# Malignant



## Julia65

In red letters, written across the lab-results paper. That's what it says. Malignant. I just found out this afternoon. They said the nodule is 2.5 cm in one direction and 3.2 in the other and needs to come out ASAP.

So, I talked with the endo and the ent surgeon. They wanted to set a date for surgery on the spot, but I was feeling so overwhelmed and just wanted to process everything for a few days at least.

I am concerned with how I am going to manage my life for the next few months. I have four small children and my baby is only 9 months-old. I am still nursing her, and planned to do so until she weaned herself. My son just started kindergarten and needs help with reading every day. My eight year old just started cub scouts. My two year old is learning to potty train. I am supposed to be the room mom in the kindergarten class. Both my boys are in soccer. How am I going to do it all? How much will this affect my life and for how long?

I just finished reading Derek's post about depression and am really freaked out about that.

This news has just hit me like a ton of bricks and I wasn't incredibly surprised at the same time. But now it is real. Confirmed. No longer a suspiscion. (thanks for indulging my rambling)

Here are my questions:
1. How soon do I need to get in for surgery?
2. How much outside help can I anticipate needing for my kids?
3. Has anyone here tried an alkaline diet? Will it make a difference for me at this point?

I'm sure I'll think of lots more questions. I'm so glad I found this message board. Joplin, your reply to my last post helped a lot.


----------



## Derekhg7

Hey I'm sorry if my post freaked you out at all and just want to say we're here for you. And just a bit of background, I was starting not to feel like myself even before my cancer diagnosis, I don't know what it was maybe just life changes and everything has just come to the surface for me now? And the symptoms vary with people, but you will get through this. We're all here for you if you have any more questions, I wish I could answer some more for you but I'm sort of a rookie at this whole thing haha. But if you need support we're here. I know there's no such thing as a good cancer, but this is one of the, if not THE, most treatable forms of cancer. This is definitely a difficult thing to go through and may feel a bit surreal but you're going to get through it and things will start looking up. You're in my prayers.


----------



## Julia65

Thank you for your kind words Derek. I guess the reason your other post worried me is because I have suffered with depression in the past and know that I am strongly affected by hormone changes (especially postpartum). I know that everything will be okay eventually and that this is very treatable. I am just wondering who I am going to have take care of my kids and for how long will I be feeling crummy. I am blessed with a family support system nearby, but they are all so busy with their own lives too. I hate to be a burden on anyone. It's really hard for my husband to get work off. I'm usually the person stepping in to help others and am not used to being on the receiving end.


----------



## Andros

Julia65 said:


> In red letters, written across the lab-results paper. That's what it says. Malignant. I just found out this afternoon. They said the nodule is 2.5 cm in one direction and 3.2 in the other and needs to come out ASAP.
> 
> So, I talked with the endo and the ent surgeon. They wanted to set a date for surgery on the spot, but I was feeling so overwhelmed and just wanted to process everything for a few days at least.
> 
> I am concerned with how I am going to manage my life for the next few months. I have four small children and my baby is only 9 months-old. I am still nursing her, and planned to do so until she weaned herself. My son just started kindergarten and needs help with reading every day. My eight year old just started cub scouts. My two year old is learning to potty train. I am supposed to be the room mom in the kindergarten class. Both my boys are in soccer. How am I going to do it all? How much will this affect my life and for how long?
> 
> I just finished reading Derek's post about depression and am really freaked out about that.
> 
> This news has just hit me like a ton of bricks and I wasn't incredibly surprised at the same time. But now it is real. Confirmed. No longer a suspiscion. (thanks for indulging my rambling)
> 
> Here are my questions:
> 1. How soon do I need to get in for surgery?
> 2. How much outside help can I anticipate needing for my kids?
> 3. Has anyone here tried an alkaline diet? Will it make a difference for me at this point?
> 
> I'm sure I'll think of lots more questions. I'm so glad I found this message board. Joplin, your reply to my last post helped a lot.


I am so sorry for all of this. The only good news is that they found it and it is coming out.

Now listen up here; you must do this ASAP because your children need their mommy. You cannot dilly dally. Yes, you may have to stop nursing and yes, you may have to cancel your outside obligations and much more.

But, all this is far better and only temporary than the alternative.

Glad you have joined us.


----------



## Lovlkn

Wow! What a busy life you have. In order to not get overwhelmed try to piece your activities off in smaller parts - ask for help - people will help you.
Do you have a spouse?

First off - thyroid cancers are one of the more easily treatable cancers which is the good news.

The bad news is the surgery will require recovery and limit your ability to lift your children and require a period of recovery.

I would imagine they will also perform RAI on you and that will be more difficult for you as with small children you will be required to limit your exposure. If I was having RAI I would move out of the house for at least a week - sometimes the doctor says limit exposure but I would not want your children to be exposed to the radiation.

During both of the events of surgery and RAI you will need help with your children. Do you have family nearby that can assist? If not you may want to consider hiring a student or having a friend stay with you to help care for your children.

You may not experience any depression - I have noticed that folks that have massive thyroid hormone swings are those that have the depression issues more often than not.

:hugs:


----------



## joplin1975

So, ok...hearing you have cancer kinda sucks, right? Right. But, the more you "hang around" here, the more you'll see that, in a weird way, it's a blessing. Others have to struggle for years, trying to regulate things with meds. For us, we just get the dang thing out and get back to the business of living.

So...my suggestion would be to make sure you are talking a total thryoidectomy (instead of a partial). Most doctors suggest you give yourself one to two weeks recovery time. I was not in pain, but was tired, a bit foggy-headed, and was told no heavy lifting until the stitches came out (ten days). I think you'll want help for the first week with the kids.

Regarding nursing...well, first, my hormones were a mess after the surgery. I've never nursed but I have to assume that might impact production. But...you need to really ask your doctors if you'll need follow up radioactive iodine ablation (RAI). With thyroid surgery, lots of cells are left behind - you just can't get it all. So they need to give most of us follow up treatment to kill the residual cells. The good news is that it is effective and, overall, pretty easy. You go in, take a pill, wait a few days and start up your replacement meds.

The bad news is that it is radioactive. You have restrictions on how close you can be with people - kids especially - for usually about a week. Again, anything related to kids isn't in my wheelhouse, but I really doubt they'd want you nursing after RAI. I know that has to be disappointing and I'm sorry...but the long term goal is to keep you healthy so you can be around for those kiddos.

Once that is all done - it as about a month between surgery and after my RAI restrictions were lifted, life gets more or less back to normal. Again, it can take some time to find the right medication and dose, but you won't be incapacitated. You should be able to do all those things you want to do with the kids.

How long can you wait? Well, the sooner you get it out, the less time it has to grow. The less time it has to grow, the lower dose of RAI you'll need. The lower dose you'll need, the less time you spend apart with your kids. So, I get that it is overwhelming, but if I were in your shoes, I'd get it out ASAP.


----------



## Julia65

Thank you for all your kind words of support!

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment. So far, I have told my parents, my sister and my mother-in-law. They all have their own opinions and advice. Get the surgery now, wait, just eat veggies (alkaline diet) and the cancer will not survive. AHHHH!! How do you deal with that?

How do you go about telling people like friends and acquaintances? I told my mom I didn't really feel like calling everyone up and spreading the news, so she could tell family members. I figure they will likely find out one way or another and I imagine I will need their help in the near future so they might as well know. Perhaps I could use the same method to notify friends. Tell one or two and wait for the news to spread around the neighborhood etc. Is this the type of tying you announce on facebook?

But, the people I'm most concerned with how and what to tell are my kids. My daughters are 2 and 9 months, so they won't understand at all. But my boys are 8 and 5. My 8 year-old is quite mature and capable of understanding a lot. Any ideas??


----------



## Octavia

Well, I may be a little odd, and I don't have kids...but after my pathology showed cancer after my first surgery, I actually only told my family and very close friends. We had a "goodbye thyroid" party. (Hey, any excuse to have a get-together with busy friends!) Then I got on with it, so to speak.

I am not a huge fan of Facebook, but I would NEVER in a million years announce something like this on Facebook. (Disclaimer...I've never even been on Facebook.) That stuff is out there forever, and what if you don't want a future potential employer to know you've had health problems? (Paranoid? Maybe...but I'm also self-employed, and can't take the chance of losing work. Plus it's nobody's business what my health concerns are.)


----------



## joplin1975

It's up to you, individually. I really didn't make a big production of telling anyone. I mean, yes, it's cancer and I'm not being dismissive about that...but it's thyroid cancer. It's easily treatable. The prognosis is awesome. The complication rate it low. I didn't tell anyone more or less than I would have told them it, say, I had appendicitis. Nothing on facebook...I told my parents, sent an email to a few close friends and that was that. In my mind, for me, the lower key about it I was, the more emotionally stable I could keep myself, if that makes any sense.

I've been reading about thyroid cancer for about a year now and while there is certainly enough out there to consider diet changes for autoimmune thyroid conditions, there's nothing reputable that says that cancer will die thanks to a diet. Sorry, nada, nothing. If left untreated, it can spread to your lungs...liver...any number of organs. My family is all in the medical field so there was not a soul who suggested anything less than a TT, but frankly, if I were in your shoes, I'd simply say "Look I want to be around for my kids so I'm going to treat this as aggressively as possible. End. Of. Story."


----------



## Octavia

joplin1975 said:


> It's up to you, individually. I really didn't make a big production of telling anyone. I mean, yes, it's cancer and I'm not being dismissive about that...but it's thyroid cancer. It's easily treatable. The prognosis is awesome. The complication rate it low. I didn't tell anyone more or less than I would have told them it, say, I had appendicitis. Nothing on facebook...I told my parents, sent an email to a few close friends and that was that. In my mind, for me, the lower key about it I was, the more emotionally stable I could keep myself, if that makes any sense.
> 
> I've been reading about thyroid cancer for about a year now and while there is certainly enough out there to consider diet changes for autoimmune thyroid conditions, there's nothing reputable that says that cancer will die thanks to a diet. Sorry, nada, nothing. If left untreated, it can spread to your lungs...liver...any number of organs. My family is all in the medical field so there was not a soul who suggested anything less than a TT, but frankly, if I were in your shoes, I'd simply say "Look I want to be around for my kids so I'm going to treat this as aggressively as possible. End. Of. Story."


This is probably one of the best posts I've seen in a while! Well said.


----------



## Julia65

Thanks for putting things into perspective for me. So far I've told a few immediate family members and our 8 year-old. He took it well. We emphasized how easily treatable it is.

My father-in-law cornered me at a family party tonight and told me to take baking soda because it kills cancer. Then he handed me a recording of coast-to-coast interviewing a cancer doctor from Italy. I know his intentions were good, but it made me so angry.


----------



## Octavia

Julia65 said:


> My father-in-law cornered me at a family party tonight and told me to take baking soda because it kills cancer. Then he handed me a recording of coast-to-coast interviewing a cancer doctor from Italy. I know his intentions were good, but it made me so angry.


oh. On one hand, you've almost gotta give him points for trying to be helpful. On the other hand...........please don't try the baking soda treatment. Or at least don't try it in lieu of other, more conventional, proven medical approaches.

I have a cousin who, in his early 20's, was forced to temporarily drop out of college so he could endure a year of dreadful treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma. He's now in his early 30's, and told me recently that a girlfriend (no an ex-girlfriend), not long ago, said to him, "Well, at least you didn't have a _real_ cancer." (He then went on to explain that she didn't consider it a real cancer because it has a high cure rate, or at least the kind he had does.) We hear similar statements about thyroid cancer.

My point is that sometimes people who haven't experienced something themselves simply don't know what to do or say that might even be remotely helpful. Try to have low expectations of others...then you'll be pleased when people actually are helpful.


----------



## Julia65

Yes, I do realize he was trying to be helpful. And I love my father-in-law, he's a great guy. Angry is probably too strong a word. Frustrated fits much better. I was not frustrated with him, but just the whole situation and his suggestion was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back last night.

My husband is VERY cautious and often questions conventional practices of medicine. He thinks it is possible that I had a false positive on the FNA results and thinks I need to get another one done by another doctor and get a second opinion before having the TT. I just don't see how this would be helpful. He also wants to call up the pathologist who looked at my FNA samples and have a conversation with her about how certain she is that it is truly indeed cancer. And even then, he is doubting if a surgery is the right course of action.

Originally when I discovered the nodule on the MRI scan I consulted with my dad because he has known about a <1 cm nodule on his thyroid for 8 years. His recommendation then was to do nothing for 6 months and then see if it had grown. I just didn't feel good about doing that and felt that I needed to get it checked out by a doctor sooner rather than later. I'm so glad that I followed my intuition.

I feel that everything happened for a reason and this needed to come to light for me. If it wasn't for my car accident and the MRI scan it would have been much longer until I noticed symptoms. I also feel like getting the TT is the best course of action.

It feels good to type all this and get it off my chest. I know that my family members all love me and have good intentions. I just need to remember to take their advice with a grain of salt. As for my husband, I don't know what to do or to even say to him. It's frustrating.


----------



## joplin1975

You might want to tell your husband that some advise against repeat FNAs when malignant cells are found because some feel that doing so could potentially disrupt those cells and cause things to spread quicker. I don't know how accurate that information is...I'm sure you can google it...but the theory is out there.


----------



## Octavia

I can absolutely see how you would feel frustrated, discouraged, unsupported, etc. if the people you are closest to are not "on board" with your decision for how you want to move forward with this.

It's not a terrible idea to get a second FNA or call and have a conversation with the pathologist so you and your husband can have a better understanding and at least have common ground for continuing the discussion.

That said, this is such an easy cancer to cure via surgery and RAI. To me, the risks of living with it (and trying baking soda, alkaline diet, etc.) are far greater than the risks and challenges of the surgery & RAI treatment. Roger Ebert is a good example of what can happen when thyroid cancer gets out of control...and he was properly treated. (See this link if you have no idea what I'm talking about: http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310 ) Why take the chance, when treatment is so, so easy?

And I say this with 100% honesty...most days, I do not think about the cancer I had last year, other than when I take my pill. My life is exactly the same...I just had a minor hiccup a year and a half ago. Over and done.


----------



## Julia65

Are false positive results likely or possible even? I would assume no. My husband even asked the endo and he said that 99% of TTs due to cancer are indeed malignant, statistically speaking. I guess my husband just wants a second opinion. He was suspicious of the endo/ent practice that I went to because they wanted to schedule surgery right away. He thinks that they are in it for the financial gain reasons as much as anything else.

Joplin, I have heard that theory before. Interesting thought.

Octavia, thanks for the link. I will check it out for sure.

Thank you so much for the advice and support. I don't know you, but I know you've been there and think you have all given me great advice. I appreciate the time you take to help out a stranger. That means a lot!! :hugs:


----------



## Octavia

I can understand your husband's suspicions about the quick suggestion of surgery...it does have a sort of "conflict of interest" feeling when the doctor "prescribing" the surgery is the one who will be performing it. I totally get that. I had two ENTs suggest that I have surgery (based purely on appearance and discomfort) regardless of what my FNA showed...but since I had a golf ball sticking out the front of my neck (slight exaggeration), and it hurt to talk, and my swallowing was a bit funky, I wasn't going to argue!

I don't know about false positives with FNA...it would depend on what kind of cells they found. Some are pretty cut-and-dried, so to speak...others (like the cells shown in my FNA) leave a little more room for error/interpretation/inconclusiveness (I don't think that's a word, but you know what I mean!). I do know, however, that false positives are common with the "frozen section" they look at for pathology DURING the surgery itself. For example...prior my initial surgery, which was a partial thyroidectomy, my ENT said they would take a frozen section to the lab during the surgery to check for cancer. If cancer is found in that frozen section, the surgeon can make a decision to go ahead and take out the entire thyroid, rather than just doing a partial thyroidectomy. But it's a rush job at best, and there are many false positives (and false negatives, as mine was), so it's risky to believe those frozen section results. The end result for me was to go back for a second surgery a few weeks after the first so I could have the rest of my thyroid removed, since the OFFICIAL pathology showed cancer. Sometimes, the frozen section looks like cancer, but the official pathology is negative for cancer...so it's a bit of a crap shoot.

I do think your husband's heart is in the right place, and in my opinion, perhaps a call to the pathologist to talk things through would make you both feel better, you know?


----------



## joplin1975

So, what I'm reading is that the false-negative is what usually happens, but there is the possibility of a false-positive, somewhere around the 1-11% mark. Some of these are a bit older, but it seems, at least related to the false-positive, that the information is relatively consistent over time:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11002362
The review revealed 93% sensitivity and 96% specificity for the FNA diagnoses. The FNA results were diagnostic in 87%, indeterminate in 6%, and nondiagnostic in 7% of the cases. Cytohistologic correlation was achieved in 88% of the cases. The false-negative rate was 4% and the false-positive rate was 8%. The most common pitfalls for false-negative diagnoses consisted of suboptimal material and underdiagnosis of papillary carcinoma due to cystic degeneration. The most common pitfall for false-positive cases was overdiagnosis of follicular neoplasms. Our study confirmed that FNA of thyroid nodules can be performed with high sensitivity and specificity by experienced clinicians or pathologists.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19888859
The false-positive rate was 2.2%

http://ajcp.ascpjournals.org/content/125/6/873.full.pdf
Of the 364 patients, 91 (25.0%) had a false-negative
diagnosis and 36 (9.9%) a false-positive diagnosis.
Root cause analysis showed that major sources of error
were preanalytic (poor specimen quality) and analytic
(interpretation of unsatisfactory specimens as
nonneoplastic and lack of diagnostic category

I think given the size of your nodule, it is not unreasonable to assume the likelihood of a false-positive is pretty low, but I too can appreciate your husband's concern.
standardization).


----------



## Bethany79

Octavia said:


> I have a cousin who, in his early 20's, was forced to temporarily drop out of college so he could endure a year of dreadful treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma. He's now in his early 30's, and told me recently that a girlfriend (no an ex-girlfriend), not long ago, said to him, "Well, at least you didn't have a _real_ cancer." (He then went on to explain that she didn't consider it a real cancer because it has a high cure rate, or at least the kind he had does.) We hear similar statements about thyroid cancer.


That's aweful. My uncle died at 24 yrs old from Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Some people are so insensitive!

Cancer is cancer regardless of type. It should be treated quickly. Wishing you better days ahead, Julia hugs1


----------



## Julia65

Thanks Bethany.

I am feeling much better now that I have had some time to process and learn more.

We have decided that surgery is indeed the best course of action. The soonest I can get in is the third week of September because my mom (who will watch my kids, and lives in my hometown) is going to be out of town until then. She is quite the jet setter and is more often gone than home. I will need her support so we scheduled it around her availability.

Surgery is happening on September 18th. If I think about it too much, I will get nervous. For now, I am focusing on loving on my kiddos, getting their schedules and such organized, and eating as healthy as possible to prevent further spread between now and then.

My biggest worry is for my children and how they will be, but I am very blessed to have a large and supportive extended family support system as well as wonderful friends and neighbors. So, I might miss a few soccer games and a few homework assignments might slip through the cracks, but oh well. In a few years, all those kind of things will be forgotten and I will still be here to love on and participate in my children's lives.

I have so many questions and anticipate getting on here to ask them. Thanks so far for the great input!! Just taking it one step at a time.

Any tips on getting my ducks in a row before surgery?
What questions should I ask the ENT at the pre-surgery consultation?


----------



## Octavia

Julia65 said:


> Thanks Bethany.
> 
> I am feeling much better now that I have had some time to process and learn more.
> 
> We have decided that surgery is indeed the best course of action. The soonest I can get in is the third week of September because my mom (who will watch my kids, and lives in my hometown) is going to be out of town until then. She is quite the jet setter and is more often gone than home. I will need her support so we scheduled it around her availability.
> 
> Surgery is happening on September 18th. If I think about it too much, I will get nervous. For now, I am focusing on loving on my kiddos, getting their schedules and such organized, and eating as healthy as possible to prevent further spread between now and then.
> 
> My biggest worry is for my children and how they will be, but I am very blessed to have a large and supportive extended family support system as well as wonderful friends and neighbors. So, I might miss a few soccer games and a few homework assignments might slip through the cracks, but oh well. In a few years, all those kind of things will be forgotten and I will still be here to love on and participate in my children's lives.
> 
> I have so many questions and anticipate getting on here to ask them. Thanks so far for the great input!! Just taking it one step at a time.
> 
> Any tips on getting my ducks in a row before surgery?
> What questions should I ask the ENT at the pre-surgery consultation?


Wonderful!

There are several threads in the surgery area about getting ready, so I won't re-hash those, but here are a few questions to ask the ENT...

1. Will he or she use a nerve monitor to help avoid getting near your laryngeal nerve?

2. Will you be staying overnight while they monitor your calcium levels?

3. How will your incision be sealed up? (My surgeon used stitches on the inside, and glue on the outside.

4. Will you leave the hospital with a drain? (Basically, this is a little tube coming out of your neck that allows fluids to drain outside of your body. There's a little container you can stick in your bra or shirt pocket that catches the fluids, and you empty it periodically. Sounds kind of icky, but I did it twice, and it's not bad.)

That's what I can think of for now...others will have good ideas.


----------



## joplin1975

RE: the incision, if s/he says s/he will use staples, you might want to get a consult with someone else.  Just my opinion.


----------



## Julia65

When I talked to the surgery scheduler/receptionist on Saturday, she said that I am indicated for a possible neck dissection. I wasn't sure what this was, but it sounded scary. So I googled it. Looking at the images was a mistake!

Does neck dissection only refer to removal of lymph nodes, or the type of incision you will need, or both.

I am worried about a giant scar on my neck.

Oh, and for what it is worth, the surgeon will use surgical glue on the outer layer. The scheduler/receptionist says that he is an excellent surgeon and she has sent some family members to him. (he's an ENT) From the research I did, he checks out. Good reviews on Health Grades, board certified, etc. How else can you tell if he is a good surgeon?


----------



## Octavia

Julia65 said:


> When I talked to the surgery scheduler/receptionist on Saturday, she said that I am indicated for a possible neck dissection. I wasn't sure what this was, but it sounded scary. So I googled it. Looking at the images was a mistake!
> 
> Does neck dissection only refer to removal of lymph nodes, or the type of incision you will need, or both.


This is an interesting question, and I'm glad you asked it because I've just learned something new!

I had two surgeries. My first one did not include "neck dissection" but my second one did, unbeknownst to me until after the surgery. All the doctor said afterwards was that he did a neck dissection, and things looked good. I had NO IDEA until now that he (probably) removed lymph nodes. (I'm assuming he did, since that appears to be the definition of dissection.)

Anyway, my scar is no longer than any of the other scars I've seen posted here...about 3-4 inches long at the bottom/front of my neck. I think when they throw the word "radical" in there, that's when the longer incision would take place.

Curious to hear from others...


----------



## joplin1975

A central neck dissection refers to the removal of the 10 lymph nodes directly next to the thyroid (5 on each side). I, too, had one but was not told about it beforehand. It was one of those things...once they "got" in there, it looked worse than it was and so they did the dissection.

The nodes are very small and proximal to the thyroid so your scar will not be any larger than anyone who was "just" getting a TT. There are those who have total neck dissections and they do need a larger scar, but yours should be fine.

Mine is about two to two and a half inches long...Wednesday is my "year anniversary" and the scar is virtually invisible unless you go looking for it.


----------



## Julia65

About 2 months ago, I was holding my then 8 month old daughter on my lap under her arms so she was standing/kicking. She kicked me in a spot near my groin that sent shooting pain in my abdomen and into my right leg. It was still hurting a little later that night, and I noticed that there was a little lump there.

I asked the doctor who ordered the MRI for my neck about it and he said, "oh it's probably just a swollen lymph node." I thought that didn't sound too serious so I didn't worry about it. Then we discovered the thyroid nodule, turns out it is cancer etc. etc.

So that got me wondering about the supposedly swollen lymph node. It does cause me quite a bit of pain from time to time. On Saturday, I could not hold my baby because it hurt so badly.

I asked the endo about it (on the day I learned about the cancer) and he told me to call my OB. I called the OB and she said that she does not deal with those kinds of things. So... I called a family doctor hoping he could at least point me in the right direction.

He did an exam and noted that there are 2 swollen lymph nodes. One large and one small. He asked if I have herpes, I do not. He asked if I have had a recent pelvic infection or UTI, I have not. So then he referred me to a general surgeon to have it either biopsied or removed saying there is a chance it is lymphoma and considering the thyroid cancer, I ought to get it checked out sooner rather than later. I asked if it could be a cyst and he thought that it wasn't.

So, what do you think? Should I see a general surgeon, an oncologist, or a hematologist? I really, really, really, hope that this is nothing.

I'm drinking some more beet/carrot/celery juice!


----------



## Julia65

ps thanks for the info about the scar. I was a little worried it would be "T" shaped. I don't mind a small scar at all. Lots to think about these days...


----------



## joplin1975

Ugh, when it rains it pours, uh?

I think I would go to a general surgeon just because it might be easier to get in to see him/her than it would any kind of oncologist or hematologist (without a referral/possible dx first, that it).

I hope you feel less lumpy and much better soon.  You haven't had a regular ol' CBC panel run lately, have you?


----------



## Julia65

Have an appointment for next Wednesday with the general surgeon. More waiting and wondering...This is all hard for me because I have always been very healthy, athletic, a healthy eater etc. I very much dislike the idea of being sick and relying on others. But, I believe God works all things for our good. I keep asking myself what I can learn from this and how I can be a better person.

Joplin--Happy 1 year TT today! Thanks for your support and encouragement!!


----------



## SickofMyThyroid

Julia,

I just wanted to tell you that I'm thinking of you and I understand how you are feeling to a certain extent. Although, my results were benign, I felt the same way you are feeling before surgery. I have 5 small children too and I couldn't help but wonder how I was going to be able to handle everything going on in my daily life with the kids. It must be a very scary time for you and I will pray that you find the strength that you will need to get through this all.


----------

