April 2016

Life has been quite busy. Every weekend seems to bring something fun and crazy. Last weekend was especially busy with my niece Liz getting married in Utah. My best friend Kara also drove through town and we spent a few hours together. It was awesome! A few pictures from last weekend...

PET scan results

In January I had an MRI on my neck and everything looked great and I had an appt with my Oncologist the Friday before I went to Mexico. He decided that the next step to put me on the road to "cured" would be a PET scan. A PET scan is usually for cancer patients to see if there is any other cancer in the body or it current cancer has spread. They use radioactive sugar to have the cells light up. The reason he wanted it on me was because of the lymph node that popped up after my first surgery. I have a mixture of Papillary and Follicular cancer cells and so even though we did a scan in July that showed no cancer in the rest of the body, only 5% of people will have the papillary cells show up. 

I did the scan on Thursday 2/25/16 and was hoping for results back before my 32nd birthday (March 2) On 2/29 I received an email from MSTI. It scared me to death. I received the email right before lunch and I couldn't eat and had phone calls out to my 2 Dr.s asking for an explanation. (I have a follow up appt 3/18 but there was no way I could wait until then)

It stated "secondary and unspecified malignant neoplasm of lymph nodes of head, face, and neck"

Well, apparently that was never suppose to be sent to me. My Oncologist called me back as I was finishing my 1pm patient and explained to me that although we didn't have the official report from the Radiologist, he'd gone over the images with a Radiologist and didn't see anything remarkable. I was crying again at work. I was SO relieved. But I have to be honest, I didn't feel true relief until Thursday when I received the official report.  

What does all this mean? I can move on. I don't have to do as many tests and exams. I won't have to be at one Dr. or another every month, sometimes every couple of weeks. If we want to have another child then we can. The results of the PET scan has freed me up to do a lot of things. I am feeling beyond blessed at this time. 

Happy Birthday to me!

Welcome 2016

I can't believe how long it's been since my last update. 2015 was such a crazy year and we really enjoyed our Holidays! It seems weird that December is already over. I did take down my Christmas decorations but we still have our lights up. 

I am doing well and feeling good. In December I went in and had an post-op ultrasound on my neck. There wasn't much to see. It came back that they wanted a CT scan with contrast or an MRI so that we could have a good look at what is still in my neck. When my Oncologist called I asked how urgent it was. He said we could wait until January. I was glad for that. Next Friday I will have the MRI done. I won't lie, I am nervous. I will have to be in that closed machine for over an hour. Yikes. They offered me drugs and I said I'd be ok but I wonder if I will be. It's all mental. I just need to suck it up and do it.

After the MRI I will have a blood test in February and an appt with the Oncologist at that time. In the Spring (not sure of date yet) I will have a full body scan. I think the fear is that because my cancer was metastatic they are worried it's going to spread before we can catch it. The simple blood test won't work for me because of the antibodies in my system. It's all complicated and I can't say I understand it fully. But that's ok. I just do as I am told and stay vigilant. 

I was trying to decide whether or not to keep blogging about my cancer. The thing is, there isn't a lot of people's personal experiences out there so for those who read my blog, who have stumbled upon it, or have been referred to it by someone then I hope this helps you. It's a long journey, a lifetime, and I really want to share my experience to see if it can help others. 

Hi, I am still here!

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog. I try to keep everything updated on facebook and instagram but if you don't follow me there then I will go ahead and give an update.

In October I felt a new lymph node on the right side of my neck. It was right after my flu shot so I was hopeful it was just my body reacting to that. However, my Oncologist had told me to get right in if something popped up. Dr. Smith was out of the office so I got in immediately with Dr. Mayes (ENT) He felt around and said, "this is very concerning." He ordered a CT scan and a biopsy. We did the CT scan that week and it was pretty apparent that it was more than just a reactive lymph node. 

I talked with Mayes and we decided to bag the biopsy. It would just be one more thing to do that didn't need to be done. We needed to go straight to surgery. We were originally going to do the surgery November 20 because I had a week off for Thanksgiving. Curtis' work insurance gave us one week notice that they were changing his insurance Nov. 1 so we played it safe and went ahead and did the surgery on Oct. 30.  Looking back, I am SOOOOOOO glad that I did it sooner. Especially because now I get to enjoy Thanksgiving! 

This surgery ended up being a 3 for 1. He took out the lymph node on the right side of my neck where my original scar was. He then cut out my scar and fixed it since I had keloided. And because I am a glutton for punishment, I got my tonsils out as well. I get tonsils stones and they are gross, make my breath smell, and taste bad. So we did that. It was by far the worst pain compared to the scar and nodule. 

Biopsy came back and it was confirmed cancer. We also tested my thyroglobulin level which should have been a simple test to tell if we got the cancer. The results came back at 1. Normal is 1.6-55. When I had the cancer it was 1,095. So based on my # I was expecting amazing news when I met with my Oncologist last Friday. That wasn't the case. He burst my bubble. Obviously my long term prognosis is still good however, 2 things I learned that I wasn't expecting. First, my simple blood test could no longer be accurate because of my antibodies in my body. So now the only way we can be sure the cancer won't metastasize to my body is by doing body scans. Who knows, maybe someday this will be a blessing in disguise in case I ever get a different kind of cancer. 

The other thing was that he said lymph nodes can keep popping up at anytime in my neck. I asked what that means?! He said surgery every time. That was heavy to accept. 

Now that I posted all the updates I want to end with a positive note. I am so thankful for a lot of things that have happened to me this year. I am thankful that my cancer has taught me so many things and that I feel like I respect my life, my children, my husband so much more because of this year. I am thankful my tonsils are out! I am thankful for the love and support so many have offered me. My  battle may never be over but I've finally accepted that. I can do hard things and I am beyond grateful that I am alive and well.