Getting back to normal

Things are finally getting back to normal around here. Cathy went home last Thursday, and things have been going well. It was so nice that I was able to have the surgery right before spring break so that Cathy easily could come to help and our routine was going to be messed up anyway. Today we were back to our regular routine with Julia going to preschool and the kids are so happy to have things back to normal. I have been able to do things like take Julia to preschool or run errands in the morning, and then I rest in the afternoon. Each day I get a little bit stronger and don't need quite as much rest.

So my blog posts won't be as frequent now, and the focus of them is going to change. Instead of blogging about my health, I'm going to start blogging about RAGBRAI! We are in the planning stages for our trek across Iowa. We are still waiting for all of our team members to sign up. Then we will mail our entry in and hope we are accepted. Dan has already started writing our military-style brief for everything the team will need to know. We are really looking forward to it and I will post all we are doing to plan for it but especially will post each day during RAGBRAI about what we are doing and pictures from the journey itself.

pictures

I have said it before, but I will say it again, I really really appreciate all the love and support everyone has given me over the last couple of weeks. It has made this whole process so much easier. I wanted everyone to share all the beautiful flowers and gifts I got.






Also, for those curious, here are some pictures of what my neck looks like - before the bandages came off ...


and after (today)...
I am getting a little better every day. I feel pretty good now, I just get winded very easily which is frustrating. Oh, and my voice is still not very strong. If I talk loudly or for very long, it gets very tired. So after a day (or even an hour) of taking care of the (naturally loud) kids, you can imagine how tired my voice is.

Good news

I had my two doctor's appointments today.

First the endocrinologist - he had good news! The pathology report was back and the cancer was isolated in the nodule. None of the surrounding tissue was affected. The nodule itself was only 1.1 cm which was even smaller than they thought. So, based on a study done by the Mayo Clinic, the recurrence rate in this situation is the same whether radioactive iodine treatment is administered or not. (It is a less than 5% recurrence rate - but as I pointed out, people kept telling me once we knew I had a nodule that the chances were about 5% that it would be cancerous - so I will be fully prepared for this possibility) So we are not going to do the treatment right now. (yay!) Instead, they will do an ultrasound and thyroid level blood test in two months to get a base level. Then they will check again every 6-12 months and if there is any abnormal growth of the remaining thyroid tissue, then we will do the radioactive iodine treatment. For now, I got my prescription for my permanent thyroid hormones which should help me feel better. Apparently, some of my symptoms this last week might be not only because of recovering from surgery, but because of the temporary hormones I was on. The synthroid hormones should be much better.

Next - the ENT. The doctor who did the biopsy and surgery is on vacation this week, so I saw the physician's assistant. He removed the steri-strips that were holding the wound together and checked how it was healing. It's doing just fine. It was really nice to get the steri-strips off. It's much more comfortable now, but itchy. My voice is still not back to normal. It's still a little gravelly, and I can't raise my voice or use much inflection still. I also can't sing (not that I was much of a singer before, but now it's even worse) I have a VERY limited range. He explained that that's because the muscles are still inflamed and not allowing full use of my vocal chords, but that they will heal and I should fully recover my voice.

I have also been having a problem with my arm that had the IV in it in the hospital. It's a condition called phlebitis, but they weren't concerned about it. I just need to put warm compresses on it and I'm already on antibiotics so there's no fear of infection. My energy level is slowly getting better, but I get winded very easily. I've been very weak the last couple of days, but today is a bit better.

The kids are doing pretty well, but the stress of everything the last week finally caught up to Julia yesterday. She was so teary yesterday morning, anything would set her off. She finally threw a full blown tantrum. Once I got the chance to talk to her about it she yelled "I wish you never had a bump on your neck!" and "I just want to get back to our usual routine!" I totally agreed with her on both counts. I was very proud of her for being able to express those feelings. I let her get out as much of that frustration as I could. Today she seems better, and our routine has been a little more normal today.

Feeling stronger

I am feeling much stronger today. Much more like myself. Yesterday was a good day. I got to take a shower (finally!) and that made a world of difference. My neck is still sore. Swallowing is not easy, it's like it stretches the skin on my neck, and that hurts. Talking too much also makes it sore. I can raise my voice a little more now, but not much. Not much else to report today. Probably won't be much more to report until my doctor's appointments on Thursday. At those appointments I will have the bandages removed, have my calcium checked again, find out the results of the pathology reports, and find out the next steps.

Nauseous and Hoarse

Today started out pretty rough. I slept okay, but woke up with a pounding headache. I tried to take a pain killer as soon as possible, but apparently I didn't eat enough before hand because eventually it made me nauseous and that lasted all morning. I have rarely felt so sick as I did this morning. I tried anti-nausea medicine, but that didn't seem to help. The kids were up pretty early too, and until Billy got some food in him he didn't want anything to do with anyone except Mommy. Luckily he cheered up after breakfast and Aunt Cathy took both kids grocery shopping which gave me some quality quiet time to start feeling better. Tonight I am feeling much better and have my appetite back. I'm going to try not to take any more of the pain killers tomorrow so I don't have to deal with the nausea. Tylenol should be enough. My pain is not that bad any more anyway. The muscles in my neck around the incision get sore if I talk too much or stretch too much, and sometimes when I swallow food, but I can deal with that.

My voice is a little hoarse, but apparently today it has gotten better. This afternoon Julia said "Mommy you sound like you again!" I still can't raise my voice though or use much inflection. It must because the muscles I use to do that are sore. One of the risks of the surgery however is a permanent change in voice or permanent hoarseness. (because the laryngeal nerve runs down the wind pipe right near the thyroid, they work hard not to disturb it or damage it, but sometimes it happens) Hopefully my hoarseness won't be permanent. Although I've been told my voice is recognizable over the phone, so that's good. And since it's already improved, hopefully it will continue to improve. Oh, and it could also be hoarse because on top of everything I have a cold. I was starting to get it before the surgery and now my nose and ears are stuffed up.

So that's the latest update. Right now I'm watching the undefeated Ames High boys basketball team play for the state championship (they are tied at half time) Go Little Cyclones!

Re-entry

I am home. I got home about 2pm this afternoon. Re-entry into real life has been a little rough, but we will all adjust, and it will only last a few days. The kids are not used to Mommy not being able to do everything for them, or having to sit still when sitting on Mommy's lap. We had some good cuddle time but then the kids (mostly Billy) got too antsy after awhile and it got frustrating all around. It was tough for Billy too when I couldn't do more to put him to bed. But I know each day will get a little easier and I'll be able to do a little more. Cathy arrived tonight too, so that will be a big help tomorrow.

going home today!

I get to go home today! Yay!
Yesterday evening, they took me off the IV, and took my drain tube out. I got a good sleep last night, so I feel so much better than I did 24 hours ago. My calcium levels are low, but I don't have any symptoms of low calcium (tingling hands or lips) so they are going to send me home. Still no pathology reports though, so I don't know yet whether I'll have to do the radioactive iodine. But it is really sounding like I may not have to do that (that's huge!). I'll find out for sure next week when I see the endocrinologist. I'll also have an appointment with the ENT doc to check the incision, and test my calcium. There sending me home with more medication then I've ever been on in my life - pain killers, anti-biotics, anti-nausea (if I need it), calcium supplements, and synthetic hormones.

The kids are coming to visit this morning with my parents, and then they'll come back with Daddy around lunchtime to pick me up.

Doing well

Well, I had a rough morning, after my long night, but I am doing better now. I was nauseous from the pain killers this morning, but finally got some better anti-nausea medication and some food and all the medicine is working as it should, so I feel much better. I am resting, playing video games and watching movies. Still waiting to hear whether they are going to keep me over night tonight, and what the next course of action in my treatment is. They are hoping to get a report from pathology tonight or tomorrow morning on the biopsies that will help determine whether I need the radioactive iodine. It will also determine what type of hormones they send me home with now - temporary ones that will leave my system quickly when they need them to for the radioactive treatment, or more permanent ones if I don't need the treatment. They will take the drain tube out of my incision later this afternoon.

I had some adorable little visitors around noon today. Although they were here before I got the food in me. I just wish I had been more awake to visit with Julia and Billy, but they did very well. I also received some beautiful get well bouquets (thank you Jim, Becky and Patsy, and Cathy and Karl!) and the cleverest card you've ever seen. (thank you Karin!) and I understand there is another bouquet waiting for me at home. I hope to be able to upload pictures of all that later tonight. Thank you to everyone for brightening my day!

Not sleeping much

I can't sleep and they are going to come in and draw blood again in about 20 minutes, so no use even trying right now. in fact not much sleep going on at all tonight. I fell asleep around 8, then they woke me up at 10:30 for vitals, then at 11:30 I was nauseous, got anti-nausea medicine, slept until 1:00 when they decided to give me extra calcium in the IV (my body's calcium is low and making my hands tingle - but this was to be expected), slept until 2:00 when they switched me back to a regular IV and game me pain medicine, dozed until 3:00 when I got nauseous again, more medicine at 3:30 and now can't sleep.

I hear the surgery went very well, but I see Dan did a good job of updating on that. We'll talk to the docs again in the morning. The endocrinologist came in to meet me and I think I heard him say that there's a possibility I won't even need the radioactive iodine because the nodule was so small and if the biopsies they are doing on surrounding tissue come back normal, but I'll double check that when he comes by in the morning. I'm not in a lot of pain, but it's definitely uncomfortable. More later...

Post Op wait for Hubby

Amy is currently out of surgery and in the recovery room. They should be bringing her up to her room shortly - I'm currently there. Both the Doctor and the Anesthesiologist stated everything went well. The doc basically said a classic surgery. She has a nice thin neck that works well for this type of operation, so only a small incision was necessary. She will have a raspy voice for a few days and maybe some tenderness and slight soar throat from everything. They will immediately start up synthetic hormones to replace the ones produced by the thyroid - this even though the natural occurring ones stay in the blood for 2 weeks or so. The big emotional roller coaster is to follow in a few weeks when they need take her off the hormones and check to make sure they isn't any thyroid tissue left and then give her the radio-active iodine. After that, they will set her up on a regime of synthetic hormones for ever. But, who knows maybe stem cell research will some day allow us to recreate a thyroid - wouldn't that be cool. Anyway, all for now.
Next post should be from Amy.

Arrival

Dan just took Amy to Mary Greeley Medical Center. She is currently checked in, has the funny clothes (ie beautiful dress and robe)and is waiting for the nurse to come back in. As you can tell, they have wireless here. This should make it easier for Amy to spend the next few days here, as she can keep this updated, keep up with her emails, and possibly "window shop" on E-Bay. Of course, I'm sure that is all she will do....
More to follow later. I (husband who temporarily hijacked her account) will try to post stuff later.

Dan

Priceless

I had such a fun evening with the kids. I opted not to go to our dance class tonight that we teach so that I could put the kids to bed myself and spend time with them before the surgery. They were so cute. They started asking questions about the surgery and the hospital and we ended up playing surgeon. Each of them took a turn taking out the bump in my neck. They gave me "medicine" to put me to sleep, then very carefully removed the bump. Then they woke me up, put me in my hospital bed, and took care of me by turning on the "tv," bringing me "meals," and giving me "medicine." They were really into it. Then after I was in the hospital two "nights" they drove me home in the "car," helped me inside, and acted out a movie for me. Once I was all better, we galloped around the house and played duck duck goose. Too much fun. Then when we got ready for bed, we all cuddled up in mom & dad's bed to read books. Very special night. We should really do this more often! (minus the real life surgery please)

I must thank everyone for the positive thoughts, phone calls, and offers of help. And especially everyone who has shared a story of someone they know who has gone through this. I am amazed at how common it is. Each story I hear makes me feel a little bit better. So thank you so much.

confirmed for Wednesday

Finally heard from the doctor's office at about 2pm today. (they were supposed to call at 8am) I am confirmed for surgery on Wednesday at approx. 1pm. I'll check in at about 11am. I have a pre-op doctor's appt. tomorrow and then I should be ready to go. The surgery will last about 3 hours. During which time they will confirm the diagnosis and biopsy my lymph nodes just in case. I will have to stay in the hospital for 48 hours after surgery to monitor my calcium levels. Apparently calcium levels often dip after the surgery since the glands that regulate calcium are right next to the thyroid and can be irritated or damaged.

I'm sure I have more to say, but I'm so tired right now I can't think of anything. More later...

To tell or not to tell

What to tell the kids through this whole process has been interesting. At first, I didn't say anything. But then, as I had more and more doctor's appointments, Julia started figuring out something was going on, so I told her I had a bump in my neck that they were deciding whether to take out or not. She got very worried, but mostly about what I would look like after. She wanted to know what color my bandage would be. She wanted to be sure it would be skin color.

Now that the lump really does have to come out. I have been very straight forward with her. I haven't mentioned the "c" word with her, but I've told her just about everything else in response to her questions. How they did the biopsy, how they will do the surgery, what the bandage will look like, what I will feel like when I get home, etc. Of course I did this in language a four year old could comprehend, and without too much detail. She seemed to be doing okay with everything until today. She got very clingy today, didn't want me to be away from her for too long, and when she went to bed asked a lot of teary questions. I think some of it is her milking it for attention, but of course she is honestly concerned. I still think telling her what is going on is better than not telling her. She is a smart little lady and would know something was up anyway. Better for her to have the truth then to try to make sense of it on her own.

Billy on the other hand is pretty oblivious, as expected for a two year old. I'm sure he will be a little anxious when I'm not around for a couple days, but I'm glad he doesn't have the stress of the anticipation leading up to it.

Get your yearly physicals!

A couple weeks ago, during a routine yearly physical, my doctor found a nodule on my thyroid. I had a biopsy on it this week, and it is malignant. The good news is, thyroid cancer is very treatable, and aside from some inconveniences, I will be fine. The bad news is I have to have surgery to remove my thyroid, and a treatment of radioactive iodine. After that periodic checks and thyroid hormone pills is all I should need. The surgery is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday (March 11), I'll be in the hospital for two days. Then next month, I will go back in the hospital for the radioactive iodine treatment. They want me to stay in the hospital for that because I can't be around Julia and Billy during the treatment, and the doctor said it's easier for mother's of young children to just stay in the hospital. I have lots of help, Dan, my parents, and sister-in-law Cathy will be around to help and entertain the kids. So I will be well taken care of.

The doctor thinks this nodule is small and has probably been on my thyroid for only a few months. So we caught it early. A good moral to this story is to be sure to get your routine yearly physicals! I was having no symptoms at all. This was a complete surprise, I'm just so glad I had the physical and that the doctor caught it. I will continue to post this week when I can to update everyone on my treatment.