Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Best News!!

It's Tuesday and usually my worst day on treatment and I feel fabulous!! I am so excited to write this blog this morning to let you all know that I had my thyroid biopsy yesterday and it went amazingly well! I was very nervous both about the procedure itself and the results. But seeing other people going in to the room and coming out with a bandaid on their neck and a smile on their face was very reasuring. My sister came with me and was actually allowed into the room with me during the procedure. The doctor doing it was great! She answered all of our questions and was very forthcoming with any information that we needed. She started with an ultrasound to check things out. There was more discussion and then we went ahead with the biopsy. Now, I am not going to lie and say this was a piece of cake. It really was painful. They did freeze the area first but you can imagine how tender the area of your neck is and what it feels like to have a needle in it. Ouch! I could feel myself sort of breathing slow and felt like I sort of went into myself. (if that makes any sense) I have learned that pain like this doesn't last forever and knowing this I can get through it. Once it was frozen the biopsies were a breeze.

This is what we found out from the biopsy. It is definitely not melanoma! Huge relief! I know the chances were very slim that it would have been but sometimes I find myself in the small majority of people and so know that this is possible. It is very doubtful that this is cancer of any kind since it shows no charecteristics of this. Obviously, we have to wait for the pathology report to come back to be certain but it looks like just a benign nodule! I can't even tell you how relieved this makes us! The thought of dealing with another type of cancer right now was very overwhelming and unimaginable. Now, like a friend of mine said yesterday, we can focus on kicking some melanoma ass!

Some more exciting news - I was interviewed by Girltalk with Marlo the other day and this show will air online Jan. 19th @ 8:30pm CT. Hopefully this will bring some awareness to Melanoma and young adults dealing with cancer. Marlo is starting a show with the topics focused on woman's issues. Definitely worth checking out! You can stream the interview live @ http://girltalkwithmarlo.com.

I can't thank you enough for all the prayers, good thoughts, positive energy... sent the last couple of days. It has been a rough couple of weeks with alot of ups and downs but knowing that I have so much love and support has gotten me through this. Thank you!

Friday, January 14, 2011

1 down and 1 to go!

Just a quick update to share my results of the scan. Last week I went in for a chest, abdomen and pelvic scan to see how things are looking, especially in the lungs. Everything looks good. No signs of disease! No cancer! Wow! What a relief. I was pretty nervous about getting these results back because they were checking things so closely. Now I can focus on getting this biopsy of my thyroid done. I got the report back from the thyroid ultrasound and this shows about 6 nodules (lumps). They are ranging in size from 6-30 mm. Hard to believe these are all in my neck and I'm not having any symptoms. Just shows me once again how amazing our bodies are. We are really hoping that these are all benign (not cancer) and can be removed easily if necessary. We should get these results in the next couple of weeks.

Being on the Interferon has been giving me some trouble these days. I was having alot of nausea and some vomiting so am now on a drug to hopefully prevent this. So far it is working really well and I am feeling much better. The only downside is that this drug causes other side effects which I am dealing with. My skin has been very irritated and itching like crazy. (I actually scratched a mole off my back because of it) Oops! Apparently, this is because of the Interferon and hopefully we can get it under control. My face is all blotchy and so I've been trying all kinds of creams and lotions with no luck. My sister brought me over a new one last night so hopefully this one is it! Over half way done now!!!

Meanwhile, hocky....hockey....and more hockey. Sounds like we'll be at the rink pretty much all weekend. It will be good to get my mind off of things and watch the kids play. It is so worth it to push myself out of the house to watch a few games. Makes me feel somewhat normal. Go Stonewall Go!!!!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to you all!

I hope everyone truly enjoyed the holidays and spending time with your loved ones. We had a very nice Christmas and yes I did find my Christmas Spirit in time. Part of this Christmas spirit comes with spending time with the ones we love. I realized over Christmas that this is what makes Christmas so special. We get to see our family and friends who we only spend time with on very special occasions. The kids were so excited and overjoyed Christmas morning. Everything was just what they always wanted - it didn't matter what it was!

A new year - a fresh start! I feel in ways like this new year marks a new beginning of this journey. We can scrap everything that we didn't like about last year and make new wishes for this one. The thought of this has re-energized me and I have done alot of thinking about how I want to handle what's coming up in this next year. Oh and by the way for the first time since I can remember this does not involve weight loss. My New Years resolution for years has always involved my weight. If I just lost those 10 or 15 pounds life would be everything that I always dreamed it would be - perfect. Why do we do this to ourselves? This past year has finally made me see that this idea is BS and so there is no weight loss resolution for me this year. I just want to be healthy and happy. Not too much to ask right?

The biggest thing I would love to happen this year is some sort of acceptance of things as they are. It is starting to sink in that this is now my life. Cancer will now forever be a part of it. I wish that I could say that once I'm finished the Interferon life can go back to normal but this is not realistic. I am forever changed. My life is now forever changed. They will always be looking, scanning, checking. I will always be waiting.... I will always believe that every result will be a good one but try to be ready in case it isn't. I've now come to the understanding that it is impossible to prepare yourself to hear that you have cancer....again. It never gets any easier, in fact, I think it just gets harder each time. When I reflect over this past year I see the healing that has already taken place in my life. Not just the physical healing (though that has been amazing to watch) but emotionally too. I can only hope that this continues through this next year.

So for now of course life is full of waiting. I have a scan scheduled for tomorrow (chest, abdomen and pelvis). I have my biopsy of the thyroid coming up on the 17th and we'll worry about the rest later. One step at a time... I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow (I know weird hey?) Jeff and I will have many hours to just be together while we wait for the dye to do its job and show that there are no tumours and I am disease free. This is how I am able to get through all these tests and scans is enjoying this time that I get with my family. I am so fortunate to never be alone and to have all the support. I NEVER take this for granted.