Hey, guys.
I know I have been absent for most of the summer and I am deeply sorry for that. I can't deny that the main reason why I haven't posted anything in so long is simply that I'm a sloth. However, I do have another reason, a much more serious one. This is why, today, I have decided to tell you a story.
About a year and a half ago, as my mother and I were talking and I was sitting on the sofa with my head tilted slightly back, she discovered what appeared to be a lump on my throat. Being a nurse and a very smart woman, she immediately figured out that it meant I had a nodule on my thyroid. For those of you who don't know, the thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body and is situated below the Adam's apple. It controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls the body's sensitivity to other hormones (for more info, just go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid). So, as you can see, it's a pretty important organ. However, because we have a history of thyroid poblems in my family - my mother's thyroid is covered in nodules and both her and her mother suffer from hyperthyroidism - my mother assumed I was no different, that I would live with my nodule without it bothering me until well over the age of 30. The whole thing was pretty much forgotten, even though I could sense slight unease coming from my mother whenever she was reminded of it.
Skip forward a few months when, while taking a shower, I felt a lump on my breast. As stupid as it may sound, I thought nothing of it and never mentioned it to anyone. A couple of days later, though, I felt another one. This one was painful to even the lightest touch, so I decided I should probably tell my mom. She was pretty alarmed and decided to take me with her to her upcoming appointment with an endocrinologist, which was supposed to be sometime in March 2015.
We travelled about two hours by car to get there, since my mother wanted to bring me to the best clinic she could think of. When we arrived, my mother mentioned both the lumps on my breasts and the one on my thryoid to the doctor and she examined me briefly before sending me to the resident to have some of my blood drawn for some tests. I was then sent to get an ultrasound. All in all, the lumps on my breasts proved to be hormonal and, as the doctor told me, they were going to go away on their own (which they did). It was my thyroid that truly concerned her.
What I noticed even from that very first visit is that nobody says the word "cancer" if they can help it. They call it "a/the bad thing" or "what we feared" most of the time and the rest, they use medical jargon which I wouldn't have been able to understand had my mom not been working in the medical field.
According to my doctor, I had three nodules: a big one - with a diameter of about 2 cm - that my mother had seen, on one lobe of my thyroid, and two smaller ones on the other lobe. The first one looked disturbing, so I was scheduled for a biopsy about a couple of weeks later. It was explained to me that the procedure involved a needle being inserted directly into my thyroid and some tissue being drawn from there for analysis. I was assured that it would be painless - I wouldn't even require any pain medication. However, since I have been scared of needles my whole life, I was still nervous in the waiting room. I put on a brave face, though, both for my parents and for the nice lady a few seats away who couldn't stop crying because the doctor told her what she had was most likely "the bad thing", and also because she was in a lot of pain. You can imagine how reassuring her shaking, crying figure was to me. It wasn't THAT bad, though. The worst part was that instead of simply inserting the needle and then drawing it back, the doctor seemed to pretend the needle was a chicken picking at the imaginary sack of grains in my throat with its very sharp beak. Truly charming experience.
***** I wrote this thing months ago and didn't initially want to publish it, but here I am now, ready to finish it.
I'm going to talk about the rest of my experience in less detail, as it happened a while ago and the facts aren't as fresh in my mind as they were when I first started writing this article.
The results of the biopsy came back after a while and my doctor explained to me that the nodules seemed to be malignant and that I needed to have my whole thyroid taken out to be completely safe. She said she was sorry that this had to happen to someone so young (I was 16 at the time), but that it would all be okay. And 10 months later, I know she was right.
I was scheduled for the operation a few months after my talk with the doctor, as my situation was not very urgent (although I was advised not to wait more than a year to get the surgery). I stayed in the hospital for about four days. During the first two days, my new doctors ran different tests to make sure I didn't have any sort of infection - particularly in my throat. I wasn't allowed to eat anything the afternoon before my surgery and I couldn't eat or drink on the actual day that it happened. I also suffered through an enema the night before, which was unpleasant, to say the least. But all in all, everyone was very nice to me and I got through it very easily. The anesthesia didn't affect me negatively in any way - I was strong enough to walk to the bathroom on my own only hours after I woke up (because I absolutely cannot pee in a bedpan). The bandages were a little uncomfortable, as my neck felt very stiff and it was hard to stand straight for a while, but it got progressively better after my stitches were removed, which was the day after the surgery - the same day I went home.
They sent my thyroid to a more detailed biopsy once they took it out and the diagnosis of papillary microcarcinoma was confirmed.
When you have your thyroid removed, you need to start taking this tiny pill called Euthyrox, and you need to take it on an empty stomach, every morning for the rest of your life. This serves as a replacement for the hormone the thyroid naturally produces. Your doctors will set a dosage that fits your body's needs. It is very easy to get used to, especially because, like I said, the pill is very small and has no particular taste.
I had to wait for the results of the final biopsy before I could start taking my medication, and for about a month, I felt extremely tired and apathetic, which is what happens when you haven't got a speck of thyroid left. After I started taking the Euthyrox, though, I started feeling like my normal self again - still tired, but not AS tired (lol).
Now my life is pretty much back to normal, except for the fact that I need to go to one session of radiotherapy this summer. Radioactive Iodine is often used in cases similar to mine to ensure that the person is out of the woods for good (hey, Taylor). Other than that, I was told neither the opertaion nor the radiotherapy would further affect my body in any way - I was quite concerned that I would lose the ability to make babies, but apparently not, so...yay? (I don't really like babies that much).
This is it, mostly. I wanted to share this with you because, who knows, maybe one of the 20 people who read my blog is going through something similar, and maybe they are scared and confused as I was, and maybe their friends don't think something serious is actually happening to them because cancer doesn't happen to real people and if you're not dying you don't have cancer (just a few of the things I personally experineced) BUT I want you to know I'm here for anyone who needs support or has any questions about this particular subject. I will do my very best to help however I can.
Much love,
Just Maddy.
I know I have been absent for most of the summer and I am deeply sorry for that. I can't deny that the main reason why I haven't posted anything in so long is simply that I'm a sloth. However, I do have another reason, a much more serious one. This is why, today, I have decided to tell you a story.
About a year and a half ago, as my mother and I were talking and I was sitting on the sofa with my head tilted slightly back, she discovered what appeared to be a lump on my throat. Being a nurse and a very smart woman, she immediately figured out that it meant I had a nodule on my thyroid. For those of you who don't know, the thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body and is situated below the Adam's apple. It controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls the body's sensitivity to other hormones (for more info, just go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid). So, as you can see, it's a pretty important organ. However, because we have a history of thyroid poblems in my family - my mother's thyroid is covered in nodules and both her and her mother suffer from hyperthyroidism - my mother assumed I was no different, that I would live with my nodule without it bothering me until well over the age of 30. The whole thing was pretty much forgotten, even though I could sense slight unease coming from my mother whenever she was reminded of it.
Skip forward a few months when, while taking a shower, I felt a lump on my breast. As stupid as it may sound, I thought nothing of it and never mentioned it to anyone. A couple of days later, though, I felt another one. This one was painful to even the lightest touch, so I decided I should probably tell my mom. She was pretty alarmed and decided to take me with her to her upcoming appointment with an endocrinologist, which was supposed to be sometime in March 2015.
We travelled about two hours by car to get there, since my mother wanted to bring me to the best clinic she could think of. When we arrived, my mother mentioned both the lumps on my breasts and the one on my thryoid to the doctor and she examined me briefly before sending me to the resident to have some of my blood drawn for some tests. I was then sent to get an ultrasound. All in all, the lumps on my breasts proved to be hormonal and, as the doctor told me, they were going to go away on their own (which they did). It was my thyroid that truly concerned her.
What I noticed even from that very first visit is that nobody says the word "cancer" if they can help it. They call it "a/the bad thing" or "what we feared" most of the time and the rest, they use medical jargon which I wouldn't have been able to understand had my mom not been working in the medical field.
According to my doctor, I had three nodules: a big one - with a diameter of about 2 cm - that my mother had seen, on one lobe of my thyroid, and two smaller ones on the other lobe. The first one looked disturbing, so I was scheduled for a biopsy about a couple of weeks later. It was explained to me that the procedure involved a needle being inserted directly into my thyroid and some tissue being drawn from there for analysis. I was assured that it would be painless - I wouldn't even require any pain medication. However, since I have been scared of needles my whole life, I was still nervous in the waiting room. I put on a brave face, though, both for my parents and for the nice lady a few seats away who couldn't stop crying because the doctor told her what she had was most likely "the bad thing", and also because she was in a lot of pain. You can imagine how reassuring her shaking, crying figure was to me. It wasn't THAT bad, though. The worst part was that instead of simply inserting the needle and then drawing it back, the doctor seemed to pretend the needle was a chicken picking at the imaginary sack of grains in my throat with its very sharp beak. Truly charming experience.
***** I wrote this thing months ago and didn't initially want to publish it, but here I am now, ready to finish it.
I'm going to talk about the rest of my experience in less detail, as it happened a while ago and the facts aren't as fresh in my mind as they were when I first started writing this article.
The results of the biopsy came back after a while and my doctor explained to me that the nodules seemed to be malignant and that I needed to have my whole thyroid taken out to be completely safe. She said she was sorry that this had to happen to someone so young (I was 16 at the time), but that it would all be okay. And 10 months later, I know she was right.
I was scheduled for the operation a few months after my talk with the doctor, as my situation was not very urgent (although I was advised not to wait more than a year to get the surgery). I stayed in the hospital for about four days. During the first two days, my new doctors ran different tests to make sure I didn't have any sort of infection - particularly in my throat. I wasn't allowed to eat anything the afternoon before my surgery and I couldn't eat or drink on the actual day that it happened. I also suffered through an enema the night before, which was unpleasant, to say the least. But all in all, everyone was very nice to me and I got through it very easily. The anesthesia didn't affect me negatively in any way - I was strong enough to walk to the bathroom on my own only hours after I woke up (because I absolutely cannot pee in a bedpan). The bandages were a little uncomfortable, as my neck felt very stiff and it was hard to stand straight for a while, but it got progressively better after my stitches were removed, which was the day after the surgery - the same day I went home.
They sent my thyroid to a more detailed biopsy once they took it out and the diagnosis of papillary microcarcinoma was confirmed.
When you have your thyroid removed, you need to start taking this tiny pill called Euthyrox, and you need to take it on an empty stomach, every morning for the rest of your life. This serves as a replacement for the hormone the thyroid naturally produces. Your doctors will set a dosage that fits your body's needs. It is very easy to get used to, especially because, like I said, the pill is very small and has no particular taste.
I had to wait for the results of the final biopsy before I could start taking my medication, and for about a month, I felt extremely tired and apathetic, which is what happens when you haven't got a speck of thyroid left. After I started taking the Euthyrox, though, I started feeling like my normal self again - still tired, but not AS tired (lol).
Now my life is pretty much back to normal, except for the fact that I need to go to one session of radiotherapy this summer. Radioactive Iodine is often used in cases similar to mine to ensure that the person is out of the woods for good (hey, Taylor). Other than that, I was told neither the opertaion nor the radiotherapy would further affect my body in any way - I was quite concerned that I would lose the ability to make babies, but apparently not, so...yay? (I don't really like babies that much).
This is it, mostly. I wanted to share this with you because, who knows, maybe one of the 20 people who read my blog is going through something similar, and maybe they are scared and confused as I was, and maybe their friends don't think something serious is actually happening to them because cancer doesn't happen to real people and if you're not dying you don't have cancer (just a few of the things I personally experineced) BUT I want you to know I'm here for anyone who needs support or has any questions about this particular subject. I will do my very best to help however I can.
Much love,
Just Maddy.