Happy New Year!!!! It’s a NEW YEAR which means NEW START! No more looking back to whatever might have gotten the best of you in 2016 (or even past that 😉 )…it’s time for NOW. Don’t even look ahead to 2018….look at today, January 4, 2017. It’s the only day you have guaranteed at this very moment. I absolutely love New Year’s Day because of the new beginnings. Even if I know my year is beginning with struggle.
Okay so the cat is out of the bag (thank God)! I have Papillary Thyroid Cancer. I figured I’d just say it before I go into the details of how, by the ultimate Grace of God, we found it, and what is going to be done.
I haven’t had the energy to write in the past few months and I’ve mentioned that in a few of my most recent blogs. I had been in the hospital in the middle of October and after a three day stay neither Cardio or Neuro could pinpoint the culprit of my symptoms (extreme fatigue, heaviness in the chest, ache down the left arm, left leg, and up my middle back, periodic numbness like a burning fire in my hands, blurred vision, etc.) My Neurologist kept me coming in for more testing, including the torture EMG test (where they stick needles in your muscles and nerves, fire up an electric shock, and determine if there is any damage) but nothing was showing up.
Here is where I personally see God stepping in quite literally. My son, Seth, just so happened to start dating this young girl, who’s father is a Cardiac Surgeon in Houston. When he heard all that was going on with me he requested to see all of my tests that both Cardio and Neuro had completed. And he suggested I go see my Rheumatologist too, just to rule anything autoimmune out.
What came of this was his radiologist finding a 1.5cm nodule on my thyroid that looked ‘suspicious’ and a .9cm nodule on my lung. Because I don’t smoke I was told the lung wasn’t too much of a concern but should have it checked yearly, unless something else comes up that brings it into question. And I needed to go get an ultrasound on my thyroid. At this point the radiologist was looking at the CT Scan’s and MRI’s I had done in the hospital. And my Rheumatologist found that my levels were FINE…I am still in remission from RA and have no autoimmune markers.
Here is a lesson learned: GET YOURSELF A GENERAL DOCTOR. I do not have a ‘general doctor’. I go see my Gynecologist for a yearly well-woman visit and have always just taken that as my ‘doctor’…otherwise I’d go to a RediClinic or minor ER. Because I didn’t have a general doctor I did not have anyone ‘leading the fight’ as my new Endocrinologist put it. Which has lent for too much time wasted and confusion in correspondence between doctors, blood tests drawn, and all the unnecessary testing, or testing not done, etc. (I’ll spare you the boring details of that wasted time and confusion that ultimately led me to MDAnderson on December 20th.)
On December 20th, MDA confirmed the nodule to be ‘suspicious’ and also found a ‘suspicious’ lymph node near it in my neck that is not reachable by Fine Needle Aspiration (biopsy).
On December 27th, a biopsy was done and the diagnosis of Papillary Thyroid Cancer was confirmed by the pathologist and radiologist.
On January 3rd, I met with my new Endocrinologist who gave me some GOOD NEWS as far as having cancer goes. It appears to be ‘contained’ in the right side of my thyroid and that lymph node. Granted, until they go in for surgery they don’t know for certain, BUT, at this point, that is what the ultrasound shows. Which means I am just STAGE 1 and can get it taken out possibly without having to do RAI treatment (radiation). At this point it is NOT emergency surgery because it appears to be slow growing, which means I can go on with the exciting endeavors I have scheduled for Hopeful Hearts Ministry (at Baylor College) and the GALA in February.
On January 26th I will meet with my surgeon and we will discuss if I will take out 1/2 of the thyroid or the whole thing. The issue with that is if I take out only half I will most likely have to go back in for a second surgery within 5 years to take out the final side. So, it’s something for me to pray about. No matter what, I believe I have to do the T4 and T3 therapy to ‘speak’ as my thyroid which can be a tricky adjustment.
So there you have it! I will say that now that I finally have answers and a better idea of what my plan ‘can’ be…I am much better emotionally. Having to ‘wait’ between each test was difficult. And then getting the diagnosis and having to ‘wait’ to figure out what to do was even more excruciating. NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR THEY HAVE CANCER! Even IF it is considered ‘the good kind’ as thyroid cancer is often ‘dubbed’. Heck, last year when I had the Squamish cell cancer on my back I didn’t like the thought of that either!!!! 😉
I am grateful to have a cancer that is ‘contained’ and easier to treat than most. SO GRATEFUL. I’m even more grateful we caught it when we did because it would not have been found, and has probably been on my thyroid for at least a few years. Most Thyroid cancer does not change your thyroid levels. I do not have Hypo or Hyper thyroidism. My nodule was not poking out in my neck’. There were NO SIGNS. Thyroid cancer, untreated, can metastasize and spread to other parts of the body. At some point it can become an ‘ugly cancer’ if not found.
That is why I believe God had to literally WAKE ME UP and throw me in the hospital with the ‘strange symptoms’ in order to find it….and when no one was seeing it, he put Dr. Roman in my path, and yes, Seth and his daughter are still dating. 😉 lol
No matter what, I do realize I still have a bit of a struggle to contend with in 2017…but I’m grateful to have witnessed God in it from the beginning. I hear so many frustrated because they don’t feel they can ‘see’ or ‘hear’ God…and this is just an example of how he can be SEEN and HEARD in an unconventional way.
I do promise to blog more…and I will blog about this specific experience too… but I am also going to take time for me this year. So there is no set schedule for when I will write. When I feel called, you will hear from me. 😉
Blessings
Shannon
Learn more about how God has worked in great and small unconventional ways in my life by reading my second book REDEEMED! Available on AMAZON and every eBook reader.