Post Second Surgery

Well I got to the hospital around 6:30am yesterday with my wife. We checked in and I got changed into some amazingly comfortable paper clothes. (except the socks were cloth, but they have grip on both sides?) I waited for a little while so Sheena and I played some games on the ipad. They put an IV in me and a blood pressure band on my other arm. They also put the pulsating calf wraps on me. Someone came from Nuclear Medicine to put some radiation into the IV so that Dr Denys could tell where my parathyroid glands are and also check for anything else that should or shouldn't hold onto the radiation.
Dr Denys came in and spoke to us some. He put an X on my neck. (Marks the spot) He got the Geiger counter and tried it out and showed us how it worked. After a few minutes he said he would see me in the surgery and left. A few minutes later they came to get me and I said good bye to Sheena. That was the last thing I remembered was saying goodbye and the bed starting to roll.

I woke up around 10 am wondering if the surgery was over or not. I felt my neck and there was a bandage there and being around 90 minutes since I was last conscious I assume it was done. I could hear other things going on around me but it took around 15 minutes until they came and wheeled me to a room where Sheena was. There was another man in the room with a sheet curtain separating us. It was amazing how alert I was but my body was not ready to really move much. I was really anxious to remove the IV, blood pressure band, and calf pulsing things. (They are supposed to prevent blood clots)

Sheena said that Dr Denys called her and told her that the surgery went very well and that they removed the node and it tested positive for papillary carcinoma. He told her he felt that this should be the last of it and he did not think I needed any more radiation therapy, but I would have to talk to the endocrinologist.  What is strange is that this node does not react to the radioactive iodine. The question remains if it was really small and starting to grow 2.5 years ago and it was missed, or if it started growing after the surgery. But either way, it is gone now.

So I was feeling a little too warm and claustrophobic and ready to get stuff off me and get out of the hospital. Within a few minutes I stood up and went to the restroom with my wife helping me. I needed some help because I was so light headed still and ready to fall over at any time. After going to the restroom I returned to the bed in my shared room and Sheena helped me change back into my normal clothes. Once I was back in normal clothes we just laid on the bed for a few more minutes. We left the hospital around 11:30am and headed home.

I should have been pretty hungry considering I was fasting still, but my throat hurt more on the inside than the outside. Probably from the breathing tube or gas tube they had in my throat to keep me under. When I got home all I wanted to do sleep. Since my throat was sore I was drinking tons of water and downing doTERRA Onguard Throat Lozenges. After around a 1-2 hour nap I was ready to get up and eat some lunch.

Sheena made me a grilled cheese and a smoothie. I ate it all pretty quick, including my supplements and some essential oils in capsules. After that I was feeling pretty good so I went up to the office and made some calls for an hour or two. After I was done with the calls I went for a little walk outside with the girls and I felt pretty good.

A little while later my mom and Terry arrived with Cafe Rio and we ate and talked and played with the kids for a couple hours. Finally went to bed around 11:30pm. What a long day. I felt ok other than the sore throat and soreness around my incision, but I wondered if I should have spend more time laying down and resting and not talking.

This surgery was so much easier than the last surgery that I had done around 2.5 years ago. I feel pretty good and am looking forward to getting back to running and biking within a week or two.

I am overwhelmed by the amount of concern and support from my neighbors, friends, and family. This experience seems much lighter with the help and prayers of so many. Thank you so much. 

First Signs

I finished running a Ragnar Relay Race here in UT around the end of June 2009. The day after my wife was giving me a much needed massage ( I know what I nice wife huh?) when she noticed a slight bulge on one side of my neck. She wanted to have it checked out, but I told her not to worry about it. We went on a family trip and I told my wife I would have it checked out when we got back if it was still there.

A week or two later I went to the doctor and after looking at it they ordered an ultrasound. I went and got an ultrasound on my neck. After the ultrasound they were decided that it was not my thyroid and that I should see an Ear Nose Throat Dr to have the bulge looked at and removed.

I set up an appointment with Dr Denys and he looked at my neck and thought it was just some type of growth that just needed to be removed. He asked that I get an MRI so he can be sure before he removes it. I went and got an MRI with iodine contrast.

After the MRI he asked that I come in and told me that there was another mass found on my thyroid that was small. He had me lay back and did a fine needle aspiration (biopsy) on the two masses.

A few days later he called me back into his office to tell me that I had papillary carcinoma.  (Aka Thyroid Cancer) We scheduled Aug 25 2009 to have it removed and I was very sad I could not run the St George Marathon I was almost completely trained and ready to run.