the stitches are out, and hopefully the cancer is too...
The stitches came out today. Taking the dressing off hurt more than the stitches, but with one little snip I was stitch-less. I thought there would be blood and gore, but it's just a neat little line. A bit swollen, somewhat sore, and once it's healed I'll buy you a drink if you can tell it apart from my wrinkles.
The results of the pathology were hardly a surprise- cancer all right, and then some. Unlike the ultrasounds that had shown suspicious cellular activity on just one lobe, both lobes of my thyroid had cancerous nodules- one a piece (it's all about equity). I'm glad I listened to the surgeon when she said something to the effect of 'get the entire thyroid out or you'll always be worrying about what's happening with the other half'. The "dominant" tumour (1 cm) on the left lobe of papillary type, and secondary tumour (0.7 cm) on the right lobe of papillary carcinoma, follicular variant. As much as we might have wanted to hear something else (e.g. "cancer, no way! did we really say that?") this is what I expected. It could have been far worse. The tumours were localised within the thyroid and there was no sign of them having spread to the lymph nodes. They were significant enough to warrant radiation (stay tuned) and they couldn't have been found a day sooner. I'm a lucky man, if I didn't know it already.
The next steps are at least 2 more weeks of rest as the underlying tissue and fabric of my being heal. No heavy lifting (of the physical kind) for a few weeks. No sun and lots of sunscreen on that part of my neck for about a year. A slew of appointments with the surgeon, and endocrinologists over the next weeks and months to prep for the radiation and 'titrate' the levels of hormone in my body to readjust my datums to those of the person you used to know before all of this came to be.
I thought I had a steady hand and could stitch and cut a mean few centimetres of cloth, but looking at the precision and perfection with which the surgeons have done their work, I'm in awe!
The results of the pathology were hardly a surprise- cancer all right, and then some. Unlike the ultrasounds that had shown suspicious cellular activity on just one lobe, both lobes of my thyroid had cancerous nodules- one a piece (it's all about equity). I'm glad I listened to the surgeon when she said something to the effect of 'get the entire thyroid out or you'll always be worrying about what's happening with the other half'. The "dominant" tumour (1 cm) on the left lobe of papillary type, and secondary tumour (0.7 cm) on the right lobe of papillary carcinoma, follicular variant. As much as we might have wanted to hear something else (e.g. "cancer, no way! did we really say that?") this is what I expected. It could have been far worse. The tumours were localised within the thyroid and there was no sign of them having spread to the lymph nodes. They were significant enough to warrant radiation (stay tuned) and they couldn't have been found a day sooner. I'm a lucky man, if I didn't know it already.
The next steps are at least 2 more weeks of rest as the underlying tissue and fabric of my being heal. No heavy lifting (of the physical kind) for a few weeks. No sun and lots of sunscreen on that part of my neck for about a year. A slew of appointments with the surgeon, and endocrinologists over the next weeks and months to prep for the radiation and 'titrate' the levels of hormone in my body to readjust my datums to those of the person you used to know before all of this came to be.
I thought I had a steady hand and could stitch and cut a mean few centimetres of cloth, but looking at the precision and perfection with which the surgeons have done their work, I'm in awe!
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