Help Casey Beat Thyroid Cancer

I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer 5 years ago while pregnant with my first child. Had my thyroid removed (Total Thyroidectomy) shortly after my son was born in 2010 and then went in for RAI (radioactive iodine). I went in for a follow up ultra-scan in 2014 after my second child was born and my Doctor found some “suspicious” nodules that I would need to have biopsied. I had my biopsy done in October and found out that the cancer had returned and needed to go in for a PET/CT scan to see if the cancer had spread. The scan was completed and cancer was found in my neck and my femur had lit up showing something was there. My next step was to schedule an appointment with an oncologist and have a biopsy of my femur performed. This was completed and thankfully was benign. Next step was to schedule surgery to remove the cancer in my neck (Total Thyroidectomy with Radical Neck Dissection); this was done the day after Christmas thankfully there was not a whole lot of pain just some discomfort. I experienced a “chyle leak”after surgery which my doctor decided to go back into surgery the next day and find the leak. When I came out of the second surgery the Doctors told me they were not successful in locating the leak, I went home a few days later with my drain still in. I kept the drain in until the fluid was under 30 ML in a 24 hour period (about a week, not easy while breastfeeding), my neck was swelling with fluid and after the drain was removed it only got worse. I returned to work after the drain was removed and the swelling got so bad I could hardly swallow. I had to go back into my Doctor’s office and luckily he was able to drain it with a needle and I did not need to go back in for a third surgery. I was instructed to stop breastfeeding at this point due to the leak.

 

Unfortunately my vocal cord was damaged in surgery and as a result is paralyzed, I can thankfully speak but my voice is shallow and I run out of breathe easily. I recently saw my Endocrinologist to schedule my RAI and he informed me that it would need to be postponed 3 months to allow time for my breasts to completely dry. If not this could pose a risk to future pregnancies. Currently I am waiting my 3 months but do need to go in for a ultra-sound on my neck to make sure that the surgery was successful in getting all of the cancer out.
This will be at the end of January.


“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” – Paulo Coelho