Monday, April 18, 2011

Pathology

Hello! I'm back to work and recovering from my surgery very quickly. My energy is coming back and I am itching to get back to the gym, but my doctor advised me to take a whole month off from working out. 

My pathology results came back, and it was a bit different than we expected. We knew it was papillary cancer and had metastasized to the lymph nodes. The report showed that part of the tumor was poorly differentiated carcinoma, which is rare, more aggressive, and less responsive to treatment. Since it is rare, especially in a patient my age, my doctors aren't sure yet what treatment plan they will advise. I will do radioactive iodine for sure, and they moved that treatment date up a month so it will be in June. Before that I need a PET scan to determine if it has metastasized to my lungs (the most common first destination for thyroid cancer). My doctors are presenting my case at a multidisciplinary conference on April 27, and I will know more after that as to what further treatment will be needed, ie, external beam radiation, chemo, etc. I do plan to get a second opinion before proceeding with anything. I am also sampling every alternative treatment that I can: hypnotherapy, naturopathy, massage therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, Reiki...any other suggestions? 

This certainly wasn't the news that I was hoping for, but my heart tells me that everything will work out just fine. Thank you all so much for your support; you have been amazing!

Love,
Lisa

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