Sunday, November 22, 2015

Look what I just found, minutes after posting my anxiety-ridden post!


FINDINGS:
Whole-body images and images of the thyroid bed and neck demonstrate
normal distribution of radiotracer within the salivary glands,
stomach, bowel and urinary bladder.  No persistent activity is seen
within the neck or elsewhere to suggest metastatic disease.
 
 
IMPRESSION:
 
1. No evident recurrent or metastatic thyroid cancer




Yes!!!!!!!
I decided to check the online portal, and there was the report!  I never even got a notice that it was there as of tonight.  
Guess she didn't need to call me. What a relief.  So hard to not go to that dark scary place with this stupid cancer stuff, especially with the high recurrence rate of thyca.  I really was scared about this, and Dr. N wasn't overly reassuring after reading the ultrasound report, so why not prepare for the worst?  Hell, I'm Irish, that's what we do.  

Big sigh of relief.  Now, once I stop feeling so awfully hypo, I can get my life back on track and plan for the spring.  Mr. W is talking about travel ideas, which is always a good thing.  

I think I'll sleep well tonight.  :) 
 

No news is just no news.

Argh.
The suspense is damn near killing me.
I had my whole body scan on Wednesday, and still have no results as of midnight going into Sunday.
WTF?
The guy who did the scan said Dr. N would have the reading that night.
Sigh.
Definitely sums up this week.... 

I had the thyrogen shots on Monday and Tuesday, and made it until about lunch time on Tuesday before I started to feel really hypo--I hate that feeling.  Suddenly exhausted, confused like I can't process info, achey all over, and really hot.  And nauseous.  I skipped lunch, and got stuck in a meeting about teacher evals that for the life of me I could not focus on much.  It was awful--I almost got up and left.  Wednesday was a trip to the hospital by 9 to take my four slightly radioactive pills, and then back home until the scan at 2.

When I walked in to nuclear medicine, my sister and her boyfriend were sitting there waiting for me--that was a nice surprise!  Had no idea she would be there, and it was nice to have some more support even though I saw her for about three minutes.

The scan itself was uneventful, except that I fell asleep in the last couple of minutes, and almost smacked my face against the machine that was about two inches from my face when I bolted awake at the noise.  Freakier than that was that my mom and her best friend Helen were in a dream right before I woke up--they were sipping screwdrivers on one of their Wednesday nights out and laughing.  I  hope that is what they are actually doing together in the next life!

And now, I'm waiting.  I took Thursday off because I felt so awful and exhausted.  Friday was ok, but I had to go for bloodwork after school to check the TSH level.  I stopped in at Dr. N's office to pick up the orders, and the assistant who gave me the shot said my scan was "under review" in the computer, meaning Dr. N hadn't done anything with it.   Today I have a constant headache, am achey all over and spent most of the day trying to fall asleep with little success.  I've watched three episodes of "Isabel" so far today.  Two yesterday.  Part of it is to stay up in case Dr.  N calls--she's been known to call at 10pm.   I just want an answer so I can plan a little--I feel like my life is on hold waiting to see what the scan shows--surgery and RAI, or put the fear in a box for another 6 months and have it scanned again then?  Either way, it sucks.  This could very well stretch into next week with Thanksgiving coming up.
Sigh.
Might as well go to bed and stare at the ceiling for a bit.  Sleeping won't matter--even if I put in 10 hours right now, I'l wake up exhausted.

I am so not in a good mood today.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

WBS for "tumor localization". Whaaaaat?

Still here....
Plan is moving into "something actually going to happen" phase--WBS is scheduled for this Wednesday, thyrogen shots on Monday and Tuesday.

The paperwork arrived yesterday from the hospital, and for "exam" it says "tumor localization".  Hmm.  That definitely doesn't imply that we aren't certain a tumor exists, but rather the little bastard is there and we have to find out exactly where.  That kind of gave me chills up my spine, because that phrase sounds pretty definite and no question about if there is cancer.  Makes it sound like it's there.  So much for the doctor telling me that it could just be a funky lymph  node.  Am I overreacting?

I think all of this just makes me tired.  As in I just flopped on the couch yesterday and slept away most of the afternoon.

It didn't help that Friday at work sucked.  Turns out the day before, one of my teachers was absent.  She told me on Tuesday that she'd be out, and we had Wednesday off.  She is supposed to call in sick to the sick line so that there would be a sub for all of her classes.  She didn't call in and forgot.  So her classes went uncovered all day, and I completely forgot that she told me she would be out.   To make it worse, my office is across the hall from her room, and I didn't even realize she wasn't there.  Between thyroid meds and apparently being a little stressed out about the cancer being back, I totally blanked.  Let's just say my boss wasn't very happy with me.

So, for today I might just flop on the couch again.  And binge-watch my latest obsession, "Isabel" from Spain's RTVE.  It's so good.  I'm into the second season right now and loving the fact that I can follow the  rapid fire Spanish pretty well.  I think I'm getting most of it!  This picture is from Season 1.



I'll be back once I find out where the tumor is, and what the next phase of the plan is.  Ought to be an interesting week if I can get through it.