I'll get through this...

Let me begin by thanking everyone for their thoughts and prayers. I never realized how many people cared! j/k Seriously though, I really appreciate you all!!!

Today started with a follow up appointment with my surgeon. He is VERY pleased with the healing of my incision. (I know....I never posted a picture the other night....soon, I promise) He doesn't need to see me back for 3 months, so that is good news!

Next, we went to see my Endo and talk to him about what the next step should be. I will try to explain this the best I can. He has put me on a VERY STRICT low iodine diet. The list of things I can't eat is much longer than the things I can. This is going to be a challenge for me! But, it is necessary for me to do for the next step to work properly. I also will not be taking any thyroid replacement meds during this time. So....lack of food....no thyroid meds.....I will not be very pleasant to be around for the next 3 weeks or so. If you see me, expect me to be really tired and really crabby.....(I know, what else is new, right?!?! lol)

So, I will follow the diet and no meds, and on the 23rd, I will go have labs done to see where my levels are. They need me to be extremely "hypo" for the treatment to work. I go see the Dr. again to get these results on the 26th. He will say yes or no as to if I am ready for treatment at this time.

Once I am ready for the treatment, I will swallow one lonely little pill. Thats it....well, kinda anyway. I will swallow one pill of radioactive iodine, and while only one pill, it is a STRONG dose. Strong enough that I am going to have to be in complete isolation for 5 days. (still trying to figure out all the details of how that is going to work....) This iodine will be absorbed by the thyroid tissue still remaining (which is where the cancer is) and it will destroy this tissue.

About 10-14 days after I take the magical pill, I will go in for a full body scan. This will let us know for a fact that the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else.

And then, that is it. I will get back on my thyroid meds, and I will be good as new....or something like that. :)

Really quick, I wanted to thank the amazing company that Steve works for. They have been so understanding with his scheduling through all of this. And then, they had a BIG, YUMMY dinner ready for us when we got home tonight. Thank you guys SO MUCH!

Again, thank you all so much for your support. I want to leave you with the "slogan", for lack of a better word, that is being used for the new sermon series at church. The series just started this past Sunday, and I felt as if this series is just for me. I am so glad that everyone in our church family is letting Max just talk to me for a few weeks.... :)

"I'll get through this. It won't be painless. It won't be quick. But God will use this mess for good. I won't be foolish or naive, but nor will I despair. With God's help, I know, I will get through this."

God Bless you all, and thank you all again!!!

~rlb

A call I didn't think would come...

So throughout this whole thing, I've been a little nervous due to my family medical history. If something is wrong, its usually something big. You know, us Brileys like to keep the medical field employeed. Why one of us kids didn't end up in that profession, I don't know. At least one sister-in-law recognized the need and became a nurse!!! Anyway, as I was saying...

I've been nervous from the get-go. But, all blood tests (and there were a bunch of them) and all ultrasounds showed nothing. No cancer. I went into my surgery being told "we are 99% sure you do not have cancer. But we always send the tissue off to pathology just to be sure." I felt very confident in all of that. So, I had my surgery. The Drs both told my family how healthy my thyroid looked, aside from the growths. Almost as if they were even in shock.

Fast forward to Thursday, 1/5. And then my phone rang. My surgeon was calling me to tell me that he got the pathology results back, and it wasn't good news. The left side of my thyroid was malignant. The right side was pre-malignant. The good news, they got MOST of it with the thyroidectomy. The bad news, they didn't get all of it. Bottom line.....I have cancer.

Now, stop right there. I don't care who you are and what you have been through. If someone says those words to you, "you have cancer", it doesn't matter what kind of cancer it is. Those are scary words.

That all being said, the outlook is good. Another operation is unlikely. We will most likely do radiation to treat the cells that are still in my body. The good news about this type of cancer is that it spreads slowly, so chances are it hasn't spread anywhere else in my body. It also is easily, and completely treated, meaning once we get rid of it, it should be gone and shouldn't come back. So, there is that good news in there....

I go back to the Drs on Tuesday. I go see my Endo first (whom I saw last week before they got these results....he started me on my Synthroid....and has since taken me off of them.....so glad to pay for meds I didn't need....now anyway.....) and then I go see the surgeon for the 2 week follow-up from my surgery. Speaking of, my incision is healing GREAT! The "super glue" has come off, and it is healing nicely. I will try to post a new picture in the morning...I'm already in bed right now, and not getting up just to take a picture!!!

So, I will be back with a more detailed update after my appointments Tuesday. For now, I just ask for your prayers. Prayers for my strength & health, prayers for my family & their peace of mind, and prayers for the Drs & all of those in the medical field looking after me.

Thank you, and God Bless you all!

~rlb

Surgery Update

**WARNING** Semi-graphic pictures contained in this post.... :)

Well, surgery has come and gone. I had my thyroidectomy on Wednesday, December 28. The surgery went much better than expected. All of the nerve monitoring that they had to do went well, and it all ended up taking less time than expected. Recovery went well, and I was into my private room by lunch time. My recovery in my room went well. I was able to go home Thursday evening. Since coming home, things have gone pretty well. I already have cabin fever, but just my trip to the grocery store has worn me out. I spent most of the day Saturday in bed on pain meds. Today (Sunday) has been a little better, but I am ready to go to bed right now too. I almost have my voice back, but it does still sound a little fuzzy at times. I am eating solid food without any problems. For the most part, swallowing doesn't hurt, although hiccups, sneezing, coughing, clearing my throat yawning, etc HURTS! I have a good amount of my range of motion back, but I am still moving my head pretty slow. All of that being said, I am still VERY SORE. There is still a lot of bruising that is very uncomfortable. And it all itches so bad!!! All the stitching is all on the inside, so they will dissolve. But the outside of wound is "super-glued", which will peel off within the next couple of weeks. This method should minimize the lasting scar that I will have, and over time, just a faint line should be visible. As far as how it feels to have that HUGE mass gone, the only way I can describe it is that it feels hollow in my throat. (I know...doesn't make a lot of sense, just don't know how else to explain it!)

Next up, I go see the Endocrinologist on Wednesday, Jan. 4th, and then I go see the surgeon again on Jan 10th. The Endo should get me started on meds, to make up for the missing thyroid, and we will go from there. I hope that we get that all worked out quickly, and I am back to normal (or as close as possible) soon! :)

And for those who are curious, here are some pictures!

This is just a couple of hours after surgery:

And this is one day after surgery:

And this is today (4 days after surgery):

Thank you all for the continued thoughts and prayers. I will continue to update this blog thru my process.

~rlb