Updates!

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this! I've finally been feeling better, so i've been busy trying to get myself back into the real world again!

I had my post op just over a week ago. My scar is healing well. (I couldn't even be Frankenstein for Halloween it has faded so much, so i had to resort to being an awesome banana instead) the surgeon was clearly very happy with his surgery and didn't have much else to say. He mostly just confirmed that i'm ready to move on to the next step towards being cancer free!!!

The next step is the radioactive iodine treatment. Basically, your thyroid absorbs iodine, so by giving it radioactive iodine any left over thyroid cells and cancer cells will absorb the radioactive version and die! Usually the process for this is that they stop my hormone replacement and allow as much hormone as they can to leave the body before treatment. However, in doing so, it can take many weeks and causes the body to crash into hypothyroidism. This causes depression, weight gain, sluggishness, and a whole mess of other side effects that pretty much make you feel like crap! But, thanks to my doing it at the Hospital in Denver, which is also a research facility, i'm a great test subject (I donated my thyroid too, since i wont be needing it anymore), so we're hoping i can be a part of a trail on new drug that will allow me to stay on my synthetic hormone throughout the treatment and therefor not crash! The new drug is a series of injections leading up the the radioactive iodine itself that will basically trick the body into thinking it has no hormones without all the nasty side effects of actually doing so. of course i'll still be radioactive and need a few days of isolation, but there's a good chance even that wont be that bad! The only reason I might not be able to do this is we still don't know the amount of radioactive iodine i will require yet, and it is most likely more than we had originally thought as the cancer had spread farther than we had originally thought. But we're feeling lucky and have our fingers crossed!

the other part of preparing for the radioactive iodine treatment is an iodine free diet which i started yesterday. basically anything with salt, dairy, or soy in it i can't have! so pretty much everything yummy! But my mom has been a fantastic cook already and we've found some great recipes! and it's lucky i like fresh fruits and veggies! and boulders a good place for fresh food! if only i could eat chocolate too! Seeing all this darned Halloween candy around is a bit cruel! but i only have to do it for 2 weeks, and luckily all things considered its a healthy diet! probably what i need after the cancer diet i was on of my sister cooking massive meals and chocolate cakes all the time!

I've got my endocrinologist appointment on Thursday, and he will confirm everything and give us more details, but if all goes according to plan I should be cancer free by December! With any luck i'll be getting my radioactive iodine on the 12th (with the shots on the 10th and 11th) and will go back in around the 19th for a scan to make sure i haven't turned into a radioactive monster or anything! a week after that i should be allowed to fly internationally and i've even got my flight home booked for the 27th!

Other than that, life is pretty good. My mom and I were starting to rip at the seams from all the stress and overwhelming emotions, so we ran away to cabo for a week! it was exactly what we needed! lots of relaxing in the sun and wonderful food and such happy people! it's kind of hard to be back in the real world of America again, and i've caught a bit of a tummy bug the past few days, but over all i'm in good spirits. My best friend from Australia is coming on Saturday and i'm having a hard time containing my excitement!!! YAY YAY YAY!!!!!

Sorry again it took me so long to update! I'll be sure to update again after my appointment on Thursday with a confirmation on our plans and more details!

Pathology Report

Just got off the phone with Pathology and my report is back from surgery. It basically just confirmed what the surgery suspected. There were multiple areas on both sides of my thyroid that showed signs of papillary tumors and cells. The right side had the dominant tumor (which was the one they originality found and diagnosed, so that's no surprise) out of the 14 lymph nodes they removed 11 were positive for papillary carcinoma as well. The majority of which were also on the right side. this means it was a locally invasive tumor. There are likely some cells that they didn't see, so the next step will be to see the endocrinologist once I'm healed and we'll discuss my options for the radioactive iodine, which will mop up the rest of the cancer cells in the area! I've also donated my thyroid to cancer research since I wont be needing it, and hopefully it can help them to help others going through this!

It's hard news to take, but it's what we were expecting. But the good news is that its now mostly out, and I still have the same great odds of a full recovery. I'm also feeling better and better every day! And my scar is giving me some great opportunities for Halloween costumes! We've got my post-op on the 26th, and my endocrinology appointment on the 4th, so we'll take it all as it comes.

Recovering

I've officially been thyroid free for 4 days! I'm still very drained and not feeling all that great, but I've been recovery much faster than i ever would have imagined! I've already been able to eat solid foods and have been moving around the house pretty freely. I even got my bandage off and have an impressive but not all that massive scar! I've been getting some great ideas for stories for it too! everything from bar fights to saving orphan kittens from burning building, or that I'm a robot and they needed to reboot me!

the surgery was much easier than i anticipated and i got lots of funny stories from the nurses. I was surprisingly calm and just knew deep down that it was going to be fine. Apparently i was laughing and telling jokes the whole time going under and waking up from the anesthesia. And I don't really remember, but i know i had a wonderful dream while under that involved a beach, my grandfather(who passed away from cancer, but has been with me through this whole thing) and a lot of people trying to talk me into eating a roast beef sandwich! very odd but somehow soothing.

The Hospital stay wasn't all that bad either. I ended up staying on the Transplant floor and everyone was extremely friendly and competent. Although they did try to give away my liver at one point in the night on accident. They took very good care of me and were clearly very happy to have such an easy patient. And they got me well and out of there as quickly as they could! i was barely even in the hospital for 24 hours!

I'm also extremely grateful for everyone's wonderful support and love! I could never have gone through any of this without it! I can literally feel all the wonderful vibes and loving energy around me and it is truly magical. It has actually been a wonderful blessing in disguise to allow me to reconnect with so many wonderful people! and I even get my best friend Frankie to come visit!!! the best gift ever!!!! I am so excited!!! I can't thank everyone enough and I love you all!!!

calcium good - going home!

Katy's calcium level is 9.1 - right in the middle - everyone is amazed and happy at how well Katy is doing! They say they would be the best hospital ever if all there patients were like Katy. She is tired and feeling a little more pain - but enjoying Jackie Chan in Around the World - Arnold Swchrtznagger is playing some weird Sitar thing - good to laugh. Thanks for all the love!

In Katy's Room

We're all up in Katy's room, she is peppy and looking great!  Aside from a little band-aid on her neck and a little hoarseness to her voice she's already good as new.  She is up on the transplant floor because they are short on general surgery rooms and the nurses are incredibly competent!  The room is huge and has a nice view to the South, there are some nice details that make it feel soft and light.  They even have room service!  Right now Mike, Karen, Bob, Laurie, Gram and I are all chatting and laughing with Katy, who's talking as much as anyone else.  Tomorrow morning if her Ca++ levels are normal she can go home, but we'll still ask for short visits while she's healing.  She will need a lot of sleep, and probably to rest her voice for a while.

Thanks for all the love! 

Katy is out of surgery!

The surgeon just came out to update us on Katy:

• She is out of surgery and in recovery, the first set of people (Karen and Bob) will get to see her in half an hour or so when she's more alert.
• The tumor was larger than they expected and many of the surrounding lymph glands looked abnormal so they removed everything.  It took a bit longer than expected and she probably has a pretty good sized scar.
• Her vocal chords were monitored by a neurologist during the surgery and they look unaffected, which is fantastic!  We'll see how she feels in a couple days, until then she'll be hoarse from the ventilation.  They used a really cool system for this that we'll try to write more about when we have more energy.
• The surgeon had to mess with her parathyroid more than he wanted, but as he expected.  So she needs to spend the night while they monitor her calcium (Ca++) levels.  Ca++ is an ion important for nerve function so low levels can cause that terrible pins and needles sensation and even some painful muscle spasms.  They'll monitor it closely overnight and supplement as needed.
• She may need to wait six weeks before starting the radioiodine instead of starting in four due to the extent of the surgery, but we will know more later.

We'll update again in an hour or so, whenever we learn more!

Katy is in Surgery

Everything looks great, Katy is in great hands and we are waiting patiently for the next few hours. We will update as soon as we have any news!