On the Road to Recovery

Many of you know I had thyroid surgery on September 24th. Everything went well, as far as surgeries go, and it lasted about 3 hours. I was saddened when I woke up to find that I did indeed have cancer and the entire thyroid had to be removed. Recovery was very slow the first few days. I had an extended hospital visit because my calcium levels were low. After being home a couple days, I was sent back to the E.R. because of shortness of breath when talking and hoarseness. They determined my right vocal cord is weak, most likely because the vocal cord was probably "dinged" during the procedure. It was only a minor setback though, and I am recovering well. Most of my energy is back, I have very little pain, and my voice is slowly returning to normal. Thyroid treatment is unique in that I don't have traditional chemo or radiation. Instead, I will take a pill of radioactive iodine in about six weeks. The iodine will be absorbed by any remaining thyroid cells and destroy them. No hair loss and little to no nausea...I will just be radioactive for a couple days! I will follow up with periodic thyroid body scans and will have to be on medication the rest of my life. I am very fortunate because as far as cancers go, this is a pretty easy one, with almost a 100% survival rate. We have been very blessed to have so many friends and family help out over the past week with babysitting, housecleaning, and bringing us food. We appreciate all the love and support we have received from everyone. We will keep you all posted as more occurs. Thank you to everyone!