Monday, September 15, 2008

Medical

I've had two surgeries on my thyroid, both to remove benign tumors. The first was in 1969, the second in 1988. Two weeks ago, my doctor didn't like my blood tests results regarding the thyroid readings. She said she was perplexed, and thought I should stop taking the synthetic thyroid replacement medications, I'd been taking since '88.

I told her there was no way in hell I was doing that. The second surgeon I saw in '88 told me that if the first guy had put me on thyroid replacement, I wouldn't have had to had the 2ND surgery. So, my doctor regrouped, and ordered an ultrasound on said offending gland, and referred me to an endocrinologist. This is something I like about my doctor, if she doesn't know, she'll refer you to an expert.

Last Thursday I got a phone call from my Dr's. office, the ultrasound had detected another nodule!...and they wanted to be sure I had scheduled an appointment with the specialist. (Looks as if I'm on a 20 year cycle!) I had, and it was the next day.

My meeting with the new Dr. on Friday, went very well. He doubled my thyroid med, and ordered a blood test for 60 days and for 120 days, to see how everything was going. He also wants an new ultrasound in about 9-10 months to see how the nodule is doing. I was very relieved.

This is the back story that explains my relief. In '69 it was explained to me that the only way to determine if a tumor, (lump, nodule), on the thyroid, was cancerous was to remove it. If it was cancer the outlook was very good, because of the location, cancer rarely spread. So, I had the surgery. I had good news, no cancer. The bad news was it was a brutal surgery. I was not only extremely sore, I couldn't swallow, drink or eat, I was black and blue from my earlobes to my nipples. I was in the hospital 4 miserable days. I was in St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach and the nuns kept coming in and telling me I was faking; there was nothing wrong with me, and I'd better start eating. My roommate, who was Catholic was horrified at the treatment. My Dad, who visited every day, went to the hospital administrator and told him to keep the nuns out of my room. The nuns stopped visiting. Compared to this, the surgery in '88 was a breeze. No soreness, I could eat and swallow, no bruises, home in 2 days; but the memory of the '69 event is never far from my mind when my thyroid is mentioned.

7 comments:

Mary Alice said...

Faking it? Nice. Glad you are happy with your doctors now.

Mrs. G. said...

I'm glad you know the score this time around!

storyteller said...

Experience is a powerful teacher. I’m relieved for you that you were able to get tested right away and you have good doctors monitoring your situation. I hope all goes well with your treatment.
Hugs and blessings,

Alison said...

at least you don't need surgery right now...only one of you can have surgery at a time and isn't Bob's coming up soon??

dot said...

Such a horrible story and very understandable that you haven't forgotten it.

Jen said...

darn nuns!

Unknown said...

Oh that's good news! My mom had a growth in her throat removed when I was in grade school but luckily nothing has ever come back. Fingers crossed that in 9 months they see no change or less. :)

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