTED, EXHAUSTED, EXHAUSTED. My body has realized there is no thyroid there any longer. I am also starting to not tolerate cold well or things that would usually not be cold to me (like 77 degrees in our house) has me buried under covers...well that and wanting to go to bed at 7pm as well. LOL! Oh yeah...I am also forgetful and absentminded. Please do not be offended if I ask you things several time. Today I went to pick up Eric from school and left the garage door up and the door leading to our house unlocked. Fabulous...I never do things like that. I also left the kids milk on the counter that I was going to take to our friends house when she watched them today but of course the cups remained on the counter and never made it to the car. I also left my wallet in the car in plain view of anyone that wanted it. These may not seem like big things but for them all to happen in the course of 1 hour had me highly frustrated. Surgery wise I am feeling really good. I have regained a lot of mobility in my neck. It still kind of hurts a little to cough, laugh or talk a lot but for the most part I am back to normal regarding that. I just have another week of no lifting to really worry about. I cannot wait to get back into the gym. Now having no energy may keep me away from it as frequently as I was going before but I would like to get back a couple of days a week. So far this year I've lost 15 lbs....10lbs of which came off after my thyroid cancer diagnosis (the first one). Nothing like stress to take the weight off right? :) Now I'm just hoping to maintain this weight as a side effect of hypothyroid is weight gain or the ability not to lose weight until I get on my medicine. After that then I hope to get the last 5-10 lbs off.
The cool thing is we are having meals being provided every other day for us and next week while Brian is away in training we have some friends that have offered to come stay the night with me a few nights. I am going to take them up on that one to as I really crash about 5pm...not good when the kids bedtime is 7:30pm. Other people have offered to come over after work and help me out as well which is awesome. I still can't get over the fact that so many people are helping us in so many ways. I just love being a part of God's family. :)
Alright...I know this was a long one. Next post I will try and be good and keep it short. Just a lot of information to get out there tonight.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Roller coaster
Well...I am actually writing without any news to share. I just happened to read through all my blog posts since the beginning of our journey and it struck me that we have been on quite the physical and emotional roller coaster ride. I don't have much on my plate at this moment but resting in bed so reading and playing sudoku have kept me busy. :) The funny thing is I absolutely hate roller coasters. I'm not usually the thrill seeker type of gal! LOL! Guess God decided I needed things shaken up a bit. :)
I do believe the enormity of my diagnosis has finally started to sink in today. The fact that this is the "good" cancer to have is helping to ease my mind but it is still hard to swallow a cancer diagnosis. I've had all day to myself to think and pray which has been very good actually. I've come to the conclusion that there is no need to freak out about this. Yes being told you have cancer and undergoing 2 surgeries within 3 days is a lot to wrap your mind around but knowing my God is bigger than all of this is so comforting. Am I upset and a little heartbroken about my cancer diagnosis....of course. Am I going to let it control and rule my life...heck no. I've already seen God using this to affect other people's lives in a positive way and that in and of itself is really cool to be a part of. God is also using this to teach me how to rely on others and to remind me of the fact that although I may not have any biological family here in Palm Coast, that I do have a very extensive and caring family of friends that anyone would be thrilled to have.
I'm sure I'm going to have my up and down moments but for right now I'm doing quite well. God has provided for us financially and with physical help as well. He has been faithful and kept His promises and He can be trusted. I don't know how anyone goes through stuff like this without their Heavenly Father. He has been and will continue to be my biggest source of strength.
I just have to brag on our friends and my husband for a few minutes because I know they won't do it themselves. Brian has been so so wonderful during all of this. He has been attentive, loving, caring and so gentle. He has been in tuned to every need I have and done his absolute best to meet those needs. Besides God, Brian has been a huge source of strength for me. I could not ask for a better person to walk side by side with me during this journey. I know it hurts him to see me going through all of this. I know he would take it from me and do it all himself in a heartbeat if he could. We've always had a great marriage but right now it is truly at one of it's strongest points. Thank you hunny for all you do. Thanks for loving me and being the husband God made you to be. You are such a blessing.
Now for our friends/family....they are awesome as well. Brian's mom has been here for over a week caring for Eric & Tyler. She has prepared meals, changed diapers, given baths, played with kids, ran errands, and so much more to help us out. Nothing like being thrown back into motherhood of two small children over night. We can never say thank you enough for all her help. From what one of my friends say we have 18 people wanting to bring us or send us meals...that's over a month of meals! Holy cow...tears just well up when I think of the support we have. We technically have no "family" here in town but let me tell you....you would never know it by the way people are stepping up. We had people come and sit with us at the hospital before I went it to surgery, they came and prayed with us. I'm forever grateful for those that came and kept Brian's company while he waited and brought him food when he couldn't leave the hospital. We've had numerous offers of childcare. We have a friend that is taking Eric to school for us on days that are just to hard for us to get him there. We have a couple of people coming to clean the house next week. Brian's work has also been fabulous. They have been so flexible and given him time off so he can be with me. I will be eternally grateful for that and for everyone's help, prayers, well wishes, and support. All anyone has to do is look at the people that are helping us and they can see Christ's love being lived out...they are being His hands and feet. It is so humbling to be the recipient of that and so awesome as well.
I love songs and their meanings so I decided to put a few lyrics here to end this post that I've been listening to today that have really stuck with me. Thanks everyone for everything...you all mean so much to me! :)
"You are not alone for I am here, Let me wipe away your every fear, My love I've never left your side, I have seen you through your darkest night, And I'm the One who's loved you all your life, all your life, Faithful and true forever, My love will carry you." Meredith Andrews-You're Not Alone
"I want to be your hands and feet, I want to live a life that leads, To see you set the captive free, Until the whole wrold hears, And I pray they will see more of you and less of me, Lord I want my life to be the song that sing." Casting Crowns-Until the Whold World Hears
"I am sinking in this river that is raging, I am drowning, Will I ever rise to breathe again, I wanna know why, I just wanna understand, Will I ever know why? How could this be from your hand? When every little thing that I have dreamed would be just slips away like water through my hands, And when it seems the walls of my beliefs are crashing down like they're all made of sand, I won't let go of You now, because I know, oh, You're not shaken. I am trembling in the darkness of my own fear, All the questions with no answers, so grip me while I'm here, And I may never know why, Oh I may not understand, But I will lift up my eyes, and trust this is your plan. When I am in the valley of the shadow of death, You're not shaken, You're not shaken, You are right here beside me and You have never left me." Phil Stacey-You're Not Shaken
I do believe the enormity of my diagnosis has finally started to sink in today. The fact that this is the "good" cancer to have is helping to ease my mind but it is still hard to swallow a cancer diagnosis. I've had all day to myself to think and pray which has been very good actually. I've come to the conclusion that there is no need to freak out about this. Yes being told you have cancer and undergoing 2 surgeries within 3 days is a lot to wrap your mind around but knowing my God is bigger than all of this is so comforting. Am I upset and a little heartbroken about my cancer diagnosis....of course. Am I going to let it control and rule my life...heck no. I've already seen God using this to affect other people's lives in a positive way and that in and of itself is really cool to be a part of. God is also using this to teach me how to rely on others and to remind me of the fact that although I may not have any biological family here in Palm Coast, that I do have a very extensive and caring family of friends that anyone would be thrilled to have.
I'm sure I'm going to have my up and down moments but for right now I'm doing quite well. God has provided for us financially and with physical help as well. He has been faithful and kept His promises and He can be trusted. I don't know how anyone goes through stuff like this without their Heavenly Father. He has been and will continue to be my biggest source of strength.
I just have to brag on our friends and my husband for a few minutes because I know they won't do it themselves. Brian has been so so wonderful during all of this. He has been attentive, loving, caring and so gentle. He has been in tuned to every need I have and done his absolute best to meet those needs. Besides God, Brian has been a huge source of strength for me. I could not ask for a better person to walk side by side with me during this journey. I know it hurts him to see me going through all of this. I know he would take it from me and do it all himself in a heartbeat if he could. We've always had a great marriage but right now it is truly at one of it's strongest points. Thank you hunny for all you do. Thanks for loving me and being the husband God made you to be. You are such a blessing.
Now for our friends/family....they are awesome as well. Brian's mom has been here for over a week caring for Eric & Tyler. She has prepared meals, changed diapers, given baths, played with kids, ran errands, and so much more to help us out. Nothing like being thrown back into motherhood of two small children over night. We can never say thank you enough for all her help. From what one of my friends say we have 18 people wanting to bring us or send us meals...that's over a month of meals! Holy cow...tears just well up when I think of the support we have. We technically have no "family" here in town but let me tell you....you would never know it by the way people are stepping up. We had people come and sit with us at the hospital before I went it to surgery, they came and prayed with us. I'm forever grateful for those that came and kept Brian's company while he waited and brought him food when he couldn't leave the hospital. We've had numerous offers of childcare. We have a friend that is taking Eric to school for us on days that are just to hard for us to get him there. We have a couple of people coming to clean the house next week. Brian's work has also been fabulous. They have been so flexible and given him time off so he can be with me. I will be eternally grateful for that and for everyone's help, prayers, well wishes, and support. All anyone has to do is look at the people that are helping us and they can see Christ's love being lived out...they are being His hands and feet. It is so humbling to be the recipient of that and so awesome as well.
I love songs and their meanings so I decided to put a few lyrics here to end this post that I've been listening to today that have really stuck with me. Thanks everyone for everything...you all mean so much to me! :)
"You are not alone for I am here, Let me wipe away your every fear, My love I've never left your side, I have seen you through your darkest night, And I'm the One who's loved you all your life, all your life, Faithful and true forever, My love will carry you." Meredith Andrews-You're Not Alone
"I want to be your hands and feet, I want to live a life that leads, To see you set the captive free, Until the whole wrold hears, And I pray they will see more of you and less of me, Lord I want my life to be the song that sing." Casting Crowns-Until the Whold World Hears
"I am sinking in this river that is raging, I am drowning, Will I ever rise to breathe again, I wanna know why, I just wanna understand, Will I ever know why? How could this be from your hand? When every little thing that I have dreamed would be just slips away like water through my hands, And when it seems the walls of my beliefs are crashing down like they're all made of sand, I won't let go of You now, because I know, oh, You're not shaken. I am trembling in the darkness of my own fear, All the questions with no answers, so grip me while I'm here, And I may never know why, Oh I may not understand, But I will lift up my eyes, and trust this is your plan. When I am in the valley of the shadow of death, You're not shaken, You're not shaken, You are right here beside me and You have never left me." Phil Stacey-You're Not Shaken
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Post surgery #2
Whew....I'm finally back home and in my own bed. Yay! I went in for my second surgery to remove the rest of my thyroid yesterday around 5pm or so. The surgeon was successfully able to remove the left side of my thyroid and about 5 lymph nodes without any complications. He was very pleased with the results. I should find out this Friday at my followup appointment if the left side was also malignant and if it had spread to any lymph nodes. The surgeon said in about 70% of cases if one side of the thyroid is malignant then the other side is as well. Now onto the next steps.
First step is to rest and recover. I did fine after the surgery but they sent me to the ICU just as a precaution since I had underwent 2 surgeries in less than a week. By morning I didn't get my pain meds in time and that is when my pain kicked in big time. We were finally able to get it under control though IV drugs which act instantly and later they were able to give me the actual pain pill an hour early to make sure the IV didn't wear off. After that I was good and have been since. My voice is scratchy and soft but that will improve over the next few days. It is nice to be at home with my family. I missed the boys so much. I can't interact with them alot but at least I'm in the same house with them.
My next appt is Tuesday with the pulmonologist. I'm not exactly sure what will be discussed then since the diagnosis is now cancer but we shall find out soon enough. I may just ask them to move my CT scan up a little earlier and repeat it more frequently and go from there. Wednesday I see my endocrinologist where we will discuss the rest of my thyroid treatment. Right now we are guessing my options are to start thyroid meds now so I can feel okay while recovering and then stop the meds to undergo the radioactive iodine treatment or I can put off going on meds and do the treatment sooner. From what my surgeon said the side effects of my thyroid being gone should start kicking later next week. Prayers for wisdom with this decision are greatly appreciated. Friday I go back to see my surgeon just to have my calcium levels checked.
So what does the radioactive iodine therapy involve? It really depends on my dosage and the procedure of the hospital. From my understanding (I'll know more Wednesday) I will be given a pill of radioactive iodine and kept in isolation for 3 days. Not fun but necessary. Not sure what we will do once I'm released as it will still not be a good idea for me to be around the kids. The actual radioactive iodine will seek out and kill any remaining thyroid tissue and thyroid cancer in my body and kill it off.
Okay...pain meds are making me a bit incoherent so I believe I'll cut this entry short at the moment. Thank you all for the continued prayers, help, and support. It is all greatly appreciated! God has been so good through this entire thing. When I was in so much pain today before the pain meds decided to work I just laid in bed, closed my eyes and began praying for relief from the pain and for rest along with for a few specific people that came to mind. God did not let me down He met me in my pain and got me through it until the pain meds finally kicked in.
Will update more later once I see the doctors this week. Love you all!
First step is to rest and recover. I did fine after the surgery but they sent me to the ICU just as a precaution since I had underwent 2 surgeries in less than a week. By morning I didn't get my pain meds in time and that is when my pain kicked in big time. We were finally able to get it under control though IV drugs which act instantly and later they were able to give me the actual pain pill an hour early to make sure the IV didn't wear off. After that I was good and have been since. My voice is scratchy and soft but that will improve over the next few days. It is nice to be at home with my family. I missed the boys so much. I can't interact with them alot but at least I'm in the same house with them.
My next appt is Tuesday with the pulmonologist. I'm not exactly sure what will be discussed then since the diagnosis is now cancer but we shall find out soon enough. I may just ask them to move my CT scan up a little earlier and repeat it more frequently and go from there. Wednesday I see my endocrinologist where we will discuss the rest of my thyroid treatment. Right now we are guessing my options are to start thyroid meds now so I can feel okay while recovering and then stop the meds to undergo the radioactive iodine treatment or I can put off going on meds and do the treatment sooner. From what my surgeon said the side effects of my thyroid being gone should start kicking later next week. Prayers for wisdom with this decision are greatly appreciated. Friday I go back to see my surgeon just to have my calcium levels checked.
So what does the radioactive iodine therapy involve? It really depends on my dosage and the procedure of the hospital. From my understanding (I'll know more Wednesday) I will be given a pill of radioactive iodine and kept in isolation for 3 days. Not fun but necessary. Not sure what we will do once I'm released as it will still not be a good idea for me to be around the kids. The actual radioactive iodine will seek out and kill any remaining thyroid tissue and thyroid cancer in my body and kill it off.
Okay...pain meds are making me a bit incoherent so I believe I'll cut this entry short at the moment. Thank you all for the continued prayers, help, and support. It is all greatly appreciated! God has been so good through this entire thing. When I was in so much pain today before the pain meds decided to work I just laid in bed, closed my eyes and began praying for relief from the pain and for rest along with for a few specific people that came to mind. God did not let me down He met me in my pain and got me through it until the pain meds finally kicked in.
Will update more later once I see the doctors this week. Love you all!
Friday, April 9, 2010
It's confirmed...now on to curing it
I haven't posted in awhile because things got so darn hectic around here for a few weeks. A good kind of hectic though. We did lots of fun things with the boys and had family in town over spring break.
As most of you know my surgery was postponed until April 6th. I've been home for a few days and recovering. The doctor took out the right side of my thyroid and the isthmus. They were sure it wasn't cancer and decided to stop the operation there. I responded well to the surgery and had no complications thankfully. I did have some issues with trying to get pain meds worked out properly but we finally have one that doesn't make me itch all over. Good news is that I haven't had any pain meds in over 8 hours and I'm feeling fine. :)
On to the not so good news. My doctor called last night to tell me that the results came back from pathology and it actually was papillary carcinoma. That is the most common type of thyroid cancer. This means I have to go through another surgery today sometime. We aren't sure what time that will be. In surgery they will remove the left side of my thyroid and possibly some lymph nodes to examine them to see if the cancer has spread. Thyroid cancer is usually contained to the thyroid but if it does spread the first areas it goes to is the lymph nodes or possibly the lungs. Now obviously that spot on my lung has me a little more freaked out than I was but we will handle that next week when we see the pulmonologist.
People have been asking me how I feel and I have to say I'm a little angry I have to go through this surgery again and I'm also a little scared and anxious about it all. I believe that is all pretty normal. We were expecting a good report and to get that news was quite a shock. Brian is in the same boat as me on emotions.
Some specific prayer requests would be:
1. Pray for no damage to be done to the vocal chords or vocal chord nerves.
2. Pray that my remaining parathyroid glands will remain undamaged and not die off.
3. Pray that the cancer has not spread.
4. Pray for Dr. Bower...guidance, wisdom and that God would work through him during surgery.
5. Pray I will handle the anaesthesia well again and have no complications.
6. Pray that our childcare will workout during my recovery and during the time I have to have radioactive iodine treatment.
7. Pray for the boys...Tyler is especially having a hard time with me not being able to pick him up right now.
All that being said thyroid cancer is the most curable type of cancer you can have. My prognosis is very good. All this information has helped keep me somewhat calm. Knowing it is the "good" type of cancer still doesn't make having cancer any easier. I think I'm taking it harder this time around than I did the first time I was told I had it because I had gotten my hopes up that this potentially wasn't cancer. What can you do though? God is in control. He knew this would happen and it hasn't caught him off guard. He will continue to stay by my side as He has always done.
Thanks for all your continued prayers, love, help, and support! The outpouring of help has been really amazing and such a blessing!
As most of you know my surgery was postponed until April 6th. I've been home for a few days and recovering. The doctor took out the right side of my thyroid and the isthmus. They were sure it wasn't cancer and decided to stop the operation there. I responded well to the surgery and had no complications thankfully. I did have some issues with trying to get pain meds worked out properly but we finally have one that doesn't make me itch all over. Good news is that I haven't had any pain meds in over 8 hours and I'm feeling fine. :)
On to the not so good news. My doctor called last night to tell me that the results came back from pathology and it actually was papillary carcinoma. That is the most common type of thyroid cancer. This means I have to go through another surgery today sometime. We aren't sure what time that will be. In surgery they will remove the left side of my thyroid and possibly some lymph nodes to examine them to see if the cancer has spread. Thyroid cancer is usually contained to the thyroid but if it does spread the first areas it goes to is the lymph nodes or possibly the lungs. Now obviously that spot on my lung has me a little more freaked out than I was but we will handle that next week when we see the pulmonologist.
People have been asking me how I feel and I have to say I'm a little angry I have to go through this surgery again and I'm also a little scared and anxious about it all. I believe that is all pretty normal. We were expecting a good report and to get that news was quite a shock. Brian is in the same boat as me on emotions.
Some specific prayer requests would be:
1. Pray for no damage to be done to the vocal chords or vocal chord nerves.
2. Pray that my remaining parathyroid glands will remain undamaged and not die off.
3. Pray that the cancer has not spread.
4. Pray for Dr. Bower...guidance, wisdom and that God would work through him during surgery.
5. Pray I will handle the anaesthesia well again and have no complications.
6. Pray that our childcare will workout during my recovery and during the time I have to have radioactive iodine treatment.
7. Pray for the boys...Tyler is especially having a hard time with me not being able to pick him up right now.
All that being said thyroid cancer is the most curable type of cancer you can have. My prognosis is very good. All this information has helped keep me somewhat calm. Knowing it is the "good" type of cancer still doesn't make having cancer any easier. I think I'm taking it harder this time around than I did the first time I was told I had it because I had gotten my hopes up that this potentially wasn't cancer. What can you do though? God is in control. He knew this would happen and it hasn't caught him off guard. He will continue to stay by my side as He has always done.
Thanks for all your continued prayers, love, help, and support! The outpouring of help has been really amazing and such a blessing!
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