6 months later....

May 2010 rolls around....still battling VERTIGO daily...crazy right?

So, now it is time to go back in and do the ultra sound of my thyroid again to see if the nodule is gone, still there, bigger, etc. The moment the tech begins, she says "Oh yeah, it is there." She continues her scan and goes on saying, "We will be doing another guided biopsy."

I am thinking..."Great." The doctor comes in and begins numbing the area he will be going in to get samples. He used 7...SEVEN...needles to numb the area. I should be completely numb right? WRONG. He begins the biopsy of the nodule and BAM! I can feel it! Ouch! This was very uncomfortable, but I knew I had to get it finished! Luckily, I knew God was there right with me, holding my hand...and so was the ultrasound tech. (She felt so bad...) He gets what he needs and gets the needles out. The pathologist looks at the slides and says...we need MORE! WHAT?!?! So, the doctor goes back in...with needles (me still feeling some of them) and gets what he can. Finally I am finished.

I recover for about 45 minutes and leave the office. The very next week, I go back to see my best friend (ENT...) and he says, "Well, it still has atypical cells. And...it is suspicious for papillary carcinoma." I am thinking papillary what?!?! Luckily, he explains that papillary carcinoma is a type of thyroid cancer...a very common thyroid cancer. He explains how many people have it and don't even know. There are simply no symptoms.

Ok...I still have dizziness and feel off balance EVERYWHERE I go. I am now on Xanex 2-3 times a day to help me make it through teaching. I HATE being on medicine, but this is all that helped. 


So...suspicious for this papillary carcinoma? What do we do about it? I have two options:
1. You can wait 3 more months and go in for another guided biopsy to see if it is still suspicious or if it has become cancer.
2. You can undergo surgery to have half of your thyroid removed, along with the nodule. (You can live with half of your thyroid and be ok)....

So what do I do? Pray....I've found that the ONE and ONLY thing that has gotten me through this year or craziness is prayer. My faith grew stronger within the past year because sometimes I felt like there would NEVER be an answer. 


Ok...decision time!
I talk with my parents, who have been so supportive...I talk with my boyfriend...who has been through ALL of this with me (and stuck around :) ). I talk with my friends and finally decide:

I'm going to have surgery....again. This time on my thyroid! 


June 29, 2011 was the date. I had just finished my first year of teaching (yes, I am 25...very rare to find thyroid cancer in someone so young). I had the summer off and was ready to tackle this.

I go in, have the surgery, come home with ANOTHER drainage tube and VERY sick from anesthesia. Luckily, a doctor was on-call and called in some phenergan. What a difference! So, I get out of the hospital on a Friday and go into the office to get my drainage tube removed the following Monday. My ENT was not there so another ENT comes in and takes my tube out...OUCH! It was a horrible feeling. The tube was very long and was hard on the inside...

Ok...I can leave and come back Thursday for suture removal...WRONG! My pathology reports came back sooner that anticipated. The physician, not my primary ENT, thought I had already heard...but no...

I hear, "It came back as positive for PAPILLARY CARCINOMA..."


WHAT?!?!?! 


I thought it was just suspicious and the surgery was a precautionary procedure?!?


How did it go from suspicious to malignant in a MONTH?!?!


Talk about a HUGE shock....


The attending physician was not the kindest of ENTs, so I walked away thinking...the worse. 


Thursday rolls around and I see my BEST FRIEND again...my ENT. He explains everything in a better light and calms my nerves. He explains that there are many opinions as to taking the other side of my thyroid out, but his advice would be to remove the rest of my thyroid...cancer or not. Okay....another surgery. (


side note: First things first, I will have a CT scan to look for any suspicious lymph nodes...done...and nothing came up...THANKFULLY!)


"When? School starts in a month! I teach individuals with significant disabilities! They need me! Can we wait? Please?"


No...We can't wait. The ENT will be going into the same incision to try and keep it small and eventually unnoticeable. Okay...when? September 7, 2011. Okay...I can lesson plan, find a good sub, and my students will be okay, right?


It has to be right...the surgery was scheduled. I would have a thyroid lobectomy/thyroid completion surgery on September 7, 2011.


School rolls around...the news spreads. I am overwhelmed with the support and prayers that I receive from past friends, my home church, my family, current friends, my family, and my loving boyfriend. (He has really stuck around?).... :)


I try to be strong for myself and for my students. I want to give them 100% while I can...


September 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6......7th.


I go through surgery (at a different hospital) and receive a fabulous experience. From the admissions to nurses to anesthesiologists to my best friend (ENT) to everyone I came in contact with in the hospital.

"I am going to be okay. God has everything under control...and has from the beginning."


Recovery was so much better. I had the drain tube removed before coming home, which was a relief. My mom was here again during and after this surgery/recovery. What an incredible relief!

I go back to the ENT a week later and get my sutures removed. The pathology report came back from the left side thyroid removal...and all I see is BENIGN, BENIGN, BENIGN.....Praise the Lord!
(Two of my parathyroid glands were removed during surgery-not planned but I still had one working parathyroid...so I am okay!)

Next? I discuss radioactive iodine treatment and being referred to a new best friend, my endocrinologist.

Good news..actually GREAT NEWS....since my thyroid completion surgery...the VERTIGO was gone..completely. Really? Could this be it? I was on NO drugs for dizziness or being off balance. Another time to Praise the LORD! :)

keep reading...you will make it! :)