Up and At ‘Em

There’s not much to report this time, but as it’s been a full week, I thought I’d drop a line.  I’ve rested, I’ve let people do things for me, and I’ve appreciated pain management.  I’ve slept, and I’ve gotten stir-crazy.  I am cautiously getting back to some normalcy.  Went out for lunch and ran errands yesterday.  Had a job interview today.  I’m OK for a few hours in the world, but it just about wipes me out.

They ran a second calcium level check yesterday, and it indicated that my parathyroid glands have bounced back and no longer need the huge doses of supplements I’ve been giving them.  I had been taking 5 pills a day for calcium, and I’ll be glad reduce my pill count.  That and calcium supplements can upset the tummy. 

The pathology report should be back mid-to-late next week.  Statistically, there’s a 50% chance of one or more small cancer spots (about 1-2mm in size).  It won’t really change my treatment or prognosis, but I’m still really looking forward to knowing what they find.  We’ll also test my thyroid hormone levels (synthetic, of course) next week.  Then we’ll start adjusting those supplements accordingly.  One of the goals of thyroid supplements for cancer patients (or survivors, if you prefer)  is to suppress TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Homone, produced by the Pituitary gland to tell the thyroid how much hormones to make).  TSH can encourage any stray thyroid cells (benign and not-so-benign) to grow.  It’s in my best interest to keep the buggers down.  The other and more important goal of thyroid supplements is to just have a healthy, working metabolism.  I think that sounds nice.

Thanks to all of you for calls and notes.  Special thanks to J for picking me up and escorting me to the pharmacy while I was still loopy on Vicodin, to Girlsnqueers for cooking me lunch and paying me a lovely mid-day visit, to C for the lovely floral delivery, to D for an excuse to go out to lunch and for the beautiful calendar, and to A and E for a great long-distance game of peek-a-boo (Skype rocks).

Best wishes to you all.  Thanks for the support.

Slicing and Dicing: Mission Accomplished

It’s official:  I no longer have a thyroid.  I’m feeling tender but fine.  Hospitals are boring.  Realsupergirl and I have made the most of it though.

We played cards.  (Realsupergirl bought them today in the hospital gift shop. )

If Georgia O'Keefe designed playing cards.

I ate! Finally!  No, seriously, they made me wait ’til like 7:30 pm, after having fasted since Midnight.  Eating was a major event today.

Hospital Meatloaf

And we admired my new gash.

My new scar!

We’re now comfortably camped out in a private room.  I’m disconnected from the tubes and wires.  I’ve even had a diet coke!  My temp it slightly elevated, so I’ve got a little breathing exercise toy to prevent pneumonia.  Faulkner Hospital is just full of fun and excitement!

Thanks to Girlsnqueers for keeping my sweetie entertained.  To Patrick for bringing movies.  To my mom, sis, and sister-not-in-law for the pretty flowers.  And to countless others who’ve called, emailed, and facebook commented with support.

Somebody loves me.

Protected: A little T4 goes a long way.

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Protected: Intolerant, Unsupportive

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The little hemi-thyroid that couldn’t.

It’s official, my remaining half-thyroid isn’t stepping it up to create the hormones I need between now and the surgery.  My TSH* has been steadily increasing, and as of Sunday it was 7.38.**  So I’m about to begin taking a medication I will take for the rest of my life–synthetic thyroid hormones.

*TSH = Thyroid Stimulating Hormone.  Produced by the pituitary to tell they thyroid to make more hormones.

**When my nodule was found, my TSH was 3.19.  There is disagreement about what TSH levels should be treated, however the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists encourages doctors to consider treatment for patients who test outside range of 0.3 to 3.04 (being what they consider a normal range).  These guidleines were established in 2002, and many doctors and laboratories still use the previous normal range of 0.5 to 5.0.

Pathology Report

Pathology Report, originally uploaded by kaphine.

Clicking the picture will take you to a larger, legible version.

The Cancer Nanny

Now that the initial shock of the pathology report has settled in, and I know that the medical picture is gonna be OK (even though it’s gonna suck for the next few months), I’ve found another related issue to really stress over.

I’m currently in a job transition, and applying for a new position, hopefully to start in January. I’m afraid that the fact that I’ll need to take time off for surgery, and time off again for RAI (radioactive iodine treatment) will make families choose to hire other applicants. It’s not like an office job, where work can sit on a desk for a week. My time away from work causes a family to do some real juggling. Why would they hire me over someone else? When do I tell a prospective employer? How up front should I be? Should I wait until the job offer, and tell them when we’re working out the terms? I’m really worried that a family will be scared off. And I know that working out time for the various doctor appointments will be inconvenient. At least my health insurance is through my spouse, and I won’t need ongoing chemo or radiation.

Oh, and will this be one of those “preexisting conditions” that will make future health insurance potentially tricky?

Can I find more angles on this to fret about?

Protected: Well, shit, now what? (a medical update)

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Protected: You Call That a Scar? (Day 13)

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Protected: How do you measure recovery?

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