Thyroid cancer in the news

I was reading on the internet this evening that President Cristina Fernandez, of Argentina, was recently diagnosed with Thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next month. I also learned that the first drugs to treat Medullary thyroid cancer, two kinase inhibitors, have been approved. So amid all the people that are being diagnosed with thyroid cancer this year, medical break-throughs are still happening.

I still feel very lucky to have had a clean 1-yr WBS and undetectable stimulated Tg/TgAB. I still worry about it every time I miss my daily Levoxyl or afternoon T3 - How much am I exposing myself to elevated TSH? What if there are any cancer cells that are still roaming around in my blood stream that have had the opportunity to 'wake up' and grow every time I have missed one of my pills? I know, I need to stop worrying, and just make sure to take my pills on time.

Neice's college graduation. I feel old.

The problem w driving overnight is when to take my meds in the AM. To stay awake, I drink coffee and eat constantly, so no empty stomach.

Endo says...my levels are good, but I am not feeling so good. Depression? Labs/ultrasound before next appt, in April. Referred to eye doc.

Blood work from last week: TSH .03 / Free T4 1.0

.03 is better than <0.01, which means I am not as supressed as I have been.

How does my neck look? 12/4/11

I have an ENDO appt this Thursday. Went for a blood draw this past Thursday afternoon. I'll check tomorrow if my ENDO posted my levels or not. Not sure where they will fall since I have missed at least one afternoon T3 dose for the past three or four months. Still worried about how that affects my levels, knowing that missing that one dose means missing 30% of my suppression for that day. I thought he said he wanted another ultrasound, since the first one post surgery and RAI was 'abnormal', just can't remember if that was before or after my appt this week.    

I have not had that tugging feeling along my scar in a few weeks. My arm/shoulder issue still isn't completely healed, but it is much better now, so I am hoping that was what was causing it.

This morning I will be going with my parents to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, to the St Peregrine chapel. This time it is not for me, it is for my mom. She had some x-rays taken this past week when she went in for a cold. She got the call back on Friday that they found a mass on her left lung. A mass on her left lung. I remember when I got the call from my doctor's office after my first ultrasound. The nurse said they found a mass on my left thyroid. Was that a mast or a mass, right? Why do I have a ship in my throat? Then I was told I was being referred to a specialist. My mom was referred to a Pulmonary specialist and a CT scan was ordered, with blood work to proceed the CT scan. Now, I know that doesn't right away mean it is cancer. At least that is what they tell us. But what else can that unknown mass be? And since it is a mass and not a speck, it has some size to it. I'm worried, but who wouldn't be?

I think she has a more positive outlook on this than I did for myself. Although the circumstances were a little different for me. I knew for myself that it had to be cancer when my ENT (the second specialist I saw) told me during the consult. Up until that point, I thought, 'nah, I'll just have to take Synthroid to regulate my thyroid, that is all that will come of this, my ENDO said 5% chance of cancer, right?' But the minute my ENT said "20-30% chance of cancer", boom - that is why I started to ball my eyes out for the rest of the consult. Knowing the cancer history in both of my parents families, I knew I couldn't be in that lucky 70%. The whole time my mom just kept on telling me not to think that way, even when I was being walked to the OR for my first operation 'don't think of it that way.' For my mom, we haven't even talked to the first specialist yet. That is tomorrow afternoon. My mom said her dad had lung cancer, that he smoked cigars. Her mom died of I think it was cervical cancer. I hope and pray that it is not cancer, but if that is in the cards for my mom, I pray that it is early enough to do something about it. The thought of losing any of my siblings or my parents is scary, but the thought of losing my mom....I think that is the hardest loss anyone can have regardless of how old you are.