Well today was surgery day for my wife. Up at 0 dark thirty to get to the hospital at 0600. She was prepped and ready to roll at 0730 and then the waiting began. At 1030 we got a call from the surgeon saying they were done and everything went well. The initial analysis done during the operation showed some “small cancerous cells” so they decided to remove the entire thyroid gland. Now we just wait for the final pathology report. Amy is doing well, within a half-hour or so after getting out of the recovery room she was walking to the bathroom. I think this will turn out alright.
To everyone who sent well-wishes, positive thoughts , personal stories and prayers, I can’t thank you enough. We’re not out of the woods, but things look good. More updates to come. I have to print out that previous thread and take it to the hospital for her to read. Thanks again.
I was thinking about your wife last night, thanks for the update. I am glad the surgery went well and certainly hope things are looking on the up and up.
I must have missed the previous thread … but I’m glad to hear surgery went well. Give her our best, and the same for you. You guys are a team, and you need to fight this together.
Great news - please send the thoughts, prayers and well wishes of a bunch of people she’l probably never meet - but who are all moved and concerned for her - not to mention happy she is out of surgery!!
Best wishes to your family as you guys go through this. I had a girlfriend have a thyroidectomy. Your wife will be glad to know that the recovery is fairly quick and the scarring is minimal. Hopefully they got it all and the pathology report will be a good one.
“so they decided to remove the entire thyroid gland.”
i’m not sure, but i think this now makes her even-steven with karen smyers. who i think at 40-something is still racing as a pro. obviously extremely worrisome and traumatic, but i think maybe it’ll be as if it never happened in a year or two. best wishes for a full recovery.
We hope so. First post-op blood draw showed good calcium levels.
Just got back from visiting her for the evening. She was pretty groggy. She got sick from the percocet so they gave her fenegren, which made her pretty loopy. I felt kinda bad, but it was hard not to giggle when she made the goofy comments. She has a good sense of humor though.
Thanks for the update. I thought about you guys all day at work. Keep your sense of humor, sometimes it’s the only way to survive something so serious. More hugs from Kona!
Glad to see that things have worked out well so far. Like you said, you’re not out of the woods yet, but I’m sure you feel like you just found a GPS with charged batteries One day at a time.
i’ve got a bum thyroid too (from Hashimodo’s rather than cancer) and have been on replacement for a few years - there will be some tweaking to get the dose right, and your wife can expect to feel cruddy in the process. be advised that thyroid is a real master hormone, and as a husband you should be warned. if the levels are out of whack, the physical symtoms are obvious (metabolism, etc) but there are also some very real mental ones: don’t be surprised if imbalanced T3/T4/TSH results in depression, frustration, moodiness, etc. just a heads-up.
too, i’m glad to report that other than occasionally getting my blood done and my thyroid meds adjusted a bit, i’m fit as a trout. while at the u of t, i trained with a girl on the rowing team who had thyroid cancer: she missed three days of training and then went to the olympics shortly thereafter and won some hardware.
Sounds like the perfect time to order a P3C (grin). Unfortunately, seeing as it has not been long since my father passed away, come to find out that last week my Mom found out she also has a mass on her thyroid.
Yeah, there’s lots of things I would love to get, but I don’t think a P3C would fly. Aside from the thyroid, we also have a 5 month old, and are in the middle of a move from Cali to Washington. Plus my wife would be very quick to remind me that I have done el-zippo for training for the last couple of months, so no new bike until I ride the one I have.
Hopefully your Mom will be part of the majority whose mass is benign. We’ll be thinking of you.
Well, we got the final pathology report yesterday. As we suspected it was cancerous, papillary which is the “good” kind (read as treatable/curable). So now it’s time to deplete her of the thyroid hormones and then start the radioactive iodine in the next few weeks. This will certainly be challenging. As has been pointed out, when you get low on thyroid hormone you become fatigued and irritable. Add to that the move the new baby and some minor money worries as I’ll be the only one bringin’ in the dough for a couple months and things could get a little sticky. Fortunately we will have lots 'o family support and Amy is tough as hell and has a great attitude.
More updates to come. Thanks again for the support.
Good luck to both of you.