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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good luck through all this, Amy. You will come out of it great. How long will you have to be in the hospital for the iodine treatment next month?
ReplyDeleteI think the doctor said I'd be in the hospital for 3 days with the radioactive iodine. But I haven't gotten all the details on that yet. Taking it one thing at a time.
ReplyDelete