Sunday 5 October 2008

bugger! Bit of a shock

Where to start??? Last weekend I was thrilled to have got a PB in my latest race, didn't even mention having a hospital appointment with the surgeon who removed the cyst, it was so low key on my event horizon. I was fully expecting to be told the wound was helaing very nicely, and to go away never to darken his door again.

So imagine my shock when he told me there were thyroid cells in the cyst, it was very unusual but indictaed that I'd either had a cancerous growth which had resolved itself or that there was a very small growth within my thyroid which they'd not picked up on MRI! How the hell did that happen???

He told me everything very clearly, but I wasn't taking it in, so once he'd explained for the first time, he started straight over again from the berginning and went through it again, then a third time! I only managed to ask him how long I'd need to wait till the operation. Couldn't think of anything else to ask. Naturally, M hadn't come with me! As I left, i went to get a drink and phone home, then work. S came out to collect me and drove me home, where bits of what I'd been told kept coming back to me. He'd given me his secretary's phone number but I couldn't rememeber why, so called her. It was to make an appointmennt to see him again, whicih will be on Wednesday.

Now with a combination of remembering bits and google I'm gradually getting a fuller picture. It's either very small or resolved which is GOOD. I'm young fit and female which is GOOD. He needs to remove my thyroid and the lymph nodes to make sure any cancer is removed either before it gets larger or to make sure it is fully gone. This is also GOOD. Something about papillary thyroid cancer on the interweb sounded familiar but I'm nopt sure why. I may need radioactive iodine which I only took in the "iodine" bit rather than "radiation" until i got an email from someone mentioning isolation. I googled and I'd need to be in hospital for anything up to a week, but this is only if the thyroid biopsy shows any disease. I'll need to take thyroxine tablets daily, but I checked with an online buddy and they have very few side effects, hell he's done an ironman!

I have no idea how long I'd need to wait till the operation but sooner rather than later. Does this mean next week or next month? I'd need to stay in hospital for about 4 days (ugh hospital food) and be off work for 2 weeks. I've got a long list of questions, each of which will give me the same number of sub questions I'm sure as he answers them!

Oddly enough I've done no quilting since I was told this, although I did manage a 2 mile run to clear my head. More on Wednesday I hope

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