My Thyca Battle: Being diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer

So some of you may know that I had a 2nd surgery 4 days after my Laparoscopy for Endo & Adeno. However many of you did not know why.

April of this year I began noticing issues swallowing, extreme fatigue, hair thinning and more. I had also noticed that my neck started to get larger on one side. I had always had a small lump in my neck but it had gotten larger. So I decided I needed to get my neck seen. I immediately made an appointment with my primary care physician on May 2, 2013. There he did a physical examination of my neck. Right away he felt a large lump where my thyroid was. He said that I needed to get a Ultrasound as soon as possible. He also gave me a referral to see an Endocrinologist.

On May 16, 2013 I had my Thyroid ultrasound appointment. Of course the technician didn’t give me any results at my appointment. A few weeks later I received an appointment in the mail to see my Endocrinologist. My appointment for a Fine Needle Aspiration(FNA) was set for August 2, 2013.  Friday the 2nd came and I arrived at my appointment. Sitting in the waiting room I wasn’t very nervous at all. My fiance, mother and nephew were with me. I remember my nephew Cayden playing with his toys and the sound of his laughs. It never occurred to me that I a few months later that that would be the moment where my life would changed.

At that very appointment I met my Dr. Immediately I could tell she was extremely sweet and caring. She spoke to me for a bit about my symptoms and my blood work. She told me that my ultrasounds results revealed a large tumor in the left side of my thyroid. She said that my thyroid function was normal and that thyroid masses were common and many turn out to be nothing. She walked me over to a small room with a examination table and a ultrasound machine.  I was put onto the table with my arms crossed over my chest. She applied some cold jelly for the ultrasound. With that she could see my nodule clearly. Right away she was confused by what she saw. Apparently my nodule had extremely defined walls and was completely solid, Something my doctor had never seen. She removed 4 samples of my thyroid nodule cells.

14 days after my biopsy on August 16, 2013 I received a call from my Endocrinologist. She started off letting me know that my pathology report was not 100% clear. She said that I had Thyroid Cancer but that the type is either rare or mixed celled. At that point I heard nothing else before I said goodbye and hung up the phone. Tears went flowing for my few days following that call.  Different emotions came over me throughout those few days. Everything from anger to sadness took place inside me.

Stay tuned for my next post where I will go further into details on surgery and what led to it.

If you would like to donate & support my fight against Thyroid Cancer please click on the link below!

http://www.gofundme.com/butterflybattle

My Endo Journey begins: 30 days out til surgery!

Today June 13, 2013 marks 4 weeks until my excision surgery! I am exactly 30 days out from surgery!

I had not idea time would start to fly like this. I am glad that I have OCD and started prepping as soon as I did. I am extremely  happy to say I have absolutely nothing left on my Pre/Post Op Surgery list!  My hospital bag is already packed and my home care supplies have been set up. I will do a blog post soon with my recommendations for your hospital bag and home care supplies. I will also be doing a post with tips on the bowel prep & post op ailments that can happen once you are home.

On another note….I logged in today to find my last post was 7 days ago…I didn’t even realize that. Crazy thing about having Endometriosis is that life can change in seconds! My pain went from moderate to intense in a matter of hours! I pretty much sat in bed for 6 days straight except to go to the restroom or eat. My partner has been working overtime to save a few bucks just in case any other bills/emergencies come up before or after surgery. I realize I am really lucky to have her support.

Only issue we are dealing with now is trying to figure out my sleeping arrangements prior to surgery. We don’t own a recliner and our futon is way to firm and low to use as an option. Our current bed is a full and very hard with broken springs. She is also a wild sleeper so there isn’t much room for someone with stitches to recover LOL. I would not want to be sleeping and to be jolted by a knee or elbow. In order to prevent this very possible disaster we want to get a queen bed. We had saved for a queen size memory foam bed but that money has had to go else where. That leaves us with 30 days to figure out where I will sleep.

I also just realized that my ID expired June 30th and I have to get a new one. I have 30 days to do so for surgery but 20 before I need it for a FNA(Fine Needle Aspiration) of my Thyroid on August 2nd. I am starting to stress a bit and worry but I know it will all work out!  I am sure it will all get done…I am making it a priority starting next Monday.

I am so excited for my new life….new me will be born on August 12th 2013.