yahoo confirmed!

My doc called today and told me that no, I will not have to do radioiodine for sure! As far as I know I'm cancer free and will just have to be monitored forever. I'm also excited because I get to start real thyroid meds tomorrow morning (not the temporary stuff.) Which means I should be back to my old self in no time! YAY! Thanks so much to all of you for so much support :)

Yay! Yippee! and Yahoo!

I went to my new doctor today (endocronologist). And although he hasn't given me a definite NO, he thinks that I will probably not have to do the radioiodine! I'm so excited! Maybe I shouldn't be, because there's still a chance I have to have it. But he says the chance is very unlikely.

I do have to go off my meds for 7 - 10 days, so I'll be tired during that time. Then I will have a lab test. Then the doctor will call me and let me know if my labs look good. If they are good, he's already given me a prescription for my permanent meds (which will be SO much better than the temorary ones I'm on now.)

If I do have to do the radioiodine it's worse than I thought. I have to be away from the kids for 7 days. Apparently, even if I don't get it done now, there's always a possibility I may have to get it done in the future. But I'm going to be seeing this doctor for a while and he'll be checking everything out so I'll know what I need to get done if anything comes up.

I just reread this and it seems hard to read, but I'm really excited (and off my meds) so I may not be the best at forming sentences. I will let you all know for sure next week at the end of the week.

new doc

I made an appt with my new doctor (the endocronologist). It's in a month. I'm going to try and get a yes or a no before my appointment. But if they can't tell me I'm just going to plan on having the radioiodine and try and plan for it. I'll be making some low/no iodine dinners, muffins, and breads, and putting them in the freezer. That should help me to feel less anxious. I'll also have some neighbors on standby in case I need some extra help. Dan's going to try and get off work early during those 2 weeks. So I'm hanging in there.

In other news - I'm dying to sew something! So last night while we were watching a movie I made some more of these.

I will eventually make a quilt with them all, but I'm not sure when that will be. The idea behind these is to use scraps AND to put fabrics together that aren't from the same line (something I need to work on). This techniques is called English paper piecing. There is an excellent tutorial for it here. I buy my paper shapes and there are lots of other shapes available here.

I also started working on the back of my wonky star quilt so that I can start quilting it someday. I'm still not sure how I want to quilt it. Any ideas?

sigh (or ugghh)

I went to the doctor today. I asked him if he can give me a for sure YES or NO on radioactive iodine. He can't. I have to wait until I see the endocronologist AND after he looks at my labs. But my doctor (surgeon) thinks I probably will have to have the radioactive iodine.

I'm really bummed. I've known this was a possibility the whole time but I just kept hoping I wouldn't have to do it. Here's what happens: for 2 weeks before the treatment I have to stop taking my thyroid meds. So I will have pretty much no energy. During those 2 weeks I also have to eat no iodine. That means I have to make all the food myself and I can't eat anything prepared (no bread, no dairy, I'm not sure what else yet.) After those 2 weeks I do the radioactive iodine and I need to stay with someone who has no kids and has an extra bathroom.

So it's going to be even longer until I feel back to normal and I'm going to be totally useless for about 3 weeks. I know this isn't going to last forever and that lots of people have it a lot worse than me but this still sucks and I wish I didn't have to do it. I want to be making Halloween costumes and quilts and Christmas things, but instead I just sit here. I did read a book yesterday. But I need to paint my ceiling in my room and make a dress and the list goes on. Anyway - I'm frustrated and I felt like writing about it on here. Sorry for complaining.

grateful

for my mom coming to help us for over a week
for my mother-in-law coming to help for a week
for getting my stitches out and my scar healing rather quickly
for my ward finishing (for the most part) our fence (photos coming someday)
for dan
for the greatest ward ever
for several lovely floral bouquets, a fruit basket, and some caramel apples
for having to stay in the hospital only 1 night
for sleep
for scarves and turtlenecks (both of which I have never really been fond)
for modern medicine (surgery, pain pills, good doctors and nurses, and thyroid medication)
for you and all your nice comments, emails, thoughts, and prayers

thank you, really.

yep.

It was cancer. I'm kind of disappointed because it would have been nice to have it all over with. But I'm sure everything will still work out okay. I might not have to have radioactive iodine, I guess I find out after meeting with an endocronologist in a month or more. So there are still a few more unknowns and waiting.

But here's what I do know: There was only 1 tumor with cancer (good), the cancer was contained in that tumor and doesn't look like it had spread (good), they removed a lymph node next to the tumor that looked suspicious but it was not cancerous (good), the cancer was small (also good).

Also - good thing I had the whole thing removed or I would have been having another surgery soon. Thanks for your prayers on that one.

So I guess I will keep you posted, but I probably won't know too much for a week or so (when I go back to the doctor.)

p.s. - My scar is really scary looking (please don't say "just in time for halloween"). I've been debating taking a photo of it let alone putting it up on the blog. The kids asked me to cover it up so I've been wearing a bandana and they called me "cowgirl McKenzie". (Not sure who that is, but I'll take it as a compliment.)

thyroid update

So I had my thyroid out yesterday. The whole thing. The docs said that everything went well and I'm home now on Tuesday night. I'm tired but not in tons of pain. I'm glad to be home. Thanks for all the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. Just wanted you all to know that it's done and I'm doing well. I should find out in a few days if it's cancer or not. I'll let you know, of course.

new doctor

I saw the new doctor this morning. He was great. His staff was great. Everyone was nice and helpful and I feel like I have so much more information about everything.

I have a date for surgery. If you'd like to know the date, email Jamie (or me if you don't have her email.) They will remove my right thyroid and its five nodules. They probably will not be able to tell if it is cancerous until the nodules are fully dissected (which I'll find out about a week after the surgery). If they do find out for sure during the surgery that it is cancer they will also remove the left thyroid. If they find out it's cancer after the surgery they will for sure go in and remove the left side in another surgery.

Right now I have the option of deciding if they should remove the entire thyroid in one surgery or if they should just remove the right side now.

Right side only: I may or may not be able to make enough thyroid with only the left side. So I may have to be on thyroid medication and I may not. I will have to get the left side checked yearly and I will probably eventually have to have it removed someday. Maybe 5 years, maybe 15, but it's likely it will also have to be removed eventually.

Total thyroid removal - Will for sure have to take thyroid medication for the rest of my life. The results could come back not cancer after they've removed the entire thing.

I'm not sure what to do yet. I would love it if you could specify your prayers for me to know what is the right decision. We have all been doing well around here emotionally, and I know all your prayers and thoughts are helping us with that.

September 6th we will be fasting that everything will go well with the surgery and that I'll be able to make the right decisions. I'd love it if you'd fast for me that day or be sending good vibes my way.

p.s. I'd love to be able to get back to each of you with thank yous and answers. But unfortulately I don't have the time. I've had so many well wishes and thoughts and comments and visits that I can hardly keep up with my everyday life. Keep those all coming (I really love all the love), but just know that I may not be able to get back to you right away. If you're in my family my sister Jamie is fielding questions for me. If you're in my neighborhood my friend Jane is fielding questions for me. Thank you.

loved

I forgot to tell you all that the best thing about this health issue so far is that everyone's telling me and showing me that they love and care for me. It's a little hard to hear because I always cry, but it is so nice to feel so loved. I have told pretty much everyone I know and everyone has been so thoughtful and concerned. Everyone has offered prayers and thoughts on my behalf and I know those are helping me stay calm and at peace.

Since I've told people I've found an excellent doctor, told my kids (which turned out to be easier than I thought it would be), and felt much more at ease with things, even though I still don't really know what's going on.

So thanks so much to all of you who've said prayers for me, sent emails, made comments, put good vibes into the universe, offered to help, and watched my kids, I really appreciate all the love.

man, it's been a while!

On my last post I think I promised to blog about our fun family reunion, but then things got weird and I didn't do much at all.

After the reunion my mom and dad took the three older boys back to their house in Spokane. It was going to be 10 days with just Luke and Dan. Then Dan had to go out of town. So he was there for the weekend, left for 5 days, there again for the weekend. Can I just say how easy 1 kid is compared to 4? So easy! And then we left to meet the kids and everyone else in my family (except 1 brother and fam) in Lincoln City, Oregon.

I was going to get so much done! We were going to finish the fence (then Dan had to go), I was going to paint the trim and ceiling in my room (which was done very badly when we moved in and is hard to look at when I'm lying in bed), I was going to paint the stairwell, paint the front door, do all kinds of things, but then . . .

I went to the OB for a routine check up. He found a tumor in my thyroid. I ended up spending most of the time worrying and going to the doctor. I had a biopsy and an ultrasound. The biopsy results came back Friday morning (right when Dan was getting back.) This is what the doctor said,

"Biopsy came back highly suspicious, most likely cancer. But don't worry, it has a 98% cure rate."

I tried not to freak out, but it was hard. Cancer is scary. But there are also LOTS of cancer survivors. I spent the rest of the weekend looking up thyroid cancer. There are 4 kinds, 3 of which (99% of the cases) are nearly 100% treatable. They still don't know which kind I have or if I even have it. So as far as I know I am having my thyroid removed and biopsied while I'm in surgery. Then they will know what we're dealing with.

I've felt much better about everything after the break in Oregon, and after doing some research and after having 2 blessings (one from Dan and one from my Dad). I've also changed doctors. I asked all the doctor friends/med students/people who've had this surgery before and they all told me about the same doctor. He only does head and neck cancer surgery. So he's good. And nice. I have an appointment with him tomorrow morning. I believe we will get a surgery scheduled then.

I don't know how many of you even made it this far! But I just wanted everyone to know what's going on. And I want you to know that I think everything's going to be fine. And I may or may not be blogging for the next little while, but it would probably be better to do some projects so I don't sit here worrying and doing nothing.