Thought I would just blog a minute about what has been going on lately in hopes that it will get people motivated. Every month I give myself "Self Exams". In July I was doing my exam and ran my fingers over my throat area. I felt something very small and hard. I was curious about it and knew that it wasn't there last month on my own self exam. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me or maybe it was really there all along but I just now felt it as a part of my bone. But I decided to keep an eye on it just in case. A few weeks later I was getting off a ride at the fair, I rubbed my neck and I felt it again. It felt bigger and I just knew it wasn't my mind. I started telling my family about it, but it didn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Until it got a little bigger. I started having everyone touch my neck Ryan felt it and his eyes got BIG. He said you need to go to the Doctor. The next day I talked to my boss and then booked my appointment that day. I went to an Internal Doctor, he said he felt something as well. But he had no worries he thought it was a goiter. He wanted to be on the safe side and send me for an ultrasound. That day as soon as they put the ultrasound on me, my mom and I immediately saw the thing in my throat. It looked like a little egg sitting there. By this time the lump was so big I felt like I was choking to death or something was always stuck in my throat. I was constantly lethargic, being in the sun made me really weak, I had a constant cough and my lymph nodes on the back of my neck swelled so much I had to keep a heating pad on them to ease the pain. After the ultrasound came back, the Doc referred me to an Endocrinologist for a Fine needle biopsy. When I was there it was just for a consultation about how the biopsy would go. When she saw the report of the ultrasound she did an immediate biopsy. The size was bigger than they wanted it to be. She called in people from all different departments. Radiology, pathology etc. Pathology was there to see if there were any "CELLS" if there weren't any cells more than likely it was a cyst. But he shouted out "we have cells'. They did 2 biopsies and I waited a few days for the results.
The results came back undetermined but they kept talking about follicular cells, which are cells that can grow into cancer. At that point they decided to send me to a surgeon to take out my right Thyroid. I was kind of glad it was coming out because I don't think I could have lasted much longer being so lethargic and choking all the time. The day of my surgery the Surgeon said while I was still on the operating table they will do more pathology tests on it to see if it is cancerous. He said I only had a 10% chance of it being cancer. If it was cancer they would take out my left side of my thyroid too and give me a radiation treatment and I would be done. I came out of surgery and they said they didn't find cancer but they were still concerned about the small follicular cells. They told me my official and final pathology report would be back the next week.
Wed 9-9-09 I called the office to check on my pathology report, because I knew if anything were wrong I would have to have another surgery. The nurse was confusing me, the doctor was out for vacation but she didn't want me to have to wait on the results so another Doc explained my report to her. She kept saying that all the tissue reports came back really really good for someone who has papillary carsonoma. She said that was common in people with thyroid cancer. I said great I am glad I don't have cancer. She said no dear You Do Have Cancer! I was shocked, stunned, confused, worried. I just about fell out of my chair, I was shaking. I was confused because she said the tissue was normal, which it was but the growth on my thyroid was cancer.
When I went back to the Endocrinologist they said I caught it REALLY REALLY early. If I had never done my own self exams it could have grown and spread to my lungs or my lymph nodes. I caught it while it was still the size of a PEA. My family was so excited to hear that news. And all the Doctors were shocked that I found it on my own. I was so proud of myself. I am still in recovery at home for another 2 weeks. I do know now that I won't have to go through Chemo. I still may need my other side taken out- because unfortunately it can grow back. I still may need a radiation treatment. But any advise that I can give to anyone is that Early Detection is KEY! I hope everyone will do their own exams and know there body well enough to know when something is not right.
