A Spring of Joy

What follows is a long and possibly tedious update for those of you wondering where we are and what’s happening…

I had blood work yesterday to make sure my clotting factors were all fine for the biopsy, but feeling unsettled and confused about some communications, I called my endocrinologist with some questions and too see about moving the biopsy to our local hospital.

The nurse that called me back is awesome. She read the ultrasound report over the phone to me to be sure I understood everything.

The ultrasound found an enlarged lymph node (it’s 2mm) but did not find any thyroid gland tissue. That is a good thing.

The enlarged node looked normal. That is also a good thing.

Then she read, “Patient has two options. Needle aspiration biopsy or PET scan.”

Wait. You mean I can have a scan and NOT the biopsy, and it will show if there is cancer there?

Yep.

AND if I have a PET, they may be able to order full body so it will look at the abdomen to double check and make sure there’s no cancer there that’s causing my abdominal pain. Also, the PET would eliminate the need for a thyroid scan and depletion of thyroid meds in February.

The down side to the PET is that it’s more radiation exposure. I’ve had one other PET. The other down side is that if it shows something, I’ll have to have a biopsy anyway. Although if the biopsy were to show cancer, I’m guessing they’d scan me to see if it spread.

So.

We have a decision to make. She is going to talk with my doctor and I am to call her after lunch today to discuss further.

I also asked her about moving it up to our local hospital because of the negative experiences I’ve had at at the hospital where my endocrinologist works. Once I explained what I had gone through last week (long story, but it wasn’t pleasant and instilled no confidence in that hospital), she said she’d do whatever it took to get me up to our local hospital if we go the biopsy route.

So. There you have it. I’m still in waiting mode. I’m still in a lot of pain.

But my fears are alleviated to some degree. Things look good… or at least promising… hopeful that this is not cancer again.

Still.

If the sky darkens with bad news, life is full of good things.

Too many to count.

Thank you for praying, my friends…