Well...

I'm not really sure how to start this post. I hate to be Debbie Downer and all. But we found out yesterday that my cancer is not gone. This is not "new", this is not a 2nd round, this is some leftover that was missed in the 1st surgery. A month or so ago I went for a ultrasound of my neck because, for those of you that have seen me, I still carry a lot of fluid under my chin/neck area. We did the ultrasound to see if they could tell why. In that ultrasound they discovered 2 lymph nodes that looked "suspicious". There's that dam word again. So they sent me to a specialist to get a ultrasound-guided biopsy, not fun. Yesterday, Jeremy & I met with my endocrinologist to go over the results. What they discovered was more tumor cells in 3 lymph nodes in my right neck. Now on to what I am viewing as the positive part. #1 - There is surgery involved, but never again will it be as big a surgery as the 1st. This one is called a micro-surgery, with a special surgeon. #2 - They can use my last incision, but the new one will be MUCH smaller! #3 - Micro-surgery results in only 1 night of hospital stay for observation!! #4 - There will be more radioactive iodine, but this time my new endo says NO to the locking me in a hospital room making me crazy, but more check in to a hotel. This time I will not have to spend 2 weeks off of my thyroid meds, which was really what made me nuts, but I will have some thyroglobulin shots (which will cost my insurance company a fortune but I do NOT care!) then I will have the RAI (radioactive iodine) and go hide out in a hotel for 5-7 days. I will have to be on that dreadfully AWFUL low-iodine diet again, but that is just par for the course.

I'm not really upset. At this point I'm not really sure WHAT I AM. I'm viewing this as leftover from the 1st surgery, NOT a reoccurance. That is helping. I will update as more information is given. I go to see the new surgeon on the 20th to get my PLAN.