Friday, June 22, 2012

Best News Yet!!!

Amazing News! Basically just got the best case scenario results from the doctors! Ultra sounds show nothing, blood levels are perfect and while they know there are still a few cancer cells left, they may not grow or turn into anything for many years if at all!!!!! I don't even have to come back back to Colorado except for a checkup in a year!!! I'm so happy!!!!! Wooooooooooo!!!!

For those of you who want all the details here's the full story/ramble; I've returned back to Colorado late Tuesday night after long and somewhat frustrating travels (don't fall asleep in the airport and miss your flight, it sucks!) On Thursday I headed to Denver for some pokes and prods and a follow up from my last visit. I got blood tests and an ultrasound. The ultrasound was a bit scary at first, the girl was a intern and focussed a lot of several areas and seemed concerned, so she got another doctor in to have a look. The other doctor looked very thoroughly and discovered everything the other girl was worried about was nothing to worry about at all, just scar tissue from my surgery, and healthy lymph nodes. They sent the results to the radiologist to look at and as we were leaving one of them  stopped us and said with a huge smile on her face, "I'm not supposed to say anything regarding the results, but just know that everything looks really really good!" which was a huge relief!

Then on Friday we went back for the official results, feeling excited, but trying not to get our hopes up too much. But to our delight we got nothing but good news! The ultra sounds looked great and showed absolutely nothing to worry about, and my blood tests were at the perfect level! He explained what we already knew in that there are still a few cancer cells in there, but chances are it's an incredibly minute and microscopic amount and that we'll have to keep an eye on it, but basically it most likely won't cause any trouble for many years, even decades, if it grows much at all. He even mentioned that on rare occasions such small amounts of desease simply get reabsorbed into the body and it cures itself! So all I have to do is continue to make sure my medication levels are correct, and come back in a year for another follow up, and after 3 years of yearly follow ups than we can move it to every couple of years! Absolutely amazing news and a million times better than we could have dreamed!

So now I'm enjoying the beautiful summer weather and all of my amazing friends and family and looking forward to truly be able to relax and enjoy my holidays before returning to my amazing life in Australia! I still can't believe how absolutely wonderful my life is and how lucky I am right now!  I can only hope everyone else is feeling as much joy and amazing energy! I cannot thank everyone enough for being such outstanding foundations and support systems for me throughout this whole ordeal and throughout my whole life! Thank you from the deepest corners of my heart and soul! With any luck at all this will be my last post on this blog, but all the wonderful adventures of life wil no doubt continue! Wahoooo!!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Great news to start off a great new year!

I got the test results back from the doctor and it is great news! The scans show absolutely nothing!!! all results are "unremarkable"and there is no evidence of uptake or residual tissue! I have been fighting back tears of joy ever since hearing the news!

That being said, I'm not 100% cancer free yet, but I'm pretty damn close! The tests did show a very small rise in my thyroglobulin (about 1.4 which is practically nothing in comparison to the >70 levels I had after my first surgery.) This suggests that there is microscopic desease still, but since it didn't uptake any of the radiation it's not worth the risks of more radioactive iodine. I'll most likely have to return for more ultrasounds in a few months, but it's pretty much as close to cancer free as I can be!

It's been a fantastic way to bring in the new year! I've been feeling better and better and have almost complete mobility of my shoulder and neck back! The whole left side of my neck is still pretty numb, but the swelling has gone down a bunch and I've been enjoying scaring people with my impressive new scar and thinking of new stories to go along with it! It is so wonderful to be back in Australia and I have been soaking up the summer sun! I just got back from volunteering at a big music festival and boogieing in the new year with a few of my amazing friends! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world and I couldn't think of a better start to what I have no doubt will be the best year yet!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!