Thursday, February 25, 2010

Adios Thyzilla

Goodbye my dear thyroid. Dr. Arguello cut you out nearly one week ago. Initially he cut out the left half like he planned, but he didn't like the looks of the tissue. He said that he saw Hurtle neoplasm cells, so while I was still "under", he went back in and took out the right half as well. Dr. Arguello said the tumor was huge, very agressive and looked like it had legs because it was spreading out. He also called it sticky and said that he has to literally scrape it off my vocal cords and trachea. Uggh. So, I went in on Friday and was released on Sunday morning. They gave me Ultram for pain, but I really don't like the way it makes me feel, so I try to only take it at night. I went in on Tuesday for a follow up. He removed the bandages and said the incision looks good, but no pathology results yet!! He seemed frustrated like I was but said that he does not want to rush them because he wants a thorough diagnosis. I will see him again on Monday or Tuesday. Below is a photo of the incision from this morning, post surgery day six. For those that do not know me very well, the rash is not really a rash but my lovely birthmark. I guess I should be used to people staring at my neck area already, huh? There is a great website called "Dear Thyroid" that sells some really cool thyroid stuff. They have a shirt that says "It's rude to look at my goiter, my breasts are down here." It made me laugh so hard that it hurt. :)



Ok, tired now, so that is all I have. These days walking up stairs makes me sleepy, so I need a nap now.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Pattie, thanks for sharing your story and photo! Hang in there...I've been through the surgery twice.

The thing about thyroid cancer: it's not as easy as the doctors' say it will be. It's tough...there are definitely ups and downs as you know.

Do you have the pathology results yet? Please know there is a big community of thyroid cancer survivors supporting each other! Let me know if you have any questions.

Pattiecake said...

Thanks Charlcie. Your blog is so very helpful to me. I was fortunate to receive benign results. I am so thankful and blessed, but I also feel like even though it was great news, that I still have a really long road ahead of me.