All Clear! (well kind of…)

I had a busy day with 2 doctor appointments! Grandpa was my chauffer to the first and mom drove me to the second.

First one was with the dentist to get my new retainer. His assistant saw my stitches and steri-strips and asked what happened to my neck (I had a diamond necklace surgically implanted so no one could steal it). My dentist knows what has been going on and he asked how I was doing and what the results were. I said I didn’t know yet but I was getting my results (hopefully) and my stitches taken out in the afternoon. Then he graciously offered to take my stitches out and I told him no way, I still wanted to like him after the appointment!

Then I had lunch with Grandpa and mom at Russ’ where they did the handoff. Then mom and I headed up to the Surgeon’s office to get my stitches pulled out and to hear the results of my pathology. He came into the room and immediately said that my right lobe and lymph node were all clear of cancer! YAY! I was still digesting this news as he pulled out the stitch. Then he did some reflex tests because of my calcium issues and gave me lab slips to check my calcium (today) and my TSH (next week). I’m still on the Tums but he did mention tapering the dose if this test comes back good!

Future plan: I'm still having the RAI because of the tumor on the left lobe - we still don’t know if it spread on that side to lymph nodes, etc. I will have a whole body scan with a tracer dose of RAI and whatever that shows determines the dosage for the real RAI. After I get the real deal RAI I will get another super sensitive whole body scan – this one will tell us if even a tiny amount of cancer went anywhere else, and the real deal RAI will kill it.

So its now a waiting game until my TSH levels go above the 30’s. (I’m starting from 0.34), at which time we can schedule the first scan and appointment with nuclear medicine (the thyroid cancer version of chemo/radiation).

	Z scar & swelling 3 days after surgery
scar & swelling 1 week after surgery with stitches removed a