We have to go back about 5 years to start. I was working on this terrible Hallmark movie and everyone on the crew got really sick at the end. We were working 14-16 hour days and Soda was about a year old, so I wasn't getting much rest. When I got this cold, my lymph-nods swelled, and when I got better, one went down, the other didn't. It grew in fact, and by spring 2006 it looked like a golf ball. I had been to the doctor several times, but we figured I was still sick, so after trying steroids and other meds, she finally sent me to an ENT and for a blood panel.
I went to see the ENT in April, and at that point I had been working on Coraline for about 5 months, and the ENT ran some tests that would blow your mind, where they stick lots and lots of needles in the neck, and then the results came back. I had thyroid cancer. He actually told me it wasn't that bad, it was cancer-lite, because most everyone recovers with no more cancer. But I apparently had it for 18 years, when they took out my thyroid, they had to remove 100 cancer nodules, and it had metastasized to the lymph-nods and to the muscle in my neck. But they got rid of it. And I have a cool scar across my neck.
This led to me seeing an endocrinologist on a regular basis, ever quarter my blood is tested and my medication level checked and once a year she runs a test that takes 5 days where I get these shots, then take radiation, get scanned and get the results. If you can make it to year 5 with no new thyroid cells, you're pretty much in the clear. So this last October was year 4, and my dr. said that since my blood levels are perfect and there have been no cells for the last 4 years, let's just do a CT Scan, it takes only 15 minutes and it's better then having to go through a weeks testing. I said great.
I have never had a CT Scan, and if you have not, here's how it goes, they lay you on a table, put in an IV, inject you with a dye and scan you. It's fast, I don't like the dye, makes me feel sick. But I got out quick, had a nice bowl of Pho and went on with my day. I got an email from my internist a few days later saying that the good news was that I had no thyroid cells, but that there was something irregular in my brain, probably some dye, and that she wanted me to have another CT scan because there was the chance it might not be dye, it might be an aneurysm. Then my endocrinologist office called and asked if I could come in the next day at 6pm, the doctor needed to speak with me. I knew that wasn't good news. That was Oct 2009.
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Sharing this with you Sarah for several reasons. I'm sure it can be irritaiting to hear "other people's" experience! But, I am compelled because I have been think about much of what you are talking about for about 20 years.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you have the support of all those around you!
In my 20's I had a golf ball sized nodule that would not go away even after a year of needle asperations.
After having a partial parathyroidectomy 20 years ago, I have never been satisfied with the answers I was given.
Then the surgery to determine the malignant or benign status. I never had hyper or hypo thyroidism then or now and was told I had no cancer.
Since then, I have had bouts of lumps around my ears and neck. I started the crazy Bikram yoga (any yoga will do) about 5 years ago. Finally stopped smoking 4 years ago.
Recently I went to a Lymphatic Massage person. I started revisiting the Physiology and Anatomy classes I have taken.
Over 80% of the Lymph is traveling directly under the skin! It is busy doing a lot of things: bathing the brain & spinal cord in fluid and assisting the blood transfering many important items in and out of the blood. A lot of the time the lymph is going against gravity with no pump like the heart to help it along! Only deep breathing and our own movement around the world helps it move!
I know you probably know all of this stuff... but I also know that it seems like I was never given this information when I was going through a year of tests.
Maybe these days, they are sharing basic information that may inform you of things you can do to help you... besides the test and medication... which are all very valid and necessary.
Last week when I had my 1st lymphatic massage the lady told me that Hydrotherapy was the best thing for the lymph... I have never heard this before!
I have made a commitment to take baths and go to the Wellness Center Soaking tub with the crazy jets whenever I need to. It is cheaper than getting a massage. I get in until I feel like a lobster and then cool down for a few minutes and do it again. I wish they had an Infra Red Sauna... that is supposed to be really healing.
Thank you again for sharing you story! It matters, it is important and you are important!
Thanks Kelly, I appreciate your comments. It's really interesting because I had a lump at 18 and they ran the blood test and it came back negative, and even with the golf ball on my neck (which turned out to be a cyst off of the thyroid, not the lymph) they ran the blood test and it said negative. I read the Thyroid for Dummies book and it even said that the test is crap, it's too broad, they have to be much more like the test that the endocrinologist gives me, because that targets a very specific range. In the end, without the thyroid and on the replacement therapy, I feel fantastic. I have energy I never had before and a metabolism that works. Coupled with running and pilates, I feel like a new person. I laughed when the dr. asked me, "Didn't you feel tired?" I said, "I had a year old baby and worked in film and event management my whole life, I was tired, I just didn't realize it was a different tired." Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI am going to ask my neurologist when and if I can go in hot tubs and saunas again, because there is still a strong chance of stroke in my case due to the moyamoya. Sounds therapeutic.